YouSaid · the spoken record

Jaafari

lines on the record: 2,603
first: 2006-07-21
most recent: 2019-11-22
sittings or episodes: 185
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

“I will not respond to his non-diplomatic way of addressing the subject of my country, especially in light of the fact that Germany is a non-permanent member of the Council. My country is a founding Member of the United Nations, meaning that we were victorious against the Nazis. The United Nations arose from the ashes of the Second World War, which caused the death of 80 million people, due to a wrong political reading by his country at the time. That is similar to my German colleague's incorrect political reading of what is going on in my country today and the purpose of this meeting. I will not extend my remarks, but simply wish to say that my German colleague has brought shame on his own country. This is my advice to him.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“If they wish to do so, we would invite them to not put their hands on what does not belong to them. The United States is endowed with lands that extend far and wide. It can give a couple of states - North and South Carolina, for example - to the Israelis if it needs to win their satisfaction. Why not? South Carolina is a great piece of land. In fact, it is the state of Senator Graham Lindsey, who encouraged President Trump to issue his proclamation. In conclusion, my country's delegation rejects all attempts by the representative of Germany - and I say Germany instead of the German regime, because it would be shameful to use the term regime under the dome of the international legitimacy - to steer this meeting away from its objective.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“Ultimately, the inaction of the United Nations in response to that dangerous United States position will leave the countries and people under occupation with only one choice, that is, the principle of "what was taken by force can only be restored by force". The message of the Syrian Arab Republic, its people and its leadership to the American and Israeli sides is that the Syrian Arab Golan is ours. It will return to us. Do not be misguided by thinking that someday our land will be part of a hypocritical deal or a pawn in an electoral game, in which those two sides support each other so that the extremists in Israel can succeed in the elections and the American Administration can gain the support of the Israeli lobbying groups in the United States. The United States Administration may want to show some generosity towards the Israelis.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“That could further undermine the stability of the region, or cause wars and chaos, which would lead to a complete lack of control in the region? Today we are describing indisputable facts. Members know that the one that fabricates and fuels wars and conflicts in the world is a party that does not respect international law and to which we cannot trust responsibility for international peace and security. If the Security Council had dealt with the invasion and destruction of Iraq in 2003 from the very beginning, we would not be in the current unprecedented situation of contempt for international law and for United Nations resolutions relating to international peace and security.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“Have they considered the real reasons behind the violations by President Trump's Administration of international treaties and conventions that aim to uphold international stability? Who was behind its withdrawal from international councils and bodies, such as the Human Rights Council and UNESCO? Who was behind ending funds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East? All these questions are posed to the members of the Council. The United States Administration is trying to protect the Israeli occupying Power by diverting attention away from the real threats to international peace and security due to the Israeli occupation and by fabricating conflicts based on unfounded, dangerous religious and sectarian lies and falsehoods.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“The United States President and the extremist of the new conservatives believed mistakenly that the terrorist war against Syria would be enough to break the will of the people of our country or that eight years of fighting against extremism and terrorism would change the priorities of Syria and those of its Government, its people and its army. The questions I pose to the very conscience of humankind, States Members of the United Nations and those that look to 2030 for achieving sustainable development that leaves nobody behind is the following: have they closely considered the real consequences of the acknowledgement of the occupation by the United States, a permanent member of the Council and a host country to the United Nations, which was established by signing the Charter in San Francisco?”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“It is an outlaw country that occupies part of our land following its direct involvement in the killing of thousands of Syrians and the destruction of our economy, our natural resources, our bridges and silos, as well as our infrastructure. It did so by supporting terrorism or imposing an economic embargo or through direct military aggression against our country. The United States has led the so-called international coalition to combat Da'esh. The Syrian people see the piece of paper signed by President Trump as a threat to international peace and security. That was a failed attempt to manipulate history and geography, as the deceased former President Charles de Gaulle used to say.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“Since the United States delegation likes to always talk in its statements about accountability for violations of international law, the crucial question that we ask today is the following: who is going to ask for the United States to be held accountable for violating resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 497 (1981)? Is not the United Nations supposed to deal with such flagrant violation of its resolutions and terms of reference by reassuming its role and legal mandate, which were taken away by the United States, with a view to implementing resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 497 (1981)? In the eyes of the people of the Syrian Arab Republic, the United States is a country that is now an enemy.