MOSCOW. April 11 (Interfax) - If the United States carries out a new strike on Syria, which White House spokesperson Sean Spicer warned about on Monday, Russian air defense systems will intercept no missiles, but the Syrian armed forces are completely entitled to do so, Federation Council defense and security committee's head Viktor Ozerov told Interfax.
"Our armed forces are in Syria to combat terrorism, rather than for the protection from external threats. We do not have such a mandate and we will intercept nothing. And if Syrian air defense troops are engaged in this, they have the full legal right for this," Ozerov said, when asked as to whether Russia will intercept U.S. missiles in case of a new strike.
Washington did not earlier rule out that new strikes could be delivered against Syria in case of a new chemical attack.
"Damascus has no chemical weapons, therefore, U.S. threats sound absurd," Ozerov told Interfax.