Moscow Against Dragging NATO Into Syrian Conflict

Moscow is against NATO being dragged into the situation in Syria, Russia's envoy to the alliance told Sputnik on Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — He underlined that NATO air patrols along the Syrian border must be carried out in strict compliance with existing Russia-US agreements on the prevention of incidents.

"We are against NATO being dragged into the situation in Syria. One should take into account that only one country is acting in accordance with international law in Syria, and that is Russia," Alexander Grushko said.

In October, US and Russian officials signed a memorandum of understanding concerning safety procedures for the two countries’ aerial missions in Syria to avoid any conflicts.

A US-led coalition of 65 nations has been bombing Daesh terrorist group's targets in Syria since September 2014, but without the approval of the Syrian government or the UN Security Council.

Russia launched airstrikes against terrorist groups in Syria in September 2015 at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad. On March 14, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to withdraw most of Russia's military contingent from Syria after objectives of the operation had been accomplished.