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“My country would also like to thank all the countries that supported the holding of this important meeting. We see in the positions taken and the statements made by the majority of Governments in the world, as well as most members of the Council, a serious and significant step in the right direction, showing that world public opinion is isolating the United States and Israel, that they are operating outside international law and that they are a direct threat to international peace and security. Let me be clear and direct. Through the illegal proclamation made by its President, the United States is violating its obligations under the Charter, the principles of international law and Security Council resolutions given that the United States is a permanent member of the Council.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“That official proclamation by the United States puts the United Nations and the international community at a crucial crossroads. It is either an affront to the entire world or a real historic challenge to the United Nations and the Security Council, since the Council has the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, defending international legitimacy and the Charter of the United Nations, as well as for defending the terms of reference and international legal legacy accumulated over decades based on the refusal to recognize the Israeli occupation of the Golan and the condemnation of that occupation, as well as calling to put an end to it once and for all. My country highly appreciates the international and United Nations positions following the unjust proclamation of the United States Administration.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“As Ijust said, a piece of paper signed by the United States President and offered with a pen to Benjamin Netanyahu before the eyes of the world is merely a unilateral conduct that has no legal or political validity. However, that unilateral conduct clearly demonstrates that the United States Administration does not respect the United Nations and that it withdrew its recognition of the international resolutions. Today the Administration underscored its rejection and opposition to all efforts to achieve just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East and the world. That means that the United States Administration has ended its role as a mediator for any peace process in the Middle East and is making that known, thereby increasing escalation and confrontation in the region and the world.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“Everyone on the Council, including the representative of the United States, acknowledges that the peace process in the Middle East was launched at the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991 on the basis of resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 497 (1981), all of which stipulate the illegality of seizing land by force and do not recognize Israel's authority or sovereignty, as an occupying Power, over any of the lands occupied since 5 June 1967. Those resolutions also mention the need to put an end to the Israeli occupation of those lands as a sine qua non condition for establishing ajust and comprehensive peace in the Middle East. That is a legal issue that no United States Administration in the past has denied, I repeat, that no American Administration in the past has denied until the current Administration.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“Such United States practices are dangerous because they represent the current American Administration's reckless and unprecedented tendency to undermine international law, humiliate the United Nations and ignore all terms of reference, legal heritage and the relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions on the Arab-Israeli conflict, as well as the unavoidable need to end the Israeli occupation of Arab lands and Israel's return to the 4 June 1967 borders. In resolution 497 (1981), to which all members referred in their statements, the Security Council recognized that the Golan is an occupied Syrian territory and that any measures taken by the Israeli occupying Power concerning that occupied territory are null and void and have no legal validity.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“My country's Government considers the piece of paper signed by President Trump and offered as a gift to the Prime Minister of the Israeli occupying Power as a mere unilateral measure by a party that enjoys neither the political, legal or moral authority to decide the destinies of the peoples of the world or dispose of territories that constitute an integral part of my country, the Syrian Arab Republic.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“I say to the world that, as children of the occupied Syrian Golan, our future will not be determined by Trump or the occupying Israeli entity, but by our history and our present as well as our innocent dreams to live in the occupied Syrian Golan - the land of our fathers and our grandfathers. We will always dream of freedom and of returning to our dear fatherland, Syria". My country, the Syrian Arab Republic, condemns the illegal announcement by the President of the United States of America, on 25 March, concerning the legal status ofthe occupied Syrian Arab Golan.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“I should now like to read out part of a message that I received a little while ago this afternoon, addressed to the members and the presidency of the Security Council written by a little Syrian girl from the Golan. This is her photograph. I will show it to my United States colleague in case he cannot clearly see it. Herewith is the message of the little Syrian girl from the Golan, whose photo Ijust showed the Council: "My name is Dimashq Imad Al-Marai. I am 10 years old. I am from the town of Majdal Shams in the occupied Syrian Golan. I was born under the Israeli occupation.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“At the time, the Israelis meant that the Golan was a strategic plateau, or strategic heights, that needed to be controlled so that Israel could conduct manoeuvres at the Syrian front. Therefore, the Golan is not Heights. It has rivers, valleys, mountains, plains and cities. Thirdly, since the very moment we started our meeting - at around 5 pm. - Israel has been conducting aerial aggression on the Sheikh Naj jar area in Aleppo city, 500 kilometres away from the Golan. Material damage has been incurred, and the Syrian air defence forces were able to intercept some of the missiles that were launched by the Israeli planes. Those were the three comments with which I wanted to begin my statement.