Was Russia Behind Syria Chemical Attack? UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon Claims Kremlin Was Responsible 'By Proxy'

U.K. Defense Secretary of State Michael Fallon has claimed Saturday, writing in the Sunday Times that Russia is responsible for the “barbaric chemical gas attack” in Syria Tuesday that claimed the lives of almost 100 people and left 300 wounded.

Fallon wrote that the Russian president was responsible “by proxy” for the chemical attack, as the “principal backer” of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.

Fallon’s comments followed U.K. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson’s cancelation of his trip to Moscow over the chemical gas attack on civilians in Idlib, Syria and the U.S. airstrike against the Syrian regime that followed Thursday.

Referring to Russia, Fallon wrote: “Must show the resolve necessary to bring this regime to heel. The Russians have influence in the region. They helped broker the original deal to put chemical weapons out of commission. This latest war crime happened on their watch.”

The United States fired about 60 Tomahawk missiles Thursday night into the government-controlled Shayrat air base in Syria under President Donald Trump’s orders.

"It crossed a lot of lines for me. When you kill innocent children, innocent babies — babies, little babies — with a chemical gas that is so lethal — people were shocked to hear what gas it was — that crosses many, many lines, beyond a red line," Trump had said during a news conference Wednesday referring to the attack that was allegedly carried out by the Syrian government.

Fallon supported Trump’s actions and wrote: “President Trump made the right call by resorting to careful and narrowly focused military action.”

Fallon also made remarks regarding the attack and said that the Syrian crisis needed a permanent solution.

"Justified and appropriate though US action was, it was also necessarily limited. We now need a long-term solution to this conflict,” he wrote in the Sunday Times.

The U.K. defense secretary of state also provided a solution to the Syrian problem saying: “It’s time for Russia to be part of the solution and engage constructively with the UN-mediated peace talks. Together we can bring an end to the needless suffering of the Syrian people. ”

Fallon demanded the removal of the Syrian president as soon as possible and put his argument forward for the same. “Someone who uses barrel bombs and chemicals to kill his own people simply cannot be the future leader of Syria. Assad must go and the search for stability, to begin.”