U.N. Security Council expected to meet Monday on Syria attack: diplomats

By Michelle Nichols

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United Nations Security Council is likely to meet Monday afternoon over the recent chemical attack in Syria at the request of the United States and several other members, diplomats said on Sunday.

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

Meanwhile, Russia also called for a Monday meeting of the U.S. Security Council concerning “international threats to peace and security,” diplomats said on Sunday.

The precise topic of what the Russians wished to discuss was not immediately clear.

However, the request came after President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Sunday, where he said there would be a “big price to pay” for the chemical attack against a besieged rebel-held town in Syria where medical aid groups reported dozens of people were killed by poison gas.

A joint statement by the medical relief organization Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) and the civil defense service, which operates in rebel-held areas, said 49 people had died in the attack late on Saturday in the town of Douma. U.S. and other officials said they were working on Sunday to verify details of the attack.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by James Dalgleish)