The UN Security Council will vote today on a French-drafted resolution to quickly deploy UN observers to Aleppo, with Russia, Syria’s ally.
Yesterday, after nearly four hours of closed-door council consultations, a new draft was agreed. French Ambassador Francois Delattre declared that the council had reached common ground, while US Ambassador Samantha Power anticipated the member states would vote unanimously.
The vote, initially tabled for yesterday, was delayed until today to allow the Russian delegation to consult with Moscow on the final draft resolution that provides for UN and other international observers to be deployed to eastern Aleppo.
The new draft calls on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to make arrangements, in consultation with Syrian authorities and the dissents, to allow UN monitoring of the well-being of civilians. Moscow had presented its own draft resolution that requested that the United Nations make arrangements to monitor the situation.
France and the United States said the new text, which took into account Russian proposals, resulted in minor changes.