UN Security Council to discuss new troubles in Syria

The UN Security Council will on Monday discuss the worsening humanitarian crisis in Syria, diplomats said, as the civilian death toll worsens with new offensives by the Damascus regime.

The UNSC was already scheduled to meet to hear a report from UN aid chief Mark Lowcock on his recent visit to Syria. An upsurge of fighting in Syrian rebel territories and a new operation  by Turkish forces around the Kurdish-held town of Afrin has brought even more issues to the table.

France called for the urgent closed-door consultations that should also cover the Syrian regime's brutal campaign in Idlib and Eastern Ghouta.

The latest Turkish offensive in the north of the country will also be discussed, diplomats said Sunday.

Turkey, on Saturday, launched "Operation Olive Branch" to oust the Kurdish fighters of the Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) from the Afrin region of northern Syria.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France was deeply worried by the "brutal degradation of the situation" in flashpoint areas like Afrin.

Russia, which supports the Bashar al-Assad, also voiced concern about the new front in Syria's war. Moscow's defence ministry said it was withdrawing its troops from Afrin to prevent any "provocation". 

The US has backed Kurdish militias in the fight against the Islamic State group (IS), and on Sunday Washington urged Turkey to "exercise restraint" and keep its military campaign "limited in scope and duration" while avoiding civilian casualties.

But separately, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that Turkey, a NATO ally, had "legitimate" concerns in Syria, and that US officials had received advance notice of the Turkish incursion.