UNITED NATIONS, February 27. /TASS/. US air strikes on the territory of Syria hit facilities and positions of the armed forces in the east of the republic that fight against the group Islamic State (banned in Russia), Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya has said.

"We are particularly concerned about the intensification in the region of so-called retaliatory strikes by the US Air Force, as well as Israel’s ongoing airstrikes on its Arab neighbors, including from the area of the occupied Syrian Golan and the Blue Line, fraught with risks of drawing both Syria and its neighbors into a full-scale regional confrontation," he said at a meeting of the Security Council on Syria.

Nebenzya recalled that Israeli aviation in the past month alone repeatedly attacked international airports in Damascus and Aleppo, "which serve as the main gateways for delivering UN aid to Syria."

"In general, American airstrikes target the facilities and positions of Syria’s armed forces in the east of the country, where the Syrian military continues its persistent fight against remaining IS militants, who, contrary to Washington’s statements, in fact enjoy its support and patronage," Nebenzya noted.

Russia strongly condemns the ongoing raids in Syria and regards them as "a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of that country and the basic norms of international law," the ambassador said.