overdrive. but just when he's been feeling saying. we just don't know yet where the lines when drawn between what can be said and what conduct that. some journalists decided to sacrifice their integrity for access to polling the media opinion the listening post base time on al-jazeera getting to the heart of the matter if not stuff like in g. the turkish cypriot people calls you today and says let's have told us would you accept facing realities what do you think reunification would look like there are two people think the peaceful unification is the only option for prosperity of south korea hear their story on talk to al-jazeera. al-jazeera where every.

this is al-jazeera. you're watching the news hour live from a headquarters in doha i'm doubting obligates are coming up in the next sixty minutes the united nations security council is set to meet momentarily about the u.s. led airstrikes on syria we'll have live coverage. are used three words to describe this operation. overwhelming and effective. the pentagon calls these strikes a success and rejects claims that the assad government shot down any western missiles and night yet that. is what did the study we stress that this kind of aggression will not stop our on. but the syrian government says it won't be intimidated.

also ahead saying goodbye to the mother of the nation south africans honor winnie mandela at her funeral and select a. fellow the u.n. security council is meeting for the second time in twenty four hours in an emergency session cold again by russia so it's close ally syria has been the target of the first ever coordinated western strikes against damascus where the u.s. the u.k. and france launched one hundred five weapons against three targets the pentagon claims a missile and bomb attacks have pushed back syria's chemical weapons program for several years meanwhile the british prime minister to resign may insists these strikes were not aimed at the government change on fronts is threatening more

attacks of the assad government continues to use chemical weapons moscow has called it an unjustified attack on a sovereign states and iran is warning off regional consequences. if. they don't want to share the sources of the information. they want to make this strike and happen to be. before the suspect this was supposed to start a war to stablished investigate the accident. to get convinced it is you know that the evidence and no evidence of the use of the chemical weapons mike hanna joining us from the united nations as we're saying the security council meeting for the second time in twenty four hours mike talk us through what we expect to see in the next sixty minutes or so. yes indeed this emergency meeting yet another on the situation in syria has been called by russia and its

ally bolivia there you can see the russian ambassador talking in the chamber shortly before these proceedings begin now russia is expected to introduce a resolution to the chamber calling for a condemnation of the strike being carried out by the u.s. and its french and british allies now obviously both all three of those allies have a veto in the security council so yet again we are very likely to see a veto in the security council should the resolution come to a vote of the toe that we have seen repeatedly in recent weeks happening in the council what will also be happening is that we expect the secretary general to begin by briefing the security council just as he did some twenty four hours ago the secretary general himself has delayed the show jeweled visit to riyadh that has been delayed for an indefinite period and he issued a statement late last night in which he called for all members of the security

council to exercise restraint and he also called for the council to address the issue of creating some mechanism of a come to billet evil any chemical weapons attack now this is something that's plagued the security council for a number of months there has been no mechanism in place that can actually attribute responsibility for any chemical weapons attack and that in a way many would contend has led to the situation that we're seeing now the security council gathering on a weekend to discuss a strike against one of u.n. members by three of the other u.n. members that is britain the u.s. and france so expecting proceedings to begin shortly as i said we saw the russian ambassador in the. the u.s. ambassador has entered is in the chamber we heard earlier from the british

ambassador who made very clear that the allies the u.s. and france are totally united in this action she appeared to indicate that this was at this stage apparently a one off series of strikes that it was intended to limit syria's chemical weapons capability so we are now waiting for some resolution within the security council in terms of the argument we are likely to see well that's going to be the kind of argument that we've seen repeatedly over the past few days this is now the fifth emergency security council meeting on the issue of syria that has taken place in the past five days we are hearing mike that the o.p.c. w. has now arrived in damascus on their way to the site of that alleged chemical attack but what is the sense that you are getting among ambassadors over there at the u.n. is there

a sense that this can really escalate and get out of control. well what we are likely to hear from russia in particular is absolute outrage that these strikes would be carried out while the o.p.c. w that's the chemical weapons watchdog inspectors are actually on the ground as you mention they have arrived in damascus they've checked into the hotel there they are there at the invitation of the syrian government russia has guaranteed that they will have safe access to the area where the alleged chemical weapons strike took place just under a week ago so what we are going to hear from russia is an absolute anger at the fact that these strikes are carried out while there is an obese e.-w. delegation in country but also before the c.w. delegation has actually gone to the scene of this alleged attack to confirm whether or not a attack took place now just to explain very quickly what the o.p.c.

