The United Nations Security Council was scheduled to meet on Monday following separate requests by both Russia and the United States after the deadly chemical attack in Syria over the weekend and a warning by U.S. President Donald Trump that there would be a "price to pay."
Russia called for a meeting of the 15-member Security Council on "international threats to peace and security," although the topic to be discussed was not immediately clear, diplomats said on Sunday.
Just one minute later, the United States, France, Britain, Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, Kuwait, Peru and Ivory Coast called for a meeting to discuss the chemical weapons attack in Syria, said diplomats who saw the email requests.
An agreement was reached late Sunday to hold one meeting on Monday instead of two, diplomats said.
In a statement Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the "Security Council has to come together and demand immediate access for first responders, support and independent investigation into what happened, and hold accountable those responsible for this atrocious act."
Last month, Haley warned that if the U.N. Security Council fails to act on Syria, the United States "remains prepared to act if we must," just as it did last year when it bombed a Syrian government airbase over a previous chemical weapons attack.
On Sunday, medical aid groups reported that dozens of people had been killed by poison gas in the besieged rebel-held town of Douma. The Syrian government denied that its forces had launched such an attack and Russia, Syrian President Bashar Assad's most powerful ally, called the reports a fabrication.
