Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Damascus, SANA – The Foreign and Expatriates Ministry on Monday sent two identical letters to the head of the Security Council and the UN Secretary-General on the recent massacre committed by terrorists in Palmyra.
In the letters, the Ministry said that as part of the continuing terrorist crimes committed against Syria and its people, ISIS terrorist stormed Palmyra, one of the oldest historical cities in the world, wreaking havoc and committing heinous massacres against innocent civilians, with the hordes of ISIS slaughtering dozens of civilians, most of them women, children, and elderly people, preventing thousands from leaving the city, and taking many families and youths to parts unknown.
The Ministry asserted that such terrorist acts wouldn’t have happened without the persistence of certain states in providing all sorts of support for over four years to Takfiri terrorist organizations including ISIS, Jabhet al-Nusra which is now being called al-Fateh Army, Al Qaeda offshoots, the Free Army, and other criminal terrorists groups that embrace an exclusionist Wahabi mentality and include members from over 90 countries.
The letters said that the generous support is provided to those terrorist organizations by regional and international regimes – primarily Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, and Israel – along with the collusion and feigned ignorance of some Western states that supported these groups to undermine and weaken Syria as part of reckless policies that serve the narrow interests of certain states and their leaders who care nothing for the suffering of Syrians or for the UN charter, international law, and counterterrorism.
The Ministry said that the heinous massacre in Palmyra is a continuation of the terrorists’ crimes against humanity and human heritage that started at the beginning of the crisis in Syria with the goal of obliterating the country’s heritage.
The letters said that Palmyra is now teeming with terrorists while certain sides that continue to boast of being the heroes of combating terrorism remain silent, and other sides assume timid positions just to avoid reproach or give the false impression that they are fighting terrorism.
The Ministry asserted that Syria affirmed in the past and still affirms is readiness to cooperate on bilateral, regional, and international levels to combat terrorism, and that Syria has announced its support to any real international counterterrorism effort that preserves civilians’ lives and respects sovereignty and international accords.
The Ministry noted that the declared war on terrorism that some states came up with nearly a year ago failed to achieve any of its announced goals; rather it allowed ISIS and its affiliates and allies to expand and spread not only in Syria and Iraq, but also in Egypt, Libya, some African states, and even in Saudi Arabia itself, which requires a firm stance on the part of international community against the states that support and fund terrorism, adding that certain states that claim to fight terrorism and joined counterterrorism alliances are actually funding, arming, and harboring terrorists and providing propaganda for them.
The Ministry called on the Security Council to confirm its commitment to combating terrorism and extremist terrorist organizations by implementing its counterterrorism resolutions by word and deed in a manner removed from politicization and double standards and via full cooperation and coordination with the Syrian government which has been fighting terrorism on behalf of the world for a long time.
The letters concluded by asserting the Syrian government’s commitment to continue combating terrorism and defending its people as per its constitutional duties, calling on the Security Council and the UN Secretary-General to take the necessary deterrent steps against terrorist organizations and the states that sponsor and support it, particularly the regimes in Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and a number of Western countries, voicing hope that the letters will be adopted as an official document by the Security Council.
Hazem Sabbagh