e.d.w. does it is the fact finding mission of the international chemical watchdog that will travel to the scene of this alleged attack it is empowered to determine whether or not there was a chemical weapons attack in that vicinity it is not mandated and this is a crucial point to apportion any form of accountability all blame it reports back to the open c.w. which delivers a report back to the security council which will then debate the paintings of the open c.w. but it is precisely this issue that has been such a major point of discussion in the security council that has been the point that the secretary general has now been laboring in his past two statements that while the o.p.c. w can carry out investigations there is nobody internationally anymore that can actually say this country is responsible that non-state actor is responsible this

is the crucial issue that the security council needs to address let's go now to the council chamber. where the president of the security council from peru is about to start proceedings he will begin the session by announcing the resolution that russia has introduced but before that it is likely that the secretary general who you see sitting to the security council president's right will actually open address and there we have the u.s. ambassador walking in proceedings delayed a little bit as he ok is now moving in i must mention to as well that the city the u.s. ambassador in a very interesting position not only is she ambassador to the united nations but very unusually she's also a member of the u.s. national security council so she's been moving between washington and the united nations let's go to the chamber ok michael before we go to the chamber we will

cross back to the chamber as and when they start speaking for the time being mike thank you but i do stand by for us because i will be crossing back to you as that testing gets underway. the british prime minister to resign may meanwhile has been keen to emphasize that the u.k. is not trying to topple the best side in assad's government last night british french and american armed forces conducted coordinated and targeted strikes to degrade the syrian regime's chemical weapons capability and deter the use this was not about interfering in a civil war and it was not about regime change as i discussed with president trump and president makram it was a limited targeted and effective strike with clear boundaries that expressly sought to avoid escalation and did everything possible to prevent civilian casualties we

would have preferred an alternative path but on this occasion there is none. we cannot allow the use of chemical weapons to become normalized and take you back to the u.n. security general. secretary general antonio work terrorist speaking let's listen u.s. president announced the beginning of airstrikes with but the suppression by france and the u.k. indicating they were targeting the chemical weapons capabilities of the syrian government and to the future use the statement was followed by announcements from prime minister may and president mark on the airstrikes were reportedly limited to see military locations inside syria the first targets included the syrian scientific studies and research center at the airport in the mosque was the second in a lair skeptical weapons storage facility where the homes and the servers and alleged chemical weapons equipment storage sites and command post also needed homes the

syrian government announced surface to air me side response of t.v. both u.s. and russian sources indicated there were no cv and casualties the un is are however unable to independently verify the details of all these reports mr president the secretary general of united nations it is my duty to remind member states that there is an obligation particularly when dealing with matters of peace and security to act consistently with the charter of the united nations and with international law in general the u.n. charter is very clear on these issues which the president the security council has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security i call on the members of the school the council to

unite and exercise that responsibility. and i urge all members to show restraint in these dangerous circumstances and to avoid any acts that could escalate matters and worsening the suffering of the syrian people as i did yesterday i stressed the need to avoid the situation from spiraling out of control the suppressants any use of chemical weapons is a bore and the suffering it causes is already. i have repeatedly expressed my deep disappointment that the security council failed to agree on a dedicated mechanism for effective accountability for the use of chemical weapons in syria i urge the security council to assume its responsibilities and fill this gap and i will continue to engage with member states to help achieve these objectives a lack of accountability emboldens those who use such weapons by providing them

with the reassurance of impunity and this in turn further weakens the norm proscribing the use of chemical weapons and the international design meant and nonproliferation architecture as a whole which the president the seriousness of the recent allegations of the use of chemical weapons in duma require this requires a sorry investigation using impartial independent and professional expertise i reaffirm my full support for the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons the o.p.c. double and its fact finding mission in understating there and the taking the required investigation the team is already in syria i mean form that their operations plan to visit the site is completed and that they are ready to go i am confident they will have full access without any restrictions or impediments to perform their activities with the president alone me to report what i said yesterday to repeat what i said yesterday syria today represents the most serious

