Turkey's Erdogan says U.S. attack in Syria 'positive' but not enough

The United States fired cruise missiles earlier on Friday at a Syrian base from which President Donald Trump said a deadly chemical weapons attack had been launched, marking the first direct U.S. assault on the government of Bashar al-Assad in six years of civil war.

"We find it a positive and concrete step taken against the war crimes of the Assad regime. Is it enough? I don't find it enough. It is time to take serious steps for the protection of innocent Syrian people," Erdogan told a rally in the southern province of Hatay.

"The international community has the capability to stop the regime and terrorist organizations. I hope the active stance that the United States displayed in Idlib is a beginning with regards to such developments," Erdogan said.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Daren Butler and Ece Toksabay; Editing by David Dolan)