Equipo Nizkor - Letter from Syria on the terrorist bombings that occured on 31Jan16 in Rif Dimashq.

United Nations
Security Council

S/2016/95

Distr.: General
2 February 2016
English
Original: Arabic

Identical letters dated 31 January 2016 from the Charge d'affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

On instructions from my Government, I should like to apprise you of the terrorist bombings that occurred on Sunday, 31 January 2016, in the Sayidah Zaynab residential area of Rif Dimashq governorate.

On Sunday afternoon, armed terrorist groups detonated a car bomb at a bus stop in the Ku' al Sudan neighbourhood of the Sayidah Zaynab area, which is located in Rif Dimashq governorate. Ku' al Sudan is a residential neighbourhood teeming with civilians. Two suicide attackers then detonated explosive belts amidst the ambulance teams and civilians who had come to rescue the victims of the terrorist bombing. The preliminary death toll stands at 60 civilians; more than 110 civilians were also injured, some critically, and the homes and infrastructure in the area sustained severe material damage.

Those cowardly and deplorable terrorist bombings are part of the efforts of the armed terrorist groups, which are backed by the Governments of such countries as Tukey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to impede current efforts aimed at launching an intra-Syrian dialogue under Syrian leadership. Those attacks are also part of the terrorists' efforts to terrorize innocent Syrian civilians and lift the morale of the armed terrorist groups, which are suffering defeats daily as the Syrian Arab Army experiences great success in restoring security and peace to those areas in which the armed terrorist groups are active. In their statement, the perpetrators of this crime said that this bombing had been carried out to support the opposition delegation that is coming from Riyadh to negotiate with the Government delegation at Geneva, under the auspices of Mr. Staffan de Mistura.

The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic reaffirms that the Security Council must take preventive measures against those States that support and finance terrorism, in implementation of the Council's relevant resolutions, including resolutions 2170 (2014), 2178 (2014), 2199 (2015) and 2253 (2015). The Government also stresses that the Council must avoid politicization and the application of double standards with regard to counter-terrorism, respect the relevant principles of international law and support the counter-terrorism efforts of the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic. The Government furthermore calls on the Secretary-General and the Security Council to condemn today's bombings and the other cowardly terrorist bombings that have been directed against peaceful civilians in many Syrian neighbourhoods and cities.

I should be grateful if the present letter could be issued as a document of the Security Council.

(Signed) Mounzer Mounzer
Chargé d'affaires a.i.

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02Feb16

Letter from Syria on the terrorist bombings that occured on 31Jan16 in Rif Dimashq