Equipo Nizkor - S/2016/1088

United Nations
Security Council

S/2016/1088

Distr.: General
28 December 2016
English
Original: Arabic

Identical letters dated 21 December 2016 from the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

I have the honour to attach herewith identical letters dated 20 December 2016 addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council.

It would be highly appreciated if the present letter and its annex were circulated as a document of the Security Council.

(Signed) Bashar Ja'afari
Ambassador
Permanent Representative

Annex to the identical letters dated 21 December 2016 from the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

[Original: Arabic]

On instructions from my Government, I should like to convey to you the position of the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic regarding the thirty-fourth report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014) and 2258 (2015) (S/2016/1057):

The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic reaffirms the points it has already raised in its previous responses to the reports of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the above-mentioned resolutions.

The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic reiterates its regret at the biased, subjective and unprofessional approach that the Secretariat continues to take towards the humanitarian situation in Syria. The Secretariat insists on turning its reports into an instrument for meting out slanderous accusations against the Syrian Government while adopting the policies and positions of States and terrorist organizations that are hostile to Syria. The Syrian Government stresses that such an approach has wilfully contributed to prolonging the crisis and exacerbating the humanitarian situation in Syria, presented false information to the global public and undermined global counter-terrorism efforts.

The Syrian Government stresses that it is the primary and biggest provider of humanitarian support to its citizens. Any supplementary international effort by the United Nations or any other humanitarian agencies to deliver humanitarian assistance to those in need stands no chance of success without facilities provided by the Syrian Government through its national and local institutions.

The Syrian Government reiterates that it is the party that cares most about the interests, security and well-being of the Syrian people. It will carry out its constitutional and legal duty, enshrined in both national and international law, to defend its people against the terrorism of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Nusrah Front and affiliated entities and individuals, whatever their various names and loyalties. The Syrian Government stresses that its wide ranging efforts to combat terrorism, with the support of its allies, are the primary factor that has restored security and stability to numerous regions and millions of Syrians, helped thousands of displaced persons return to their towns and cities, and delivered humanitarian assistance to the rightful beneficiaries. The Syrian Government reiterates that in the course of carrying out its far-reaching counter-terrorism efforts, it has complied fully with the provisions of international law and international humanitarian law regarding the protection and security of civilians and the safety of civilian service facilities, such as hospitals and schools.

Like its predecessors, the most recent report of the Secretariat is inherently flawed owing to the lack of credibility of its sources. The Secretariat and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) have accepted the information provided by those sources and disseminated it as though it were factual when it is nothing but lies and false allegations from armed terrorist groups, regional and foreign parties and States that support and protect those terrorist groups, and artificial entities such as the so -called White Helmets. To make matters worse, the Secretariat then turns a blind eye to major atrocities and violations being committed by armed terrorist groups, which it claims it was "unable to verify", while it treats allegations made against the Syrian Government as indisputable facts.

The Syrian Government deplores the Secretariat's continued description of armed terrorist groups such as the Nusrah Front, ISIL and affiliated entities as "non-State armed groups". It also condemns the Secretariat for ignoring the crimes being committed by the tens of thousands of foreign terrorist fighters who have been brought in via Turkish territory with the support of the Erdogan regime. Those terrorists are funded by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, armed by the Americans and Europeans, and imbued with an extremist Wahhabist ideology founded on hate, negation of the other and a thirst for blood.

With regard to the humanitarian situation in Aleppo governorate, the Syrian Government has taken a number of initiatives, in coordination with its allies, to secure the departure of civilians from neighbourhoods in eastern Aleppo. It has called on the armed terrorist groups to lay down their arms or leave in order to forestall harm to civilians or to public or private property. Crossing points and other facilities have been set up for that purpose, and guarantees have been provided. Nevertheless, the armed terrorist groups have taken to using civilians as human shields, stopped them from leaving, and fired their bullets of hate and missiles of death at any who try to escape to areas under Government control. The armed groups have suppressed the pleas and protests of the people, and have continued to launch attacks at neighbourhoods in western Aleppo, killing and injuring thousands of civilians. The Syrian State has been left with no choice but to liberate its citizens, reclaim its territory and stand up to terrorism. With the support of its friends, it has scored a historic success by liberating civilians in neighbourhoods in eastern Aleppo and expelling the terrorists.