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“I am raising this issue as today's topic does not concern UNDOF, but rather the consequences of a thoughtless step taken by the United States Administration against an occupied territory, based on what we have heard from the majority of Council members. Secondly, I would like to make a correction concerning a term that some, but not all, of my colleagues used. The "occupied Syrian Golan" is the official term that we find in the records of the United Nations and the relevant Security Council resolutions, not the "Golan Heights". The latter is an Israeli term created by Israel after 1967 and dates back to medieval times, when armies occupied hills, mountains and strategic sites.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“Mr. Ja'afari (Syrian Arab Republic) (spoke in Arabic): I thank you, Madam President, for convening this meeting following the urgent request of the Government ofmy country to consider the consequences of the unilateral decision taken by the President of the United States concerning the occupied Syrian Arab Golan. Before I read out my statement, I would like to make several comments. First, I will send a detailed letter tomorrow to the delegations of the members of Security Council reflecting my Government's position on the reality ofthe situation concerning the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the occupied Syrian Golan. We revisit that position every six months. Members will therefore receive detailed information on the renewal of the mandate of UNDOF in the Golan.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8495 (2019) · source
“That is what Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, former Prime Minister of Qatar, said. He noted that Qatar had spent $137 billion to destroy Syria on the basis of a directive from Washington. It is a disgrace. That is all. The meeting rose at 12.35 pm.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“What happened to those people? What about the investigations? Where does the information come from? Where did the people come from? Who sent them? Where is the accountability in that regard? Who is going to request accountability for the crimes committed by Da'esh terrorists in Syria and Iraq? Why are their leaders now hiding or being hidden? They have been transferred to special camps under American control. Why? Why do we not disclose the identity of those who have been arrested? Who are those leaders? Or is the United States planning to recycle them and send them to another front somewhere else? I expect answers from my United States colleague to all such questions. Syria is a victim of manipulation by the intelligence services under the auspices of the United States of America.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“The most recent United States sanctions is that the office linked to the United States Treasury that controls assets issued a new circular yesterday threatening ships that transport humanitarian aid to Syria with an embargo. But the United States colleague wants to send aid to Rukban. I say that he sheds crocodile tears regarding the humanitarian situation of the Syrian people, while his Government is at the same time preventing such ships from transporting humanitarian assistance to Syria. Regarding the positions that have been liberated by the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces and the United States forces, can the Americans tell us where the Da'esh leaders are? Where are they? Da'esh has been eliminated, is that not so? So where is Al-Baghdadi? Where are the leaders? Where are he and his gang? Where are the Da'esh fighters?”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“Let me repeat that the United Nations and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs have attested that 95 per cent of the people in that camp want to leave it. So why organize a third or fourth humanitarian convoy unless the real objective is to continue that anomaly? They want to continue blackmailing Syria and the international community by using the Syrian refugees in Rukban. Let them leave. The Syrian Government wants them to leave the camp. The vehicles are ready to take them. The Syrian Red Crescent is ready. Let them go and put a stop to that blackmail. The United States is imposing economic sanctions not only on Syria but also on those who assist Syria.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“The United States representative mentioned the killing of persons in Khan Shaykhun. As we say in Arabic, when there is no shame, people can say whatever they want. Everyone knows that a commission ofinquiry was supposed to go to Khan Shaykhun but it refused to go. The site was not examined. The United Nations mission did not go to Khan Shaykhun despite our insistence that it should and despite our scores of repeated requests for it to do so. Our United States colleague concluded that there were killings in Khan Shaykhun due to an attack by the Syrian regime, as he says. That is a lie and a disgrace. Our United States colleague also said that he wanted to send a third humanitarian convoy to Rukban.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“With regard to the child Aylan Kurdi, whom he mentioned, yes, he was a Syrian child but he died in Turkey on the Turkish coast because of Turkish smuggling gangs who put 300 people onto each boat rather than 50. That is why people used to drown in the Mediterranean because of the Turkish smuggling gangs. With regard to the child Omran, who was on the front page of The New York Times, the accusation was that the Government had bombed Aleppo and killed that child. Later it was proved that that was false and that the child, Omran, had gone with his father to The Hague and Geneva and proved that everything people had seen was a pretence. They had forced him to look like a child who had been seriously injured and he was told what to say. That child and his father gave testimony that it was all a lie.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“The Syrian people have the exclusive right to decide on the future of their country, their Constitution and all that relates to national sovereignty, which are the domain of the Syrian people, without foreign interference, as provided for under international law, the Charter of the United Nations and all the relevant Security Council resolutions on Syria. In conclusion, my colleague, the representative of the United States, talked at the beginning of his statement about killing and burning a l3-year-old boy. That is an outright lie. There was no killing and burning of a 13-year-old boy at the beginning of the conflict in Syria. Let me repeat. That is a lie.