A representaive of Syria has been invited to the emergency meeting.
The UN Security Council should come together in order to investigate the chemical weapon attack carried out in Syria on Tuesday against civilians, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said at a UN Security Council meeting on Friday.
"We hope that the Council can unite and exercise that responsibility to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons in Khan Shaykhun," Feltman stated.
Syrian President Bashar Assad is humiliating Russia by refusing to cooperate with ceasefire agreements and by using chemical weapons against civilians, the UK Ambassador to the United Nations, Matthew Rycroft, said on Friday.
"The Syrians need new leadership for a new time without Assad, and Russia finally needs to do what it says it will do, which is to put pressure on Assad," Rycroft told reporters. "And instead Assad humiliates Russia at every turn, fails to agree to a ceasefire, fails to allow humanitarian aid and now deliberately uses chemical weapons against his own people."
The missile strikes conducted by the United States in Syria are a legitimate answer to the chemical attack in the country’ s Idlib province and hopefully will provide an impetus for the political talks, France’s Ambassador to the United Nations Francois Delattre told reporters prior to the meeting.
"The US strikes are a legitimate response to these attacks and an important signal for the future," Delattre said. "These developments can a game-changer and help boost the political negotiations in Syria."
On Thursday night, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in Ash Sha’irat, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the city of Homs. US President Donald Trump said the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Syria's Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on the Syrian government.
According to Homs Governor Talal Barazi, the attack killed five people and injured seven others.
On Tuesday, an alleged chemical weapon attack in Syria’s Idlib province claimed the lives of some 80 people and inflicted harm on an additional 200 civilians. The Syrian National Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, that reported the attack, as well as a number of Western states, blamed the Syrian government troops for the attack, while Damascus has refuted these allegations, with a Syrian army source telling Sputnik that the army did not posses chemical weapons.
