ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — The US-led coalition of nearly 60 nations has been conducting airstrikes against Daesh first in Iraq and later in Syria since 2014 — albeit without the approval of the Syrian government or the UN Security Council.
Russia has conducted an aerial campaign in Syria since September 2015 after the official request by the country's president, Bashar Assad. On March 14, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to withdraw most of the country's military aviation after accomplishing its objective in the fight against terrorism.
"While we fully support the coalitions fighting in Syria against ISIL [Daesh], at the same time it will be important to prevent why this extremism and terrorism happens. We need to address root causes," Ban said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The SPIEF-2016 is held on June 16-18. The forum is organized annually and attended by business representatives and officials from dozens of countries
