UNITED NATIONS
Russia has clashed again with the United States and its Western allies over Syria, saying airstrikes on suspected chemical sites in the war-torn nation have set back any political negotiations to end the seven-year conflict.

The U.S., France and Britain countered that recent events are an opportunity to get the political process back on track.

The exchange came Tuesday at the sixth meeting of the U.N. Security Council in nine days on Syria.

Russia called the council meeting on the humanitarian situations in Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State extremist group's "caliphate" until its ouster in October, and Rukban on the Jordan-Syria border where some 50,000 displaced Syrians have been left stranded.