S/2017/684 - Letter from Syria regarding the bombing of residential neighbourhoods in Raqqah by the "international coalition" on 05Aug17.

United Nations
Security Council

S/2017/684

Distr.: General
8 August 2017
English
Original: Arabic

Identical letters dated 6 August 2017 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 refer to our previous identical letters, the most recent of which were dated 2 August 2017 (S/2017/675), concerning the massacres of innocent Syrian civilians committed by the so-called international coalition led by the United States of America. In that connection, and on instructions from my Government, I wish to transmit the following information:

On Saturday, 5 August 2017, the warplanes of the so-called international coalition carried out yet another massacre, killing 43 civilians and injuring dozens more, most of them women, children and elderly people. The illegal coalition fired missiles at residential neighbourhoods and homes in Raqqah city. In a similar massacre only 24 hours before, on 4 August, its warplanes had bombarded the same city, killing eight civilians belonging to the same family. Seven of those killed were children; the eighth was a woman.

The international coalition led by the United States of America has targeted residential neighbourhoods and civilian homes, destroyed Raqqah national hospital and systematically used internationally prohibited white phosphorus. Those actions are a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law. They are part of a series of crimes against Syrian civilians that the coalition has committed in Raqqah, Hasakah, Aleppo, Dayr al-Zawr and other Syrian cities.

The Syrian Arab Republic once again condemns in the strongest possible terms the crimes committed against Syrian civilians by the so-called international coalition. Those actions amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, and therefore cannot be justified under any pretext.

The Syrian Arab Republic again insists that this illegal coalition, which was established without the permission of the Syrian Government and outside the context of the United Nations, must be dissolved. The Security Council must fulfil its responsibility to maintain international peace and security and prevail on all States to enforce its counter-terrorism resolutions, particularly resolution 2253 (2015).

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

(Signed) Bashar Ja'afari
Ambassador
Permanent Representative

Information
Bookshop \| Donate Derechos \| Equipo Nizkor

08Aug17

Letter from Syria regarding the bombing of residential neighbourhoods in Raqqah by the "international coalition" on 05Aug17