threat to international peace and security. in syria we see confrontations and proxy wars involving several national armies a number of armed opposition groups many national and international militias foreign fighters from everywhere in the world and various terrorist organizations from the beginning we have witnessed systematic violations of international humanitarian law international human rights law and international law to cool you not to disregard of the letter and spirit of united nations charter for eight long years the people of syria have endured suffering upon suffering syrians every have through a litany of horrors atrocity crimes sieges starvation indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure the use of chemical weapons forced displacement sexual violence torture detention and then forced disappearance the list goes on at this critical juncture i call all members to act consistently with

the charter of united nations of the international law including the norms against chemical weapons if the law is ignored it is undermined there is no military solution to the crisis the solution must be political we must find ways to make credible progress towards a general and credible political solution that meet the aspirations of the syrian people to dignity and freedom in accordance with resolution twenty two fifty four and the geneva communiqué i've asked my special envoy to come to new york as soon as possible to consult with me on the most effective way to accelerate the political process thank you mr president. yes and you know to get better handle your thing for him as you feel now. but you know what i love by loughborough along the whole same form a lot of people. so we're you know i love it i'm from the united nations security council and you were just listening to the secretary general on your terrace and

now we can listen to the russian ambassador to the u.n. urgent meeting of the security council to discuss the aggressive actions of the united states and their allies in syria. this is the fifth meeting on this topic just this week. the youth of you know the president of the russian federation who didn't made a special statement today and i will quote him. on the fourteenth of april the united states supported by its ally it launched an airstrike against military and civilian targets of the syrian arab republic. without a mandate from the united nations security council and in violations of un charter and norms and principles of international law and aggression against a sovereign state has carried out it which is on the front line in the fight against terrorism. just as one year ago to go on when the shower airbase in

syria came under attack the united states used as a pretext to stage chemical attack against civilians. this time in duma damascus suburb of the russian military experts did not find any trace of korea or any other toxic agent well that's. when they visited the site not a single local resident was able to confirm that a chemical attack had actually taken place with. the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons dispatching its experts to syria in order to investigate all the circumstances loosens up with mommy however in a sign of cynical the stay in a group of western countries decided to take military action without waiting for the results of the investigation russia condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack against syria where russian military personnel are assisting the legitimate government and its counterterrorism efforts through its actions united

states makes an already catastrophic humanitarian situation in syria even worse and bring suffering to civilians. in fact the u.s. panders to the terrorists who have been tormenting the syrian people for seven years. leading to a wave of refugees fleeing this country in the region. when you go the current escalation around syria is destructive to the entire system of international relations. history will. deliver its verdict and washington already bears a heavy responsibility for the bloody hour rage and yugoslavia iraq and libya. and of quote. russia has done everything possible to convince the united states and its allies to refrain from their military plans which could lead to a new spiral of violence in syria and destabilize the middle east. the secretary general of the un at the meeting of the security council that we convened yesterday and today expressed his concern about the way bands have developed however in

washington london paris referred to disregard calls to appeals to common sense united states and its allies continued to demonstrate blatant disregard for international law although as permanent members of the security council they must be is especially firm in in protecting the provisions of the un charter it was shameful to hear how in justifying the aggression and article of the us constitution was mentioned. now we have the greatest respect to the right of each state to respect their own founding law however washington should learn it's time for washington to learn that the international code of behavior regarding the use of force is regulated by the united nations charter. it's interesting how the people of great britain and france know what they will think that when they find out that their government is taking place taking part in an illegal military

adventure and by referring to the american constitution. you're constantly you constantly tempted by neo colonialism. you have nothing but disdain for the un charter and the security council. which you aren't unjustifiably trying to use for your illicit aims there's no serious work that you're doing in the security council you know concede you don't consult us and unit mendaciously claim otherwise undermines your thirty of the security council. as a pretext for aggression you mention the alleged use of chemical weapons in the syrian city of duma. representatives of russia after an inspection by our experts unequivocally stated that no such incident took place furthermore there were people found who took part in this staging. and in fact the inspirers

and organizes that staging were foreign intelligence services. after this event the syrian authorities immediately invited experts from the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons so that they conduct a field mission to do my in order to establish the facts. one quickly of these are formalities were resolved and guarantees of security were provided at the time the strikes were conducted experts were already in syria and getting ready to begin their work i want to recall to the members of the security council and everyone else that on the tenth of april when i draft resolution. on secure work of the special mission of the o.p.c. w was blocked. we were assured of that and the fact that such a document was not necessary we were told that the mission without any additional efforts by the security council will go visit the chemical the site and conduct an investigation of the chemical incident now it is clear that we were absolutely

