Anti-ISIL Coalition Strikes in Syria 'Ineffective, Worsen Refugee Crisis'

© AFP 2023 / BULENT KILICBlack smoke billowing into sky after an airstrike.
Black smoke billowing into sky after an airstrike. - Sputnik International
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The US-led coalition airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria lack effectiveness, kill and displace civilians, which only contributes to the refugee crisis, Russian parliamentarian Nikolai Kovalyov told Sputnik on Wednesday.

Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin speaks during a news conference at the UN headquarters in New York. - Sputnik International
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US-led Airstrikes Against ISIL in Syria Ineffective - Russian UN Envoy
ULAN BATOR (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova – According to Kovalyov, the airstrikes have essentially led to nothing but the eradication and displacement of civilians.

"The troops in the international coalition, all they can do is fly there and bomb, the effectiveness of the airstrikes is almost zero… approximately one or two militants are killed during the airstrikes and around 30 or 40 civilians," Kovalyov, who is representing Russia at the autumn session of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) in Mongolia’s Ulan Bator, said.

"And they [civilians] start to move to what they believe to be a prosperous Europe with the intention of living off benefits," he said.

Islamic State is a Sunni terrorist group that has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. Since 2014, the US-led international coalition has been conducting airstrikes against ISIL positions in the country.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the coalition has killed 162 civilians since the launch of its operations in mid-June 2015.

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