SYRIA’S permanent representative to the United Nations, Dr Bashar al-Jaafari, reiterated that Syria has not and will not use chemical weapons and does not possess them.
He added that Syria is committed to cooperating with Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and its technical secretariat to settle all outstanding issues in order to permanently close this file and remove it from the circle of political manipulation and media misleading.
Al-Jaafari said in a statement at a session of the Security Council last week via video that Syria has managed, despite the difficult circumstances it went through years ago, and despite the grave challenges posed by terrorist organisations and terrorists beyond borders and their operators, to cooperate with the United Nations and CWC.
And that it has fulfilled its obligations resulting from its accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013, indicating that this cooperation resulted in the elimination of all Syria’s stockpiles and the destruction of the relevant production facilities.
That this was confirmed by the Head of the Joint Mission to Eliminate Chemical Weapons in Syria Sigrid Kaag in her briefing to the Security Council in June 2014 as confirmed by documents issued by the Technical Secretariat of the Prohibition Organisation, the last of which is the 85th monthly report of the Director General issued on 26/10/2020.
Al-Jaafari pointed out that despite these facts and witnesses of their representatives the destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria on board an American ship and other ships belonging to European countries, some member states adhered to their hostile positions towards Syria.
He said that some member states sought to increase escalation and political pressure and launched unilateral and tripartite acts of aggression that preceded any efforts to verify facts.
Al-Jaafari said that while Syria expresses its deep appreciation for the positions of the member states that adhere to the principles of international law and the provisions of the Charter and that share the condemnation of the use of chemical weapons and other weapons of mass destruction at any time, place and under any circumstances.
He said that Syria’s position with these countries simply focuses on the need to move away from the politicisation of these important issues and preserving the technicality, credibility and professionalism of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The UN General Assembly voted by 142 members in favour of a resolution which stipulates for the withdrawal of Israeli occupation entity from the occupied Syrian Golan until June 4th, 1967 line in implementation of the UN Security Council’s relevant resolutions.
This came during a UN General Assembly session held last Wednesday to adopt a draft resolution entitled ‘Occupied Syrian Golan’ which was approved by a recorded vote of 142 in favour, to 2 against (the United States and Israel) with 19 abstentions, as the UN member states have reiterated the basic principle, provides for not seizing the other’s lands by force according to the international law, the UN Charter, the Fourth Geneva Convention ‘relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War,’ on Occupied Syrian Golan.
Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Dr Bashar al-Jaafari, stressed in his speech at the UN session that the vote of the member states in favour of the draft resolution connected with the 52 and 53 items including the resolution entitled ‘the Syrian Golan’ sent two unequivocal messages to ‘Israel’, the occupying power.
The first one is that it must end its occupation of the occupied Arab territories in the occupied Syrian Golan and Palestine, and stop its violations of the Geneva Convention, especially in relation to settlement activities, looting of natural resources, seizing the lands and the expelling the people of the Golan from their lands.
Al-Jaafari pointed out that another important message has been directed from the international community every party who attempt to confer unilateral legitimacy on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands and the occupied Syrian Golan.
‘Syria condemned in strongest terms the decision of the US President Donald Trump regarding the occupied Syrian Golan,’ al-Jaafari said, asserting that it is illegitimate and unethical and represents a flagrant violation of international law, the UN Charter and its relevant resolutions, mainly the resolution no.497 for 1981.
‘The Syrian government considers the paper which President Trump signed on March 25, 2019 and handed over to the Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, as an only unilateral act issued by a party that does not have the political, legal or ethical capacity to decide the destiny of the world’s peoples or to act with lands that are considered an integral part of the territories of the Syrian Arab Republic,’ the Syrian diplomat added.
He stressed that any unilateral measures against the occupied Golan is null and void and without legal effect.
He concluded by saying that the United States didn’t limited to support ‘Israel’ militarily and politically in its wars and hostilities against the region and to protect it from any accountability for its crimes in the Security Council for decades, but, instead, it had ignored all the norms of the civilised relations among the countries through, for example, declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and defending its right to establish settlements on the lands it occupies.
- Spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, announced last Thursday that the US and Western coercive economic measures imposed on Syria make the economic and social conditions more difficult and impede the reconstruction and assistance operations offered to citizens.
Zakharova added in a press briefing that preparations for the upcoming International Refugee Conference, to be held on November 11 and 12, in Damascus are in their final stages, noting to Russia’s great interest in this conference and its invitation to the countries of the region and the relevant institutions at the United Nations to respond positively to the invitations sent by the Syrian government to attend this conference.
Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Walid al-Moallem, announced during his meeting with UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, of the Syrian government’s intention to hold an international conference on refugees on the 11th and 12th of this month.
She also expressed Moscow’s concern about the attacks of the terrorist organisation of Daesh in Syrian al-Jazeera region, the presence of some terrorist cells in eastern and central Syria.
- A plane loaded with medical assistance offered by the Republic of Pakistan, landed at the Damascus International Airport last week.
The aid, which includes medicines, medical equipment and supplies aims at supporting the efforts of the Syrian health sector to confront the novel coronavirus.
In a statement to journalists, after receiving the aid, Deputy Foreign and Expatriates Minister Dr Faisal Mikdad expressed the gratitude of the Syrian people for this generous gesture by friends and brothers in Pakistan.
Mikdad said that the shipment is the largest shipment ever received by Syria during the health crisis, saluting the leadership and people of Pakistan for supporting Syria, not only in difficult health conditions but in joint action against terrorism.
The Pakistani ambassador in Damascus, Saeed Mohammad Khan, indicated that it had been agreed to send medical aid weighing 25 tons of important supplies that help dealing with the coronavirus.
He pointed out that the aid includes personal protection materials and will be distributed to hospitals and the concerned authorities in the Ministry of Health.
Deputy Minister of Health, Ahmad Khleifawi, stressed the importance of this aid to support the health sector in Syria which had suffered throughout the years of war and still suffers from the economic embargo and unjust unilateral coercive measures that prevent the arrival of many medical materials and equipment.
- The Health Ministry announced last Thursday that 76 new coronavirus cases were registered in Syria, and 52 patients have recovered while 4 others have passed away.
The ministry added in a statement that the total number of coronavirus infections registered in the country till now has reached at 6,040, out of which 2,195 ones have recovered while 305 others have passed away.
The first coronavirus case was registered in the country on March 22nd, while the first mortality was reported on 29th of the same month.