right. yesterday some of our colleagues some of them naive li some of them cynically told us that the reason of the situation is supposedly a lack of an independent investigative mechanism. the aggression has shown that that isn't this is not the issue at all as we stated. it during last year's attack against the sharon airbase there was the joint investigative mechanism of the un o.p.c. delhi that did not prevent the united states from conducting a missile strike afterwards the gym and fact made sure that its conclusions coincided with the reasons for the american strike we said many times you don't need any investigations but you didn't need them then and you don't need them today . the organizers of the aggression didn't even wait for the elementary establishment of facts by an international organization which is authorized to do that they supposedly determine everything for themselves and determine who is

guilty after given that they themselves with the fighters that were under their control and then n.g.o.s that they control they disseminated . rumors using social media. they they confirmed this through so-called secret intelligence mythical mythical sick sick injuns ladies and gentlemen masks or rather white helmets or what have once again fallen. we are already used to the fact that when they conduct their doubtful jew political policies the countries that are aggressors already. blame the regime of assad lately they tend to shift responsibility to on russia which according to their interpretation cannot control

the dictator. all this is based on a scheme that is well that has been well tried as a provocation as mendacious. mendacious accusations verdict and punishment. if. this is how you want international affairs to be conducted now. this is hooliganism in international relations and not minor hooliganism given that we're talking about major nuclear powers. several strikes were conducted against the scientific research center in bars and jam raia. recently two inspections by the o p c w were conducted with un impeded access to all facilities experts didn't find any traces of activity that would contravene the can the chemical weapons convention. the. scientific of the so it is in syria use only for peaceful activity which is aimed at enhanced saying economic

effectiveness of economic activity of syria if you want syria to have no economy at all. you want to withdraw this country back into the stone age just a few years ago this country was one of the most developed countries in the middle east. you want you want to finish off what your sanctions haven't achieved yet at the same time you're trying you are shedding crocodile tears about the suffering of ordinary syrians ordinary syrians which who are tired of war and they were happy that they are legitimate or thirty have freed in their territory or not you're not interested in their suffering you're aggressive actions contribute to worsening the humanitarian situation which you are so worried about according to your statements . in twenty four hours you could stop the conflict in syria for this washington london and paris only have to give orders to two there are handpicked terrorists to

stop their fighting against the legitimate authorities and against their own people not of the strikes were conducted against syrian military air fields which are being used in the course of an operation against terrorist organizations what do you know it's a quite an original contribution to the combat against international terrorism as washington keeps repeating. which as washington keeps repeating is the only goal of its military presence in syria we have serious doubts about that. well. it seems that it would be clear that those who in the west who are covering themselves with humanitarian rhetoric are trying to and trying to justify their action in syria by supposedly to defeat the jihadists are actually aiming at dividing dismembering the country this is confirmed by the fact that the united

states has refused to take part in rebuilding the areas of syria that have been freed from the job this. lastly your aggression is a major strike and threat against the possibility of continuing the political process under the un auspices which in spite of objective difficulties was moving forward at varying speeds. so what were your constant references to the geneva process is worth if you yourselves using you know your own actions and your own actions are destroying that process we call on the united states and its allies to mediately and big aggressive actions against syria and to refrain from them in the future but. we we're putting forward for your attention of a brief draft resolution which we will demand a vote on at the end of this meeting we would like to address the members of the

security council today is not the time to share shirk your responsibilities. the whole world is looking at you you can take a principled stand thank you. learn a whole article i think they've ever sensitive of the russian federation for his statement and i now give the floor to the representative of the united states. thank you mr president and thank you mr secretary general for your briefing today. this is our fifth security council meeting in the past week to address the situation in syria. a week has gone by in which we have talked we've talked about the victims in duma we've talked about the assad regime and its patrons russia and iran we've spent a week talking about the unique horror of chemical weapons the time for talk and did last night we're here today because three permanent members of the united

