Asia

Home page

Asia

Security Council to meet on Syria: UN spokesperson

01 August 2011 17:35 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The UN Security Council will hold a closed door meeting on Syria on Monday, said a UN spokesperson here Monday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The spokesperson said the consultations on the situation in Syria are scheduled to start at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT).

The meeting, requested by Germany, will be briefed by Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, according to a spokesperson of the German Mission to the UN.

A total of 140 Syrians were said to have been killed in the city of Hama and other towns across the country in clashes with Syrian security forces Sunday.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Sunday voiced his deep concern over the reports of casualties during the weekend. He strongly condemned the use of force against civilians and called on the Syrian government to immediately halt the violence.

Syria has been in unrest since mid March when anti-government protests broke out in the southern province of Daraa and spread to other cities. The Syrian authorities blamed the unrest on "armed groups and foreign conspiracy" and stressed that it would track down gunmen who have intimidated people and damaged public and private properties.