On October 10, 2019, the UN Security Council met in an emergency closed-door session at UN headquarters in New York City. One day prior to that, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had ordered a ground invasion into northeastern Syria, claiming that Kurdish fighters, instrumental US allies in the fight against the Islamic State, posed a terrorism threat to Turkey. Days earlier, President Donald Trump, acting against the advice of his top military leaders, had ordered US troops out of the region, clearing the way for Turkey’s invasion. In spite of the illegal nature of Turkey’s actions, the council did not reach an agreement to condemn Turkey’s use of force in Syria and its Kurdish-controlled northern border region. Russia and the United States allegedly had blocked the resolution