Hours after Syria strikes, the US, UK and France circulate draft resolution calling for aid access and Assad engage in peace talks

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The United States, Britain and France have launched a new bid at the United Nations to investigate chemical weapons attacks in Syria in the wake of US-led missile strikes against Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

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Hours after the strikes against chemical weapons facilities in Damascus and Homs, the three allies circulated a joint draft resolution at the security council that also called for unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid, enforcement of a ceasefire and a demand that Syria engage in UN-led peace talks.

The move signalled the west’s resolve to return to diplomacy after pre-dawn attacks that Donald Trump praised as “perfectly executed” and “mission accomplished”.

The new diplomatic push came after a stormy security council meeting called by Russia, which branded the military action an “aggression” against Syria and sought condemnation. That bid however failed, with only China and Bolivia voting alongside Russia to condemn the missile strikes. Eight countries opposed condemnation while four abstained.

The draft resolution by the US, UK and France would establish an independent investigation of allegations of toxic gas attacks in Syria with the aim of identifying the perpetrators. Russia in November used its veto three times to bury a previous UN-led inquiry which found that Syrian forces had dropped sarin on the town of Khan Sheikhun in April last year.

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The measure would instruct the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to report within 30 days on whether Syria has fully disclosed its chemical weapons stockpile. Teams from the chemical weapons watchdog had been due to visit Douma when Trump ordered Saturday’s strikes.

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The west has accused Syria of failing to live up to its commitment to scrap its chemical weapons program, under a 2013 deal reached between the US and Russia.

On the humanitarian side, the measure demands medical evacuations and safe passage for aid convoys to be allowed to all areas.

The text calls for a ceasefire resolution adopted in February – but which never materialised – to finally take hold and demands that Assad’s government engage in peace talks “in good faith, constructively and without preconditions”.

Several rounds of peace talks held under UN auspices in Geneva have failed to yield progress, deadlocked over demands that Assad make way for a political transition.

Negotiations on the draft resolution are set to begin on Monday, but diplomats said it remained unclear when the council would vote on the proposal.

Western diplomats said they were ready to allow time for negotiations to make every effort to bring Russia aboard. Moscow has used its veto 12 times at the security council to block action targeting its Syrian ally.

Addressing the security council on Saturday, US ambassador Nikki Haley said the US was confident the military strikes had crippled Syria’s chemical weapons program.

Haley warned that the US was “locked and loaded” and ready to strike again if any new chemical attack was carried out in Syria.

Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the west of “hooliganism” and demanded it “immediately end its actions against Syria and refrain from them in the future”.

“You are not only placing yourselves above international law, but you are trying to rewrite international law,” Nebenzia said.

The US, Britain and France launched air strikes in response to a suspected chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Douma a week ago that killed at least 40 people.

The council has met five times this week on Syria amid repeated pleas from UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, to end divisions over Syria.