Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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New York, SANA – Deputized chargé d’affaires of Syria’s permanent delegation at the UN Munzer Munzer said that the blatant US aggression on Syria is a continuation of erroneous US strategy that started six years ago and that provides all sorts of support to terrorists, adding that this aggression sends the wrong message to terrorists as it will encourage them to use chemical weapons in the future.
In a speech at a UN Security Council to discuss the US aggression on Syria, Munzer thanked Russia and Bolivia for joining Syria in calling for holding this session, and went on to assert that the barbaric US aggression that targeted a Syrian Arab Army airbase in the central region on April 7th 2017 is a serious breach of the UN Charter and all international laws and norms.
He said that the US tried to justify this aggression using flimsy arguments and fabricated pretexts claiming that the Syrian Arab Army used chemical weapons in Khan Sheikhoun without bothering to find out the truth of what happened and who is responsible for it, adding that this pretext was promoted by terrorists and their handlers in Washington, Ankara, Riyadh, Doham, Tel Aviv, London, and Paris along with their media outlets.
Munzer said that the Syrian Arab Republic has affirmed that the Syrian Arab Army does not possess any chemical weapons and that it has never used any such weapons in any of its operations, and that it condemns the use of such weapons under any condition, adding that it has become well-known that armed terrorist groups are the ones who used and stockpiled these weapons in several parts of Syria either in cooperation with or under cover by certain regimes including those of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, along with some European states that ignored completely all documented facts about the use of chemical weapons by terrorists in Syria.
He asserted that this aggression sends the wrong message to terrorists as it will encourage them to use chemical weapons in the future, noting that Jabhat al-Nusra, ISIS, and other terror groups affiliated to them began wide-scale attacks in several areas in Syria after this aggression, but the Syrian Arab Army and its allies are repelling them.
Munzer stressed that the aggression is a continuation of erroneous US strategy that started six years ago and that provides all sorts of support to terrorists that it labels as “moderate armed opposition,” a strategy that hampers the process of fighting terrorism carried out by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies and thus makes the US complicit with ISIS, al-Nusra, and other terror groups.
He noted that the US-led alliance that is allegedly against ISIS only managed to kill civilians and destroy infrastructure in Syria, as its real goal is to weaken the ability of the Syrian Arab Army and its allies to fight terrorism, adding that the airstrike carried out by this illegal alliance against the Syrian Arab Army in al-Tharda Mountain in Deir Ezzor on September 17th 2016 comes in the same framework, as it provided back then safe passage for ISIS to move between Syria and Iraq.
“As for today’s aggression, it aimed at saving Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists following the massive losses they suffered due to the strikes directed against them by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies in the central region after they attacked safe towns and villages in it,” he said, adding that the US Congress has just passed a bill allowing the US administration to send shoulder-mounted anti-air systems to terrorists in Syria.
“We warned at this council only two days ago that the three colonialist permanent member states in it have regained their appetite to repeat the lies and fabricates stories that the US and Britain had used 14 years ago in this hall to destroy Iraq and occupy it under the pretext of a big lie which is the weapons of mass destruction. Perhaps diplomatic history is repeating itself today in a regrettable farcical scene, as Secretary Collin Powell tried then to mislead the UN and public opinion to justify his country’s aggression on Iraq by talking about information with high credibility, while today the US persists in its misleading policy to justify its aggression on Syria by relying on fabricated information presented by Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists,” he went on to say.
Munzer said that this aggression proves what Syria has always said, which is that the successive US administration do not change their impotent strategies of targeting states, subjugating peoples, and attempting to control the world, adding that the US, British, and French government haven’t cared about democracy or freedom or human rights or the safety, stability, and prosperity of peoples for decades; but rather they use these headlines as pretexts to wage wars, occupy states, divide them, and control their resources.
He went on to say that what is loathsome now is that these governments that supported the Wahabi extremist mentality since the emergence of Al Saud are now managing and investing in terrorism heedless of the lives of people around the world, even their own people now that terrorism has struck them at home due to their erroneous and hypocritical policies.
Munzer said that if the US administration is mistaken if it believes that the aggression has succeeded in supporting terrorist groups on the ground, as the response of the Syrian Arab Republic and its allies is to show more determination in defending the Syrian people and crushing terrorism.
