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Syria: Russia warns military action would bring 'catastrophic consequences'
Russia has warned that a Western a military intervention in Syria will have “catastrophic consequences” for the Middle East as divisions widen between Moscow and Washington.
A government forces tank patrols the Khalidiyah neighbourhood of Homs Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Ahead
of a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Weds, the
Russian foreign ministry has warned the United States and Britain
against repeating the experience of Iraq.
“Attempts
to bypass the security council, once again to create artificial
groundless excuses for a military intervention in the region are fraught
with new suffering in Syria and catastrophic consequences for other
countries of the Middle East and North Africa,” a foreign ministry
spokesman said.
“We are calling on our
American partners and all members of the world community to demonstrate
prudence (and) strict observance of international law, especially the
fundamental principles of the UN Charter,” said Alexander Lukashevich, a
ministry spokesman.
Iran, Syria's closest ally, echoed the Russian warning during talks with UN officials in Tehran this morning.
"We
want to strongly warn against any military attack in Syria. There will
definitely be perilous consequences for the region," said Abbas Araqchi,
an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman.
"These complications and consequences will not be restricted to Syria. It will engulf the whole region."The US has postponed a meeting with Russia on the Syrian crisis as divisions between the two countries deepen and Washington prepares for military action.
America’s State Department said that it had cancelled a meeting in The Hague between a senior American official and ambassador with a Russian due amid “ongoing consultations about the appropriate response to the chemical weapons attack in Syria on August 21”.
“We will work with our Russian counterparts to reschedule the meeting. As we’ve long made clear it is imperative that we reach a comprehensive and durable political solution to the crisis in Syria,” said an official.
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Russia and Iran Warn Against Intervention in Syria
From
left: Iran's head of Atomic Energy Organisation, Ali Akbar Salehi,
Iranian President Hassan Rowhani, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad
Zarif arrive at a ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Tehran, on Aug.
17, 2013.
According to the office of British Prime Minister David Cameron, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Cameron Tuesday to tell him that there was no evidence that the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons. And Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich warned in a statement the same day that military intervention in Syria without a UN Security Council resolution would have “catastrophic consequences.” In Tehran, U.N. Political Affairs Head Jeffrey D. Feltman, there for a regional security meeting, got an earful from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who warned Feltman, “The use of military means [against Syria] will have serious consequences not only for Syria but for the entire region,” according to an account by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi given to reporters covering the event. (Araqchi went on to state that Russia had already submitted to the U.N. Security Council “proof” that Syrian rebels, not regime soldiers, had used chemical weapons.)
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