Moscow Accuses France of Violating International Law by Launching Anti-ISIL Airstrikes in Syria

MOSCOW-Russia has accused France of violating international law by launching a bombing campaign in the Syrian territory, purportedly against positions of the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIL) terrorist organization in Syria.

On Saturday, France launched a campaign of airstrikes against ISIL positions in Syria. Commenting on the behavior, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova pondered what kind of conception of ‘self-defense’ would drive one country to carry out an operation to bomb another without that country’s explicit permission, Sputnik reported.

 Earlier, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was cited by French media alleging that Paris’s bombing campaign constitutes self-defense. “We are acting in self-defense,” Valls claimed, according to Reuters.

In a post on her Facebook page, Zakharova pondered that “it would be nice to know more about this concept of self-defense, in the form of air strikes [on the territory of Syria,] a state which did not attack anyone, and without its consent, and about this concept’s compliance with international law.”

Zakharova noted that she found it entertaining that “the referendum in Crimea is called an annexation, but air strikes conducted without the approval of the Security Council or of the receiving side is self-defense.”

The spokeswoman emphasized that while “it’s clear that the [Islamic State] is a threat to the entire world,” first two questions must be answered: “First, who was it that created ISIL? And second, on what basis are you acting on the territory of a sovereign state, bypassing a legitimate government which not only does not support, but is selflessly fighting against ISIL?”

Zakharova concluded that “this is not international law; this is its abolition in front of a shocked international community.”

H.M