US State Department spokesman Mark Toner had previously said Russian Federation might be violating the resolution by using Iranian territory to launch airstrikes in Syria.
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Toner said that beyond the question of Russia’s use of a base in Iran, its air strikes often “indiscriminately” hit civilian targets and moderate Syrian opposition groups.
Russian Federation used Iran as a base from which to launch air strikes against Syrian militants for the first time on Tuesday.
Russian fighter bombers conducted strikes on Syria from an airbase in Iran for a second day on Wednesday, rebuffing a suggestion from the United States that using the base may violate a UN Security Council resolution.
Toner said US officials are examining whether Russia’s use of the Iranian base is a violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution that bans the supply, sale and transfer of combat aircraft to Iran without prior U.N. approval.
Toner also described Russia’s move as “unfortunate but not surprising or unexpected”, saying the air strikes that Russian Federation says target the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant in Syria actually “predominately target moderate Syrian opposition forces”.
Russian officials, however, admitted that the goal is to reduce expenses and avoid military risks during an air operation that seeks supporting the Syrian regime forces, Iranians and the so-called Hezbollah. The ministry said the strikes had targeted the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and fighters affiliated with the group previously known as the al-Nusra Front in the Aleppo, Idlib and Deir el-Zor provinces.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that any U.S. dismay over Moscow’s military cooperation with Iran should not distract from efforts to reach the U.S. -Russia deal on coordinating action in Syria and securing a cease-fire.
The escalated air raids come as part of the Syrian military counter offensive against a series of military bases controlled by rebels in the southern rim of Aleppo.
Moscow and Tehran have both deployed forces to Syria in support of Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime. But this does not mean that we provided our base to Russian Federation for military use.
The Russian military said Thursday it was ready to back a United Nations call for weekly cease-fires in Aleppo, as haunting footage of a young boy’s rescue from a bombed-out building shook global media.
“It’s unfortunate but not surprising”, Toner told reporters.
“We assured safety of flight as those bombers passed through the area and toward their target and then when they passed out again”, he said.
Russian military experts say the deployment of Russian bombers at the Iranian base sharply cuts the distance to targets in Syria, allowing them to carry a bigger load of bombs.
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Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will gather on August 26, with the talks possibly lasting for two days. If Russia is moving closer to the Assad-Iran-Hezbollah alliance, it could spell doom for Syria’s besieged opposition.
