![Unfortunately, the American coalition which is striking ISIS [IS] is built outside the Security Council. This means they don't have international legitimacy, Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem said. - Sputnik International](https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/18330/13/183301316_0:0:0:0_600x0_80_0_0_78bd12ea875c0d71e6aea954b831ff9e.jpg "Unfortunately, the American coalition which is striking ISIS [IS] is built outside the Security Council. This means they don't have international legitimacy, Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem said.")
Updated 8:07 p.m. Moscow Time
UNITED NATIONS, September 27 (RIA Novosti) – The US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) has been created without the UN Security Council's authorization and has no international legitimacy, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Saturday.
"Unfortunately, the American coalition which is striking ISIS [IS] is built outside the Security Council. This means they don't have international legitimacy," Muallem said.
Earlier in September, the United States formed an international coalition in order to fight IS militants. Washington and its allies have already conducted a number of airstrikes on IS positions both in Syria and Iraq.
The United States has been carrying out airstrikes against the IS on the Syrian territory without any formal permission from the Syrian government.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that the coalition should seek consent of the countries, in which the airstrikes are conducted.
The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting against the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, the IS launched an offensive in northern and western Iraq and declared the establishment of a caliphate on the territories under its control.
