Foreign Ministry addresses letters to UNSC Chairman and UNSG on continued US–Western-regional bankrolling and arming of terrorists in Syria

DAMASCUS, (ST)-“the US and its Western allies and regional tools are still bankrolling and arming al-Qaeda and its offshoots and the rest of the armed terrorist groups in Syria,” underscored Foreign and Expatriates Ministry on Thursday in two identical letters addressed to the UN Security Council Chairman and UN Secretary General .

The letters underlined that Syria has inundated the UNSC and the UN Secretary-General with tens of letters including a documentation of what Syria has been facing over nearly two and a half years of a direct and indirect aggression, a blatant interference in its domestic affairs and breaches of its sovereignty and independence, and endeavors to change its leadership and constitutional system by force.

“the abovementioned attempts are made by the US and its Western and regional allies, especially France, Britain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and their tools, namely the armed terrorist groups and al-Qaeda organization with its formations, offshoots, wings and designations like Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, “asserted the ministry.

”the said nations are not only providing terrorists, operating in Syria, with  all kinds of media, political, financial, military and logistical aid but they also turning a blind eye to their crimes and blaming the Syrian government-contrary to common sense and logic-for what is going on in Syria. These terrorist groups are relentlessly perpetrating atrocities and crimes against the Syrian civilians, “said the ministry.

The ministry made it clear that to confirm  these  information, there have been mounting outspoken calls by a number of US, French, British, Saudi, Qatari and Turkish officials for training, recruiting and hosting the armed terrorist groups and al-Qaeda in Syria, through providing them with special weapons and a military and logistical assistance after they have been providing them with covert support since the beginning of the crisis.

For further explanation, the letters  cited the meeting of the so-called ”Friends of Syria” foreign ministers which assembled in Doha on June 22, 2013 and the Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union that adopted a decision allowing its members to export weapons to the armed groups on May 27, 2013 in violation of the counter-terrorism rules and legislations in European countries and the founding principles of the European Union.

The letters also referred to the Arab League ”dangerous decisions” that clearly and unequivocally call for supporting the armed terrorist groups in Syria.

However, arming the terrorist groups and al-Qaeda in Syria needs no proof on the part of the Syrian government as these countries admit openly of offering them all kinds of assistance, the ministry pointed out, indicating that renowned world newspapers and news agencies are publishing information and confessions by the so-called ”opposition leaders” that the armed groups have received large shipments of weapons via Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.

As the Syrian government has welcomed the upcoming international conference on Syria in Geneva and intends to take part without preliminary conditions, the US, France, Britain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and several other countries are supplying the armed groups with weapons, including unconventional, to obstruct any political solution, ” the foreign ministry said.

The ministry underlined that the said countries and their agents in Syria are fully responsible for the terrorist daily crimes, and are at the same time complicit in all the terrorist acts on the Syrian territories, and are fully responsible for every drop of blood on the Syrian soil since the beginning of the crisis until now.

Needless to say that these practices also constitute a violation of the UN Security Council’s counter-terrorism resolutions and a blatant breach of Paragraph 4 of Article 2 of the UN Charter.

Syria calls on the UNSC and its competent committees and the international community to launch an immediate probe into these practices and conduct, and demands that the UN Security Council move to deter terrorists and dry up their funding sources, the ministry said in its letters.

“Syria demands that these countries must  honor their commitments as regards combating terrorism , and that they be obliged them to stop interference in the Syrian domestic affairs and violating Syria’s sovereignty, and that they give up attempts to fragment Syria and harm its national unity and its territorial safety.By doing so, the UN Security Council will help in enhancing security and stability in Syria and the whole Middle East region, and will maintain the credibility of the UN and its member states as terrorism is a formidable challenge for the human culture,” the letters concluded.

R.S