UNITED NATIONS, Dec 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Syria on Tuesday, following a lightning offensive by rebels who captured swathes of the country’s north from government forces, diplomatic sources said.
The meeting was requested by the Syrian government, and backed by the three African members of the Council (Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Algeria) as well as Guyana, one of the sources added.
The current offensive is being led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known by its initials HTS. The United States (US) and the United Nations (UN) have designated the HTS as a terrorist organisation.
On Monday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s said that the offensive by rebel factions in his country’s north was an attempt to redraw the map of the region. President Assad made this remark during a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian.
“The terrorist escalation reflects the far-reaching goals of dividing the region and fragmenting the countries in it and redraw the map in line with the objectives of the United States and the West,” a statement from Assad’s office quoted him as saying.
Iranian President Pezeshkian, meanwhile, pledged continued support to Damascus by saying, “We hope that with your tact, strength and fortitude, the country of Syria will pass through this stage with success and victory as it has passed through far more difficult conditions.”
The Assad government is supported by Iran as well as Russia. Both Tehran and Moscow have said that they would help Syrian government forces fight back after Aleppo, Syria’s second city, fell out of government control.
Aleppo is home to more than two million people and saw fierce fighting earlier in the civil war. But until this weekend the rebels were never able to take over totally.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that more than 500 people have been killed in last week’s rebel offensive on government-controlled areas in the country’s north.
On Monday, Syrian and Russian air raids on several areas of Idlib province in northwest Syria killed 11 civilians, including five children, the Observatory said.
Turkey, which backs the rebel factions in Syria, rejected Monday any suggestion that “foreign interference” was behind last week’s offensive.
“It would be a mistake at this time to try to explain the events in Syria by any foreign interference,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at a joint press conference in Ankara with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi. — NNN-AGENCIES