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“I reaffirm Syria's readiness to pursue its cooperation with the Special Representative of the Secretary- General so that he can carry out his mission successfully by facilitating the intra-Syrian dialogue to bring about a political solution that will serve the interests of Syrians and ensure the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria and its people. That would lead to eradicating terrorism and ending the illegal foreign presence in Syria. Those many issues echo what you said earlier, Mr. President. Syria reaffirms that the political process must be Syrian-led and Syrian-owned.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“We also call on them to apply pressure on the Americans so that those living in the camp can move freely and unhindered, guarantee the security of humanitarian convoys to end their suffering and dismantle the camp. I stress today before the Council to Israel, the occupying Power, and its supporters in the United States Administration, that betting on the war that they have waged against my country for the past eight years to destroy Syria and reduce its role as an Arab, Islamic and regional leader has been a monumental mistake and great failure.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“In that regard, we recall that the representative of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, when the second United Nations convoy arrived in the area, that a survey was taken among the Al-Tanf refugees, according to which the United Nations realized that 95 per cent of them wanted to return to their villages and cities - 95 per cent of those in Rukban camp. I ask the Council: Why are the Americans keeping them there? In that regard, we note that the Syrian Government has taken all the necessary measures to free those persons detained in that camp and end their suffering. We call on the Security Council and the international community to call upon all illegal forces to withdraw immediately and unconditionally from the Syrian territories.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“The enemy Governments of my country have used the humanitarian situation and the untold suffering of our people to undermine the credibility of the Syrian Government, its reputation and the significant efforts that it has made to support Syrians in overcoming this deplorable situation. We see the relentlessness of such practices in the fact that the United States forces and the terrorist organizations supporting them have taken thousands of unarmed civilians hostages in the Rukban camp in the area ofAl-Tanffor 1,791 days, without any consideration for the suffering and disastrous living conditions that the United Nations itself has observed.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“The illegal coalition that invaded Baghdad in 2003 led to the rise of Al-Zarqawi, who was the head of Al-Qaida in Iraq, followed by Al-Baghdadi, who was the leader of the terrorist Da'esh group. The illegal coalition against my country has given birth to yet another terrorist personality - Al-Julani - who heads the Al-Nusra Front, and quite clearly neither Baghdad nor the Golan have anything to do with those terrorists and those who share their obscurantist and takfirist ideology. Someone named Al-Baghdadi, a native of Baghdad, extended his influence to attack Baghdad. Today a new personality - Al-Julani - a native of the Golan, has been created to attack Syria and the Syrian Golan. There is no coincidence regarding those names. The Pentagon invented Al-Baghdadi and Al-Julani. They did not stop there, however.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“They have spread disinformation. All of that has been accompanied by support for terrorists and foreign fighters in their various groupings, names and allegiances, the most prominent of which are the terrorists of Da'esh and the Al-Nusra Front, which have waged systematic attacks against Syria, its sovereignty and territorial integrity. They have done so through individual acts of aggression and through collective acts of aggression, as well as within the framework of an illegal international coalition which committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in my country. In addition, that illegal coalition waged economic terrorism against Syria by using unilateral coercive measures intended to bring down the Syrian Government and its legitimate institutions.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“It is a criminal plan for which the United States Government and its allies have used every tool at their disposal to carry out. They used all immoral and illegitimate tools to ensure the spread of chaos, in and the destruction of, our region so as to divide it along religious and ethnic lines in order to create a new reality like that which was imposed by colonists under the Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Balfour Declaration. All of that is adorned with the ideas and theories that certain politicians have repeated, such as creative chaos and the new Middle East. Those States of the new occupation plans have spared no effort to implement them. They have used every weapon in their arsenal at their disposal. They have defamed religion. They have encouraged radical, extremist and takfirist movements. They have applied political pressure.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“That leads me to another quote attributed to Diderot, who purportedly said: "Politics is not a frivolous anecdote but rather a responsibility". (spoke in Arabic) My colleagues in the Security Council will perhaps remember that, from the first day of this terrorist war led by the Governments of certain countries against my country, we have been saying that its main goal was to ensure the Israeli occupation of Arab territories and its perpetuation, based on the plan set forth by the United States. The latest decision by the United States President to recognize what he termed, "Israeli sovereignty" over the occupied Syrian Golan justifies what we have been saying. That sheds light on the plan that targets my country in particular, and the entire region in general.”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“Mr. Ja'afari (Syrian Arab Republic) (spoke in French): Allow me at the outset to say a few words in French. I wish to recall for Council members quotations from a former director of the Louvre museum, Andre Parrot, and the famous French archaeologist Charles Virolleaud. Why do I refer to those two persons? It is because both of them said something of great importance about Syria a long time ago that should nevertheless be recalled by all today. Charles Virolleaud was the first archaeologist to decipher the Ugaritic alphabet - the first alphabet in the world - discovered in the ancient port of Ugarit next to the city of Latakia on the Syrian coast, which inspired the following pronouncement by Andre Parrot: "Every civilized person has two homelands - their own and Syria".”
