France insists Russia to join a push for political solution in Syria

Paris, April 16: After the USA, the UK and France bombarded Syria by carrying out airstrikes together; Russia has been urged by France to join the allies to fight against Syrian chemical weapon usage.

“We should join our efforts to promote a political process in Syria that would allow a way out of the crisis,” says the French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

France has continued to talk regularly with Russia even as East-West tensions have grown.

Western countries blamed Syria's government for a chemical attack on a rebel-held area earlier this month that killed more than 40 people. The Syrian government and its ally Russia denied the allegations.

The United States, Britain, and France had shaken hands together to launch a military operation against Syria on Saturday in response to an alleged poison gas attack in Douma two weeks back. Huge blasts were reported around Damascus on Saturday, moments after the US, France, and Britain announced they were striking Syria's chemical weapons capabilities.

There are no plans as yet to repeat missile strikes on Syria, but Britain will consider further action if President Bashar al-Assad again uses chemical weapons against his people, foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday.

Johnson said what he described as the successful strikes on three sites in Syria were a message from the world that enough was enough, but acknowledged he could not say whether Assad still had chemical weapons.