U.N. Security Council to hold a meeting on escalating violence in Aleppo

The U.N. Security Council has scheduled a meeting on the escalating violence in Aleppo in response to an urgent request from Britain and France.

Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft and France’s U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre called for a briefing by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Diplomats said instead U.N. political chief Jeffrey Feltman will brief the council on Wednesday afternoon.

“Aleppo is burning … and its civilians are being killed,” Rycroft told the Security Council after members adopted a resolution demanding an end to attacks on hospitals and medical workers in Syria and other war zones.

Delattre said Aleppo “has been under constant bombardment since 2012” and described the city as the “martyred center of the resistance” to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

AP