MOSCOW, September 23 (RIA Novosti) - Damascus is not fundamentally against the US military action against the Islamic State (IS) if the airstrikes are coordinated with the Syrian authorities in advance, Maj. Gen. Yahya Suleiman told Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency on Tuesday.
"What media outlets reported was true - the US envoy to the United Nations informed his Syrian counterpart in advance that the United States intended to carry out airstrikes on Syrian territory. We do not have any fundamental objections to the US forces fighting terrorist groups and ISIL [IS] on the assumption that these strikes are being conducted within the limits, drawn by the Syrian Arab Republic itself," the official said in an interview, adding that negotiations on coordination efforts are currently underway.
Suleiman stressed that the Syrian government would protect the country by all means available should it come under attack.
On Tuesday, the United States and a number of its Arab Allies carried out a series of airstrikes against IS insurgent positions across Syria, following President Obama's announcement earlier this month of an anti-IS strategy, which he said would involve a multinational coalition and possible airstrikes on Syrian territory. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the attacks have led to around 160 deaths, 31 of them civilians.
