Russia calls US-led strike on Assad regime 'unlawful'

MOSCOW (AA) - The U.S.-led coalition airstrike on Bashar al-Assad regime forces in Syria were "illegitimate and unlawful", Russian foreign minister said on Friday.

"Whatever the reason for the U.S. command to make this decision, this strike is illegitimate and unlawful. It’s yet another harsh violation of Syria’s sovereignty," Sergey Lavrov said in a news conference.

The U.S.-led coalition warplanes on Thursday struck one of the Assad regime’s military sites in southern Syria near the border with Jordan.

“The strike occurred at 16:30 p.m. local time (1330 GMT) Thursday, leaving several people dead and causing significant material damage,” the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted a military source as saying on Friday.

Following Thursday’s airstrike, U.S. military officials announced that Assad regime-allied forces, which had "posed a threat to U.S. and partner forces" in Syria’s southeastern city of Al-Tanf, had been targeted.

According to U.S. military commanders, the strike was carried out in response to the entry of the regime-allied forces into a “de-escalation zone” in which U.S. and allied forces were operating.

At the time of the strike, pro-Assad forces “were advancing well inside” the de-escalation zone, the coalition said in a Thursday statement.

Coalition forces, it went on to assert, had been operating near Al-Tanf “for many months, training and advising vetted partner forces” engaged in the fight against the Daesh terrorist group.