US, Russia spar over US-led attack

The UN Security Council fails to condemn the airstrikes by the US, Britain and France on Syria. Eight countries voted against Russia's draft in an urgent session that saw Washington and Moscow trading accusations against each other. The Russian envoy to the UN condemned the US-led attack as a blatant disregard for international law. He further stressed that there is no proof of chemical attack in Syria adding that Douma was used as a pretext for the military action. He argued that the U-S is making the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Syria even worse. In response, the U-S ambassador to the UN defended the attack on Syria as justified, legitimate and proportionate. Nikki Haley accused Russia and Syria of failure to live up to their international commitment to remove all chemical weapons from Syria. Meanwhile, Syrian envoy to the United Nations Bashar al-Ja’afari says the aggressions by some Western countries will not break the will of his nation to decide their political future.