YouSaid · the spoken record

Bashar Ja’afari

lines on the record: 323
first: 2020-04-23
most recent: 2021-01-12
sittings or episodes: 22
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“We must confront hate speech, destructive Takfirist and extremist ideas, false teachings that have nothing to do with human religions and civilizations, and incitement to violence and terrorism. We must prevent stereotyping, discrimination and persecution based on religion, nationality, race, colour, sex or other factors, which are a form of collective punishment of entire segments of humankind.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“We must stop ignoring reports and documented information provided by some Member States about the support of certain Governments for terrorism. We remind the Council of resolution 2178 (2014), which provides for the prevention of the flow of foreign fighters to both Syria and Iraq through Turkish territory, and resolution 2170 (2014), on drying up the sources of material, military and logistical support and financing for extremists, especially ISIL and the Al-Nusra Front. We also stress the need to hold the Governments of States that support terrorism accountable and to compel them to cease their violations of international law and the Charter of the United Nations. The failure of the Security Council to do so sends the wrong message of tolerance for terrorists and their supporters.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“The policy of double standards adopted by a number of Member States has proven to be the perfect environment for the continuation, growth and spread of terrorism in my country and other regions around the world. In conclusion, we must translate implementation mechanisms into progress on the ground, follow up the outcomes of resolutions and put into effect the counter- terrorism instruments that we have adopted over the years. That includes resolutions 1267 (1999), 1373 (2001), 1624 (2005), 2170 (2014), 2178 (2014), 2199 (2015) and 2253 (2015), as well as the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy. Those instruments must be implemented free from politicization, manipulation and double standards.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“The destruction of States, the overthrow of Governments and the murder and displacement of millions by other Governments that are permanent members of the Security Council in the name of combating terrorism, as has happened in Afghanistan and Iraq and is now happening in Yemen, Libya and elsewhere, is regarded by some as a blessed collective effort to eliminate terrorism, or “halal terrorism”, while the efforts of other States to exercise their natural and legitimate right and duty to defend their children and their future are deemed illegal and unwelcome at the international level. Accusations are hurled against the latter, while a blind eye is turned to the responsibility of many United Nations States Members that are supporting, sponsoring, financing, arming and spreading terrorism in my country.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“We must emphasize here the need to prevent weapons and ammunition from being supplied to terrorist groups, particularly chemical weapons and their means of production and delivery.All must be made aware that terrorism has a single idea wherever it has appeared around the world over the years. That idea is hatred, murder and destruction. There is no permitted terrorism and forbidden terrorism, no positive extremism and negative extremism. However varied the forms of terrorism, its essence is the same.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“The time has come to move on from the theoretical framework to fighting terrorism on the ground, translate the declarations of Governments into reality and force them to acknowledge their responsibilities for the spread of terrorism around the world in general and in my country, Syria, in particular. We must confront extremist Takfirist ideas and incitement to violence and terrorism. We must try to cut off and dry up the funding resources of terrorist organizations, whether they are provided by direct support from certain Governments or indirectly as a result of some Governments paying bribes and ransoms or entering into commercial transactions in oil, gas and stolen antiquities with terrorist groups, particularly ISIL and the Al-Nusra Front.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“Despite all this, my country, Syria, has not and will not shirk its international obligations to prosecute and hold terrorists accountable and rehabilitate their families, on the basis that all Governments of the world have a responsibility to take back any of these terrorists who are their citizens and residents along with their family members. My country supports United Nations efforts to fight terrorism and dry up its sources of funding, and my country will offer all assistance required to eradicate its remnants. It emphasizes its position supporting the principles of international humanitarian law and the relevant Security Council resolutions.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“Those Governments think that in that way they can reduce the risk of terrorism in their countries while continuing to dangle the sword of terrorism over the necks of the Syrian people. Thirdly, up until today there are large numbers of “foreign terrorists without borders” and their families present in a number of camps controlled by armed separatist groups affiliated with the United States occupation forces. The most important is the Al-Hol camp, in the north-east. To this day, inside those camps a new generation of terrorists and extremists is being raised by men, women and young people who subscribe to terrorism. For that reason, they cannot be viewed as victims of terrorism or violent extremism. The threat must be dealt with decisively and swiftly.