Russia accused the United States on Monday of aggression against Iraq and Syria aimed at preserving its global dominance and salvaging the Biden administration\u2019s \u201cimage\u201d ahead of US elections. The US retorted that its military response to unjustified attacks by Iranian-backed proxies against American forces is not only legal but will continue.<\/p>\n
The exchange came at a contentious UN Security Council meeting called by Russia, Syria\u2019s closest ally, where both countries also said they did not want an escalation and spillover of the Israel-Hamas war. Many council members expressed fears of a growing Mideast conflict and urged de-escalation and stepped-up peace efforts.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the US of violating international law and continuing \u201cto sow chaos and destruction in the Middle East.\u201d He said violence by the United States and its allies has escalated from the Palestinian territories to Lebanon, the Red Sea and Yemen and is \u201cnullifying international efforts to reestablish peace in the Middle East.\u201d He called on all countries \u201cto unequivocally condemn these senseless acts which violate the sovereignty of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Russian ambassador claimed the United States is attempting \u201cto flex muscles \u2026 to justify and salvage the image of the current American administration \u2026 in the light of the upcoming presidential pre-election campaign.\u201d And he claimed the Americans were undertaking military action in an effort \u201cat any price to preserve their dominating position in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
US Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood countered that the United States has an absolute right to self-defense against attacks on American forces and the actions it has taken were \u201cnecessary and proportionate.\u201d He told the council that since Oct. 18, Iran-aligned militia groups have attacked US and coalition forces over 165 times in Iraq, Syria, and in a drone attack on a Jordanian facility hosting US forces fighting Islamic State extremists on Jan. 28 that killed three US Army members and injured many more.<\/p>\n
The US responded with 85 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on Feb. 2 which both countries claimed resulted in civilian deaths, injuries and property destruction. They condemned the attacks as violations of their sovereignty \u2013 as their ambassadors did again at Monday\u2019s council meeting.<\/p>\n
Wood stressed that the United States doesn\u2019t want more conflict in a region where it is \u201cactively working to contain and deescalate the conflict in Gaza.\u201d \u201cAnd we are not seeking a direct conflict with Iran,\u201d Wood said \u201cBut we will continue to defend our personnel against unacceptable attacks. Period.\u201d He accused Iran of failing \u201cto rein in its extremist proxies.\u201d<\/p>\n
The United States calls on the 14 other council members, especially those with direct channels to Iran, \u201cto press Iranian leaders to rein in their militias and stop these attacks,\u201d Wood said. \u201cThey should also press the Syrian regime to stop giving Iran a platform to destabilize the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s UN Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani countered that \u201call of the resistance group in the region are independent,\u201d and said they have legitimate rights to end \u201cthe illegal\u201d US presence in Iraq and Syria, stop the killings in Gaza and end Israel\u2019s occupation of Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore, any attempt to attribute these actions to Iran or its armed forces is misleading, baseless and unacceptable,\u201d Iravani told the council, adding that Iran has never sought to contribute to a spillover of the conflict, has no military presence in Iraq and has military advisors in Syria at the government\u2019s invitation to fight terrorism.<\/p>\n
He rejected claims that Iranian bases in Iraq and Syria were attacked, calling the allegations \u201cunfounded\u201d and attempts \u201cto shift attention away from the U.S. aggressive actions.\u201d UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo briefed the council, urging all parties to heed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres\u2019 call \u201cto step back from the brink and to consider the unbearable human and economic cost of a potential regional conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n
She reiterated his call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and action to promote a political roadmap to peace in the region. China\u2019s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun, a Russian ally, echoed her concerns about escalating tensions and actions, and pointed a finger at the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe US purports that it does not seek to create conflicts in the Middle East or anywhere else, but in reality, it does precisely the opposite,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cThe U.S. military actions are undoubtedly stoking new turmoil in this region and further intensifying tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Algeria\u2019s UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama, the Arab representative on the council, defended the sovereignty of Iraq and Syria and also said the US airstrikes \u201care likely to further exacerbate the already precarious situation.\u201d \u201cIt may potentially lead toward a further escalation,\u201d he warned, urging restraint and de-escalation. \u201cWe firmly believe that force is not and will never be the means for peace and stability,\u201d Bendjama said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russia accused the United States on Monday of aggression against Iraq and Syria aimed at preserving its global dominance and\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":30111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[4918,1485,1733,1380,9658,1520,773,493,535,1669,1418,1630,1518,504,536,290,2035,2055,344,3530,1738,95,771],"class_list":["post-30110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-conflict","tag-egypt","tag-extremism","tag-gaza","tag-global-dominance","tag-hezbollah","tag-houthi-rebels","tag-humanitarian-crisis","tag-iran","tag-iraq","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-jordan","tag-lebanon","tag-middle-east","tag-palestine","tag-russia","tag-syria","tag-terrorism","tag-un","tag-us-2024-presidential-elections","tag-us-military","tag-usa","tag-yemen"],"reading_time":"4 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}