UN Security Council delays Syria vote until Thursday
Russian President Vladimir Putin rebuffed UN envoy Kofi Annan’s effort to find compromise on Syria earlier this week.
NEW YORK – International envoy Kofi Annan called on the United Nations Security Council to delay Wednesday's scheduled vote on a new resolution on Syria in a last-minute effort to get Russia and Western nations to agree on the wording.
The vote is now scheduled for Thursday, according to the Associated Press.
Reuters reported the resolution would extend a UN observer mission in Syria for 45 days and put Annan's peace plan under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.
The delay comes in the wake of a bombing in Damascus that killed at least three members of the Syrian defense leadership, the Los Angeles Times reported.
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Chapter 7 enables the 15-member Security Council to authorize diplomatic and economic sanctions, and even military intervention. But US officials clarified the resolution would focus on sanctions on Syria, not military intervention, Reuters reported.
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Russia remains the key stumbling block to passing the vote.
Moscow has said it would block the Western-backed resolution because it does not believe it should be placed under Chapter 7. Russia and China have already twice vetoed UN Security Council resolutions aimed at ending the violence in Syria, Reuters reported.
The Council has until Friday to make a decision about the UN's observer mission in Syria.
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