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“Secondly, certain Governments, chief among them the Governments and States of the European Union, have put their narrow national interests above all else and created self-serving solutions based on the mentality that ultimately resulted in the emergence and spread of the phenomenon of “foreign terrorist fighters”. Those solutions came in the form of unilateral policies that shirk Governments’ responsibilities to prevent the flow of terrorists to my country and to Iraq on the one hand, and prevent those terrorists and their families from returning to their homelands or countries of residence on the other. Laws are adopted that strip citizenship from terrorists and their families or revoke their residency.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“First, the early awareness on the part of the Government and the people of Syria of the dangers of the spread of terrorism and its proxies in the region and the world has provided the evidence on which the Governments that still respect the Charter of the United Nations and international law base their efforts to stand up to this tide of Takfirism and blind extremism that excludes the other, brands it as an infidel and seeks to eradicate it. To this very day, we continue to invite all countries to share my country’s vision. For years, many terrorist-exporting Governments have been making an immoral investment. All the peoples of the world without exception have tasted the bitter taste of terrorism and violent extremism.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“Now, 10 years since the start of the terrorist campaign against my country, we continue to unremittingly carry the flag of counter-terrorism on behalf of the entire world. We are constantly trying to strengthen collective international efforts to eliminate the threat that terrorism poses to international peace and security, the safety and stability of S/2021/48 States and the well-being of peoples. In that regard, my country’s delegation would like to stress the following points.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“It has included so-called Al-Nusra Front and its various brigades, the Army of Emigrants and Supporters, the Sultan Murad Group, Islamic Dawn, the Soldiers of Al-Aqsa, the Nour Al-Din Al-Zanki movement, Liwa Al-Tawhid Brigade, the Levant Liberation Organization and many other terrorist organizations. The terrorism reached it apex with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), whose atrocities have affected not only the Syrian people but also other peoples of the region and the world. The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic has carried out its responsibility to protect its people, their open culture and their many and rich civilizations from attempts to kill and obliterate them at the hands of blind, ignorant terrorism.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“Terrorism has also spread to the African continent, where the Al-Qaida-linked Al-Shabaab terrorist group has been active. Its terrorist operations have extended to countries such as Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and others. We must also mention the atrocities committed by the Boko Haram terrorist group, which has targeted civilians in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and the Niger. Perhaps the most recent iteration of this spread of terrorism and these genetically modified armed terrorists has manifested itself in my country, Syria. This is a terrorism that goes by many forms and names.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“That has included the 1995 sarin attack in Tokyo, the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis, the 2004 train bombings Spain, the 2005 train bombings in the United Kingdom, the numerous attacks on civilians in France, Belgium and other European States, the tragic 2008 bombings in the Indian city of Mumbai, the terrorist attacks on mosque worshippers in Norway in 2011 and New Zealand in 2019, the 2013 Boston Marathon terrorist attack and the 2015 bombing of a Russian plane in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. We must also not forget the terrorist attacks in Indonesia that killed hundreds of civilians and tourists in 2000 and 2002, and others, not to mention the targeting of military and civilian facilities in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“That is particularly the case with regard to its use of technological advances to disseminate its discourse of hate and to influence to the minds of young people and draw them into its hatred, extremism, discrimination, negation of the other and branding people as infidels. Since the painful events of September 2001, terrorism and extremist ideologies have spread in virtually all States.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“Resolution 1373 (2001), which was adopted unanimously on 28 September 2001, was a milestone among counter-terrorism instruments and collective international efforts to combat terrorism through a range of measures. On the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of resolution 1373 (2001), we believe it would be useful to take a comprehensive look at the impact the adoption of that resolution has had on reducing terrorism and violent extremism. We must also identify areas of weakness in the mechanisms adopted under the aegis of the United Nations. As with all major developments that humankind has witnessed over the past 20 years at various levels, it must be recognized that terrorism has taken on numerous and updated forms. It differs in form, methods and proliferation from what we have previously known.”
