Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
New York, SANA – The UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously adopted resolution No. 2178 which calls for stopping the flow of foreign fighters across the borders to all the countries of the world, particularly to Syria and Iraq.
The resolution condemned extremism which creates a suitable atmosphere for terrorism and terrorist acts by the terrorist foreign fighters, calling for disarming all foreign fighters and halting all the terrorist acts or the participation in the armed conflict.
The resolution underlined the necessity of not linking terrorism with any specific religion or nationality, stressing that the states are responsible for preventing the movement of terrorists or the terrorist organizations through adopting effective measures to control the borders and with regard to the identity cards or the travel documents.
It also urged all the countries to intensify and speed up their efforts in the domain of exchanging information on the acts and movements of terrorists and the terrorist organizations.
The resolution affirmed the importance of the direct implementation of all of its provisions, particularly with regard to the foreign fighters who are linked to so-called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and to Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist organizations or groups.
Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari said that Syria has been a pioneer in its call for combating terrorism and in fighting it on the ground while others realized its danger very late.
In a speech delivered before the Security Council after voting on the resolution, al-Jaafari said that the terrorist acts of the foreign fighters, who are fighting in Syria on behalf of other sides, target the “tolerance of the deep-rooted Syrian civilization”.
He indicated that the terrorist acts have targeted the diplomatic missions, foreign journalists, UNDOF peacekeepers and the convoys of humanitarian aid, stressing that these criminal acts wouldn’t have been done without the support provided to the terrorist organizations by the governments of some states which are members of the Security Council.
Al-Jaafari indicated that in a message sent to the President of the UN Security Council and to the Secretary-General on April 28th in 2014, the Syrian Government welcomed resolution No. 2170 of the Council and expressed full adherence to it in the framework of “respecting the national sovereignty and the international pacts.”
He indicated that Syria expressed readiness to cooperate on the regional and international levels through forming an international or regional coalition supported be the international legitimacy or through the bilateral cooperation to combat terrorism.
He added that Syria has been combating terrorism which is represented in the ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations and other organizations like the Islamic Front which regrettably hasn’t been enlisted by the committee of the resolution No. 1267 due to the objection of certain countries who are members of the committee.
Al-Jaafari affirmed that Syria will continue the war it has launched against terrorism, and it will support any honest international effort that would be effective in combating terrorism in condition it should be done in the framework of preserving the lives of civilians and respecting the national sovereignty according to the international pacts.
“We stress that the participation of Israel in the so-called “alliance against the ISIS” undermines any credibility of this alliance…Shooting down a Syrian warplane, which was in a national duty in bombing terrorist organizations, by Israel practically affirms that there is an alliance between Israel and al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organizations and others,” al-Jaafari said.
He added that the delegation of the Syrian Arab republic believes that the United Nations is the main political forum to coordinate and enhance the international efforts which aim to eliminate the danger of terrorism which threatens the international peace and security, the stability of the countries and the wealth of the nations.
Al-Jaafari indicated that politicizing the issue of combating terrorism and the attempts to find pretexts for the perpetrators of terrorist acts, will undermine all the efforts of combating terrorism.
He indicated that some of the alliance member states have been main gates for terrorists into Syria and Iraq such as Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Al-Jaafari stressed that Syria supports resolution No. 2178, affirming that launching military operations against the terrorist organizations will not achieve its hoped-for goals without the coordination and cooperation with the governments of the countries concerned and without obliging the countries which support and incite terrorism to stop such practices which threaten the international peace and security.
For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that all states should implement UNSC resolutions on counter-terrorism, highlighting the need for holding accountable those who are responsible for supporting terrorists in Syria and Iraq.
“Russia call for concerting international efforts to combat terrorism of all its forms and take the required procedures for that,” Lavrov said adding that Russia advocates provisions of the resolution that urge for imposing sanctions on terrorism backers in Syria and Iraq.
“The ability of Security Council to find solutions to the basic issues and taking resolutions in accordance with the UN Charter should be boosted,” the Russian official said.
Lavrov pointed out that Russia has supported the US initiative to the Security Council on adopting a resolution that condemns all the activities of the foreign fighters.
The Russian Foreign Minister called for making the United Nations the forum which represents all the organizations with their efforts, to find the major problems in the region and to touch upon the old conflicts, on top of which, the Arab-Israeli conflict, as the Palestinian issue has not been solved for decades.
For his part, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed that the resolution adopted by the Security Council, which reflects consensus will of the international community, should be implemented comprehensively and in a balanced manner.
He clarified that terrorism constitutes a challenge to the humane life and it is the common enemy to humanity as a whole.
The Chinese FM pointed out that terrorists are being recruited from all over the world, which constitutes a threat to the security and stability of many countries worldwide.
Yi highlighted the necessity of complying with the international law and the UN Charter and abandoning the double standards policy in terms of combating terrorism.
He pointed out that the UN and the Security Council should fulfill their role in this regard because this is the sole means for sustaining unity and achieving a joint action.
Yi called for following constant standards and an integrated multilateral approach that takes into account the procedures taken at intelligence, ideological, financial and social levels for combating the root causes of terrorism.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the world is witnessing tragic developments on the background of the terrorist threats, as last week’s terrorist attacks killed thousands of civilians and displaced others.
He clarified that the terrorist groups exploit religion to justify their crimes against all including women, children and minorities, pointing out that they do not represent any states and they should not be called Islamist groups but rather unlawful groups.
Ki-moon said that these terrorist groups attract foreign fighters, as the UN estimates the number of the foreign fighters that have joined ISIS organization to nearly 13,000 coming from 18 countries.
He stressed the need for applying the recent UN resolution about the foreign fighters in the framework of the world strategy for counterterrorism in order to prevent their influx through borders and cutting off resources from them.
For his part, the U.S. President Barrack Obama stressed the need for unifying as one international community to confront the terrorists’ threats, the latest of which is represented through killing a French citizen in Algeria brutally.
He said that the unprecedented flow of fighters from and into areas of conflict such as Afghanistan, North Africa, Yemen, Libya and recently Syria and Iraq is continuous, pointing out that more than 15,000 foreign fighters from 80 countries travelled to Syria and joined the al-Qaeda-linked groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS . He added that these fighters aggravate the tension of conflict and they are now trying to turn back to their countries to launch lethal attacks.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that ISIS organization depends on the financing networks which are existed in more than one country and provide it with money, the oil smuggling networks from the Iraqi and Syrian territories and on the logistic support it receives starting from recruiting terrorists from all parts of the ground.
He considered that ISIS danger is not limited to the land of Iraq, demanding the mobilization of regional and international efforts to counter it and pointing to the necessity of not allowing regional or international disputes and differences to affect the priority of confronting this organization and terrorism as a whole.
The Iraqi official said that ISIS is not an internal terrorist group rather it is a cross-border organization that derives its components from the ideological cover which is represented by extremist fatwas and the cancelation of the other.
In turn, Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra said that the phenomenon of terrorism knows no borders nor a country and has nothing to do with religion.
Lamamra stressed that the issue of the foreign terrorists and terrorism phenomena is a dangerous one that must be confronted comprehensively.
R. al-Jazaeri / R. Milhem / Ghossoun / Mazen Eyoun
