The US Embassy in Zagreb thanked Croatia on Saturday for supporting the actions of Western allies against the Syrian chemical programme.

The United States, the United Kingdom and France launched airstrikes against chemical weapons facilities in Syria early Saturday morning in retaliation against the Syrian regime for the alleged use of chemical weapons against its own people.

“We thank the Croatian government for supporting the actions of the U.S, U.K and France against the use of chemical weapons,” U.S. Ambassador W. Robert Kohorst said in a statement.

He said that the strikes were a response to the Syrian regime’s actions and were not a provocation against the Russian Federation or its forces in Syria.

“Russia, however, cannot claim to be a responsible member of the international community while failing to condemn the use of chemical weapons and failing to take any action to prevent their use. We invite Russia to start supporting the innocent men, women and children of Syria who are being killed with chemical weapons,” the US ambassador said.

The airstrikes against Syrian military targets followed a chemical weapons attack on the city of Douma on April 7, which left dozens killed. Western powers are blaming the attack on the Syrian government and its allies Russia and Iran, which are denying the attack took place.

The Syrian regime has denounced the strikes as “brutal, barbaric aggression” by the West to prevent the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons from opening an investigation into the alleged attack in Douma, which was due to start on Saturday.