UN Security Council to discuss Syria on Monday

UN Security Council to discuss Syria on Monday
Syrian government forces gather at the Abu Duhur military airport area in Idlib province, on January 21, 2018. (AFP)
Updated 22 January 2018
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UN Security Council to discuss Syria on Monday

UN Security Council to discuss Syria on Monday

PARIS: The UN Security Council will hold talks about the situation in Syria on Monday, French Foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on his Twitter feed on Sunday.
He added that France would press for humanitarian access.
Le Drian said earlier on Sunday that France had called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council over Syria following a Turkish incursion into northern Syria’s Afrin province.
He also condemned indiscriminate bombing by the Syrian regime in Idlib province and asked for immediate access for humanitarian aid to eastern Ghouta, where 400,000 citizens face a critical situation.
However, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has criticized France over its decision.
Cavusoglu told reporters in Baghdad on Sunday that Turkey expected France to stand by an ally country and not with a "terror organization."
Cavusoglu said if France does "not act like ally... then it would be treated as a country that sides with terrorists." Turkey considers Syrian Kurdish militia group that controls the enclave of Afrin to be terrorists because of their affiliation with Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.
The minister's comments were televised live on Turkish television.
Earlier, France in a statement urged Turkish authorities "to act with restraint in a context where the humanitarian situation is deteriorating in several regions of Syria."