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The Latest: Iran FM condemns strikes on Syria

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The Latest on the Syria conflict (all times local):
BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the Syria conflict (all times local):
3:15 p.m.
Iran has condemned the Western strikes on Syria, saying no country has a right to take punitive measures against another “beyond international procedures.”
The semi-official Fars news agency quoted Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying that Iran had warned about the possibility that “terrorist groups” were behind the alleged chemical attack that triggered the strikes. It said he communicated his concerns in a phone call Sunday with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose forces have been accused of carrying out a chemical weapons attack near Damascus a week ago that opposition activists and rescuers say killed more than 40 people. The attack prompted the U. S., Britain and France to carry out a missile attack on Syrian military targets early Saturday.
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3:10 p.m.
Syria ’s President Bashar Assad says the Western airstrikes against his country were accompanied by a campaign of “lies” and misinformation in the U. N. Security Council.
Assad spoke Sunday to a group of visiting Russian politicians. His comments were carried by state media.
Assad and Russia deny using chemical weapons, the trigger for the strikes early Saturday. An alleged gas attack last weekend in the town of Douma killed more than 40 people, according to opposition activists and rescuers.
Assad told his visitors that the U. S., Britain and France, which carried out the strikes, had waged a campaign of “lies and misinformation” against Russia and Syria .
The U. N. Security Council has been paralyzed in dealing with the seven-year Syrian conflict and the use of chemical weapons. Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member, is a close ally of Assad.
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2:45 p.m.
About 350 protesters from communist organizations in Cyprus have gathered in front of the entrance gate of a British air base to denounce U. S.-led airstrikes against suspected chemical weapons sites in Syria .
Protest leader Akis Poullos says they are demanding the closure of RAF Akrotiri, from where four British Tornado warplanes took off to take part in the missile strike.
Poullos said Sunday’s demonstration was also a message to the Cyprus government not to lend any assistance to “imperialist attacks” on Syria and to demand an end to the war in the country.
Protesters used red paint to write “NATO killers go home” on a nearby wall outside the base’s gate.
Former colonial ruler Britain retained RAF Akrotiri and another military base on Cyprus after the east Mediterranean island gained independence in 1960.
The Cyprus government said it wasn’t given any forewarning about Saturday’s airstrikes. It also said British Prime Minister Theresa May assured Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades that there’s no danger to Cyprus and that Cypriots can feel secure.
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2:30 p.m.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says he hopes there is no need for additional strikes against Syria, but that Britain and its allies will consider further action if Syrian President Bashar Assad uses chemical weapons in the future.
Johnson told the BBC on Sunday the airstrikes were proportionate and showed “the world has said enough is enough.”
He says “so far, thank heavens, the Assad regime has not been so foolish to launch another chemical weapons attack,” adding that Britain and its allies “would study what the options were” in the event of another attack.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn says the airstrikes were “legally debatable” and that Britain must abide by international law if it wants the moral high ground. He is demanding legislation to give Parliament more scrutiny over military action.
The U. S., France and Britain launched missiles at Syrian military targets early Saturday in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus a week ago.
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1:45 p.m.
Syrian state TV says another 5,000 security forces are deploying in a town near the capital that was brought under full government control a week after an alleged chemical attack.
Douma was the last rebel holdout in the eastern Ghouta suburbs, the target of a massive government offensive in February and March. The town was also the scene of a suspected poison gas attack on April 7 that prompted the U. S., Britain and France to launch missiles on Syrian military targets early Saturday.
The Syrian government and its ally Russia have denied allegations of a chemical attack. An international fact-finding mission from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is in Syria and expected to visit Douma.
State-run Al-Ikhbariya TV says a second batch of 5,000 security forces deployed in Douma on Sunday.
Syrian newspapers meanwhile boasted that the country’s air defense systems had shot down missiles.
The front-page headline of the government daily Tishrin reads: “Our heroic army shoots down the missiles of aggression.”
The Pentagon says none of the missiles were shot down and that Syria ’s air defenses were ineffective.
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1:35 p.m.
Pope Francis says he is “deeply disturbed” by the international community’s failure to come up with a common response to the crises in Syria and other parts of the world.
The pontiff said after his traditional Sunday blessing that “despite the tools available to the international community, it is difficult to agree on a common action toward peace in Syria or other regions of the world.”
Francis called on “all people of goodwill” to join him in praying for peace, and appealed to political leaders to help “justice prevail.”
The pope spoke after airstrikes by the United States, France and Britain aimed at taking out Syria ’s chemical weapons capacity, following a suspected poison gas attack on a Damascus suburb that killed dozens, including children.
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1:15 p.m.
A group of Russian politicians has met with Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose mood they describe as good a day after Western airstrikes.
In Assad ’s view, the airstrikes that were launched in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack by Syrian forces on the town of Douma will unify the country. That’s according to Dmitry Sablin, a member of the lower house of the Russian parliament, who was quoted by Russian news agencies.
Natalya Komarova, governor of Russia ’s Khanty-Mansiysk region, also attended Sunday’s meeting. She says: “President Assad has an absolutely positive attitude, a good mood.

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