Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Damascus, SANA Deputy Expatriates and Foreign Minister Fayssal Mikdad stressed that the war on terrorism should not be mere public relations activities, media parades, or an attempt to satisfy one party at the expense of another; rather all states suffering from terrorism should participate in this war.
In an interview with RT TV channel Monday, Mikdad said that Syria has been combating terrorism relentlessly for more than three years and its absence along with other important states from conferences on counterterrorism held in Jeddah, Paris or elsewhere raises doubts about these conferences.
He expressed astonishment that countries that are at the forefront of these conferences are ones responsible for supporting, financing, and arming terrorism, pointing out that these countries should be punished for violating the UN Charter and the Security Council resolutions instead of inviting them to such conferences.
He noted that Iran, similar to Syria, is waging a war against terrorism, yet some states are making maneuvers to prevent Iran from participating in these conferences, adding” Iran is feeling that some states are not serious in countering terrorism and that they have agendas not related to this issue, and this has made it refrain from participating in such conferences.
“The Syrian-French relations in particular and some European countries in general make Syria unable to attend these conferences even if it were invited to them, because these states have deviated from the latest UN Security Council resolution no. 2170 which calls for fighting the terrorist organizations ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra and combating terrorism in Syria and Iraq, yet these countries denied that and started talking about combating ISIS in Iraq while ignoring Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist groups in Syria,” he added.
Mikdad stressed that Security Council resolutions force any alliances or fronts that are meant to confront terrorism to respect the sovereignty and independence of states and to consult with them regarding war against terrorism, and these alliances should not overstep the rules of international law when taking counterterrorism actions.
The Deputy Minister clarified that Saudi Arabia and Turkey have played a main role in supporting terrorist groups including ISIS in Syria over the past years, pointing out that these countries have hosted terrorists and facilitated their movement to Syria and they supplied them with everything to fight the Syrian people.
“Attempts for making communication with Syria for the security issues by western countries are still going on, and they know that the real address for counterterrorism is Damascus, because we have been struggling against terrorism for three years, and because we are sincere in our war, but we have stressed the need for the presence of a political framework for a joint action, and that the western countries should change their stance as their analysis of the situation in Syria has failed.
Rasha Milhem / Ghossoun Abo Hassoun / Hazem
Sabbagh