2021-01-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/48 (2021) · source
“My Government renews its call on all States members of OPCW to refuse to politicize the technical character of the organization and to address the politicization and serious flaws that have marred its work and undermined its standing and credibility. In conclusion, as the English saying goes: “When you pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too”. In other words, when you beg the sky for rain, you will also get mudslides in answer to your prayers. Western Governments should heed this saying because their actions — their support for terrorism, their recruitment of foreign terrorist fighters, facilitating their travel, preventing them from being repatriated and held accountable and covering up the use of prohibited chemical weapons by terrorist organizations — are ultimately going to backfire.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“Any resolution based on the decision of the ninety-fourth session of the Executive Council, which was itself based on the fabrications of the illegal so-called Investigation and Identification Team in relation to the incidents of Ltamenah, would be a purely politicized decision aimed at pinning the charge of chemical weapons use on the Syrian Government, exonerating terrorists and their sponsors, covering up their crimes, granting them entry visas to escape through the occupied Syrian Golan and, with Israeli assistance, to proceed from there to the capitals of Western countries. With them in their capitals, good luck to them.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“The Syrian Government stresses that it stands ready to follow up technical consultations and meetings with the OPCW Technical Secretariat, as previously agreed, and to engage in a structured dialogue with a view to resolving all outstanding issues definitively and closing the cases. Syria condemns Western efforts and pressure to force OPCW and its member States to adopt a French-Western draft resolution falsely alleging that Syria was, in their words, “non-compliant” with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“The briefings and highly important and documented scientific information provided by those experts proved the extent to which certain Western Governments have politicized the work of OPCW, using it as a platform to fabricate accusations and then justify aggression against Syria, thereby achieving what they had been unable to achieve by investing in and unreservedly supporting terrorism and placing a stranglehold on the Syrian people through unilateral coercive measures. On 16 December 2020, Syria submitted its eighty-fifth monthly report to the Technical Secretariat regarding activities related to the destruction of its chemical weapons and chemical weapons production facilities.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“We have supplied documented information in more than 215 official letters and repeatedly provided testimony from academics, military experts and specialists from OPCW. They include José Bustani, former Director-General of the OPCW, whose participation in the Security Council meeting on 5 October 2020 was blocked by Western States; Ian Henderson, a 12-year veteran OPCW inspector who, as a team leader, participated in the investigation of the Douma incident and visited Syria on several occasions as part of OPCW missions; Theodore Postol, Professor of Sciences and Technology and International Security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Aaron Maté, an independent journalist and contributor to The Grayzone website and The Nation magazine.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“Nor was that all; the Fact-Finding Mission investigating the Yarmouk incident that occurred on 22 October 2017, the two incidents that occurred at Khirbat Al-Masasinah on 7 July 2017 and 4 August 2017, the Qulayb Al-Thawr incident in Salamiyah on 9 August 2017 and the Balil incident in Suran on 8 November 2017 did not publish any reports or findings regarding its investigations of the five incidents. All those incidents occurred prior to the alleged Douma incident in 2018, regarding which a seriously flawed report was issued many months ago. Over the past few years, along with our Russian friends, we have presented scientific arguments and evidence to prove that these allegations are spurious.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“Those reports fail to meet the minimum standards of credibility, professionalism and objectivity. The conclusions of the work of OPCW are based on speculation, guesses and uncertain assumptions that rely on so-called open sources and on the allegations, fabricated evidence and false witnesses provided to it by the terrorist White Helmets organization and its sponsors. The Organization has dealt very selectively with cases under investigation. It sought to deny the evidence presented to it by the Syrian and Russian Governments regarding the documented Aleppo incident that occurred on 24 November 2018. It accepted the allegations of terrorist organizations regarding an incident that did not occur but was alleged to have occurred in Saraqib on 1 August 2016.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“This is in spite of the fact that Syria has acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention and eliminated its stockpiles of chemical weapons and the materials and facilities required for their production, as I just mentioned, and that it destroyed those stockpiles aboard the American ship M/V Cape Ray and other, European ships. That much was confirmed by Ms. Kaag, head of the Joint Mission of the Organization for the Prohibition and the United Nations and current Minister of Foreign Trade in the Dutch Government, in her briefing to the Security Council in June 2014. Regrettably, the OPCW has been used in the war against my country; it and its teams have been made into a tool at the disposal of certain Governments hostile to Syria. As a result, it has issued reports that were drafted remotely without visiting the sites of the incidents.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“Picture this: on the morning of 21 August 2013, just as Mr. Sellström and his team in Damascus had been planning to head to Khan Al-Assal to begin their investigation, there was an alleged use of chemical weapons in the Ghoutta, in Rif Dimashq and — Hallelujah! — the mission was diverted from Khan Al-Assal to that area. Eight years on, the Khan Al-Assal incident has yet to be investigated, and Mr. Sellström has yet to visit Khan Al-Assal. The identity of those who benefited is plain for all to see. In this tale of 1,001 lies, there has been a succession of falsehoods, miracles and scandals that cannot be delved into here. They include the Khan Shaykhun incident on 4 April 2017 and the Douma incident on 7 April 2018.