Syria calls for U.N. Security Council to condemn U.S.

BEIRUT, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Syria's foreign ministry called for the United Nations Security Council to condemn what it called U.S. aggression and require Washington to respect Syrian sovereignty, it said in a statement carried on the country's state-owned media.

Syria and Russia earlier said jets from a U.S.-led coalition had struck a Syrian army position near Deir al-Zor, killing scores and allowing Islamic State fighters to briefly overrun it.

The U.S. military said it had stopped an air strike after being told by Russia it may have hit a Syrian army position. (Reporting By Angus McDowall; Editing by Marguerita Choy)</s>U.N. Security Council likely to meet on U.S.-led Syria strikes -diplomats

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 17 (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council is likely to meet on Saturday at the request of Russia, diplomats said, to discuss air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition in Syria, which Moscow said had targeted and killed Syrian military personnel.

Russia and a war monitoring group said coalition jets bombed a Syrian army position near Deir al-Zor airport on Saturday, killing dozens of Syrian soldiers. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Paul Simao)</s>This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The United Nations security council has called an emergency meeting to discuss air strikes by the US-led coalition in Syria, diplomats said, after Russia said coalition warplanes had bombed and killed Syrian government forces.

Vladimir Putin questions US commitment to Syria ceasefire deal Read more

The 15-member council was due to meet behind closed doors on Saturday evening in New York, diplomats told Reuters.

The US envoy to the United nations, Samantha Power, said she regretted loss of life in the Syria airstrike, but said the Russian call for the security council meeting was “a stunt”.

Earlier on Saturday Russia’s ministry of defense said coalition planes had killed 62 Syrian soldiers, wounded 100 more and allowed Islamic State militants to gain an advantage through the strike.

The Pentagon did not outright admit that coalition planes had hit Syrian forces, but said that pilots had “believed they were striking a Daesh [Isis] fighting position” and may have struck Syrian government forces instead.

The death toll could not immediately be confirmed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based group that has tracked casualties of the war, reported that about 80 Syrian soldiers were killed. The Russian defense ministry said more than 100 were injured.

In a statement, the ministry echoed questions from President Vladimir Putin about US commitment to a shaky ceasefire deal brokered by the two countries, and said the airstrikes could be evidence that American officials had not consulted with their counterparts in Moscow.

“If this airstrike was the result of a targeting error,” Russian major general Igor Konashenkov said in a statement, “it is a direct consequence of the US side’s stubborn unwillingness to coordinate its action against terrorist groups on Syrian territory with Russia.”



Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, was subsequently quoted by Ria Novosti saying the Kremlin would demand an explanation at the UN.

“We are reaching a really terrifying conclusion for the whole world,” she said, according to the state-owned news agency. “The White House is defending Islamic State. Now there can be no doubts about that.

“We demand a full and detailed explanation from Washington. That explanation must be given at the UN Security Council.”

Konashenkov did not identify the planes’ country of origin, but said they were part of the US-led coalition. US central commmand (Centcom) said “Russian counterparts” had been consulted.

The Russian defense ministry said Isis militants were emboldened by the airstrikes, which hit an airport near Deir al-Zor, and that the forces of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad were now fighting a pitched battle against those of the terror group. It also said the strikes were conducted between 5pm and 5.30pm local time by two F-16s and A-10s that entered the country from the direction of Iraq.

SOHR said Russian warplanes had been bombing the same region recently, citing a source at the airport who also said Isis fighters had used the strike to overrun a government position.



Centcom acknowledged the strikes in a statement, saying: “Coalition forces believed they were striking an [Isis] fighting position that they had been tracking for a significant amount of time before the strike.”

The statement added: “The coalition airstrike was halted immediately when coalition officials were informed by Russian officials that it was possible the personnel and vehicles targeted were part of the Syrian military.”

Centcom said the coalition had struck the area in the past, and that its members had “earlier informed Russian counterparts of the upcoming strike”.

“It is not uncommon for the Coalition Air Operations Center to confer with Russian officials as a professional courtesy and to deconflict,” the command center said, “although such contact is not required by the current US-Russia Memorandum of Understanding on safety of flight.”

The statement added that “coalition forces would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit” and that they would “review this strike and the circumstances surrounding it to see if any lessons can be learned”.

The US and Russia last week brokered a controversial ceasefire that made provisions for joint strikes on jihadi militants, even though the Kremlin stands accused of killing 2,000 civilians in six months of strikes.



Many Russian strikes have targeted US-backed groups that oppose Assad’s government, which is itself responsible for tens of thousands of civilians killed, many with chemical weapons, according to rights groups. The US says its bombing campaign has killed 55 civilians, though rights groups say at least 210 died in the battle for the city of Manbij alone.

Migrant death toll expected to exceed 10,000 in 2016 Read more

Elements of the Syria pact have been resisted by leaders in the Pentagon, including defense secretary Ash Carter. State-owned Russian news agencies have quoted military officials as saying that Syrian rebels have violated the ceasefire agreement 55 times already. Rebels have alleged violations by Assad’s forces.

Aid shipments into the devastated city of Aleppo have yet to be allowed to reach civilians. More than 470,000 people have been killed in the Syrian civil war since 2011, according to the Syrian Center for Policy Research.

On Saturday, Putin blamed ceasefire violations and the aid blockade on resistance from Washington, saying Americans “still cannot separate the so-called healthy part of the opposition from the half-criminal and terrorist elements.

“In my opinion, this comes from the desire to keep the combat potential in fighting the legitimate government of Bashar Assad. But this is a very dangerous route.”

Putin has supported Assad’s government since the start of the war with money, aid and arms, and, since last September, with airstrikes.</s>Russia has called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to discuss US-led airstrikes in Syria, a United Nations diplomat tells CNN. The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET, the UN diplomat says.</s>U.N. Security Council to meet on U.S.-led air strikes in Syria

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 17 (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council will meet on Saturday at the request of Russia, diplomats said, to discuss air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition in Syria, which Moscow said had targeted and killed Syrian military personnel.

The 15-member body is due to meet behind closed doors at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT), diplomats said.

Russia and a war monitoring group said coalition jets bombed a Syrian army position near Deir al-Zor airport on Saturday, killing dozens of Syrian soldiers.

In a statement carried on Syria's state-owned media, Syria's foreign ministry called for the Security Council to condemn what it described as U.S. aggression and require Washington to respect Syrian sovereignty.

Such a move is unlikely as statements by the council have to be agreed by consensus. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Paul Simao)</s>MOSCOW: Moscow will convene an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council after a string of deadly US-led coalition air strikes hit a Syrian army base, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said late Saturday.

“The Russian ambassador to the UN has been tasked with convening an urgent meeting of the Security Council over this issue,” Zakharova told Rossia-24 public television. “We demand Washington’s full and detailed explanation, and that must be made before the UN Security Council.”</s>The UN Security Council on Friday canceled an urgent meeting that had been called to discuss a US-Russian deal on Syria, at the request of both the United States and Russia, diplomats said.

During the scheduled meeting, US and Russian envoys were to present details of the joint agreement that calls for a ceasefire, the delivery of aid and joint targeting of Islamist rebels in Syria.

Russia, Syria's key ally, is pushing for the Security Council to endorse the agreement, but France and other council members have said they must first learn more details about the deal.

Under the deal, all sides were due to allow deliveries of food and other basic supplies to the battleground city of Aleppo after a ceasefire went into effect on Monday.

But on Friday, aid convoys positioned at the border with Turkey had yet to receive the all-clear to begin their journey to Aleppo.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Thursday that the council could adopt a resolution backing the agreement during a high-level meeting on Syria to be held on Wednesday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are due to attend the council talks, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.</s>UNITED NATIONS (AP) — US UN envoy regrets loss of life in Syria airstrike, but says Russian call for emergency Security Council meeting is ‘a stunt’</s>UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council on Friday canceled an urgent meeting that had been called to discuss a US-Russian deal on Syria, at the request of both the United States and Russia, diplomats said.

During the scheduled meeting, US and Russian envoys were to present details of the joint agreement that calls for a ceasefire, the delivery of aid in Syria.

Russia, Syria’s key ally, is pushing for the Security Council to endorse the agreement, but France and other council members have said they must first learn more details about the deal.

Under the deal, all sides were due to allow deliveries of food and other basic supplies to the battleground city of Aleppo after a ceasefire went into effect on Monday.</s>Russia says U.S. refuses to share Syria truce deal with UN council

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday that a U.N. Security Council endorsement of a Syria ceasefire deal between Moscow and Washington appeared unlikely because the United States does not want to share the documents detailing the agreement with the 15-member body.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin and U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power had been due to brief the council behind closed-doors on Friday but that was canceled at the last minute.

"The main problem ... which in my mind makes it impossible to produce any resolution, is that they are refusing to give those documents to members of the Security Council or even to read those documents to the members of the Security Council," Churkin told reporters.

"We believe that we cannot ask them (council members) to support documents which they haven't seen," said Churkin, suggesting there was lack of unity in U.S. President Barack Obama's administration toward the agreement.

The U.S. mission to the United Nations said it could not agree with Russia on a way to brief the council that would "not compromise the operational security of the arrangement."

"Right now we are focused on the implementation of the agreement brokered by Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Lavrov, particularly the urgent need for humanitarian aid to reach Syrians in need," a U.S. spokesperson said in a statement.

The deal reached on Saturday aims to put Syria's peace process back on track. It includes a nationwide truce that started at sundown on Monday, improved humanitarian aid access and joint military targeting of banned Islamist groups.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reached agreement on five documents, which they said would not be publicly released. However, France on Thursday called on the United States to share details of the deal.

Churkin said Russia has given two drafts of a possible Security Council resolution to the United States. He said on Thursday that Moscow hoped a resolution could be adopted next week during the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders.

"They, in their typical way, came up with a completely different thing, which is trying to interpret and reinterpret the agreement," Churkin said, referring to U.S. officials.

A Security Council endorsement would add political weight to the deal, but would have no implications on the ground.

The United States and Russia said on Friday they wanted to extend the four-day-old ceasefire in Syria that they have co-sponsored, although the agreement looked increasingly shaky, undermined by increasing violence and a failure to deliver aid.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) holds an emergency session to discuss the U.S. airstrikes in Deir ez-Zor.