The United States and its allies, the United Kingdom and France, launched a series of airstrikes on Syrian government targets in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The military leaders of the Western nations allege that the strikes were directed at chemical weapons facilities, according to The Guardian. For the past week, following a reported chemical weapons attack in the suburbs of Damascus, the three countries had been considering military options as a response.
"Right now, we have no additional attacks planned,” the U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, said. “This is a one-time shot.”
However, U.S. President Donald Trump said that his country and its allies "are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents."
"These are not actions of a man, they are crimes of a monster instead," he said.
While the U.S. and its allies allege that the Syrian government, led by President Bashar Al Assad, was behind the most recent chemical attack, Syria and its allies deny the allegations. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov even said that his country has "irrefutable evidence" that the U.K. helped stage the attack, the BBC reported.
Previous chemical attacks during the Syrian conflict have followed a similar pattern, with Western nations blaming Assad. The Syrian government and its allies generally blame rebel fighters or deny a chemical attack has occurred.
Whether or not Arabs oppose the Assad government, their views toward this most recent foreign intervention are mixed. Many took to social media to share their views.