Foreign powers behind crisis in Syria: UN
Syria is gripped by a conflict largely driven by foreign powers in line with their “geostrategic interests,” says a new UN report, criticizing the international community’s failure to protect asylum seekers fleeing the violence-wracked Arab country.
“The war [in Syria] is increasingly driven by international and regional powers, primarily in accordance with their respective geostrategic interests,” the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in its latest report published on Thursday.
The report is based on 355 interviews as well as medical records, photographs and satellite imagery, documented murders, rapes and abductions committed across Syria between January and July 2015, press TV reported.
The document warned that the Takfiri Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group has expanded its terror campaign in the central and southern parts of Syria, saying, “A resonant cry for peace and accountability rings out.”
The report expressed concerns about “an alarming exacerbation of the sectarian dimension, instigated by the intervention of foreign” militants and extremist elements.
The UN commission of inquiry, led by Paulo Pinheiro, further called on the international community to allow in more Syrian refugees, emphasizing that negligence of the Syrians is causing a refugee crisis in Europe.
The panel demanded “expanded resettlement, humanitarian admission, flexible visa policies, family reunification, or academic and sponsorship schemes.”
The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared up in March 2011, has reportedly claimed more than 240,000 lives up until now. Over 2,000 Syrians have died at sea during their journey towards Europe over the past four years.
The Syrian government has repeatedly called on countries supporting and funding terrorists, particularly Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, to stop their hostile practice against the Syrian people.
The UN says the militancy has displaced over 7.2 million Syrians internally, and compelled over four million others to take refuge in neighboring countries, including Jordan and Lebanon.
M. A.