Canada backs Western strikes on Syria: PM

Canadian Prime Minister Justin has expressed his support for punitive strikes carried out by the US, Britain and France against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"Canada supports the decision by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to take action to degrade the Assad regime's ability to launch chemical weapons attacks against its own people," Trudeau said in a statement Friday.

The strikes came after an alleged chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Douma that killed more than 40 people, according to medics and rescuers. General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the strikes hit targets related to Syria's chemical weapons program -- a scientific research center near Damascus, a weapons storage facility west of Homs, and a third location nearby containing a command post and an equipment storage facility.