MOSCOW, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - The United States violated international law by sanctioning airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Iraq, one of the key members of Die Linke (The Left) party in the German parliament Gregor Gysi said Thursday.
"This is a famous US position, when they play the role of the world's gendarme, neglecting the rules of international law. These issues [authorizing airstrikes abroad] are the domain of the UN Security Council. Why it has not been convened? Why isn't it adopting resolutions? Why isn't everything working according to the Charter of the United Nations provisions, but it is the United States which decides everything for everyone?" the politician said in an interview with Deutchlandfunk radio.
"Individual countries do not have a right to decide what to do. The UN Security Council has this right … Either the international law is in effect for everyone, or it does not function at all," Gysi stressed.
The United States has been carrying out airstrikes against the IS Islamic fundamentalist organization's fighters in Iraq since August, after the group proclaimed a caliphate over the vast territories it controls in Syria and Iraq. On Wednesday, US President Barack Obama in his address to the nation, unveiled his strategy for defeating the IS that includes authorizing US airstrikes against the group in Syria. Obama announced that the United States would lead a coalition aiming to roll back the terrorist threat and destroy the jihadist group altogether.