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“It would have been possible to assist the Syrian Government and respond to its initiative to prevent terrorist organizations from acquiring and using prohibited weapons; but instead, the question was politicized and used to denigrate the Syrian Government and to cover up the crimes of terrorist organizations and their sponsors. This has been going on for seven years now. The first scandal in the chemical question was the dispatching of the investigation team appointed by former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, headed by the Swedish expert Mr. Sellström to Damascus, five months after the Khan Al-Assal incident. Imagine that it took five months to respond to our request to send an investigative mission. We all know that chemical gases and evidence of their use are affected by the passage of that much time.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“Mr. Ban Ki-moon then contacted me to inform me that he wanted to investigate all the allegations he received, namely, the Syrian complaint and the 44 other complaints, that he would request and avail himself of the information available to other States about all the alleged incidents and that he would establish an investigative mission whose mandate would be limited to ascertaining the use of chemical weapons, without identifying the perpetrators of that heinous crime, as stated later in his letter dated 22 March 2013 (S/2013/814).”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“One day after the Syrian letter, on 21 March 2013, they sent a joint letter to Ban Ki-moon alleging that there had been other cases of chemical weapons being used in Syria in Rif Dimashq and Homs governorates and calling on the Secretary-General to investigate those alleged cases. The Governments of some other State sponsors of terrorism hostile to my country, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, have sent dozens of similar letters to prevent the investigation mission requested by my country from confirming that terrorist organizations used prohibited weapons and to divert the mission from its intended purpose. Immediately following our complaint against the use of chemical weapons in Khan Al-Assal, the Secretary-General received 44 letters from many States hostile to my country claiming that chemical weapons had been used in Syria.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“My Government sent an urgent official letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that same day, requesting that a specialized, impartial and independent mission be dispatched to investigate the incident and identify the perpetrators. I personally communicated with the Secretary-General on this matter, and he asked me to give him some time for consultation. Of course, that Syrian initiative did not live up to the expectations of the Governments that sponsor terrorist organizations. France and Britain deliberately attempted to distort the Syrian letter and cover up the use of chemical weapons by terrorist organizations in Khan Al-Assal.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“However, UNSMIS was unable to make that visit because the terrorists opened fire on its staff and subsequently took control of the laboratory, which contained tons of toxic chlorine that would later be used, along with other substances, by terrorist organizations against civilians and military personnel in my country. Again, we conveyed all that information to the counter-terrorism committees of the Security Council. Chemical weapons were first used in my country on 19 March 2013, when a terrorist group fired a missile laden with chemical gases at the Khan Al-Assal area in Aleppo governorate, killing 25 people, including 16 Syrian soldiers, and injuring dozens more who inhaled the toxic gases.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“We referred to Turkish media reports of videos posted on Internet sites demonstrating how to make poison gas from chemicals obtained by Al-Qaida from a Turkish company and tested on animals and other living creatures. We also sent all that information to the Security Council committees on counter-terrorism. In the same letter, we explained that the Syrian Government had requested the United Nations Supervision Mission in the Syrian Arab Republic (UNSMIS), headed by General Robert Mood, to visit a private-sector laboratory east of Aleppo that manufactured chlorine for sterilization and cleaning purposes, in order to inspect the plant and secure the supplies because terrorist groups had been planning to seize and plunder them.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“Regrettably, my country has been the victim of those weapons, on some occasions owing to their frequent use by terrorist organizations, their sponsors and those that invest in them, and on other occasions as the target of frenzied campaigns to accuse the Syrian Government of using chemical weapons, demonize it and turn Member States against it. The Security Council first considered the so-called chemical question eight years ago, when I sent a letter dated 8 December 2012 (S/2012/917), on behalf of my Government, to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council. In the letter, we informed them that Al-Qaida operatives were manufacturing chemical weapons in a laboratory near the Turkish city of Gaziantep and threatening to use them against Syrian civilians.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“However, the United States delegation threatened to veto the draft resolution if it were brought to a vote, in a discriminatory bid by that country’s Government at the time to protect the Israeli chemical, biological and nuclear arsenals, as it continues to do to this day. Our draft resolution, still in blue, has been preserved in the Council archives as a testament to my country’s commitment to eradicating weapons of mass destruction and sparing humankind their dangers. In view of the foregoing, it goes without saying that Syria once again condemns the use of chemical weapons and any other weapons of mass destruction by anyone, at any time, in any place or under any circumstances.