Trump calls on UN to extend probe on chemical weapons in Syria

US President Donald Trump on Thursday urged the UN Security Council to vote to renew a join investigative panel looking into possible chemical weapon attack by the Syrian regime, despite Russia’s veto threat.
“Need all on the UN Security Council to vote to renew the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) for Syria to ensure that Assad Regime does not commit mass murder with chemical weapons ever again,”
Trump tweeted in a last minute appeal for the UN to panel known as Joint Investigative Mechanism operating.
The investigative team has blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces for a sarin gas attack in April that killed more than 80 people in a rebel-held village, and left hundreds injured.
Russia, the Syrian regime’s strongest ally, has threatened to use its veto of a resolution to keep the panel operating. Instead, it is seeking to change the way the panel operates and is currently pushing a rival resolution opposed by the US and other Security Council members. If neither resolution is adopted, the JIM stops operations when its current mandate expires at midnight Thursday.