CNN reports that the United States, the United Kingdom and France are pushing for an “irreversible” end to Syria’s chemical weapons program, amid furious recriminations from Russia over the effectiveness and legality of a wave of US-led missile strikes on Syrian targets.
UN diplomats shared with CNN a new resolution, led by France and backed by the US and the UK, calling for an independent investigation into the suspected chemical weapons attack inside Syria that precipitated the cruise missile strikes unleashed by the Western allies Friday.
After the Security Council session, Haley’s Russian counterpart, Vassily Nebenzia, called the day’s developments “a blow to a political settlement” in the Syria crisis. “I hope that hot heads will cool down and we can rebuild what has been destroyed,” Nebenzia told reporters, adding that the United States, France and the United Kingdom had engaged in “diplomacy of mythmaking, hypocrisy and falsehoods.”
Bashar Jaafari, Syria’s ambassador to United Nations, accused the three Western allies of undermining international peace and security and asked that copies of the UN Charter be distributed to their representatives so they can “enlighten themselves and awaken themselves from their ignorance and tyranny.”
The airstrikes followed a week of threats of retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack on civilians in Douma, outside Damascus, where Syrian forces have long been battling rebels.
Source CNN
