UN Security Council rejects Russia draft resolution slamming strike on Syria

The UN Security Council has failed to adopt Russia’s draft resolution condemning the recent joint airstrikes by the US, Britain and France on Syria, which came following an alleged chemical weapons attack on the Syrian town of Douma.

The resolution was rejected at an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Saturday that was convened at Moscow’s request, with three votes in favor, eight votes against and four abstentions.

The one-page draft resolution, read by Russia’s Permanent Envoy at the UN Vasily Nevenzya, condemned the military action against Syria and called on the three Western countries to "halt the aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic immediately and without any delay" and refrain from further use-of-force actions in violation of the UN Charter.

"By its actions, the US is increasingly aggravating the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria, bringing sufferings to civilians and actually conniving at terrorists who have been tormenting the Syrian people for seven years and provoking a new wave of refugees from that country and the region as a whole," it said.

The draft resolution noted that the strikes came at a time when experts of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) "started their work for gathering evidence of the alleged chemical attack in the town of Douma."

"It seems that it has finally become clear that those in the West who are exploiting humanitarian rhetoric and trying to justify their military presence in Syria by the needs to crush jihadists are actually aligning themselves with them and seeking to dismember the country," the Russian envoy pointed out.

In the Security Council meeting, Syria's envoy to the UN Bashar Jaafari condemned the strikes on Syria as a “flagrant violation of the UN Charter” and described the US and its allies as “liars and hypocrites" who are “supporting terrorists in Syria.”

Jaafari described that strikes by the US, Britain and France as “another message to the terrorists” that encourages them to use chemical weapons in their future attacks.

The “three aggressors” showed the terrorist groups that they can “continue to commit their crimes not only in Syria but in other countries,” he added.

The Syrian envoy said the airstrikes were aimed at preventing the OPCW investigation of the alleged incident in Douma and rhetorically asked why the three Western powers did not provide any evidence to the OPCW ahead of their attack on Syria.

SS