During the period from 26 November to 14 December 2016, neighbourhoods in western Aleppo took in over 100,000 people from eastern Aleppo. Most have been moved into temporary housing centres furnished by the Syrian Government and equipped with all the requirements of life, including medical and educational services. The Syrian Government has provided medical services to some 23,000 patients who had been deprived of medical care and medicine by the armed terrorist groups. It has enrolled more than 1,150 students from families arriving from neighbourhoods in eastern Aleppo in schools opened in housing centres in western Aleppo for young children and students to resume their educations.

The Syrian Government finds it reprehensible that, in paragraph 5, the Secretariat fails to explicitly condemn or even hold the armed terrorist groups deployed in the neighbourhoods of eastern Aleppo responsible for the horrifying massacres they have committed against civilians to prevent them from escaping into neighbourhoods in western Aleppo. On 30 November 2016, those terrorists perpetrated the Jubb al-Qubbah massacre in the Old City of Aleppo, killing more than 50 children and women. On 2 December 2016, they perpetrated the Mu'adi massacre, killing over 20 civilians as they were fleeing to areas where the Syrian Arab Army had taken up positions. It has become clear that these massacres and the women and children who perished in them are of no consequence whatsoever to the Secretariat, OHCHR and the Western States that claim to be the guardians of human rights, although they seem to care deeply about the safe exit from eastern Aleppo of the terrorists.

Now that eastern Aleppo has been liberated, the authorities there have discovered large warehouses full of international food and medical aid that was appropriated by the armed terrorist groups and prevented from reaching those in need, whose suffering was exploited for base purposes.

Instead of offering tangible support and assistance to the people of eastern Aleppo who have fled to the western neighbourhoods, the Secretariat prefers to hurl accusations and issue politicized statements against the Syrian Government and its allies. In that regard, the Syrian Government has no use for the misguided initiatives on the situation in Aleppo put forward by the United Nations, which happen to coincide with the well-known proposals and positions of Western and Arab States. Those initiatives demonstrate no concern for the humanitarian conditions of civilians in Aleppo. They are focused rather on saving the remaining terrorists in eastern Aleppo. They are nothing more than defective initiatives that reflect a policy of support of the armed terrorists.

Assistance provided by the United Nations in Aleppo amounts to no more than 22 per cent of needs. The Syrian Government is providing 78 per cent of assistance.

The Syrian Government finds it deplorable that, in paragraph 5 of box 1, the Secretariat failed to indicate explicitly that armed terrorist groups deployed along the Syria-Jordanian border, and in particular the terrorist Nusrah Front, are seizing humanitarian assistance and preventing it from being delivered to civilians in those areas.

The Syrian Government rejects the broad use of the term "protection" in paragraphs 11 and 12, which it believes is intended to be misleading, to justify the denigration of measures taken by sovereign Member States to protect their peoples, and to replace that principle with concepts that will only complicate international relations and hinder States from protecting their peoples.

The attempt by the Secretariat and certain parties at the United Nations to equate States with the terrorist groups that have rebranded themselves as "non-State armed opposition groups" should be condemned in the strongest possible terms as a violation of the principles of international law, the Charter of the United Nations and the purposes and principles thereof.

During the period covered by the report, the Syrian Government facilitated the evacuation of a numerous medical cases and provided humanitarian assistance to Syrian towns and cities without discrimination. The Syrian Government expresses its astonishment at the Secretariat's failure to mention the obstruction by armed terrorist groups, particularly those besieging the towns of Kafraya and Fu'ah, of the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the evacuation of medical cases.

The Syrian Government rejects the claim made in paragraph 29 that the "local authorities in Raqqah" refused to allow an immunization campaign to be conducted. The Government reminds the Secretariat that it is the ISIL terrorist organization that is currently deployed in Raqqah. Syria rejects such assertions wherever they appear in United Nations reports.

The Syrian Government wishes to draw attention to the inaccuracy of the information in paragraph 33 regarding the allegation that there was an air strike on a mosque in Khan al-Shih in Rif Dimashq, which was recently liberated from the terrorists.

