UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting on US strikes in Iraq, Syria

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is to hold an emergency meeting on the United States' airstrikes in Iraq and Syria that caused fatalities and considerable material damage across the Arab countries.

On early Saturday, US occupation forces targeted positions in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr and the city of al-Bukamal near the Iraqi border. They also attacked the cities of al-Qa’im and Akashat near the Syrian border in Iraq’s western province of al-Anbar. In addition to leaving many people dead, the strikes also caused damage to private and public property.

The US claims that the strikes were directed against those who were responsible for a recent deadly attack on the American forces in Jordan. According to the US Central Command, the American military deployed "more than 125 precision munitions" during the attacks.

The emergency meeting of the Security Council to discuss the US aggression was requested by permanent member Russia and is scheduled to take place at 4:00 pm local time (2100 GMT) on Monday.

Russia's first deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, said on social media that his country has "called for an urgent UN Security Council meeting to discuss threats to international peace and security from the US strikes against Iraq and Syria."

Earlier on Saturday, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said the airstrikes had been deliberately designed to inflame tensions in the region.

US strikes designed to drag regional powers into conflict: Russia

Foreign ministry says US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria are deliberately designed to further inflame the conflict.

The attacks once again demonstrated the aggressive nature of Washington’s foreign policy, she said, noting that the US “is purposefully trying to drive the largest countries in the region into conflict."

The strikes have also drawn fiery criticism from the targeted countries.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's office said sixteen people had been killed, among them civilians, and 25 others injured in the aerial assaults. He denounced the attacks as a "new aggression against Iraq's sovereignty," denying that they had been coordinated with the Baghdad government beforehand.

Iraqi PM rejects US 'lies', says 16 people killed in 'new aggression'

Iraq condemns the latest US strikes against the position of anti-terror resistance groups on its territory as a “violation of Iraqi sovereignty”, warning of “disastrous consequences” for the country and beyond.

Syria has also strongly condemned the aggression, saying the strikes were deliberately aimed at weakening Damascus' fight against Takfiri terrorist groups.

Syria: US aggression has no justification, proves its collusion with Daesh terrorists

Syria says US attacks against the country proved Washington

Syria said those regions that were targeted by the US strikes "are the same regions where the Syrian army fights remnants of the Daesh terrorist group, and this confirms that the US is in cahoots and allied with this group."

Iran, for its part, strongly condemned US airstrikes on Iraq and Syria, calling them a "strategic mistake" and a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the two countries, international law and the UN Charter.

“Last night's attacks on Syria and Iraq are an adventurous act and another strategic mistake by the American government, which will have no result other than the escalation of tension and instability in the region,” Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kan'ani, said on Saturday.

Iran: US strikes on Iraq, Syria ‘strategic mistake’

Iran has strongly condemned US airstrikes on Iraq and Syria, calling them a "strategic mistake" and a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the two countries, international law and the UN Charter.

Kan’ani also reiterated Iran’s warning about possible expansion of the scope and geography of the conflict across the region, calling the "continuation of such adventures a threat to regional and international peace and security."

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