United Nations Security Council will convene Monday upon France's call for an emergency meeting over Syria following the launch of Turkey's anti-terror operation in northern Syria's Afrin province.

"Ghouta, Idlib, Afrin — France asks for an urgent meeting of the Security Council," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on his Twitter feed. He added that he had spoken with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Sunday morning.

The foreign ministry said Monday that the U.N. meeting on Syria initiated by France under the framework of "Any other business (AOB)" will address latest developments in the country, according to a message sent by French officials to representatives of U.N. member states.

"I would like to inform you that we will also use tomorrow's AOB on Syria to focus on the humanitarian situation in the country and to address more generally the latest developments of the situation in the field," the message said.

Turkish ground forces pushed into northern Syria's Afrin province as part of Operation Olive Branch on Sunday after Turkey launched artillery and air strikes on terrorist PKK's Syrian affiliates the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed-wing People's Protection Units (YPG), it aims to sweep from its border.

On Saturday, envoys and mission chiefs of permanent members of U.N. Security Council — United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China —were invited to the Turkish foreign ministry for a briefing on Operation Olive Branch. </s> French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian arrives at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, January 5, 2018. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

PARIS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council will hold talks about the situation in Syria on Monday, French Foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on his Twitter feed on Sunday.

He added that France would press for humanitarian access.

Le Drian said earlier on Sunday that France had called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council over Syria following a Turkish incursion into northern Syria’s Afrin province.

He also condemned indiscriminate bombing by the Syrian regime in Idlib province and asked for immediate access for humanitarian aid to eastern Ghouta, where 400,000 citizens face a critical situation. </s> "Syria: Ghouta, Idlib Afrin — France has requested an urgent meeting of UN Security Council," Le Drian said on Twitter after talks with his Turkish counterpart.

The minister further continued, saying that the parties should stop the fire immediately and provide a complete humanitarian access.

Earlier today, NTV broadcaster reported that Turkish tanks entered Syrian Afrin, backing the offensive of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) armed opposition group on the positions of Kurdish militia.

The announcement came a day after the Turkish General Staff had declared the launch of the operation dubbed Olive Branch against the Kurdish forces in Afrin. The operation started at 14:00 GMT and over 70 Turkish warplanes conducted airstrikes in seven districts of Afrin, where 108 targets out of 113 were destroyed. The military operation has already been condemned by Damascus with the Syrian Foreign Ministry calling the act a violation of Syrian sovereignty.

A spokesman for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Afrin, however, denied Turkish claims that its forces had entered the district. </s> UN Security Council will today discuss the worsening humanitarian crisis in Syria after Turkey launched an offensive against Kurdish militias, diplomats said. The council was already scheduled to meet to hear a report from UN aid chief Mark Lowcock on his recent visit to Syria. At France’s request, the closed-door consultations will also touch on the Syrian campaign in Idlib and Eastern Ghouta, as well as the latest Turkish offensive, diplomats said yesterday. Turkey on Saturday launched operation “Olive Branch” to oust the Kurdish fighters of the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) from the Afrin region of northern Syria.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France was deeply worried by the “brutal degradation of the situation” in flashpoints like Afrin. Russia, which supports the Syrian government, also voiced concern. The defense ministry said it was withdrawing its troops from Afrin to prevent any “provocation.”

The United States has backed Kurdish militias in the fight against the Islamic State group (IS), and on Sunday the State Department urged Turkey to “exercise restraint” and keep its military campaign “limited in scope and duration” while avoiding civilian casualties. But separately, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that Turkey, a NATO ally, had “legitimate” concerns in Syria, and that US officials had received advance notice of the Turkish incursion. The talks at the council are expected to begin around 11:30 am (local time), diplomats said. </s> PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday told his Turkish counterpart that a U.N. Security Council call at the weekend for a ceasefire across Syria also applied to Syria's Afrin region.

Turkey deployed police special forces to the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin on Monday for a "new battle" in its five-week campaign against the Kurdish YPG militia.

 "The President of the Republic stressed that the humanitarian truce applied to all of Syria, including Afrin, and should be implemented everywhere and by all without any delay to stop the ongoing spiral of violence that could lead to a regional explosion and push away any hope of a political solution," Macron's office said in a statement.

 Macron told Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call on Monday morning that France's monitoring of humanitarian access and chemical weapons was "total and permanent".

 The Security Council voted unanimously to demand a 30-day truce to allow for aid access and medical evacuations. Yet while Moscow backed adopting the resolution, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia cast doubt on its feasibility.

 Macron also told Erdogan that he was worried about recent events off the coast of Cyprus, stressing "the need to respect Cyprus' sovereignty", the statement said.

 Cyprus accused Turkey on Friday of threatening to use force against a drillship chartered by Italy's, in a standoff over hydrocarbons rights in the eastern Mediterranean.

 

 (Reporting by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Richard Lough/Mark Heinrich) </s> PARIS (Reuters) - France on Monday said that Russia had to use its influence on the Syrian government to ensure it kept to a U.N.-backed nationwide ceasefire, and told Turkey the truce also applied to its operations against Kurdish militants in the Afrin region.

French President Emmanuel Macron addresses a news conference during European Union leaders informal summit in Brussels, Belgium, February 23, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Two days after a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire across the country, Syria’s army and its allies have continued their assault on the rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta near Damascus, and Turkey deployed police special forces to the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin on Monday for a “new battle” against the Kurdish YPG militia.

“The president ... stressed that the humanitarian truce applied to all of Syria, including Afrin, and should be implemented everywhere and by all without any delay,” Macron’s office said after a call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

Macron accused Syrian government forces of violating the U.N. resolution as attacks continued on hospitals and civilians in eastern Ghouta, and said the spiral of violence had to end before it led to a wider regional conflict.

