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New York, SANA – Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bashar al-Jaafari asserted that Syria will remain committed to combating terrorism, and that others must stop exploiting the Syrian people.
At a Security Council session on Syria held on Sunday, al-Jaafari said that the Syrian government will not relinquish a single inch of its territory as per the Syrian constitution and the rules of international law, stressing that politicizing the humanitarian crisis will only extend it, increase Syrians’ suffering, and encourage the spread of terrorism.
“The representative of Britain, one of the three states that called for holding this session, said that Syria is ‘broken and about to die,’ and I would like to reassure him that my country hasn’t been broken and will never be broken,” al-Jaafari said, adding that the British representative’s discourse doesn’t reflect the weight of a state that is a permanent member of the Security Council.
“As for the three representatives together, it seemed as if they’re rediscovering the wheel when they said that the Syrian government is seeking to reclaim Aleppo. Imagine the scale of this monumental discovery made by the representatives of three permanent member states in the Security Council, as if Aleppo is a city in Djibouti or Afghanistan or in Brazil! I would like to reassure them that the Syrian government will reclaim Aleppo in its entirety, and if the member states in this international organization have a single capital each, my country has two capitals: Damascus and Aleppo,” he said.
Syria’s Representative went on to note that the three states that called for holding the session have prevented the Security Council on 13 different occasions from adopting a statement condemning terrorist bombings using car bombs or suicide bombers or bombardment carried out by their forces, in addition to preventing attempts to adopt resolutions that condemn terrorism.
“When there was a French terrorist called Mohammed Merah running amok in the French city of Toulouse, the French special forces killed him with 300 bullets, and it was a good thing that they did so, but we in Syria and in other states never described that French terrorist as ‘moderate armed opposition’ at all, and the same goes for other terrorists active in the United States and elsewhere,” al-Jaafari said.
He went on to say that this session was held at the behest of some members in a bid to rescue the armed terrorist groups that these states falsely label as “moderate armed opposition,” noting that this happens whenever there are indicators that these terrorists are being defeated by the onslaught of the operations carried out by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies.
Al-Jaafari said that some Security Council members are forgetting the image of Palestinian child Abdullah Issa who was beheaded by Nour Eddin al-Zenki terrorist movement in full view of the entire world, noting that this movement along with Jabhat al-Nusra terror organization had been in control of Handarat Camp for Palestinian refugees in Syria.
“We believe that some permanent member states’ calls for holding this session constitute a message from these states to Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist groups affiliated to it saying that the support and political cover provided to them are still standing and won’t stop, and that using terrorism as a weapon to pressure the Syrian government and its allies politically is still effective,” he said.
Syria’s representative said that the military operation that the Syrian Arab Army and its allies began two days ago in Aleppo after the end of the cessation of military operation for seven is based on the Syrian government’s constitutional responsibility to protect its citizens from terrorists, and that the Syrian Army instructed citizens to stay away from the bases and positions of terrorists in the eastern neighborhoods of the city and provided steps to allow civilians to exit these neighborhoods, which even covers misled individuals who bore arms against the state.
He went on to note that in return, armed terrorist groups continued to prevent civilians from leaving the eastern neighborhoods so that they can keep using them as human shields, explaining that 2 million citizens are currently in Aleppo; 1.3 million living in areas controlled by the state, and 275,000 who are forced to live as hostages in the eastern neighborhoods which are under the control of Jabhat al-Nusra and its allies.
Al-Jaafari affirmed that the Syrian government condemns the use of any internationally-prohibited weapons, asserting that the operations of the Syrian Army and its allies comply with the UN Charter and international law, adding that Syria condemns the fabricated accusations by some Security Council members and UN General Secretariat against the Syrian Army and its allies regarding the use of prohibited weapons or targeting civilians deliberately.
He said that these false testimonies by General Secretariat officials is irresponsible and undermines the UN, voicing surprise at how the UN Secretary-General and his senior aides can level such accusations based on false testimonies from terrorists while at the same time he ignores damning evidence about the use of chemical weapons by terrorists against civilians and about ISIS seizing a chlorine gas plant located 40 km east of Aleppo.
Al-Jaafari said that he received information that terrorists from Ahrar al-Cham movement are planning to carry out attacks with chemical weapons, namely yellow phosphorus, against civilians while dressed in Syrian Army uniforms, and that they will record and publish videos and photos of these attacks in order to accuse the Syrian Army of carrying them out.
He elaborated by saying that these toxic chemicals are stored in six barrels in a warehouse 12 meters underground beneath a garbage dump around 20 km from Idleb city and north of Saraqeb which is north of Aleppo, adding that on September 6th, two American experts have visited the location in where the chemicals are stored and left afterwards via Turkey.
Al-Jaafari asserted that the Syrian government is the most keen on ending bloodshed and the suffering of Syrians, and this is why it welcomed the Russian-American agreement on fighting ISIS, al-Nusra, and those affiliated with them and on separating al-Nusra from so-called “moderate armed opposition groups.”
He noted that while the Syrian government and its allies were committed to the cessation of combat activities agreement, the states that control terrorist groups in Syria ordered them to refuse this agreement, with over 20 groups rejecting it including Ahrar al-Cham, Nour Eddin al-Zenki movement, and Jabhat al-Nusra, with this was accompanied by shelling army positions in several areas, and the terrorists breached this agreement 300 times, claiming the lives of 200 civilians and 157 military personnel, in addition to injuring hundreds.
