Russia vetoed a French-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution that would have demanded an end to air strikes and military flights over Syria’s city of Aleppo, while a rival Russian draft text failed to get a minimum nine votes in favor.

• It was the fifth time Russia has used its veto on a U.N. resolution on Syria during the more than five-year conflict.
• Moscow’s text was effectively the French draft with Russian amendments. It removed the demand for an end to air strikes on Aleppo and put the focus back on a failed Sept. 9 U.S./Russia ceasefire deal, which was annexed to the draft.
• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, backed by Russian war planes and Iranian support, have been battling to capture eastern Aleppo, the rebel-held half of Syria’s largest city, where more than 250,000 civilians are trapped.
• “Russia has become one of the chief purveyors of terror in Aleppo, using tactics more commonly associated with thugs than governments,” U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations David Pressman told the council.
• Both the French and Russian U.N. draft resolutions called for a truce and humanitarian aid access throughout Syria.

DO YOU KNOW?

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.

Capital: Damascus

President: Bashar al-Assad

Currency: Syrian pound

Prime minister: Imad Khamis