UN Security Council rejects Russian resolution on Syria
French President Emmanuel Macron called on the UN Security Council to resume initiative to handle political situation and end the humanitarian crisis in Syria after USA -led strike reached their target, his office said on Saturday.
The vote reflected support for the airstrikes on Syrian chemical sites but also again demonstrated the paralysis of the U.N.'s most powerful body in dealing with the seven-year-long Syrian conflict.
The Russia-drafted resolution won three votes at the Security Council, far below the nine votes required for adoption. Eight countries voted against the draft, while four abstained.
As reported by China's state media Xinhua China's UN representative Ma Zhaoxu said that the current situation in Syria is perilous in a UN Security Council meeting called by Russian Federation to discuss the on-going Syria war and the recent chemical attack in the region.
But the USA ambassador to the UN said President Donald Trump told her if the Syrian regime uses poisonous gas again, "the United States is locked and loaded" to strike again. France's UN Ambassador Francois Delattre said the result of the vote sends "a clear message" that Security Council members recognised the need for the air strikes, and "their proportional and targeted nature".
The Syrian government has denied the allegation and called the reports fake news used by the West to justify its attacks on Syria.
Nikki Haley said: "When our president draws a red line, our president enforces the red line".
After the vote, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the meeting confirmed that the US and its allies "continue to put worldwide politics and diplomacy in the realm of myth-making - myths invented in London, Paris and Washington".
Meanwhile, the United States, France and Britain have launched a new bid at the United Nations to investigate chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
Russian Federation has warned that any military action against Syria would be in violation of global law as it was carried out without UN Security Council approval.
"Russia's veto was the green light for the Assad regime to use these most barbaric weapons against the Syrian people, in complete violation of worldwide law", she said.