Syria won’t hesitate in doing its duty to rid citizens in Idleb of terrorism: al-Jaafari

NEW YORK, (ST)- The UN Security Council held an urgent meeting Thursday evening to discuss the current situation in the Syrian city of Idlib.

 

In his speech during the meeting, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bashar al-Jaafari stressed that Syria won’t hesitate in doing its duty to rid citizens in Idleb of terrorism and liberate every inch of the Syrian territory from terrorists and occupiers. 

 

He pointed out that improving the humanitarian situation in Syria and reaching a political solution necessitates putting an end to terrorism support, aggression and occupation. Syria’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity  should be respected  and  the Syrian state’s counterterrorism efforts should be backed.

Al-Jaafari criticized some country’s call for holding an urgent Security Council meeting on Idleb while never condemning the Turkish regime’s occupation, aggression and looting activities as well as its support for terrorism and attempts to settle foreign terrorists in Syrian areas after displacing their residents.  

 

He pointed out that a meeting was held hours ago at Taftanaz airbase between Jabhat al-Nusra leaders and the Turkish occupation forces to coordinate attacks against Syrian areas. 

 

He called on the Security Council to assume its responsibilities and force  the Turkish regime to stop supporting terrorism in Syria.

 

Al-Jaafari went on to say that some permanent member countries seek turning the Security Council into a platform for NATO countries to incite against Syria, put all forms of pressure on the country and ensure a political and military cover for the crimes being committed by countries of this alliance, including Turkey.  

 

Al-Jaafari asked why the Security Council refrained from condemning the American occupation of parts of the Syria, including al-Tanf area, and the Israeli incessant attacks on Syrian territories, the latest of which was launched at dawn on Thursday simultaneously with the Turkish regime forces’ penetration into the Syrian territories through what the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OCHA calls “humanitarian corridors”.

 

Al-Jaafari made it clear that over the past years, the Syrian state announced 17 truces, but the terrorists violated all of them under instructions from their operators in Ankara, Doha and other places.

 

He said that the Syrian government has opened three humanitarian corridors for civilians to leave terrorist-held areas in Idlib to safe places liberated from terrorism by the Syrian Arab Army, but the terrorists in Idlib did not allow those civilians to leave in order to use them as human shields.

 

On his part, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya reiterated that it is the right and duty of the Syrian state to defend its citizens and fight terrorism on its soil.

 

Hamda Mustafa