Syria condemns 'brutal, barbaric aggression' by Western powers

Syria's foreign ministry on Saturday denounced Western strikes as a "brutal, barbaric aggression" hours after the US, France, and Britain launched a joint operation against military installations. 

The strikes came a week after an alleged gas attack that killed more than 40 people outside Damascus, but which Syria said was a "fabrication" intended to justify military action.

The foreign ministry early Saturday said the strikes aimed to block a probe by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a global watchdog.

"The timing of the aggression coincides with the arrival of OPCW mission to Syria to investigate the alleged chemical attack in Douma, and mainly aims at hindering the mission's work and preempting its results," it said in comments carried by state news agency SANA. 

The ministry said it was an "attempt to block the exposure of their lies and fabrications".

The agency had earlier slammed the attack as "a flagrant violation of international law, a breach of the international community's will, and it is doomed to fail." 

SANA reported that the joint operation was targeting military installations around Damascus and near the central city of Homs.

It said three civilians were wounded in the Homs attacks but did not give a toll for Damascus or mention any combatant casualties.