“With premeditated intention to sabotage this agreement and bury it in its crib and disavow it, the military aircrafts of the so-called international coalition led by the United States bombarded a position for the Syrian Army which was fighting ISIs in Tharda Mountain area in Deir Ezzor city,” he said, adding that terrorists also robbed and set fire to an aid convoy in Aleppo countryside, which was accompanied by a fabricated propaganda campaign to accuse the Syrian Army and its allies of attacking the convoy.
Syria’s representative said it’s reprehensible that some in the Security Council and in the General Secretariat continue to demand that the Syrian government and its allies commit to agreements and to the cessation of combat activities when evidence shows that the state who support armed terrorist groups never had and never will have any intention to have this endeavor, adding that the US has shirked its main obligation which is separating al-Nusra terror organization from what it labels “moderated armed opposition groups,” and this undermined all the monumental efforts exerted over the past five years to end the terrorist war imposed on Syria.
“This reflects clearly the lack of political will among sponsors of terrorism to stop the bloodbath, as if what is intended is to neutralize the Syrian forces which combat terrorism, particularly the Syrian Air Force, rather than resolve the crisis,” he added.
Al-Jaafari said the time has come for some Council members to stop lying to themselves and to the public opinion and to stop protecting the terrorists whom they give various labels, noting that the same terrorism these members support backfired on their nations’ capitals do to the erroneous policies adopted against Syria.
“Would anyone dare today to present to us here justification for the support some of you provided over the past four years – which amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of assorted weapons – to Nour Eddin al-Zenki terror organization which is responsible for beheading the Palestinian child in Handarat Camp?” he wondered, noting that the terror organization in question swore allegiance to Jabhat al-Nusra yesterday.
He went on to assert that Syria is committed to reaching a political solution via an intra-Syrian dialogue through which Syrians decide their country’s future without foreign interference, stressing that solutions imposed by external side are completely rejected, and that any solution requires suitable conditions and background which requires combating terrorism and pursuing reconciliations.
Al-Jaafari also noted that the Syrian Air Force has airdropped aid on Monday to the people of Deir Ezzor city.
Later during the session and in response to statements by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, al-Jaafari said that Syria wants intra-Syrian dialogue without foreign interference or dictation, therefore the Envoy must unite opposition groups in a single delegation to negotiate with the Syrian Arab Republic delegation, adding “we are not prepared to negotiate with terrorists, nor with the hundreds of ‘genetically-modified’ armed terrorist factions. We as a government are ready to hold dialogue with a unified delegation for national opposition groups that want a Syrian-Syrian solution without foreign interference.
“We don’t consider all opposition groups to be terrorists, as the words of the Special Envoy imply; rather we want to talk with those who believe in the country and in their Syrian identity and the importance of this Syrian dialogue and are not used by foreign agendas,” he said, reiterating the Syrian government’s readiness to resume talks in Geneva, just not with those who refuse to hear, see, and speak the truth, or those who work for foreign agendas, live in five-star hotels, and get paid by certain governments that employ them for tawdry tasks.
Churkin: States supporting terrorist organization in Syria responsible for undermining Russian-American agreement
Russia’s representative Vitaly Churkin said in a statement during the session that the states supporting terrorist organization in Syria are responsible for undermining Russian-American agreement, and that Washington didn’t do anything about the “opposition” groups’ hindering of implementing this agreement.
Chrukin said the provocations by terrorist groups and some states that support them have destabilized the situation, and that if these states had pressured armed groups, then the agreements would have been carried out, noting that there are those who want to preserve the groups that fight the Syrian government regardless of whether these groups are terrorists or so-called “moderate opposition.”
He asserted that terrorists exploited the cessation of combat activities agreement to regroup and increase their forces, and that only the Syrian government was committed to the agreement, adding that Russia will never approve unilateral steps for implementing this agreement.
Churkin asserted that the Syrian government showed self-restrain regarding the US coalition’s attack on army positions in Deir Ezzor.
Regarding Aleppo, Churkin said that terrorist are actually besieging the city’s eastern neighborhoods to use locals as human shields, noting that the Syrian Army withdrew its forces from the positions specified by the Russian-American agreement, but the terrorists didn’t do the same; rather they attacked and robbed aid convoys.
He also stressed that groups fighting alongside Jabhat al-Nsura in Aleppo are receiving weapons from the West, and the US ignores this fact.
De Mistura: No information about the side responsible for attacking humanitarian aid convoy in Aleppo
During the session, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said that he has no information about the side responsible for attacking the humanitarian aid convoy in Aleppo, and stated that the number of civilians in Aleppo’s eastern neighborhoods is 250,000, but he neglected to mention the civilians in the neighborhoods under the state’s control that are being targeted by terrorists with hundreds of shells on daily basis, with the Envoy using evasive language when addressing the situation in Aleppo.
Meanwhile, China’s representative at the Security Council Liu Jieyi stressed the need to eliminate terrorist organizations in Syria in order to launch a political process for resolving the crisis, affirming the need to launch intra-Syrian dialogue in Geneva.
He also hoped for reviving the cessation of combat activities agreement, working in a joint manner to fight terrorism, and delivering humanitarian aid.
For his part, Venezuela’s representative Rafael Ramirez stressed that resolving the crisis in Syria must be based on respecting Syria’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, condemning the recent US attack on a Syrian Army position in Deir Ezzor.
Ramirez stressed that Syrians alone can decide Syria’s future, and that any forceful foreign intervention will fail, adding that holding this Security Council session to use it as a propaganda event against Russia and Syria will not help recover trust between sides nor will it alleviate humanitarian suffering or support efforts to resume dialogue and cease combat activities.
In turn, Egypt’s representative Amr Aboulatta called for working towards implementing the Russian-American agreement, stopping combat, and launching direct dialogue among Syrian sides as soon as possible and without preconditions.
Hazem Sabbagh
