Japan to avoid direct support for U.S strike on Syria: sources

Japan plans to avoid expressing direct support for actual U.S. military action against Syria, in an attempt to avoid damaging negotiations with Russia over a decades-long territorial row, government sources said Thursday.Japan will only support U.S. President Donald Trump's "resolve" to prevent any further use of chemical weapons in Syria, the sources said.Russia is a major backer of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil war, and strongly opposes the U.S. claim that Syrian government forces attacked a rebel-held town near Damascus on Saturday with chemica…READ FULL ARTICLE