PARIS, April 15. /TASS/. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday a dialogue with Russia, Turkey and Iran is needed for the settlement of the Syrian crisis.

"It is necessary to cooperate with Russia, Turkey and Iran in the interests of Syrian settlement," he said in an interview with BFMTV. In his words, dialogue is needed for sustainable settlement in Syria.

According to the French leader, Saturday’s operation in Syria was successful. All missiles hit their targets, he said and thanked the French army for the operation.

He argued with journalists who called the Saturday strike as act of war. "We did not declare war, the operation entailed no casualties," he said, adding that France’s goal was to ensure the supremacy of international law. "The operation was absolutely legitimate," he pledged.

He confirmed that three chemical weapons production and storage facilities had been destroyed. He also said that intelligence services of his country and France’s partners had obtained evidence of the use of chlorine in Syria on April 7.

Strike on Syria

According to the Russian defense ministry, the missile strike on Syria’s military and civilian infrastructure facilities was delivered by US warplanes and naval ships in cooperation with the British and French air forces in the small hours on Saturday.

The ministry reported that a total of 103 cruise and air-to-surface missiles had been fired, 71 of them were shot down by Syria’s air defense units.

The United States, the UK and France said the strikes had been a response to an alleged chemical attack in Syria’s Douma.

Some non-governmental organizations, including White Helmets, claim that chemical weapons were used in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, on April 7. According to the statement uploaded to the organization’s website on April 8, chlorine bombs were dropped on the city to kill dozens and poison other local civilians who had to be brought to hospital.

The Russian foreign ministry dismissed that as fake news. The Russian defense ministry stated that White Helmets were an unreliable source, notorious for disseminating falsehoods. The Russian center for the reconciliation of conflicting parties on April 9 examined Douma to find no traces of chemical weapons.