2019-03-27 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8493 (2019) · source
“We are determined, now more than ever, to recover all our territory and liberate it from terrorism and the illegitimate foreign presence there. In parallel, we are committed to working towards a political solution in which Syrians - and Syrians alone - decide on their future and make their choices through an inter-Syrian dialogue that is Syrian-led, without any external interference, in order to guarantee the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria. The meeting rose at 12.40 pm.”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“Those words demonstrate the commitment of the Syrian people to their political independence territorial integrity and high appreciation to the defenders of the country who are its strong shield, namely, the Syrian Arab Army and the armed forces that have made enormous sacrifices to preserve the sovereignty of Syria and the independence of its national decision-making to oppose foreign interference and any attempt to undermine the integrity of its land and people, not only for the last eight years but for decades before that. That is why the Syrian Government, which has held firm over eight years in the face ofterrorism and foreign interference, is now determined to reject the agendas of hostile countries.”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“Fourthly, the Syrian State must be supported in its efforts to create an environment conducive to the return of displaced persons and refugees to their homes, towns and cities with safety and dignity. I reiterate the appeal to all those who have left the country because of terrorism to return and shoulder their national responsibility to rebuild their country, which belongs to its entire people. Our national anthem begins with the words "Defenders of the homeland, may peace be upon you, refuse to be humiliated".”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“Some time ago, the Algerian authorities announced that they had detained hundreds of terrorists from Da'esh and other organizations on the Algeria-Niger border, who turned out upon investigation to have come from Aleppo in Syria. Who sent hundreds of terrorists from Aleppo to the Algeria-Niger border? Who provided them with transportation and logistical support? Thirdly, in order to bring an end to the suffering of the Syrian people and give them the opportunity to return to their normal lives and meet their daily needs, the coercive economic sanctions, which have had a devastating effect on all Syrians, must be immediately and unconditionally lifted. The sanctions have caused immense losses to our national economy that go far beyond the value of the humanitarian assistance that has been offered to Syrians.”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“The irresponsible position regarding the return of foreign terrorist fighters to their home countries and their prosecution for what they have done in Syria and Iraq clearly proves that some countries are afraid of the information that the terrorists would reveal about the role of the States that sponsored them. It also shows that those countries would like their terrorists to remain a factor of destabilization in my country and in the Middle East as a whole. They would also like to continue to invest in those terrorists and recycle them so that they can be sent to other parts of the world in the future. We are not making this up.”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“Members of the Council recall what Laurent Fabius, former French Foreign Minister, said in Marrakech on 12 December 2012, to the effect that French jihadists are doing a good job in Syria, and I now repeat his words in French in order to help my French colleague to recall them. Worse still, a third European official considers that the return of those terrorists to Europe is an "extremely difficult matter". I would like to ask this European official why it was easy for some Governments to recruit, finance, train and send those European terrorists to Syria.”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“Around five years after the Security Council's adoption of resolution 2170 (2014), which called for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign terrorist fighters from Syria, a European official just told us that "the return of our terrorist fellow citizens from Syria represents a danger for my country". That official has thereby deviated from the propaganda that has been broadcast by his country for years about those terrorists being birds of peace and members of the Syrian moderate opposition. Another European official just told us that those terrorists are "the enemies of European nations". That official has also deviated from his country's years-long propaganda campaign, which holds that "those are jihadists and friends of the Syrian people".”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“Moreover, work to return foreign terrorist fighters, including Europeans and others, to their countries of origin and to hold them accountable for the crimes that they committed against the Syrian and Iraqi peoples must be given support. The fundamental pillar of the terrorist war to which my country has been subject has always been the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters, who were brought to Syria from the four corners of the globe. Indeed, more than 100,000 terrorists were sent to Syria from more than 100 Member States of this international Organization.”