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US-led coalition strikes trigger refugee flows, says Russian OSCE envoy

The attack came without the blessing of the UN Security Council, in flagrant violation of its Charter, the Russian diplomat pointed out

VIENNA, April 16. /TASS/. An act of aggression by the United States, the UK and France has worsened the humanitarian situation in Syria, triggering new waves of refugees, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Lukashevich said on Monday.

The diplomat said "the US, the UK and France crudely and defiantly committed an act of aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic, a sovereign state at the forefront of the war on global terrorism."

"The attack came without the blessing of the UN Security Council, in flagrant violation of its Charter. Syria cannot threaten the above three states in any way, and they are not at war with it," he went on to say. "Besides, these aggressive moves deteriorate debilitate the dramatic humanitarian situation in Syria, playing into the hands of terrorist groups and triggering new waves of refugees," Lukashevich told a session of the Working Group on Structured Dialogue.

"As a result, they have increased the suffering of civilians, whose well-being the US and its allies are publicly lamenting, while in deed [they are] punishing them with sanctions against the deliveries of medicines," he pointed out.

On April 14, the United States, the UK and France delivered a massive strike on Syria without the UN Security Council's greenlight.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, warplanes and warships of the US, the UK and France carried out missile strikes on military and civil infrastructure facilities in Syria on Saturday from 03:42 to 05:10 Moscow time.

The ministry said a research center in Damascus, headquarters of the Syrian Republican Guard, an air defense base, several military airfields and army depots had been targeted.

Washington, London and Paris earlier stated that the strikes came as a response to the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Syrian city of Douma.