Photo taken on Oct. 13, 2019 from Turkey's Akcakale shows Turkish self-propelled artillery guns attacking Tal Abyad in northern Syria. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
"The Security Council expressed deep concern over the risk of the spreading of terrorists from UN-designated groups, including ISIL," said the Security Council president for the month of October.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Wednesday voiced deep concern over the situation in northeast Syria after Turkey launched a military incursion into the region last week.
"The Security Council expressed deep concern over the risk of the spreading of terrorists from UN-designated groups, including ISIL," said South Africa's UN ambassador Jerry Matjila, in his capacity as Security Council president for the month of October.
ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) is also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or simply the Islamic State.
Photo taken from Turkish border town of Akcakale on Oct. 13, 2019 shows smoke rising from Tal Abyad in northern Syria during an attack. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
The council members are also very concerned over the risk of the further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Syria, Matjila told reporters after the Security Council held closed-door consultations on the situation in northeast Syria.
Wednesday's meeting was requested by the council's EU members --Belgium, Britain, France, Germany and Poland. UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock, and Mohamed Khaled Khiari, assistant secretary-general for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, briefed the council. ■
