The U.N. Security Council failed to agree on a statement on Turkey's counterterrorism operation in Syria at a closed meeting to discuss the action Thursday, APA reports citing Daily Sabah.
The U.S. and Russia vetoed a statement by five European members — France, Germany, Belgium, Britain and Poland — condemning the operation.
The five European council members who called Thursday's meeting — there are 15 member countries — urged Turkey in a joint statement afterward "to cease the unilateral military action." They claimed the operation threatens progress against the Daesh terrorist group, despite one aim of the operation being to clear any remaining Daesh terrorists from the region.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, whose country is a key ally of Syria's Bashar Assad, told reporters that any council statement on Syria must address broader issues, including the presence of foreign forces in the country.
U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft told reporters that President Donald Trump "has made abundantly clear" that the United States "has not in any way" endorsed Turkey's decision to mount a military incursion in northeast Syria.
Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring, the third in a series of cross-border anti-terror operations in northern Syria targeting terrorists affiliated with Daesh and the PKK's Syrian offshoot the YPG, on Oct. 9 at 4 p.m.
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