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“Any foreign military presence in Syria, without the approval of the Syrian Government, is a full-fledged aggression that needs to be ended immediately. That is how we, as a State, would deal with this issue. In that context, my country categorically rejects the hostile and changing statements made by the United States Administration with respect to keeping a reduced force in my country, regardless ofthe pretexts given to justify such presence. Secondly, the efforts of the Syrian State, its allies and friends to combat the remnants of terrorist groups such as Da'esh and the Al-Nusra Front, as well as entities and individuals related to them, must be supported. Any support for those terrorist groups must cease.”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“That commitment, which goes hand in hand with the common denominator that is supposed to bring us together - namely, respect for the provisions of the Charter and the principles of international law, - immediately requires the following. First, the illegitimate presence of foreign forces, including American, French, British and Turkish forces, in all territories of the Syrian Arab Republic must be brought to an end and the so-called international coalition must be dissolved so as to end the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by that coalition, including the total destruction of the city of Raqqa, which was undertaken on the pretext of eliminating Da'esh there. In addition, much infrastructure was destroyed that was symbolic of the development of the Syrian people and took many years to build.”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“In that respect, we stress that any action pertaining to the constitution must be founded on the principle that the Syrian people alone have the right to decide the future of their country, without foreign interference, given that the Constitution and all related issues are a purely sovereign matter, solely decided upon by Syrians. The first paragraph of every resolution adopted by the Council on what has been called the Syrian crisis states that the Security Council reaffirms u" 1ts strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria and to the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations". Those are the words of the Security Council.”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“Nevertheless, today we have heard our American colleague, commended with pride by my British and French colleagues, talking about the decision ofthe United States Administration to maintain the presence of 200 or 400 intelligence elements and marine troops on a dear part of our territory. In that context, I note that we stand ready to directly consider, with Mr. Pedersen during his next visit to Damascus, issues relating to cooperation between the United Nations and Syria, including the formation of a constitutional committee and the various elements relating to that. However, it is now clear that those who are delaying the launch of the work of that committee are the same parties that are interfering in the internal affairs of Syria and seeking to impose their agenda and preconditions on the actions of the committee.”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“That said, I would like to recall what the statement our American colleague has just made, which was commended by my British and French colleagues, about the decision of the United States Administration to maintain an occupying force in part of the Syrian territory. That was said in the presence of members of the Security Council, who are responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security and mandated to implement scores of resolutions adopted by the Council, which stipulate that the Council is unanimous in favour of preserving the sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity of Syria. The Council's members have affirmed that in more than 20 resolutions.”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“We affirmed Syria's readiness to cooperate with him in order to guarantee the success of his mission and facilitate a Syrian-led and owned inter-Syrian dialogue for moving forward with the political process. That is, first and foremost, a Syrian interest, more so than that of any other country. In conjunction with that, we affirmed to him our pursuit of efforts to eliminate terrorism, put an end to the illegitimate foreign presence across Syrian territories and preserve the effective maintenance of Syria's unity, sovereignty and independence. Any political process that does not take those elements into account will remain an unrealistic solution without political prospects.”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source
“Six years, and we are still hearing strange, moody and selective opinions concerning the mandate of the Special Envoy. Of course, the objective of those opinions is to stick a spoke in the wheels and hamper him in his efforts and mandate, while putting political pressure on him and distorting his objective reading of the situation in my country. That is why my advice for my dear colleague Geir Pedersen would be to reduce the number of briefings that he delivers to the Council so that he can carry out his noble mission in accordance with his mandate, which he knows and understands very well and which we support. During the Special Envoy's visit last month, he held useful discussions in Damascus.”
2019-02-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8475 (2019) · source