UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the Security Council on 5 September for its inaction over the Syria crisis. Mr Ban told a general assembly debate: “The council’s paralysis does the Syrian people harm. It also damages its own credibility. You have all seen the horrible images and reports coming out of Syria…. Inaction cannot be an option for our community of nations…. The price of lacking unity has to be paid by the Syrian people and that’s most deplorable. Council members are not happy about the lack of unity and it’s certainly to the detriment of this body and the United Nations in general.”