Russia warns against planned U.S. strike on Syria

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MOSCOW, Sept. 9 -- Any unilateral military strike on Syria would constitute an aggression over a sovereign state, senior Russian officials said Monday.

"Neither Senate nor Congress of the United States might sanction a strike against other country because there is no aggression against the United States," head of Russia's Security Council Nikolai Patrushev told reporters.

He said only the UN Security Council was authorized to launch military operations against a country.

"If the attack will nevertheless be conducted, we might call it an aggression against the other state," Patrushev added.

He said the civil war in Syria has already resulted in 2 millions of refugees. "Don't we know the civilians die when strikes are carried out? We've seen that in many countries," he said, citing Iraq and Afghanistan as examples.

Alexei Pushkov, head of the International Committee of the Russian parliament's lower chamber, or State Duma, said the U.S.-planned military attack on Syria aimed at a regime change.

"Obviously, the aim of that operation is to decisively weaken Syrian government's ability to wage a war and eventually to open the militants a road to Damascus," the Interfax news agency quoted Pushkov as saying.

Pushkov believed the U.S. troops would bomb a number of military facilities as well as Damascus international airport and presidential palace.

"This is going to be a massive attack targeting principal military and civilian infrastructure," he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama has been seeking congressional authorization for a limited military action against Syria, which he said is aimed at punishing Bashar al-Assad's government for perpetrating an alleged chemical weapons attack outside Damascus on Aug. 21.

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