UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council held a closed-door emergency meeting here on Monday on the situation in Syria, which is "at a crossroads," as described by a French envoy to the UN.

French ambassador to the United Nations Francois Delattre, whose delegation called for the meeting following a Turkish military incursion into a Kurdish enclave in Syria, stressed the importance of imposing "maximum pressure" on the Syrian government to steer the country toward a political process.

Syria is at a crossroads with the worst scenario being possible, Delattre told reporters after members of the Security Council were briefed behind closed doors by UN Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock.

Delattre warned of the risk of fragmentation, ethnic cleansing, renewed wave of terrorism, and new humanitarian tragedies in Syria. But he said peace was still possible.

"Now is the right time to have the emergency meeting of the Security Council and to try to unite the members of the council to put maximum pressure against tensions and in favor of the political process," said Delattre.

He said the Turkish military action against Kurdish militia in Afrin in Syria was part of the discussion at the meeting. "The call for restraint, I believe, was widely shared in the discussion," he said.

Turkey sent in ground troops to Afrin on Sunday after its jets bombed the area the previous day. Ankara said its aim was to clear the region for the return of Syrian refugees. The incursion against Kurds strained relations between Turkey and the United States.