RIYADH, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia said on Saturday the kingdom backs the airstrikes on Syria launched by the U.S., Britain and France, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

An official from the Saudi Foreign Affairs Ministry highlighted that the operations were a response to the use of banned chemical weapons by the Syrian regime against innocent civilians and its years of "horrible crimes," the report said.

The official held the Syrian government responsible for such military attack and the international community for not taking serious steps against the regime.

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the joint airstrikes against Syria along with its allies Britain and France to target the military facilities of the "criminal" regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, calling the alleged chemical attack marked a "significant escalation."

The attack was conducted under the pretext of punishing the Syrian government for the alleged use of chemical weapons in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma in the east of Damascus on April 7.

The Syrian government has repeatedly dismissed the alleged chemical attack in Douma as fabrication by the rebels and their foreign supporters to justify military strikes on Syria.