“Russia, as a permanent member of the Security Council, must now assume all its responsibilities towards the Syrian regime it supports,” the statement said.

Macron’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, travels to Russia on Tuesday to seek common ground on how to ensure this truce, unlike others, is implemented, French diplomats said.

French officials said Le Drian would discuss a document drawn up by Britain, France, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United States that makes recommendations to revive U.N.-led peace talks, with what they called a “practical approach” to what would be a slow political process.

“We have the tragic events in eastern Ghouta and are possibly preparing for other tragedies in Idlib and Afrin,” said a diplomatic source. “All that is in the context of the political dynamic in Geneva being bogged down, so this is one of the few documents that could create a consensus.”

The Security Council voted unanimously to demand a truce to allow aid access and medical evacuations. While Moscow backed the resolution, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia cast doubt on its feasibility.

Macron also told Erdogan that he was worried about recent events off the coast of Cyprus, stressing “the need to respect Cyprus’s sovereignty”, the statement said.

Cyprus accused Turkey on Friday of threatening to use force against a drillship chartered by Italy’s Eni, in a standoff over hydrocarbon rights in the eastern Mediterranean. </s> PARIS, Feb 26 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday told his Turkish counterpart that a U.N. call at the weekend for a ceasefire across Syria also applied to Syria’s Afrin region.

Turkey deployed police special forces to the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin on Monday for a “new battle” in its five-week campaign against the Kurdish YPG militia.

Macron also told Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call that it was imperative that the cease-fire be fully respected and added that France’s monitoring of humanitarian access and chemical weapons is “total and permanent,” Macron’s office said in a statement. (Reporting by Ingrid Melander Editing by Richard Lough) </s> Turkey welcomes a United Nations Security Council resolution on a month-long ceasefire in Syria, but says it will have no effect on Ankara's ongoing cross-border offensive in Syria’s northwestern region of Afrin against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

The UN Security Council on Saturday unanimously voted in favor of a resolution demanding a 30-day truce in Syria 'without delay' to allow aid delivery and medical evacuations.

The resolution was adopted by 15 votes to none, after several delays and a flurry of last-minute negotiations amid growing concerns about the humanitarian situation in Eastern Ghouta near the Syrian capital of Damascus.

Eastern Ghouta has witnessed renewed violence in the past few days, where terrorists have mounted repeated mortar attacks on the Syrian capital in the face of an imminent rout. Western powers, however, blame the Syrian government and Russia for the crisis.

"We welcome the resolution adopted by the UN Security Council in response to the worsening humanitarian situation all across Syria, in particular in Eastern Ghouta," Turkey's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
• Turkish military not avoiding civilians in strikes against Syria’s Afrin: HRW

Turkey launched the so-called Operation Olive Branch in Syria's Afrin on January 20 in a bid to eliminate the YPG, which Ankara views as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkey has warned that the Afrin offensive could expand to the nearby Syrian city of Manbij.

Damascus on February 1 complained to the UN about Turkey's military campaign in northern Syria, denouncing the operation as "an assault and occupation" of the Syrian territory.

Ankara continues to "spread lies" about its military aggression against Syria and tries to justify the action as an act of self-defense, Syrian Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said in two letters addressed to the UN chief and the Security Council chairman.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in January condemned Turkish military operation in Afrin, stating that the offensive was part of Ankara's support for Takfiri terrorist groups operating inside the conflict-plagued Arab country.

Operation Olive Branch has heightened tensions with the United States, which works closely with the YPG in fighting against Daesh terrorists in Syria.

Meanwhile, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag insisted that his country's operation in Afrin would not be affected by the unanimous UN demand for a ceasefire in the war-ravaged country.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also said that there would be no let-up in the Afrin operation, without directly mentioning the Security Council's resolution.

He added that Turkey had killed more than 2020 "terrorists" since the beginning of the operation, although it is not possible to verify this figure.

While Turkey is coming under mounting pressure over reports of rising civilian casualties, Erdogan has announced plans to expand the offensive to city of Manbij where Turkish troops are likely to face US-led forces.

Speaking to reporters at the Munich Security Conference on February 18, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu rejected claims by Kurdish forces and a monitoring group that Ankara had carried out a gas attack in its ongoing offensive in Afrin.

He said Turkey had never used internationally-banned chemical weapons in its operations in Syria, adding that his country took the utmost care to protect civilians in the cross-border military operation.

Operation Olive Branch in Afrin region is Turkey's second major military intervention in Syria during the foreign-backed militancy that broke out in the Arab country in 2011.

In August 2016, Turkey began a unilateral military intervention in northern Syria, code-named Operation Euphrates Shield, sending tanks and warplanes across the border. Ankara claimed that its military campaign was aimed at pushing Daesh from Turkey's border with Syria and stopping the advance of Kurdish forces, who were themselves fighting Daesh.

Turkey ended its campaign in northern Syria in March 2017, but at the time did not rule out the possibility of yet another act of military offensive inside its southern neighbor.
• Turkey will lay siege to Syria’s Afrin in coming days: Erdogan </s> French President Emmanuel Macron told his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday that a UN call at the weekend for a ceasefire across Syria also applied to Syria’s Afrin region. Turkey deployed special police forces to the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin on Monday for a “new battle” as its five-week campaign against the Kurdish YPG militia continues, Reuters reports. Macron also told Erdogan in a phone call that it was imperative that the ceasefire be fully respected. The French leader added that France’s monitoring of humanitarian access and chemical weapons is “total and permanent,” Macron’s office said.
France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian calls for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to address the Turkish incursion into Northern Syria's Afrin Region. The UNSC will convene on Monday.