Backing terrorism in Syria hinders international efforts to solve crisis, says al-Jaafari

 

NEW YORK, (ST)_Syria asserted on Friday that a comprehensive political solution based on a dialogue among the Syrians and led by Syria itself is the only way to halt the ongoing crisis.

In a speech before the UN General Assembly, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN said: “on behalf of the Syrian government, I want to voice once again our full support for the mission of the UN Envoy LakhdarBrahimi, and our readiness to cooperate with him according to the agreed basis that forms the framework of his noble mission. I mean Kofi Annan’s six-point plan and Geneva statement.” 

Bashar al-Jaafari clarified thatDamascus has agreed with Brahimi,on the necessity to find a comprehensive political solution in Syria with the participation of all parties.”

Syrian government’s call for dialogue

SANA quoted Al-Jaafarias saying :”Since the beginning of the crisis, the Syrian government has called for dialogue which was ignored by the majority of the opposition sides”, adding that some Arab, regional and international countries that are backing armed terrorist groups also ignored the call as they reject peaceful political solution to the crisis.

He stressed his country’s response to every sincere initiative aimed at solving the crisis politically and rejecting calls for foreign intervention, notingthat dialogue can’t be held in countries that are involved in shedding Syrian blood.

“There are now on the Syrian scene those who want to establish an Islamic state in Syria that applies Islamic Sharia,” he said, noting that these sides are very far from a true understanding of the tolerant principles of Islam.

Scandal

Al-Jaafariadded that some countries are sponsoring and supporting terrorism in Syria while claiming to care for peace in it, stressing that the regional and international parties involved in the crisis in Syria must be convinced that the solution should be political and not through supporting the terrorist groups in Syria.

He underlined that Syria cooperated with the Arab observers’ mission, adding that “You remember the scandal which happened at the UN Security Council at that time… General al-Dabi, who chaired the mission at that time, didn’t attend the session. Despite all that, Syria also cooperated with the UN Envoy Kofi Annan and the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) and welcomed the six-point plan and the Geneva statement,” adding that the armed groups and the countries backing them insisted on rejecting these initiatives.

Al-Jaafari noted that remarks made by officials of the countries which are sponsoring , funding , arming and harboring these groups and encouraging them to commit terrorist acts revealed the sides and countries which are working tofoil the said initiatives.

No condemnation!!??

“How could we understand the fact that certain countries hindered the adoption of statements condemning terrorists attacks in Syria six times, knowing that these attacks claimed the lives of large numbers of Syrian civilians and were condemned by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,” said al-Jaafari.

He added: “One of the delegations at the UN Security Council justified the rejection of decrying the terrorist blasts took place in Jaramana by saying that there is no information. We don’t understand this behavior as anything other than supporting terrorism and encouragement for violence.”

Qatar arms terrorists

He cited in this context reports by U.S. newspapers revealing that Qatar has provided the gunmen in Syria with U.S.-made anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, adding that those gunmen threatened to use these missiles to target the civilian planes in the Syrian airspace.

“Yesterday, those gunmen assaulted members of the UNDOF… shouldn’t we conclude that there are powers on the ground and outside Syria that have no interest in making the comprehensive national dialogue a success?” he asked.

Refugees

On the other hand, al-Jaafari said: “The fact that there are hundreds of thousands of our people who became refugeeshurts us,” citing that Syria was the first country in receiving refugees and the number of refugees in Syria, including Palestinians, Iraqis and Lebanese, reached 12% of the Syrian population.

“The Syrian government repeatedly stressed that it wants the refugees to return their homeland,” added al-Jaafari, saying: “It is true that some of them don’t want to return, but some sides prevent part of them from returning as to exploit them and exaggerate their numbers.”

Trap

He indicated that it was revealed lately that everyone who crosses the Syrian borders is registered as a refugee, noting that there are hundreds of thousands of the Syrians who cross to the neighboring countries in their cars to buy some materials and return, and that they are not refugees, yet they are listed as refugees to put pressure on the Syrian government.

Recognizing existence of terrorists in Syria

Al-Jaafari stressed that the international community should recognize the existence of terrorist groups in Syria supported and sponsored by countries that pretend they are keen on human rights, adding that one of these countries sentenced a poet to life in prison for composing a poem criticizing the Emir of that country.

Al-Jaafari called for respecting the UN Charter that is based on the principle of preserving the  independence of member countries, not meddling in internal affairs, respecting international law and not sponsoring terrorism or arming opposition groups.

“We submitted 250 letters to the UN Security Council and to international organizations, 3 of which documented the names of non-Syrian terrorists linked to Al Qaeda with formal confessions of the terrorist acts committed in Syria… all these letters were ignored and remained unanswered… we are still waiting for a reply from those who pretend they want to fight terrorism,” he said.

Al-Jaafari reiterated that the Syrian people want change, but this change must be in accordance with the aspirations of the Syrians, and not in response to foreign interventional agendas that are void of good intentions.

Brahimi: Political solution is the way to create new Syria

In a similar speech at the UN General Assembly session, UN Envoy to Syria LakhdarBrahimi reiterated that the political solution is the way to create a new Syria and implement political steps that satisfy the Syrians’ aspirations and preserve the country’s sovereignty and unity, stressing that any credible political process can be applied and realized.

“There are obstacles hindering a political process for ending the Syrian crisis, and these obstacles are listed in the final memo of the Geneva meeting,”said Brahimi,clarifying that the Geneva document must be translated into a Security Council resolution to be effective.

He noted that his talks with Syria’s neighboring countries’ leadersproved to him that they cannot draw up an applicable peace plan in the near future, and that it’s now up to the UN and specifically the Security Council to reach consensus on a plan for Syria.

Brahimiconcluded by calling for seeking methods to work together to focus on mutual and group interests to end the crisis in Syria.

Ki-moon: Military solution won’t end violence in Syria

For his part, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asserted that a military solution won’t end violence in Syria, stressing that building a free and democratic Syria requires democratic dialogue and negotiations.

“UN will work to facilitate dialogue,” said Ki-Moon, noting that this would succeed only if everyone acknowledged the necessary steps to unify the efforts of the international community and particularly the Security Council.

“If the international community can rally its efforts behind Brahimi and behind a single process, it can avoid the worst and enable Syria to rise from this crisis,” said Ki-Moon.

B.Qaddour