DAMASCUS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Saturday that the U.S.-led attack on Syria reflects the "failure" of Western powers to achieve their goals in Syria after the defeat of the foreign-backed militants.

Assad made the remarks during a phone call with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who called Assad after the U.S-led attack on Syria, the state news agency SANA reported.

"The attack took place after the colonial forces supporting terrorists realized they have lost control got the feeling that they have lost credibility in front of their people and the world," Assad said.

He highlighted his country's continued determination to fight terrorists across Syria.

For his part, Rouhani expressed his strongest condemnation of the joint missile attack by the U.S., Britain and France, while reaffirming Iran's support for the Syrian government.

Before daybreak on Saturday, the U.S., along with its allies Britain and France, launched airstrikes against Syrian military positions in the capital Damascus and central province of Homs.

People in Damascus were awakened by the sounds of loud explosions and saw red dots flying into the sky, in what later turned out to be the air defenses responding to the missile attack.

The Syrian Army said in a statement that about 110 missiles were fired by the U.S. and its allies on Syrian military sites, damaging the Research Scientific Center in the northeast of Damascus and the military bases in Homs.

Most of the missiles were intercepted before reaching targets, it noted.

The joint airstrikes came 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.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he ordered the U.S. military to launch precision strikes on the targets associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of the Syrian army.

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