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US has no legal authority to operate in Syria: Analyst

Thursday, 24 August 2017 5:27 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 24 August 2017 5:28 AM ]

In this picture taken on Nov. 21, 2016, a US Navy fighter jet takes off from the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier. (Photo by AP)

An analyst says the United States has no legal authority to be in Syria, adding that its military operations inside the war-torn country are illegal under both international and US law.

“There is no authorization for these operations at all and certainly under international law. We have no authority from the Syrian government to conduct any military operations inside Syria or have the bases that we have in the northern Kurdish-controlled region. This is totally against international law,” James Jatras, former US Senate foreign policy analyst, told Press TV in an interview on Thursday.

Syria has called on the United Nations to halt the US-led coalition’s continued targeting of civilians during their operations in the militant-held northern city of Raqqah.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Monday that 125 civilians, including at least 40 minors and 25 women, had lost their lives in US-led aerial attacks against the city, located about 455 kilometers (283 miles) northeast of the capital Damascus, between August 14 and August 21.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes against what are said to be Daesh targets inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.

The military alliance has repeatedly been accused of targeting and killing civilians. It has also been largely incapable of fulfilling its declared aim of destroying Daesh.

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