This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows smoke, rising after U.S.-led airstrikes targeting different parts of the Syrian capital Damascus in retaliation for the country’s alleged use of chemical weapons early Saturday, April 14, 2018. Syrian air defenses responded to the joint strikes by the United States, France and Britain. (SANA via AP)
The militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) on Saturday urged the Duterte administration to condemn the United States-led air and missile strikes against the Syrian capital.
Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes said the United States was only advancing its “imperialist agenda” in the Middle East when it led the missile strikes on Damascus.
Since 4 a.m. (Damascus local time) on Saturday, the United States, France and United Kingdom have been launching rockets on Damascus in retaliation for the Syrian government’s alleged use of chemical weapons.
“We call on the Philippine government to condemn the air strikes on Syria and US armed aggression in the Middle East. The Philippines must not allow itself to be used as staging ground for US military intervention,” Reyes said in a statement.
Reyes said the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government should be best investigated by “independent probers.”
“The US cannot be trusted to conduct an impartial and truthful inquiry given the US record of inventing pretexts to bomb other nations such as Iraq in 2002,” Reyes said.
“Any Intel or so-called proof being presented by the US should be taken with a grain of salt as these are being used to justify US aggression,” the Bayan secretary general stressed.
The air strikes, Reyes said, were “also being used to shift attention away from the various scandals hounding the Trump regime.”
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