nations security council acted the united kingdom france and the united states acted not as revenge not as punishment not as a symbolic show of force we acted to deter the future use of chemical weapons by holding the syrian regime responsible for its atrocities against humanity we can all see that a russian dissin from asian campaign is in full force this morning but russia's desperate attempts at deflection deflection cannot change the facts a large body of information indicates that the syrian regime used chemical weapons in duma on april seventh there is clear information demonstrating assad's culpability the pictures of dead children were not fake news they were the result of the syrian regime's barbaric inhumanity and they were the result of the regime and russia's failure to live up to their international commitments to remove all

chemical weapons from syria the united states france and the united kingdom acted after careful evaluation of these facts. the targets we selected were at the heart of the syrian regime's illegal chemical weapons program the strikes were carefully planned to minimize civilian casualties the responses were justified legitimate and proportionate the united states and its allies did everything we could to use the tools of diplomacy to get rid of assad's arsenal of chemical weapons we did not give diplomacy just one chance we gave diplomacy a chance after chance six times that's how many times russia vetoed security council resolutions to address chemical weapons in syria our efforts go back even further in two thousand and thirteen the security council passed

a resolution that required the assad regime to destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons syria committed to abide by the chemical weapons convention meaning it could no longer have chemical weapons on its soil president putin said russia would guarantee that syria complied we hoped that this diplomacy would succeed in putting an end to the horror of chemical attacks in syria but as we see from the past year that did not happen while russia was busy protecting the regime assad took notice the regime knew it could act with impunity and it did in november russia used its veto to kill the joint investigative mechanism the main tool we had to figure out who used chemical weapons in syria just as russia was using its veto the assad regime used seran leading to dozens of injuries and deaths. russia's veto

was the green light for the assad regime to use these most barbaric weapons against the syrian people in complete violation of international law the united states and our allies were not going to let that stand chemical weapons are a threat to us all they are a unique threat a type of weapon so evil that the international community agreed they must be banned we cannot stand by and let russia trash every international norm that we stand for and allow the use of chemical weapons to go unanswered and just as the syrian regime's use of chemical weapons last weekend was not an isolated incident our response is part of a new course chartered last year to deter future use of chemical weapons. our syrian strategy has not changed however the syrian regime has forced us to

take action based on their repeated use of chemical weapons since the april two thousand and seventeen chemical attack at conscious can the united states has imposed hundreds of sanctions on individuals and entities involved in chemical weapons use in syria and north korea we have designated entities in asia the middle east and africa that have facilitated chemical weapons proliferation we have revoked the visas of russian intelligence officers in response to the chemical attack and solsbury we will continue to seek out and call out anyone who uses and anyone who aids in the use of chemical weapons. with yesterday's military action our message was crystal clear the united states of america will not allow the assad regime to continue to use chemical weapons last night we obliterated the major research facility that it used to assemble weapons of mass murder i spoke to the

president this morning and he said if the syrian regime uses this poisonous gas again the united states is locked and loaded when our president draws a red line our president enforces the red line the united states is deeply grateful to the united kingdom and france for its part in the coalition to defend the prohibition of chemical weapons we worked in lockstep we were in complete agreement last night our great friends and indispensable allies shouldered a burden that benefits all of us the civilized world owes them that thinks. in the weeks and months to come the security council should take time to reflect on its role in defending the international role of the security council has failed in its duty to hold those who use chemical weapons to account that failure is

largely due to russian obstruction we call on russia to take a hard look at the company it keeps and live up to its responsibilities as a permanent member of the council and defend the actual principles the united nations was meant to provide for a moment last night we successfully hit the heart of syria's chemical weapons enterprise and because of these actions we are confident we have crippled syria's chemical weapons program we are prepared we are prepared to sustain this pressure if the syrian regime is full of shit off to test our will thank you learned i call a letter but i want to thank thought representative of the united states for your statement and i now give the floor to the representative of the united kingdom thank you mr president mr president these are uncertain times and today we deal with exceptional circumstance acting with our american and french on ari's in the early hours of this morning the united kingdom conducted coordinated targeted and

precise strikes to degrade assad's chemical weapons capability and deter the future use the british royal air force long storm shadow missiles at a military facility some fifty miles west of homes where the regime is assessed to keep chemical weapons in breach of syria's obligations under the chemical weapons convention full assessment is not yet being completed but we believe the strikes to be successful. furthermore none of the british us or french aircraft or missiles involved in this operation was successfully engaged by syrian air defenses and there is also no indication that rationale defense systems were employed our action was a limited targeted and effective strike there were clear boundaries that expressly sought to avoid escalation and we did everything possible including rigorous

