Ala: Syria looks forward to reaching Arab decision that rises to the level of the dangerous situation in Lebanon due to ongoing Israeli aggression 

Syria’s Permanent Representative to the Arab League Hussam Eddin Ala expressed Syria’s aspiration to issue an Arab resolution that rises to the level of the dangerous situation in Lebanon due to the ongoing Israeli aggression, stating that Syria supports this brotherly country in defending the Lebanese land and people and resisting the aggression. He reiterated Syria’s full solidarity with the Lebanese people, and its readiness to provide support and assistance despite the challenges and heavy burdens Syria faces.

In a statement today before the extraordinary session of the League Council at the level of permanent delegates held for solidarity and providing urgent support to Lebanon in the face of the continued Israeli aggression and its repercussions, Ambassador Ala said: We meet today as the region is on the brink of an open war in the light of the continued genocide waged by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories and in conjunction with the escalation of the Zionist attacks on the countries of the region. This escalation included the repeated Israeli attacks on Syrian territory that have claimed the lives of dozens of civilian martyrs and injured hundreds, and caused losses to residential buildings and civilian facilities, the latest of which was an air attack that yederday targeted a residential building in Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus, resulting in the martyrdom of three civilians and the injury of others.

Ambassador Ala explained that in the context of this dangerous escalation that threatens regional and international peace and security, brotherly Lebanon is facing a treacherous and ongoing barbaric aggression that has caused the martyrdom and injury of thousands of civilians, and the displacement of more than a million people as a result of systematic Israeli air and ground bombardment that has destroyed thousands of homes and turned entire residential areas and villages into rubble, in flagrant violation of the rules of international humanitarian law.

He noted that in the context of the Israeli brutal aggression that is out of line with internationally recognized legal standards and controls, the occupying entity has persisted in committing war crimes by launching cyber terrorist attacks targeting civilian means of communication as tools to kill and wound thousands of Lebanese, and by targeting residential areas with missiles and explosive bombs to commit the crime of assassinating Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, taking advantage of American support and the international inability to stop these crimes and hold the Zionist entity accountable for these crimes because of the encouragement and protection provided to Israel by the United States of America and its Western allies.

The Syrian delegate to the Arab League pointed out that Syria supported the call to hold this emergency session of the Arab League Council at the level of permanent delegates in solidarity with the sisterly Lebanese Republic in the face of the continuing Israeli aggression, and Syria looks forward to coming out with a decision that rises to the level of the dangerous situation on the ground, and crystallizes an Arab position supporting Lebanon in resisting the aggression; a position that is prepared to adopt measures to pressure the Israeli entity to stop aggression; through a position that supports Lebanon in defending its land and people and providing the requirements to deal with all repercussions; a position that urges donor countries and international and regional organizations to expedite the provision of urgent aid to respond to the urgent relief and medical needs resulting from the repercussions of the barbaric Israeli aggression. Ambassador Ala affirmed Syria’s full solidarity with the Lebanese people and Syria’s readiness to provide support and assistance Lebanon despite the challenges and heavy burdens Syria and Lebanon face, indicating that, under the directives of President Bashar al-Assad, governmental and civil efforts were mobilized to provide humanitarian needs, shelters and free medical care for the citizens arriving from brotherly Lebanon and those displaced from the Lebanese territory due to the emergency circumstances resulting from the Israeli aggression. A number of measures and exemptions were taken to facilitate their entry into Syrian territory, and the access of international humanitarian agencies that expressed their readiness to cooperate with Syria in bearing these burdens to the border crossings.  The number of citizens arriving to Syria in the period between September 24 and 30 reached about 227 thousand, including 161 thousand Syrian arrivals, 66 thousand Lebanese and 219 arrivals of other nationalities. Ambassador Ala stressed Syria’s full condemnation of the Israeli aggression against brotherly Lebanon and the Zionist attempts to invade or reoccupy parts of Lebanese territory. Ala demanded an immediate halt to this aggression, which confirms the Israeli entity’s disregard for the UN Charter and the rules of international law, and the Israeli insistence on expanding the scope of the genocidal war the Zionist entity is waging against the Palestinian people to include Lebanese territory, and escalating the Israeli systematic and repeated attacks on Syrian territory, which constitutes a threat to Arab national security.

The Syrian delegate to the Arab League pointed out the necessity for the UN Security Council to assume the responsibilities entrusted to it by the UN Charter in maintaining international peace and security, and to take the initiative to take immediate action to deter the blind Israeli killing machine and stop the multi-faceted Israeli aggression and restrain the Zionist entity from igniting a comprehensive war in the MEregion by expanding the scope of the aggression, and ending the state of paralysis that controls the UN organizations’ work as a result of the American veto dedicated to protecting the occupying entity.

Ambassador Ala stated that the occupation’s continued aggression against Palestine, Lebanon and Syria would not have happened without the military, material and political support provided by the United States to this entity that has deviated from international legitimacy. The US protects Israel from punishment for the crimes of genocide, aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity the Zionist entity commits, which makes the US a partner in those crimes. Ala reiterated that the region will not enjoy stability unless the Israeli occupation pulls out of all occupied Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese territories. and unless occupation is over in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions which should be implemented in regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict, most notably resolutions 242, 338 and 497, and the independent Palestinian state is established with Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital.