Main Cause of Problem in Idleb Is Turkish Regime ‘s Continuous Support for Terrorists: al-Jaafari

NEW YORK, (ST)- Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari has stressed that Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization in Idleb continues to take hundreds of thousands of civilians as human shields, commits crimes against locals and keeps attacking neighboring cities and towns, causing the martyrdom of innocent people and the destruction of citizens properties. He has also reiterated that Syria will keep defending its land and spare no effort to fight terrorism and end the illegal military presence in its territories.

Most recent terror attack has targeted al-Wadeihi village in Aleppo southern countryside two days ago. The attack claimed the lives of 12 innocent people and the wounding of 16 others who were participating in a wedding party. The attack is one of the crimes of the terrorist groups led by Jabhat al-Nusra organization which has been blacklisted by the Security Council being the arm of al-Qaeda in Syria.  

During a Security Council meeting on Tuesday, al-Jaafari said that all the Council members know well that there is a problem in Idleb that should be tackled, but some ignore the fact that the main cause of this problem is the different forms of continuous support provided to the terrorist groups by the Turkish regime and its partners, besides Turkey’s non-commitment to implementing its pledges in accordance with the de-escalation zones agreement, and the results of Astana and Sochi meetings on Syria.  

 Responding to statements by some countries’ envoys at UN, al-Jaafri said that the Turkish regime continues to provide terrorists in Syria with rockets, tanks, mines and different kinds of weapons including the chemical weapon brought from Benghazi and entered Khan al-Assal in Syria’s Aleppo via Istanbul. Turkey also facilitated the infiltration of more than 100.000 terrorists into Syria across its borders, he added, pointing out that Syria has informed the UN about these facts in some 800 official messages, but it seems some parties don’t want to read.   

 Al-Jaafari went on to say that two days ago, the Turkish regime addressed the Syrian farmers in an announcement in which it indicated the Turkish government’s readiness to buy the wheat and barley crops, which means that the crops which haven’t been burnt by the terrorists yet are to be sold to Turkey at very low prices.  

Syrian states counterterrorism efforts should be supported

He made it clear that implementing the principles of the international laws as well as the UN Charter and the Security Council resolutions on fighting terrorism necessitates supporting the counterterrorism efforts of the Syrian states and its allies instead of calling for holding meetings to promote misleading information and accuse Syria and its allies to serve the terrorist groups and hinder the legal procedures taken by the Syrian state to protect its citizens and rid them of the terrorists control.

Al-Jaafari reiterated the need to abandon attempts aiming at harming Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and at exploiting the crisis to serve the destructive agendas of some countries.

He affirmed that ending the suffering of the Syrians in Idleb and other areas necessitates eliminating the root causes of this suffering, mainly the policies of the countries supporting terrorism, the foreign-backed terrorist groups’ attacks, the crimes committed by of the illegal US-led coalition and its affiliated militias and the illegal presence of the American and Turkish forces in Syria.

Immediate and unconditional lifting of sanctions imposed on the Syrians needed

The Syrian senior diplomat called for an immediate and unconditional lifting of the unilateral coercive economic measures, which are considered a kind of economic  terrorism, imposed on the Syrian people. He urged putting an end to the deliberate and systematic politicization of the humanitarian file in Syria and the using of this file for certain goals that completely contradict the principles of humanitarian action.

He also urged supporting the Syrian state’s efforts to reconstruct what terrorism has destroyed and help the displaced Syrians return home.

Al-Jaafari reiterated that the Syrian state will continue to practice its sovereign and constitutional right to defend its lands and citizens and to combat terrorism and end the illegal presence of foreign troops on its territories.

 He pointed out that the Syrian state is committed to achieving a political solution in which only the Syrians can decide their future and specify their options through intra-Syrian dialogue led by the Syrians away from any foreign interference and in a way that guarantees Syria’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

On the situation in Rukban camp, al-Jaafari said that the US forces continue occupying the area of the camp and keep sponsoring a terrorist group named “Maghaweer al-Thawra” which shamelessly takes from each displaced person who want to leave the camp an amount of 100.000 Syrian pounds to allow them to leave and all this is done before the eyes of the Americans.    

Hamda Mustafa