SHANGHAI, April 25. /TASS/. The US-led air strikes on Syria were groundless and violated generally accepted international rules, Senior Adviser at the Chinese Scientific Association of International Strategies, Senior Consultant at the SCO Chinese Research Center and former military attache at the Chinese embassy in Russia Major General Wang Haiyun said on Wednesday.
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"The air strikes on Syria carried out by the United States, Great Britain and France run counter to generally accepted international rules," he told reporters on the sidelines of a Russian-Chinese conference dubbed Russia and China: Contemporary Development Challenges, arranged by the Valdai International Discussion Club and East China Normal University in Shanghai. "This military attack was not authorized by the United Nations Security Council so it is inconsistent with the current world order as a unilateral action," the Chinese expert added.
"In my opinion, such air strikes are groundless, they were carried out under a false pretense," Wang Haiyun noted, adding that it was also an example of hegemonic aspirations. The expert stressed that Syrian government forces had no reason to use chemical weapons since they had been successful in liberating Eastern Ghouta from militant.
Missile attack on Syria
On April 14, the United States, in coordination with the United Kingdom and France, launched missile strikes on Syria’s military and civilian infrastructure facilities. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Syrian air defenses managed to shoot down 71 out of 103 missiles.
Washington, London and Paris claimed the strikes to be a response to a chemical weapons attack, which had allegedly happened in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7. Reports about the incident had been spread by a number of non-government organizations, including the White Helmets.
The Russian Foreign Ministry slammed those allegations as a bogus story, while Russia’s Defense Ministry pointed out that the White Helmets were known for spreading fabricated news.
On April 9, officers from the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the opposing sides in Syria visited Douma but did not find any traces of chemical weapons. On April 10, a decision was made to send OPCW experts to Douma to assess the situation on the ground and collect information about the alleged chemical incident.