‘The US and its allies struck civil and military facilities in Syria, violating the UN Charter and international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, responding to the American-French-British intervention in Syria.
Andrew Cheetham Davidicke.com
Washington launched “an aggression against a sovereign state which is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism,” the statement from the president said. Putin stressed that the multi-national strikes were not sanctioned by the UN Security Council, and were carried out “in violation of the UN Charter and principles of international law.”
What’s more, the current escalation of the Syrian crisis has “a devastating impact on the whole system of international relations.” Yet, history will set things straight as “it has already found Washington responsible for massacres in Yugoslavia.
By using force, Washington is only prompting a new wave of asylum-seekers from Syria and the whole region, according to the Russian leader.
Russia is calling an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the aggressive actions of the US and its allies, the statement concluded.
Washington and its allies unleashed the bombardment in the early hours of Saturday in retaliation for the alleged chemical attack by the Assad government in the town of Douma, 10 kilometers from Damascus, last week. The strikes were conducted before a team of investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was due to reach Douma to determine whether the attack had indeed taken place.’
Read more: US-led strikes in Syria without UNSC mandate a violation of international law – Putin
US-led strikes on Syria likely aimed at thwarting OPCW probe into ‘chemical attack’– Russian senator
‘The US-led strikes on Syria are “a blatant violation of international law” and may be aimed at thwarting an OPCW probe into the alleged chemical attack in Douma, a top Russian senator says.
The offensive in retaliation to the alleged chemical attack in Douma on April 7 came just hours before the UN’s Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) experts were scheduled to visit the site on Saturday to determine whether chemical weapons had been used there last week.
“It’s most probably an attempt to create difficulties for the OPCW mission that is just starting its work in Ghouta today, or even to thwart it,” the chair of Russia’s Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, Konstantin Kosachev, said. Kosachev stressed that for a detailed assessment and understanding of the situation, it is necessary to wait for the defense ministry’s reaction: “What we need is not emotions, but a professional assessment of the military experts working on the ground.”
However, there can only be one political assessment, Kochashev said. “It is a blatant violation of international law, and an attack on a sovereign state without any proper reason. Additionally, it’s an attempt to create [more] difficulties in Duma.”
His thoughts were echoed by Andrey Krasov, the first deputy of the Defense Committee of the Russian lower house of parliament, who said the US-led coalition’s actions in Syria amount to a war crime.’