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“In 1969, it acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and in 1972 it signed the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction. Syria acceded to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction in 2013. In effect, we are a party to all conventions on the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and we have backed up our words with actions. If one refers back to the Security Council archives, as any member can easily do, they will find that, on 27 December 2003, Syria, a member of the Council at the time, submitted a draft resolution on making the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“And so the archives of UNSCOM and UNMOVIC were buried in secret boxes with the condition that they not be opened for 60 years. Why is that? Because there are scandals that will destroy the credibility of the countries that invaded Iraq. When has there been any transparency or accountability for those who invaded Iraq, falsely accused it and lied to the Security Council and to the so- called international community? My country has been firmly committed to non-proliferation and the disarmament of weapons of mass destruction. In 1968, Syria acceded to the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“Let us remember that the “angels” who established the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) in the early 1990s to search for alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq kept open the search for Godot — that is, the nuclear weapon allegedly possessed by Iraq — in the Council until 2008, as you know. For 17 years, the two commissions carried on searching for Godot in Iraq until that country was invaded, occupied and destroyed and its wealth stolen and plundered. In 2008, members know — and they can refer to Council archives — the two commissions stated in their final report that they had not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“Suddenly, after seven years of cooperation between the Syrian Government and OPCW, the Fact-Finding Mission and the Declaration Assessment Team, which is responsible for evaluating the initial declaration, three issues are closed, and Ms. Nakamitsu considers that to be progress. Meanwhile, 19 other cases have been opened and referred to as “outstanding issues”. That means that when the Syrian Government, theoretically, of course, closes 18 of those 19 issues — and what we are talking about could transpire in five, seven or 10 years, because the question itself will remain open — another 45 new issues will be opened because the important thing is not to resolve the chemical question but instead to keep it open for political blackmail. I am speaking from experience.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“Seven years ago, Ms. Sigrid Kaag, head of the Joint Mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations for the Elimination of the Chemical Weapons Programme of the Syrian Arab Republic, informed the Council that Syria had implemented this resolution by using the American ship M/V Cape Ray and two other ships that belonged to States members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. How, then, is it possible, seven years after the Syrian Government implemented resolution 2118 (2013) and joined the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), to say that only some progress has been made, that three issues have been closed, that 19 issues remain outstanding and that the Syrian declaration is therefore incomplete?”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“I once again congratulate my colleagues the Permanent Representatives of India, Norway, Ireland, Kenya and Mexico on their elections as non-permanent members of the Security Council, and I wish them success in performing their duties and upholding the principles of international law and the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, the common denominator that unites us and provides the terms of reference for our work. As new delegations are joining the Council, I take this opportunity to recall some of the key points of the so-called chemical question, which some Western Governments have been working to keep alive for years, continuing to use it to blackmail my country and target a State, its people and its stance. Ms. Nakamitsu said that resolution 2118 (2013) provided for the elimination of chemical weapons in Syria.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“But the thieves have not stopped at that; they have tried to distort and refashion our global heritage, replacing the delightful tales of One Thousand and One Nights with their 1,001 lies, which propagate aggression and destruction, and exploiting their media outlets and international forums — including our Council, unfortunately — to spread those “lies without borders”. Doctors without Borders, clowns without borders, terrorists without borders — these days, everything has to be without borders. On the basis of those lies, the thieves destroy our countries and harm our peoples, as they have done before in Iraq, Libya and elsewhere.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“Here we are today, in the battleground of international relations in all its fragmentation, 100 years after the establishment of the League of Nations, the first multilateral international organization. The 40 thieves continue to do as they please in certain Western capitals. They have even developed their capabilities and expanded the scope of their crimes, which now extend to undermining the security and stability of dozens of States Members of this Organization, occupying their lands and looting their wealth, artefacts, oil and gas and the livelihood of their peoples.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“I am pleased to see Tunisia presiding over the Security Council. I congratulate you on your presidency, Sir, and I am confident that you will successfully guide the work of the Council this month. Syria and Tunisia have a great deal in common. Both our countries are part of a region renowned for the cultural and literary heritage it has shared with all the civilizations of the world. This historic legacy includes the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, with its characters and legends, especially the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, which has enchanted generations with its beauty and its portrayal of the symbolic triumph of good in Ali Baba over the evil of the 40 thieves.”
