Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Related Articles
New York, SANA – Syria renewed call upon the UN Security Council and the UN Resolution 1540 Committee to shoulder the mandated tasks to guarantee that terrorist organizations active in Syria and all over the world will not obtain weapons of mass destruction and to question states backing terrorism.
” There are still significant gaps utilized by terrorists for obtaining weapons of mass destruction as to use them in their criminal targets,”Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari said Monday before the formal open consultations on the comprehensive review of implementation of resolution 1540 (2004).
Al-Jaafari pointed out to the direct involvement of some UN member states’ governments in supplying terrorist groups with chemical weapons or materials for producing them and the involvement of other states, some of which claim things yet practice the opposite on the ground in terms of turning a blind eye to serious violations representing a threat to the world peace and security, whose dimensions are not restricted to a certain geographic area, particularly that ISIS terrorist organization seeks to boost its presence at the international arena through terrorist acts with simple capabilities in many of the UN member states.
He added that the serious violations of Resolution No. 1540 is substantially represented in what Syria is witnessing, where the criminal terrorist groups have used chemical materials many times against civilians and military personnel with support of Arab and regional governments in collusion with intelligence agencies of powerful states in this region.
Al-Jaafari clarified that the terrorist groups positioned in the area of Hosh al-Fara fired on June 13, 2016 a homemade bomb containing chemicals on soldiers of the Syrian Army, adding that the bomb emitted a scratching bad odor that harmed five of the soldiers, leaving them with dangerous health symptoms, where they were treated in a hospital specialized in such cases.
Al-Jaafari clarified that Syria has delivered tens of official letters to the UN Secretary-General, to the successive UN Security Council Presidents and to the UN 1540 Committee on the facilitations provided by terror- backers governments, particularly Turkey and Saudi Arabia on the terrorists’ obtaining of chemical weapons and substances.
“We also provided the Security Council and its subcommittee on applying Resolution No. 1540, starting from our letter on 8/12/2012 throughout four years until reaching the letter on 16/6/2016, with detailed and documented information that al-Qaeda terrorists produce and test chemical weapons on rabbits in a laboratory located in the Turkish city of Gaziantep as a step to be used against civilians in Syria,” he clarified.
Al-Jaafari also referred that terrorists brought amounts of Sarin gas though the Turkish territories after they had transferred it on a passenger plane from Libya to Turkey for using it in Syria and then accusing the Syrian government, adding that Syria has provided the Committee with audio records and videos proving that the terrorist groups possess chemical weapons, which they have been used in several areas in the country.
Al-Jaafari asserted that some member states inside and outside the UN Security Council turned a deaf ear to Syria’s repeated warnings and calls to guarantee respecting the resolution No.1540 , pointing out that these states ignored the resolution No. 2118 which calls the member states to abstain from providing any kind of support to the terrorist groups which attempt to develop nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and to inform the security Council of any violation of the resolution No 1540.
He added that these states hindered the Russian-Chinese draft which aims at taking precautionary measures to prevent the non-state groups from obtaining and using the chemical weapons.
Al-Jaafari criticized the UNSC silence on this issue saying “Despite all the truths which reveal the terrorist group’s attempts to smuggle chemical weapons across the Turkish territories to Syria and despite all the accurate reports talking about the involvement of some countries in the attacks that hit Khan al-Assal town in Aleppo countryside and other areas in Damascus countryside on 21/8/2013 , the Security Council doesn’t turn a hair towards them.”
He continued to say that ” there are some powerful countries which prevented the UN from assuming its responsibilities regarding facing the terrorist threat against Syrian state, government and people,” adding “these countries turned a blind eye to questioning the member states’ governments which support this terrorism, the matter which raises doubts on the feasibility of adopting a resolution by the Security Council without committing to applying it.”
He reiterated Syria’s commitment to the international resolutions and the applicable measures for cooperation and coordination to face the threat posed by the arrival of the mass destruction weapons to the terrorists and non-state groups, highlighting that the Syrian government enhanced the relevant measures and providing the 1540 resolution Committee with five national reports on the implementation of this resolution.
In April 2004, the UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted Resolution 1540, which establishes legally binding obligations on all UN Member States to have and enforce appropriate and effective measures against the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons (WMD), their delivery systems, including by establishing controls.
The UNSCR 1540 closes gaps in nonproliferation treaties and conventions to help prevent terrorists and criminal organizations from obtaining the world’s most dangerous weapons.
R. Milhem / Reem / Ghossoun
