Wu Fei, a professor at China’s Guangzhou Jinan University, said that a successful Russian operation in Syria could deal a fatal blow to US attempts to act unilaterally, without first obtaining a mandate through bilateral or multilateral treaties or in violation of them.

BEIJING (Sputnik) — The United States is afraid of Russia’s growing influence in Syria and in the Middle East as a whole, which could undermine its role in the region, Chinese experts claim.

"The United States is confused because of Russia’s actions in Syria. It fears that the new anti-terrorist coalition will compete with the US-led coalition and derail an already established structure," China’s Ex-Ambassador to Egypt An Huihou was quoted as saying in an article, published on the Chinese Institute of International Studies’ website.

The diplomat stressed in his article that Washington was resolutely opposed to Russia's bolstered military presence in Syria from the very beginning, but when the international community reached consensus on the need to combat terrorism, the United Stated could not find any rational reason to object to the participation of Russia in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIL) group in Syria.

Wu Fei, a professor at China’s Guangzhou Jinan University, told Sputnik on Tuesday that a successful Russian operation in Syria could deal a fatal blow to US attempts to act unilaterally, without first obtaining a mandate through bilateral or multilateral treaties or in violation of them.

"The success of the Russian military operation in Syria would mean a complete failure of the US policy of unilateralism, which the United States, of course, hopes to avoid. It will certainly try to present Russia's actions in a negative light. It is foreseeable that the US government and Western media will literally with a magnifying glass in the hands seek out Russia’s mistakes and write numerous reports about them," Wu empathized.

Russia should be prepared for the flow of reports and accusations, he added.

"Accusations, demands for clarification and defamation campaigns by the United States in response to Russia’s actions indicate the unwillingness of the United States to see the victory of the Syrian government over the extremist organizations with the assistance of Russia," Wu told Sputnik.

Russia started precision airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria on September 30, following a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad.

According to the Russian defense ministry data, the Russian air campaign has done considerable damage to ISIL command and logistics networks, as well as to infrastructure used to equip suicide bombers.