Russia against US Strikes at ISIL without Consent from Damascus
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Air strikes by the US Air Force at the ISIL positions in Syria without consent from Damascus would add more new complications to the international community’s efforts to confront terrorism, the Russian ambassador to the UN said.
“Regular cooperation between Russia and the US in the UN format continues and it embraces fighting with terrorism,” Vitaly Churkin said Wednesday as he spoke live on the Rossiya'24 news channel.
“I have a headache of a different sort on,” Churkin went on. “Newspapers are writing of President Obama’s willingness to deliver air strikes at the positions of ISIL on the territory of Syria and it looks like he would do so without the Syrian government’s consent,” he was quoted by the Itar-TASS news agency as saying.
“I’m worried by a different thing,” he said. “Newspapers say President Obama has ostensibly taken a decision to deliver air strikes at the positions of the ISIL terrorist organization on the Syrian territory and judging by everything he will do it without the Syrian government’s consent.”
“This will complicate international operations and will pose problems for Russia as well as for many other countries respecting international law, including China,” Churkin said.
“Respect for international law is necessary so that the international community could be able to take consolidated actions on a problem as complicated as this one and if it /the US/ opts for such actions, its choice will be highly regrettable and will create obstacles for further cooperation - something we already spoke about,” he said.
“As for an encouraging instance of cooperation, the American who are now presiding at the Security Council are going to appoint a special meeting there on September 25 and to adopt a resolution on the problem of international terrorist fighters,” Churkin said.
“The latter are a new phenomenon - these paramilitaries drift from one country to another and many such people are fighting in Iraq and Syria at the moment,” he said. “The resolution aims to enable the international community to fight with the phenomenon even better.