UNSC Must Address US Missile Defense Plans in Syria, If Confirmed – Lawmaker

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – If the United States tries to deploy missile defense systems in Syria, Damascus should immediately raise this issue in the UN Security Council, Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the Russian upper house's International Committee, told Sputnik on Wednesday.

"[In case this information is confirmed,] the Syrians should raise the issue in the UN Security Council… It is absolutely illegal. The United States has no UN mandate, it has no right to be in Syria, let alone to create any military facilities there," Dzhabarov said.

READ MORE: Bolton Warned US Might Hit Syria with Greater Force Than Before — Reports

On Tuesday, media reported, citing former Commander of Syria's Deir ez-Zor Military Assembly Fayez Esmer, that the Pentagon was getting ready to set a missile defense shield in Syria’s northeastern Al Hasakah and Rmelan.

The US-led coalition of more than 70 countries is conducting military operations against the Daesh* in Syria and Iraq. The coalition's operations in Iraq are conducted in cooperation with the Iraqi government, but those in Syria are not authorized by the government of President Bashar Assad or the UN Security Council.

*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia