Middle East Security Council meets on US strikes in Iraq and Syria United Nations

Threats to international peace and security - Security Council, 9542nd meeting “The Middle East remains highly volatile,” the UN senior official for political affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said, reiterating the Secretary-General’s call on all parties to “step back from the brink and to consider the unbearable human and economic cost of a potential regional conflict.” Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo today (05 Feb) spoke at a Council meeting, requested by Russia, on the recent US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. DiCarlo said, “Long-term regional stability demands the implementation of a clear political roadmap in each of these situations.” She added, “The Secretary-General continues his extensive outreach to all key stakeholders to urge all parties to take concrete measures to de-escalate tensions, and to work towards sustainable political solutions that aim to resolve, rather than merely manage, longstanding conflicts.” The UN senior official appealed to the Council to “continue to actively engage all concerned parties to prevent further escalation and the worsening of tensions that undermine regional peace and security.” Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya told the Council, “we decisively condemned this new brazen act of aggression of the US against a sovereign State, creating a further risks and increasing the level of instability in a region that is already on fire.” He continued, “It is clear that this incident which we are here discussing today, only increases regional tensions caused by unprecedented violence in Gaza, which for more than four months has been suffering from inhumane bloody operation of Israel who the US is covering through all their efforts as well as their satellites, including blocking efforts of the Security Council to impose an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.” “It is clear that unilateral acts of violence by Washington and their allies only worsen the chaos in the region, nullifying international short efforts to reestablish peace in the Middle East, and to find a just solution to the Palestinian question,” the Russian Ambassador said, He called on the international community to “unequivocally condemn these senseless acts of Washington and its allies in the Middle East, which violate the sovereignty of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic.” US diplomat Robert Wood told Council members, “Russia called this meeting under the false pretense that the United States has no ground to respond to attacks that have killed US personnel.” “It bears repeating, therefore, that the actions US forces took on February 2nd are necessary and proportionate, consistent with international law and an exercise of the United States inherent right to self-defense,” Ambassador Wood reiterated. He called on members of the Council, “especially those with direct channels to Iran to press the Iran’s leaders to rein in their militias and stop these attacks,” adding that “they should also press the Syrian regime to stop giving Iran a platform to destabilize the region.” “As President Biden has made clear, we will not hesitate to defend our personnel and hold responsible all those who harm Americans. That certainly goes for Iran and its proxies,” the US diplomat said. He concluded, “we will continue to exercise our right to self-defense at a time in a place of our choosing. And we will continue to hold Iran and its affiliates accountable for their destabilizing actions.” Syrian Ambassador Koussay Aldahhak said, “Successive US administrations have misused their permanent membership of the Security Council and interfered thoroughly in the internal affairs of other countries including my country, Syria.” He added, “They have formed military coalitions outside the umbrella of the United Nations and international relations legitimacy, perpetrating acts of aggression and occupation, exerting pressure and blackmail, collectively punishing and smothering peoples with unilateral coercive measures and inhumane immoral blockades.” “Such violations impose the law of force over the force of law,” the Syrian Ambassador added. Ambassador Aldahhak reiterated that the Syrian Arab Republic “completely rejects all the pretexts and lies that the US administration is trying to use to justify its aggression, which aims to protect its agents in the region, including Da’esh, Al-Nusrah Front, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, other terrorist entities and groups associated with them and the separatist militias.” He said, “these agents would not have continued their crimes against the Syrian people without the multifaceted support provided by the United States and its allies to them.” Iraqi Ambassador Abbas Kadhom Obaid Al-Fatlawi “strongly” condemned “the American attacks which targeted military positions in Iraq on the night of the third of February, which led to dozens of deaths and martyrs amongst personnels and civilians.”