China and Russia on Tuesday jointly vetoed a United Nation (UN) resolution that sought to impose tough sanctions on Syria for allegedly using chemical weapons during its war against Insurgents that began in 2011. This is the sixth time that China has vetoed a resolution against Syria, while this is seventh time that Russia bailed out the insurgency-hit Muslim country at the U.N.

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The Tuesday's resolution was drafted by the US, the UK and France. If the resolution had been passed, other countries would have been banned from selling helicopters to Syria while 11 Syrian commanders and 10 groups would have face severe sanctions for their alleged role in the chemical attack.

Overall, Nine Security Council members voted in the favour of the resolution, while China, Russia and Bolivia vetoed against it. The other three members - Egypt, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia - chose to remain abstain from the proceedings.

The resolution was moved after an investigation by the UN and international chemical weapons watchdog found out that the Syrian regime led by the President Bashar al-Assad carried out three chemical attacks against its own citizens in 2014 and 2015. A charge that is completely denied by the al-Assad government.

Russian President Vladimir Putin questioned the timing of the resolution as he said "it would only hurt or undermine confidence" in peace talks, while China's UN ambassador, Liu Jieyi, justified the latest veto by claiming that the investigation process were still continuing. Liu maintained that China is still opposed to the use of chemical weapons, but will support such a resolution only after the investigation is completed.

The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, responded to China and Russia's veto by saying "It is a sad day on the Security Council" and added that both communist countries have put their "friends in the Assad regime ahead of our global security."

China and Russia have been steadfast in their support to Syrian regime during the five year long civil war. However, China chose to stay away from direct intervention in the civil war and offered a morale and economic support to the regime.

Russia, on the other hand, has been directly involved in the Syrian civil war since September 2015, after it received official request from the al-Assad government for military assistance.      

Tagschina, Russia, Syria, China and Syria, China and Russia