Syria calls for subjugating Israeli occupation’s nuclear facilities to IAEA safeguards

Syria’s permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh, has asserted that it is necessary to subjugate the Israeli occupation’s nuclear facilities, that pose a threat to the regional and international security and peace, to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) comprehensive safeguards system.

During a speech he made at the 10th Overview Conference of the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty, Sabbagh asserted Syria’s abide by the provisions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and stresses the importance of complete, comprehensive and verifiable nuclear disarmament.

“The Israeli continued rejection of the  Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of nuclsar weapons depends on an utmost support by the US and its western allies,” Sabbgh said, referring to the fact that over decades, U.S. has provided the Israeli entity with advanced nuclear technology that helped it build nuclear military capabilities.

The diplomat raised the following questions : “ Do fears of a nuclear threat exist or not??…Have the states parties succeeded in implementing the treaty in a balanced and non-discriminatory manner??? …. Why the 1995 resolution on making the Middle East region free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction has not yet been implemented despite the passage of 27 years since its release??”

Sabbagh affirmed that Syria has worked sincerely for the implementation of this resolution, indicating that during its membership in the Security Council, it initiated a draft resolution in 2003 to free the Middle East region of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, but the United States aborted that initiative. He added that Syria joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013 as a step towards making the region free on nuclear weapons.

Sabbagh stressed the inalienable right of the states parties to obtain and use nuclear technology in various peaceful applications, and the need to adhere to the implementation of the provisions of Article 4 of the Treaty in a balanced manner and without discrimination.

He asserted  Syria’s support for the role of the International Atomic Energy Agency stipulated in its statute and the provisions of Article 3 of the Treaty on the necessity of achieving a balance between the Agency’s regulatory activities and its other activities related to the dissemination of nuclear techniques and their peaceful applications, and the necessity of distinguishing between legally binding and voluntary measures and not confusing them.

Sabbagh concluded by saying that Syria demands that the issues of cooperation and technical assistance provided by the Agency to the States Parties should not be subject to any political or economic restrictions that contradict the provisions of the Agency’s statute, and condemns in this regard the illegal unilateral coercive measures imposed by the West against several countries, including Syria, indicating that these measures impede the delivery of necessary technical assistance for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, especially in the areas of health and treatment of cancer diseases, which negatively affects the lives of the peoples of these countries.

Basma Qaddour