Russia Urges Iraq and Syria to Seek Emergency UN Security Council session over US Strikes

Shafaq News/ On Saturday, the Russian Federation's embassy in Iraq suggested that Baghdad and Damascus should ask for an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council because of the US missile strikes in Iraq and Syria. The embassy said that this would prevent the US and its allies from trying to sabotage or delay the session. The embassy also reminded the Iraqi government that the Security Council's mission in Colombia would start on February 7 and that there would be no sessions until February 11.

Meanwhile, The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the US attacks on Syria and Iraq, and urged an immediate meeting of the Security Council.

Maria Zakharova, the official spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement today that: "The US air strikes on Iraq and Syria show Washington's total disrespect for international law."

On Saturday, the US military launched airstrikes on dozens of sites related to Iranian-backed forces and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) in Iraq and Syria.

Earlier today, the US Army Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that its forces "struck more than 85 targets, with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from United States. The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions."

CENTCOM explained that the facilities that were struck included command and control operations centers, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, unmanned aerial vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities of "militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against US and Coalition forces."

US President Joe Biden ordered the military forces to strike targets in Iraq and Syria that the Revolutionary Guard and its allied militias used to attack the US forces, he said. He also said that “the US did not want to escalate the situation in the Middle East, but it had to respond to those who threatened the Americans.”

Although John Kirby, the spokesperson of the White House National Security Council, said that the US had notified the Iraqi government before carrying out the air strikes. However, Bassem Al-Awadi, the spokesperson of the Iraqi government, contradicted this claim and said that there was no prior coordination between Baghdad and Washington. He also said that the US attacks on the security forces' sites in Anbar province, western Iraq, killed 16 people and injured 36 others in an act of "aggression".

The Iraqi government condemned the recent US attacks on its territory, refuting the American allegations of informing the Iraqi authorities about the strikes, " deeming it "a clear violation of Iraqi sovereignty."

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Presidency urgently called the heads of political parties to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the US attack in Al-Anbar Governorate.

The Presidency expressed concern that these attacks "could jeopardize the ongoing negotiations to regulate the work of the Global Coalition," emphasizing the counterproductive nature of violence and its tendency to breed further violence.

Simultaneously, the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned David Burger, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Baghdad, in protest against what the Ministry deems as "American aggression" targeting both Iraqi military and civilian sites.

The Ministry said that Burger would deliver the protest note since the US ambassador, Alina L. Romanowski, is not in the country.