US, France Reject Russia’s UN Call for Turkey to End Cross-Border Strikes

France Nominally Opposes Turkish Strikes, But Blocks Resolution

Though both France and the US claim to oppose the ongoing shelling by fellow NATO member Turkey across the border into northern Syria, they both shot down a Russian resolution at the UN Security Council that would’ve called on Turkey to actually stop.

US Ambassador Samantha Power dismissed the resolution as an attempt to “distract the world” from Russia’s own involvement in the Syria war. France, by contrast, appeared to ignore the content of the resolution entirely, just lashing them for supporting the Assad government.

Turkey began shelling northern Syria last weekend, mostly targeting Kurdish sites, but also hitting Syrian military targets as well. Turkey’s Ambassador insisted the country is facing a “national security threat” from the Kurds and must continue the attacks.

Despite blocking the resolution calling for a halt to the attacks, the White House says that they called for Turkey to stop the attacks, and also called on the Kurds to stop taking over territory in Syria, despite the US having heavily backed the ongoing Kurdish offensive.

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.