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Military operation against Islamic State is within UN, not US competence

ZAMYATINA Tamara 
It’s the US policy that provokes a surge of terrorism on the part of radical Islamists, a senior official in the upper house of Russia’s parliament believes

MOSCOW, September 15. /ITAR-TASS/. Regarding the threat to the world on the part of the Islamic State (IS) radical group, Russia proceeds from the priority of international law and decisions of the UN Security Council, a senior official in the upper house of Russia’s parliament told ITAR-TASS.

That is the key difference between the positions of Moscow and the United States, deputy head of the Federation Council’s international affairs committee Andrey Klimov said in connection with an international conference on the situation in Iraq and Syria underway in Paris on Monday.

The Paris conference involves five permanent UN Security Council members and representatives of the Arab League - overall, some 20 countries. Russia is represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“It’s not a secret that the world, led by the United States, is getting ready for a war with the Islamic State. On September 11, on the day of the 13th anniversary of terrorist attacks in New York, Barack Obama announced the expansion of a list of participants of the antiterrorism coalition led by Washington to fight the IS,” Klimov said.

“The US president hastily drafted a plan of strikes on IS militant positions in Iraq and Syria and intends to act in a way advantageous for Washington,” he said. “Damascus and Moscow warn the US that delivering air strikes on Syrian territory would be a direct act of aggression against a sovereign state.”

“But Barack Obama and US allies plan to act from the position of strength proceeding from their own ambitions and without considering UN Security Council Resolution 2170 adopted August 15 that did not stipulate bombings of the Syrian Arab Republic’s territory,” the senator said.

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