The United Nations Security Council met on Monday, February 5, to discuss the US violations of Syrian and Iraqi sovereignty during last week’s attacks. The meeting was called by Russia which claimed that through its reckless acts of aggression and violations of the UN charter, the US threatens international peace and security.
Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzya, called the February 2 attacks the latest instance of the US engaging in unlawful and irresponsible acts. He stated that it showed the US’ complete disregard for international law. He added that the US intends to drag Iran into a regional conflict through these repeated provocations.
On Friday, the US had carried out 85 attacks at different locations in Syria and Iraq, killing 37 and 17 people respectively. It claimed that the attacks were carried out in response to attacks on its bases by the Iraqi militias and resistance groups. In one of those attacks, at least three US soldiers were killed and dozens of others were wounded.
The US has been accusing Iran of aiding militias and groups involved in the attacks on its forces in the region.
Iran has denied any involvement in the attacks on US bases in the region. Participating in the meeting, the country’s ambassador to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, called the US strikes “illegal and unjustified.” He claimed that the attacks “blatantly violate the basic norms and principles of international law, and the UN charter.”
Iravani also accused the US of ignoring the root causes of the conflict in the region which is “occupation, aggression and continued genocide and horrific atrocities committed by Israeli regime and fully supported by the US against the Palestinian people.”
Iravani asked the US and NATO to respect the will of the Iraqi people and the government and withdraw their forces from the country.
US attacks neither retaliatory nor in self-defense
Trying to justify the strikes in Iraq and Syria, the US representative in the UN claimed that they were carried out in “self-defense” and under article 51 of the UN Charter.
Article 51 of the UN charter talks about individual or collective self-defense of a member country in case of an armed attack.
Robert A Wood, the US representative, also tried to differentiate the US and UK joint attacks inside Yemen from the attacks carried out in Iraq and Syria
Speaking at the meeting, Iraqi representative Abbas Kadhim Obaid called the US strikes a violation of his country’s sovereignty and security, and asked the Security Council to do its work and protect the territorial integrity of all the countries including Iraq and Syria.
Syrian ambassador Qussai al-Dahhak rejected the claims that the attacks on Syria and Iraq were retaliatory, terming them “flimsy and misleading.” They are “flagrant violations of international law, humanitarian law and the principles and purposes of the United Nations,” SANA reported him as saying.
Al-Dahhak underlined that the “root causes of conflict, suffering and instability” in the West Asia region are the “wrongful, destructive policies” of the US. He accused the US of providing blind and unlimited support to Israeli occupation and the atrocities it is committing against the Palestinian people, including the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Al-Dahhak also held the US responsible for creating military alliances in violation of the UN Charter and of interfering in other countries’ internal affairs, through means including aggression and occupation, and demanded that action be taken against the US.
The Syrian ambassador accused the US government of misusing their power and using the territories of Iraq and Syria to launch election campaigns in the country.