TEHRAN - Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Sunday condemned the U.S.-led attack on Syria, saying it runs contrary to international law.

The U.S., UK and France launched missiles at Syria in the early hours of Saturday morning. The attack took place one week after a suspected chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma near Damascus. The Western countries claimed the Syrian government was responsible for the attack, a claim which was rejected by the Syrian government.

“The first question that comes to mind is that what was the motive behind this illegal action? The three Western countries claimed that the Syrian government used chemical weapons that helped remove the terrorists from suburb of Damascus. Syria and Russia rejected the claim,” Larijani said at a session of the parliament.

He added, “The international bodies were supposed to investigate the issue. So, why such an aggressive action was taken in haste? So, their excuse is not justified.” 

The senior lawmaker said the motive behind the attack was victories by the Syrian forces against Jaish al-Islam militants.

“It was for many years that the suburb of Damascus had been turned into a den of the terrorists… however, recent actions by the Syrian army and popular forces cleansed this region and the supporters of the terrorists could not believe this could happen in a short period of time,” Larijani remarked.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also issued a statement on Saturday strongly condemning the attacks. It said the act is contrary to international law and a violation of Syria’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

More than 100 missiles were fired from ships and manned aircraft.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday that the majority of missiles fired during the overnight attack on Syria by U.S., British and French forces were intercepted by Syrian air defense systems, TASS news agency reported.

NA/PA