UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting in response to reported chemical attack in Syria

“UK, France, US, Poland, Netherlands, Sweden, Kuwait, Peru and Cote d’Ivore have called an emergency meeting of #UNSC to discuss reports of chemical weapons attack in #Syria. Meeting expected on Monday,” the U.K. Mission tweeted.

The U.N. Security Council is made up of five permanent members: the United States, U.K., China, France and Russia.

Bolivia, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Netherlands, Peru, Poland and Sweden are also non-permanent members.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley confirmed the call for a meeting Monday, sharing a statement from the U.S. Mission to the U.N.

“We along with 8 other members have called for an emergency Security Council mtg tomorrow in reference to the horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians in Syria. This is becoming all too common. Strong action is needed,” she tweeted.

Several activist groups reported that at least 42 civilians had died from the deadly chemical attack in the rebel-held city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, Syria, on Saturday.

Syria’s state news agency denied allegations that the Assad regime was behind the attack, saying reports were a “blatant attempt to hinder the army’s advance” into a “collapsing terrorist” stronghold.

President Trump warned there will be a “big price” to pay following reports of the attack, said Russia and Iran are “responsible” for backing Syrian President Bashar Assad.

A statement from U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called adhere fully to a Security Council resolution adopted in February, which pressed for a ceasefire across Syria.

Dujarric said, “the Secretary-General notes that any use of chemical weapons, if confirmed, is abhorrent, and requires a thorough investigation.”

“He reiterates there is no military solution to the conflict,” Dujarric added.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement Saturday that it had seen “multiple, very disturbing reports this afternoon regarding another possible CW (chemical weapons) attack near a hospital in Douma, Syria.”

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the “Assad regime and its backers must be held accountable and any further attacks prevented immediately” and issued a direct warning to Russia, the Syrian government’s staunchest backer.

“Russia, with its unwavering support for the regime, ultimately bears responsibility for these brutal attacks, targeting of countless civilians, and the suffocation of Syria’s most vulnerable communities with chemical weapons,” she said, adding that the Kremlin has breached certain UN commitments. The Syrian civil war has gone on for eight years, claiming the lives of an estimated 400,000 Syrians, according to the U.N. Envoy for Syria.