UN Condemns Suicide Bombings in Syria

Statement Condemns Aleppo Bombing 'in the Strongest Terms'

The UN Security Council has issued a statement today condemning “in the strongest terms” four suicide bombing attacks in the city of Aleppo. The resolution came at the behest of Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari.

Resolutions condemning specific attacks, particularly those carried out by rebel factions, are unusual. The Aleppo bombings were carried out by a group called al-Nusra, a jihadist faction accused of ties with al-Qaeda.

Syria had initially sought the resolution yesterday, when the UN Security Council was debating a resolution condemning a Syrian mortar attack that killed five civilians in Turkey. Russia sought to switch the resolution to one urging restraint along the border, which sparked anger among Western nations.

The Security Council has struggled with Syrian resolutions because of the Russia-NATO split, with Russia fearing most NATO resolutions are going to be spun as a pretext for war, as last year’s Libya resolution was. Some NATO member nations like France are overtly calling for intervention, so that fear seems at least somewhat reasonable.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.