RUSSIA’S refusal to allow an open-ended investigation into the Khan Sheikhoun chemical weapons attack on US terms has prevented a repetition of wars that tore Iraq and Libya apart, Syria’s UN ambassador has claimed. Russia used its veto power to block a resolution seeking to extend the probe into claims that Syria’s military carried out the April 4 attack, which killed around 100 people. Syrian ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari said Russia’s veto “saves this council from manipulation targeting the UN mechanisms. “Russia didn’t hinder the work of the security council but rather prevented the repetition of the tragedy of Iraq and Libya and saved the integrity of the provisions of the [UN] charter,” he said. Mr Jaafari voiced regret that some nations on the council treated the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the 2011 devastation of Libya by Nato as events “that can be repeated anywhere with impunity.”

Source: Libya Today November 18, 2017 00:00 UTC