The Syrian Government rejects the Secretariat's attempts to promote the operations of the so-called international coalition led by the United States of America while wilfully ignoring the civilian and military casualties and appalling destruction of infrastructure and oil and gas wells caused by that coalition's air strikes. The Syrian Government has documented the massive losses of life and services infrastructure to coalition air strikes, but the information that the Government provided the Security Council and the Secretariat has been ignored in this and previous reports.

The Syrian Government condemns the Secretariat's continued wilful disregard for the enormous human suffering and negative impacts stemming from the imposition of unilateral coercive economic measures against Syria by the United States, the European Union and other States.

The Syrian Government finds it regrettable that Secretariat continues to promote the cross-border delivery of assistance, even though it is clear that such delivery is ineffective and that most of the assistance thus delivered falls into the hands of armed terrorist groups in the targeted areas. The Secretariat also continues to promote cross-border vaccination campaigns for which it makes exaggerated claims. The notifications sent to the Syrian Government do not meet the minimum standard of credibility with regard to figures, data, number of beneficiaries and information on the parties that receive and distribute assistance to civilian beneficiaries. In that connection, the Syrian Government reiterates that the United Nations monitoring mechanism cannot verify that cross-border assistance is reaching its rightful beneficiaries, and has thus far proven to be incapable of doing so. We remind you that the Bab al -Hawa, Bab al-Salamah and Ramtha crossings are entry points for arms, materiel and ammunition being smuggled to armed terrorist groups in Syria. The Syrian Government confirms that the Syrian Arab Red Crescent stands ready to monitor the delivery of humanitarian assistance to its intended recipients, but the Secretariat has rejected that proposal.

The Syrian Government finds it reprehensible that the Secretariat should fail to mention the responsibility of the armed terrorist groups for the continued suffering of the Palestine refugees in the Yarmouk camp, the Khan al-Shih camp, and other areas, or the responsibility of the ISIL terrorist organization for preventing humanitarian assistance from reaching the Yalda area since May 2016.

The Syrian Government regrets that the Secretariat continues to include inaccurate figures and statistics in the report. According to statistics from the United Nations itself, the Syrian Government had approved some 1,100 entry visas for United Nations staff as of 31 October 2016. In the month of November, it approved 30 requests for entry visas for Syria (not 26) and 71 requests for renewals (not 65 as stated in the report). In all of 2016, it rejected only 37 requests, a negligible proportion, which is its sovereign right.

To date, the number of foreign non-governmental organizations operating in Syria is 24. The Syrian Government is providing those organizations with the facilities necessary to carry out their work.

The Syrian Government also points out that the number that appears in paragraph 22, pertaining to the number of requests in connection with the World Health Organization, is also incorrect.

The Syrian Government once again calls on the Secretariat to adopt a new approach that is consistent with its mandate to represent all Member States and based on professionalism and objectivity. The Secretariat should enlist staff members who are better trained and more professional, and not hostile towards Syria, to oversee the drafting of these reports. It should take seriously the concerns and observations raised by the Syrian Government in its responses to the monthly reports of the Secretariat.

The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic reaffirms its long-standing position that the crisis in Syria requires a political solution based on dialogue among Syrians under Syrian leadership without foreign intervention and without preconditions. The Syrian Government stresses that it is fighting terrorism with a view to reaching a political solution. Unfortunately, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General is not working along the same lines. He suspended the Syrian-Syrian dialogue in May 2016. We remind the Secretariat that the success of the political process and any significant improvement in the humanitarian situation will depend, above all, on creating a climate conducive to a serious and non-politicized international and regional commitment to fighting terrorism and on an immediate end to the unilateral coercive economic measures being imposed on the Syrian people with no legal or moral basis.

The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic reiterates its call on the Security Council to prevail on the States that support and finance armed terrorist groups to refrain from so doing, in implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions on combating terrorism and the financing thereof, in particular resolutions 2170 (2014), 2178 (2014), 2199 (2015) and 2253 (2015). Compliance with and enforcement of those resolutions is the key to resolving the situation in Syria and delivering unprecedented humanitarian assistance to those in need in Syria.

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

(Signed) Bashar Ja'afari
Ambassador
Permanent Representative

28Dec16

Letter from Syria in response to the 34th report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014) and 2258 (2015)

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