planning before any action was undertaken to ensure that we mitigated and minimize the impact on civilians to gather our action will significantly degrade the syrian regime's ability to research develop and deploy chemical weapons and deter the future use the u.k. prime minister has said we are clear about who is responsible for the atrocity of the use of chemical weapons a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the syrian regime is responsible for the attack we saw last saturday some of the evidence that leads us to this conclusion is this follows there are open source accounts alleging that a barrel bomb was used to deliver the chemicals multiple open source reports claim a regime helicopter was observed about the city of duma on the evening of seventh

of april the opposition does not operate helicopters nor does it use barrel bombs and reliable intelligence indicates that syrian military officials coordinated water appears to be the use of chlorine in duma on seventh of april mr president no other group could have carried out this attack indeed diets for example does not even have a presence in duma. the syrian regime has been killing its same people for seven years its use of chemical weapons which has exacerbated the human suffering is a serious crime with international concern as a breach of the customary international law prohibition on the use of chemical weapons and this amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity any state is permitted under international law on an exceptional basis to take measures in order to alleviate overwhelming

humanitarian suffering the legal basis for the use of force for the united kingdom is humanitarian intervention which requires three conditions to be met number one that there is convincing evidence generally accepted by the international community as a whole of extreme humanitarian distress on a large scale requiring he media it and urgent relief i think the debate in this council and the briefings we have had from and others have proved that secondly it must be objectively clear that there is no practicable alternative to the use of force if lives are to be saved i think the vetoes have shown us that and thirdly the prepays you support us must be necessary and proportionate to the aim of relief of humanitarian suffering a mass be strictly limited in time and in scope to this aim and i think we have

heard both in my intervention in ambassador haley's how that has also been met the history of the syrian conflict is a litany of threats to peace and then violations of international law security council has met a hundred thirteen times since the syrian war started it was therefore not for want of international diplomatic effort that we find ourselves in this position today after a passion of chemical weapons use since the outbreak of the conflict. assad to fight the international community in twenty thirteen by launching a sarin gas attack on eastern ghouta which left more than eight hundred people dead despite the adoption of resolution twenty one eighteen despite four years of patient engagement syria continues to use chemical weapons against its people and has failed to answer a long list of serious questions the only conclusion we can reach is that syria had

not declared or destroyed all of its chemical weapons despite its obligations under the chemical weapons convention this is not a session on our part but a matter of record and i drove the russian attention the russian ambassador's attention to his points about barzan and jim raia the o.p.c. w. still has announced questions and discrepancies he knows this we all know this the council was briefed by the o p c w director general. resolution twenty one eighteen decides in the event of noncompliance to in pays measures and to chapter seven of the charter yet on twenty eighth of february last year when the u.k. together with france proposed a resolution taking measures and chapter seven short of the use of force russia vetoed the very least this council should have been able to do mr president was to

follow up on the findings of the dream report by extending its mandate yet four times russia has betake different proposals from different council members to do just that the syrian regime and its supporters are responsible for the greatest violations of international humanitarian law in modern history they have used indiscriminate weapons notably barrel bombs and plastic munitions against civilians and they have deliberately targeted medical facilities in schools as well as humanitarian personnel and civilian objects. they have used sieges and starvation as methods of warfare accompanied by attacks in opposition held civilian areas the regime has persistently obstructed humanitarian aid and medical evacuations tens of thousands of people have been illegally detained tortured and executed by the regime this is one of the most serious challenges to the international

nonproliferation regime we have ever faced a state party has violated the chemical weapons convention it has defied the security council and it has broken international law repeated attempts they were several years to hold them to account have been met with russian obstruction and resistance we have repeatedly in this council attempted to overcome this obstruction and without success mr president we are faced with a listen e of violations no sense of guilt no sense of regret no sense of responsibility a shameful record wrapped in a mix of denial deceit and disinform ation mr president i would invite those like the russian ambassador who speak about the charter to consider the following it is hard to believe that it is in line with the principles and purposes of the charter to use or condone the use of chemical weapons and in

