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Syrian National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar on Thursday said that US air strikes over Syrian territory without the permission of the Syrian regime would be considered an “attack” on the country.
“Any action of any kind without the consent of the Syrian government would be an attack on Syria”, Haidar said. However, he refused to say what the response to unilateral US military action might be.
“But under international law there must be cooperation with Syria and Syrian consent for any action, whether military or non-military on Syrian territory”, he added.
His comments follow US President Barack Obama’s speech, in which he promised a “relentless” war against the Islamic State (IS), including air strikes and support for rebel forces in Syria.
Earlier in the day, Russia said that unilateral airstrikes by the US on extremists in Syria would violate international law.
“The U.S. President has directly announced the possibility of strikes by American armed forces against positions of the Islamic State in Syria without the consent of its legal government. In the absence of an appropriate decision of the U.N. Security Council, such a step would become an act of aggression, a crude violation of the norms of international law”, Alexander Lukashevich, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in televised remarks.
However, he added that Russia welcomed the fact that the US has acknowledged the threat posed by the extremists
“Better late than never, as they say”, he said.
He also accused the US of “double standards” for its backing of Syrian opposition forces.
“While on the one hand helping the Iraq government to confront Islamist militants, Obama is once more asking Congress for 500 million dollars to support the Syrian armed opposition, which as a whole is little different from the radicals in the Islamic State”, he said.
Later in the day, US Secretary of State John Kerry called the Russian claims laughable.
“I must say if it weren’t so serious what’s happening in Ukraine one might almost laugh at the idea of Russia raising the issue of international law or any question of the UN. I am really rather surprised that Russia would dare to assert any notion of international law after what has happened in Crimea and eastern Ukraine”, Kerry said.