UNSC to hold urgent session on Syria

The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on the current situation in Syria on Sunday, officials said.

The meeting is scheduled at the request of the US and France, two of the five permanent members of the 15-nation UN body, diplomatic sources told Xinhua news agency reported.

UN officials also confirmed that the emergency council meeting is to be an open one, it which ambassadors are expected to air their views on the latest development on the ground in Syria.

The council meeting is unusual on Sunday as the annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly is going on at UN Headquarters in New York.

The last emergency council meeting was held last week at the request of Russia in response to the airstrikes staged by the US-led coalition on Syrian military positions.

The Sunday council meeting will be held to discuss the latest military escalation in Aleppo.

Earlier on Saturday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that he was appalled by the latest escalation in Aleppo, saying that the northern Syrian city is facing "the most sustained and intense bombardment since the start of the Syrian conflict."

Nearly 30 civilians were killed on Friday by bombardment in the eastern part of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a local monitor group.

The incident came one day after the Syrian Defence Ministry announced the commencement of a new offensive on rebel-held areas in Aleppo.

--IANS

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