Syria: Europeans block it from UN culture protection measure
Syria says a newly adopted UN General Assembly resolution on the Islamic State group's threat to Iraq's cultural heritage doesn't address the same threat to his country because member states threatened to reject the measure.
Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told The Associated Press that "the Europeans" made the threat. Iraqi Ambassador Mohamed Alhakim told the AP that "it would have been a bit more complicated politically, let's put it that way" to make the resolution about Syria as well. Famed cultural sites in both Syria and Iraq have been destroyed or threatened by the Islamic State, raising international alarm. But many UN member states are upset over the Syrian government's role in its four-year conflict.
Germany and Iraq sponsored the non-binding resolution adopted by consensus.