“The Syrian Arab Republic condemns in the strongest of terms the carrying out of this aggressive act by the United States of America, an act which contradicts with the intentions and principles of the UN Charter and with its role as a permanent member of the Security Council which is meant to preserve international peace and security,” he said, adding that such an attack threaten to spread chaos around the world as it would make the law of the jungle a method for dealing with crises instead of international law and the UN Charter.
“To those who talked about respecting the UN Charter, I wonder: did the colonialist trio inside this Council respect the Charter when they murdered millions of innocents from East Asia to Latin America? And to the French representative who talks about exceptions, you are the ones that shouldn’t be an exception and you should be held accountable for your planes killing more than 200 civilians in Toukhan al-Kubra in Aleppo countryside on July 2016, and you and your partners in the so-called international alliance should be held accountable for killing more than 800 Syrian civilians in the period between the end of July 2016 and March 22 2017, and you should be held accountable for supporting armed terrorist groups and providing political cover for them so that they can persist in their terrorist practices against my country,” Munzer said.
Munzer concluded by saying that the Syrian Arab Republic’s government, due to its belief in the need to rally all forces to fight terrorism and its respect of international law and the UN Charter, calls on the Security Council to shoulder it responsibility as stipulated by the Charter, condemn the US aggression, and find ways to ensure that it is never repeated as it poses a threat to security and peace in the region and the world.
Meanwhile, Russia’s representative at the Council Vladimir Safronkov said in a speech at the same session that the US aggression is a blatant violation of international law and a blatant act of aggression, condemning such acts and their repercussions, noting that it violates the 2015 memo on preventing accidents and guaranteeing safety during aerial operations over Syria and that the Russian Defense Ministry has suspended cooperation with the US as per that memo.
Safronkov said that the US calls for fighting terrorism do not justify the presence of its forces and allies in Syria without official invitation from the Syrian government or the Security Council.
He said that the US aggression will only strengthen terrorism, as it targeted the Syrian Arab Army and its Air Force which has been fighting terrorism for years, adding that Washington’s actions encouraged terrorist as ISIS and al-Nusra carried out intensives attacks against Syrian military positions right after the aggression.
“You destroyed Iraq and Libya and military bases there, and now you see what happens there when you violate international decisions,” Safronkov said, noting that Russia had called on the Council to form an international alliance to fight terrorism according to international law and repeatedly asked Washington to cooperate in this regard, but Washington chose a different path that could lead to terrible tragedies.
He wondered why the US chose to undermine the progress that was made in Geneva and Astana, noting that the US, UK, and France drafted a poor resolution that blames the Syrian government and ignores the principle of assuming innocence before trial.
Safronkov said that the side that is responsible for the incident in Khan Sheikhoun fears any independent and unbiased investigation because the result will contradict the hostile position against Syria.
He also advised the British representative to stop making up lies about Russia because such behavior never succeeds.
The Russian representative said that Khan Sheikhoun is under the control of Jabhat al-Nusra terror organization, but there are attempts to hide that, adding that it’s not a coincidence that reports about terrorists stockpiling chemical weapons and using them against civilians are being ignored, elaborating by saying that investigations are dragging on without reaching results and the OPCW fact-finding mission isn’t working with a clean conscience; rather it parrots the statements of terrorists and questionable NGOs instead of looking into evidence, noting that this mission consists of experts from one state that is very hostile towards Syria.
Safronkov also underlined the double standards of Western states in dealing with what happened in Khan Sheikhoun and what is happening on Mosul where the number of civilian victims is being covered up.
He advised the US to cease its aggressive acts and join those who want to reach a political solution in Syria and fight terrorism, affirming that Russia uses the right to veto responsibility whenever attempts are made to impose irresponsible geopolitical projects.
For his part, Bolivia’s representative said that while others were trying to reach consensus and demanding for a full investigation, the US became investigator, judge, and jury and carried out unilateral strikes in a serious violation of international law, which threatens international peace and security.
He noted that this isn’t the first time that the US acts alone in violation of the UN Charter but this doesn’t make it acceptable, and he also recalled when Collin Powell stood at the Security Council in 2013 and talked about what he claimed was concrete evidence of the presence of WMDs in Iraq to justify the invasion which claimed millions of lives and ultimately created ISIS, adding that we should learn from history and resolve crises through dialogue instead of shelling.
In turn, the Chinese representative said that the only way to end the crisis in Syria is the political solution, as the military solution will only make the situation more complicated, asserting that China calls on all sides to continue diplomatic efforts and adhere to dialogue to make progress in the Geneva talks.
Hazem Sabbagh