2021-01-05 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/22 (2021) · source
“My delegation reaffirms that the political process being facilitated by the United Nations must be Syrian-owned and Syrian-led. It also reaffirms that the Committee’s agreed-upon rules of procedure must be respected if the Committee is to succeed in its work. Any outside intervention in its work or any attempts by certain Governments to impose artificial timetables must be rejected. The Constitutional Committee is autonomous, and only the Syrian people have the exclusive right to determine its future.”
2020-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1257 (2020) · source
“My country’s delegation once again calls upon the Governments of the six permanent and non-permanent Western States members to abandon this approach and instead uphold the mandate of the Security Council, which is based on the purposes and principles of the United Nations, and stop efforts aimed at undermining the United Nations, just as the League of Nations before it was undermined. The fourth round of meetings of the Constitutional Committee was held a few days ago, and the Syrian national delegation played a positive role in facilitating the Committee’s work. We had hoped that the other side would do likewise, but the dominance of certain Powers over it prevented that from happening. Preparations are currently under way for the fifth round, which will be held next month.”
2020-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1257 (2020) · source
“We wholeheartedly support the role that the United Nations and the Security Council play in maintaining international peace and security, and we regret the efforts of certain Western Governments to obstruct the work of the Council and their attempts to divert it from its mandate under the Charter — which is our common denominator and our point of reference — and to turn into a tool to serve their political agendas and another platform that NATO can use to transform certain States into enemies and target, isolate and defame them.”
2020-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1257 (2020) · source
“The only thing that the delegations of the permanent and non-permanent Western States members have done is to exacerbate, complicate and prolong the Syrian crisis and obstruct efforts to resolve it, just as they have done with many other issues, some of which have been on the agenda of the Security Council for decades.”
2020-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1257 (2020) · source
“They have done nothing, zero, other than to keep the issue open in order to politically coerce the Syrian State. Since we are on the subject of terrorism, what have the Western States members of the Security Council done to enable it to improve the humanitarian situation and put right the outcomes of their actions by standing up to economic terrorism and the collective punishment of peoples, including the imposition of unilateral coercive measures against my country, Syria, and other countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, S/2020/1257 Belarus, North Korea and Zimbabwe, which have had a devastating impact on Syrian civilians and deprived them of food, medicine, fuel, electricity, basic daily needs and essential medical care? Nothing, zero, other than to allow the suffering to continue for the purpose of political coercion.”
2020-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1257 (2020) · source
“What have the Western States members of the Security Council done to enable it to play an active role in the fight against terrorism and ISIL, the Al-Nusra Front and associated terrorist groups, which commit the most heinous crimes in my country and use civilians as human shields, loot their property and rob them of their livelihoods and even the humanitarian assistance that we deliver to them? What have the Western States members done to uphold the resolutions of the Council concerning counter-terrorism and to hold accountable the Governments of known State sponsors of terrorism? What have they done to ensure that the Council acts to prevent terrorists from using chemical weapons, fabricating incidents and directing accusations against the Syrian Government?”
2020-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1257 (2020) · source
“What have the Western States members of the Security Council done to enable it to fulfil its obligations and carry out the task that we gave it to end the American, Turkish and Israeli occupation of my country’s territory? What have those States done to express the strong commitment of the Council to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, a phrase that appears in all Security Council resolutions concerning the situation in my country? How many resolutions, presidential statements, press releases and press elements have the delegations of the Western States submitted to Council in pursuit of that aim? None. Zero.”
2020-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1257 (2020) · source
“Most recently, the occupying Israeli forces closed the main entrance to several villages in the occupied Syrian Golan and attacked the Syrian Arab residents of the Golan and prevented them from reaching their agricultural lands, which the occupiers are seeking to confiscate in order to install wind turbines for generating electricity. In addition, Israel has repeatedly attacked my country’s territory. Those actions all occur under the cover provided by the current United States Administration, which has been evading its international responsibilities, shirking its obligations under Security Council resolutions and international law and attempting to change the political, legal and geographical status of the Golan, which is occupied Syrian territory that will be restored, sooner or later, to its motherland, Syria.”
2020-12-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1257 (2020) · source