'No one to use force on Syria without UNSC approval'

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IANS United Nations
Last Updated : Sep 07 2013 | 8:55 AM IST

No country will be allowed to take the law into their hands, and they have to go through the UN Security Council for any action on Syria, UN-Arab League special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has said.

Brahimi made the remarks Friday after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the G20 summit in St. Petersburg, Xinhua cited a statement from UN spokesman Martin Nesirky as saying.

The envoy said Syria is now the most serious danger to peace and security, not only for the poor Syrian people and the Middle East, but also for the world.

On possible military intervention by some countries, Brahimi said: "International law says that no country is allowed to take the law into their hands; they have to go through the Security Council."

The special envoy said he and other diplomats were working "extremely hard" to bring Syria and other concerned parties together for a conference to find a political path to help the Syrian people.

The UN, he said, has been actively preparing for the so-called Geneva II meeting, which would include representatives of Syrian parties as well as US, Russian and UN officials.

The goal of the conference would be to achieve a political solution to the conflict in Syria through a comprehensive agreement between the government and the opposition with full implementation of the Geneva communique of last year.

Yet, Brahimi said, the fate of the conference was "in danger" because of the alleged use of chemical weapons on the outskirts of Damascus Aug 21.

The biomedical and environmental samples taken by a UN chemical weapons inspection team from the alleged attack sites are currently being analysed in four European laboratories.

"It has to be completed according to scientific standards," Brahimi said.

"As soon as it is done, the Secretary-General will communicate the results to the Security Council and the rest of the international community."

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First Published: Sep 07 2013 | 8:54 AM IST

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