the united kingdom's view it cannot be illegal to use force to prevent the killing of such numbers of innocent people i will take no lessons mr president in international law from russia despite all this mr president we would like to look forward the united kingdom together with france and the u.s. will continue to pursue a diplomatic resolution to the syrian crisis my french colleague will say more about our work in a few moments we believe it mass comprised four elements. one syria's chemical weapons program must be ended and the chemical weapons stockpiles destroyed once and for all to their mess be an immediate cessation of hostilities and compliance with all security council resolutions and these include those which mandate humanitarian access three the regime must return to the geneva talks and

agree to engage in the substantial gender put forward by the un special envoy stephan de mistura for finally there must be accountability for the use of chemical weapons and other war crimes in syria mr president the secretary general rightly highlighted the political process we propose that this as the security council will be together next weekend in the retreat with the secretary general they kindly hosted by sweden that we should use that opportunity to reflect on next steps and the way back to the political process and with our allies we stand ready to work with all members on the security council towards this and thank you learn i quote a lot of present done delivery much like to thank you represent of the united kingdom for statesmen and i now give the floor to the representative of france. mr you know mr president the men and women of the week after the chemical weapons

attack in damascus and the day after yesterday strikes let me. say yet again to those who are still wondering france has absolutely no doubt about that the assad regime's responsibility in this attack. this morning that we've published really the form of the report of our intelligence services where you go and we would ask those who yet again we are challenging the evidence and distorting the facts in the eyes of the world to review that information mr president for years. with the active support of his allies has carried out a strategy of destruction aimed at crushing all opposition and even more flouting the most basic principles of humanity and at the cost of hundreds of thousands of civilian lives in syria we've seen this in aleppo homes in eastern. than four years

you know the syrian regime has used the most terrifying weapons of mass destruction chemical weapons to massacre and terrorize its civilian population and we've seen a further demonstration of this in duma as we had seen in the past in honshu home inside mean in time menace or even in when asked about it where its responsibility was clearly established through the u.n. and o.p.c. w jim. no one can say that they did not you know and for years the syrian regime has systematically and repeatedly violated violated all of its international obligations the list of its violations is long it is overwhelming we are all familiar with them because violations of all international obligations on chemical weapons. under the c.w.c.

to which syria has been party since twenty thirteen and of the geneva protocol of one nine hundred twenty five which bans the use of these things against civilians the violations of the very underpinnings of international humanitarian law which are the principles of distinction precaution and proportionality of violations of successive security council resolutions twenty one eighteen twenty two zero nine twenty two thirty five and in this way obligations under the u.n. charter done with the use of chemical weapons against the civilian population again is tantamount to a war crime in accordance with the statutes of the i.c.c. the secretary general of the united nations in august of twenty thirteen qualify the use of chemical weapons as a crime against humanity or if it's really him the face of repeated and confirmed violations by the damascus regime of all rules underpinning our security france has constantly called for

a strong response from the international community we have carried out all possible efforts to ensure that these horrors do not go unanswered in the u.n. and in the o.p.c. w. and that they must be stopped at the security council through its excessive resolutions twenty one eighteen twenty two zero nine twenty two the school thirty five has been committed to imposing coercive measures under un charter chapter seven in the case of new violations of the security council was unable to act to be in accordance with its commitments due to the systematic naked. with a vote veto used by russia one way to systematically using its veto in the security council and in so doing it has betrayed the commitment it took in twenty thirteen in this council to guarantee the destruction of the syrian chemical arsenal all of the stalemate in the security council in the face of past atrocities committed in syria is a deadly and dangerous trap and we must get out of it mr president when it ordered

the chemical attack on the seventh of april the syrian regime knew full well what it was doing once again it wanted to test the threshold of the international communities tolerance and it found it in the face of this attack on the principles and the values and the laws underpinning the action of the united nations silence is no longer a solution we can no longer tolerate the trivialization of the use of chemical weapons which is an immediate danger to the syrian people and to our collective security. we cannot let the deadly genie of proliferation out of the bottle we clearly warned the assad regime and its allies that such a transco aggression would not go unanswered we have kept our word and we have acted in accordance with our responsibility we have done so in a controlled and transparent fashion making sure that we have avoided any

