BFF-37 UN Security Council to meet on Syria: diplomats

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BFF-37

SYRIA-CONFLICT-UN

UN Security Council to meet on Syria: diplomats

UNITED NATIONS, United States, June 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The UN Security
Council will meet Tuesday in open session to discuss Syria where intense
fighting is playing out between pro-government and jihadist-led forces,
diplomats said.

Such a meeting was not on the council agenda for the day but it was
requested by Belgium, Germany and Kuwait, non-permanent council members
overseeing UN humanitarian operations in Syria, a diplomat said.

The United States asked that political aspects of the conflict also be
addressed at the meeting. Speeches by the UN under-secretaries general for
political and for humanitarian affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo and Mark Lowcock,
are expected, another diplomat said.

In May, the council held several meetings on Syria and the situation in the
rebel-held province of Idlib. The UN feared a humanitarian catastrophe if
fighting in the northwest region continued. In recent weeks, Idlib has been
the target of nearly daily bombardments by the Syrian regime and its ally
Russia.

The region was designated a demilitarized zone in September under an
agreement between Russia and Turkey. This spared Idlib a major offensive.

The spike in violence in the province that is home to around three million
people has left more than 400 people dead since late April and displaced
270,000 others, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syria’s war began in 2011 and has now claimed more than 370,000 lives.
Several million more have been displaced.

BSS/AFP/RY/1642 hrs