Dandi: UNSC’s meetings on Syria are useless unless both support for terrorism and illegal military presence end ,coercive measures lifted

Syria has affirmed that the meetings of the Security Council on the situation in it remain useless unless the basic challenges of terrorism are addressed.

It also asserted the need to stop supporting and financing terrorism and the necessity of ending the illegal US and Turkish military presence and the repeated Israeli aggressions as well as to immediately lift the unilateral coercive measures.

The Deputy Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations, Dr. Al-Hakam Dandi, said -during UNSC session that was held today on political and humanitarian affairs in Syria: “The council’s discussion of political and humanitarian affairs and other topics in Syria is repeated four times every month, and it seems that this has become for the representatives of some countries a waste of the Council’s time and resources since they still insist on ignoring the basic challenges that face Syria, mainly terrorism and the continuous attacks on Syrian territory and the exacerbation of the catastrophic suffering of the Syrian people caused by the unilateral coercive economic measures.”

He indicated that the Turkish regime’s forces and its terrorist mercenaries carried out one week ago a series of attacks on areas in northern Syria, claiming the lives of a number of civilians and military personnel, and causing damage to service facilities and civilian structures in those areas, in flagrant violation of the principles of international law, international humanitarian law and the UN Charter.

Dandi pointing out that Syria, while condemning in the strongest terms these attacks, affirms that the pretexts used by the Turkish regime to justify them have become clear and no longer deceive anyone.

He in addition renewed Syria’s demand to the Security Council to oblige the Turkish regime to immediately end its illegal military presence on its territory, and not to ignore the illegal presence of US forces on Syrian territory and its support for militias in the north-east areas, which represents another violation of the UN Charter and of Syria’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.

“The silence of the Security Council on the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan and the brutal acts it practices against Golan people, which go in line with the destructive role played by the US and Turkey on the Syrian territories, encourages “Israel” to escalate its attacks on the Syrian territories,” Dandi added.

The diplomat indicated that, in parallel with combating terrorism, Syria has pursued the path of local settlements and national reconciliations, and has taken many important measures, including issuing amnesty decrees, the latest of which was the Decree No. 7 of 2022, in an effort by the state to restore the situation to normal and to strengthen national unity, which contributed to the return of many Syrians to their normal lives, but surprisingly, despite all this, there are still those who insist on ignoring the achievements that Syria has achieved in this regard.

Dandi called on western countries to stop politicizing the humanitarian work in Syria and commit to the principles that govern it, and to carry out their obligations to provide funding for the humanitarian response plan and to support the early recovery projects.

He referred to the fact that the US occupation continues to plunder Syria’s resources of oil and wheat, and the Turkish regime uses water as a war weapon through depriving one million citizen in Hasakah of water.

“We condemn the step taken by western countries related to sending their delegations to the north-eastern part of Syria and their illegal infiltration into the country in violation of UNSC’s resolutions,” Dandi said.

He also expressed Syria’s disapproval of the refusal of some Western countries in the Security Council to invite the United Nations Special Rapporteur, Elena Doohan, on the negative impact of coercive measures on human rights, to attend the informal interactive dialogue held on the 21st of this month.

Dandi referred to what the Special Rapporteur said that these measures are not compatible with international legal rules, but rather are imposed to put pressure on Syria to increase the suffering of its people and prevent any efforts for early recovery.

Basma Qaddour