escalation with current actors on the ground the president of the republican the minister of foreign affairs have spoken on this subject thank you but some who for years have floated the most basic rules of international law today are affirming that our action runs counter to the un charter and i would remind them that that charter was not designed in order to protect criminals like our action is in line to be fully in line with the goals and values proclaimed even in the. first lines of the un charter oregon isolations mission is that i quote to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained end of the code this action was indeed necessary in order to face the repeated violations by the syrian regime of its obligations obligations stemming from law from treaties and

from its own commitments and finally our response was designed as a proportionate and precise response with specific targets the main research center of the c.w. program and two major production sites were also struck with. the capacity to develop to perfect and produce chemical weapons in syria has now been put out of service that was the only objective and out of ject it has been reached mr president my country knows first hand the devastating effects of chemical weapons which were used in the first world war we can now no longer allow for a punitive for the use of chemical weapons we will never step down we will continue to simply identify those responsible and bring them to justice and that is the purpose behind the partnership against impunity which we launched last january mr president allow me to insist on this point. last night strikes are

a necessary response given the chemical massacres in syria they are a response in line with law and our political strategy to put an end to the syrian tragedy. just be more specific we have four imperatives on the syrian issue or imperatives which are in the immediate interest of the syrians but also in the interest of the entire international community as the u.n. secretary general reminded us and i thank him for his briefing. at the muslim. allow me to recall them here of the first day the dismantling of the syrian chemical program in a verifiable and irreversible way this is essential we must spare no effort to set up an international attribution mechanism prevent impunity really and. stop any repeated attempts by the syrian regime secondly we must eradicate

terrorism by defeating once and for all this is a longstanding commitment but it requires genuine efforts to ensure an ultimate victory thirdly all cease fire throughout the syrian territory and humanitarian access to the civilian populations as required by security council resolutions we must have full and unfettered humanitarian access in order to aid in what suffering people in accordance with resolution twenty four zero one it is absolutely essential and urgent for humanitarian convoys to reach. like eastern ghouta on a daily basis insufficient safety for sleep we must have been a crisis exit strategy with a lasting political solution we can only resolve the syrian crisis once and for all if there is an inclusive political solution on the basis of the full implementation of security council resolution twenty two fifty four we have called for this for seven years it has never been so urgent to implement that resolution and to launch

true negotiations under the auspices of the united nations in order to achieve political transition in syria was it. so that is a u.n. security council meeting on syria on the military strikes on syria taking place right now and we heard from the secretary general as well as the representatives from the u.k. the u.s. france is still speaking right there and russia are they meeting called at the request of russia in fact after the u.s. after the u.s. led military strikes were conducted on three targets in syria and russia wanting a vote to condemn these strikes we can speak to one coal he's a professor of history at the university of michigan and a visiting professor consul university with us here in the studio that meeting still going on call from what you've heard so far just give me your analysis it just seems like the divisions are on display as they have always been when it comes to syria well what's striking is first of all that russia is simply in

denial it's quite amazing for them to come out and denied that there were any gas attacks so we saw them with our own ah it's. i mean one could understand if they wanted to as they have in the past cast doubt on the provenance of the gas but to deny it happened at all i think is a sign of open bad faith but a lot of people wondering and questioning why these strikes were conducted before the international investigators were able to go and we know now that they are inside syria and will be heading to duma i think that's a fair. the point i think that the americans the french and the british would have been better served by waiting until there was an independent verification there may be reasons for which they didn't want to wait of a military sort if you want to hit military targets you don't want to give the enemy a chance to move them around and make them inaccessible and as for president trump you tweeted earlier on this an accomplice that you make about. you know the problem

is that when you have something like somebody like trump leading a mission like this it's all about showmanship and it detracts from the seriousness of these issues. the chlorine gas is easily made to the american french and british strikes didn't remove the syrian ability to manufacture chlorine gas that's ridiculous and so no military objective was achieved here this was a show of strength on the part of the west ok one call will have to leave it there we thank you for sticking around and talking to us and thanks for watching al-jazeera we have more extended coverage on the situation in syria as well as out of the u.n. security council in just a moment with our colleagues out of london stay tuned.

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a touch camera traps have identified a healthy population of up to twenty slowed up it's just the technology improves we're refining all these ways in which our guesses are are getting corrected the latest evidence suggests they're more cats than previously acknowledged but the snow leopard trust believes it's premature to downgrade the cats on the international least of threatened species. for the benefit of people. so imagine they see me and paul going there our guys. documentaries that open your eyes. at this time on al-jazeera.