Damascus: Saudi Regime Responsible for Shedding Syrian Blood

The Syrian Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said in two identical letters sent to the UN Secretary-General and chairman of the Security Council on Monday addressing the persistence of the ruling regime of Saudi Arabia in interfering blatantly in Syria’s internal affairs, according to SANA.

The Syrian Ministry said that the Saudi regime continues to support armed terrorist groups in Syria, and that this support isn’t limited to sending weapons to terrorists in Syria, as since the beginning of the crisis the Saudi regime provided funding and logistic support to armed groups, in addition to recruiting extremist terrorists by Saudi intelligence and sending them to Syria, noting that these terrorists including prisoners of various nationalities who were held in Saudi prisons.

The Ministry said that the Saudi regime exploits the presence of Islamic holy sites in its territories in an attempts to legitimize terrorism in Syria by spreading takfiri mentality via satellite channels and issuing fatwas which are far removed from true Islam and which call for “jihad” against the Syrian state, making it easy for them to recruit thousands of takfiris from several countries and send them to fight the Syrian state and shed Syrians’ blood.

The letters stressed that this constitutes a blatant contradiction to the principles of Islam and humane and moral values, in addition to being blatant violations of international legitimacy resolutions including the Security Council counterterrorism laws which stipulate for commitment to combating funding, recruiting for and instigating terrorism.

The Ministry said that recently, the Saudi intelligence, represented by Bandar Bin Sultan, reactivate terrorists groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and increased logistic support to them, noting that Saudi intelligence had sponsored the creation of Al Qaeda and supported it for many years.

The Ministry said that Saudi intelligence also coordinates with counterparts in neighboring countries in a manner which led to opening some borders to allow fighters who trained in these countries to cross into Syria.

The letters pointed out that it has become clear to everyone that thousands of Saudi terrorists are fighting in Syria under the so-called “Jabhat al-Nusra,” the “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS) and other groups, with data showing that the number of Saudi terrorists in Syria increased recently from 10% to 15% of active combatants, with most of them belonging Al Qaeda.

The Ministry said that the Saudi authorities managed to eliminate over 300 Saudi terrorists recently, notably a leader in ISIS called Mutlak al-Mutlak who was killed in Aleppo countryside.

The letters affirmed that the Saudi regime and its intelligence agency and terrorist pawns in Syria bear the greatest part of the responsibility for shedding Syrian blood through their complicity in carrying out terrorist crimes against civilians, infrastructure, state establishments, hospitals, public and private establishments and properties, schools, mosques and churches.

The Ministry called attention to the recent terrorist attack on the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on November 30th, which claimed the lives of 4 citizens including a woman and a child and injured 26 others, and the terrorists’ attack on the town of Maaloula on December 2nd when they broke into St. Thecla Convent and took Mother Superior Pelagia Sayyaf and a number of nuns hostage, in addition to targeting the Convent’s orphanage.

The Ministry went on to say that the Saudi Foreign Minister’s boasting about sending weapons and terrorists to armed groups in Syria is a very serious matter that requires taking immediate action by the Security Council, particularly since most of these groups are affiliated to terrorists organizations including Al Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS which is included in the Security Council’s list of entities associated with Al Qaeda.

The Ministry added that the Saudi Minister’s boasting also violates Security Council resolutions, including resolution no. 1373 for 2001 which stipulates for all countries to refrain from providing any explicit or implicit support to entities or individuals involved in terrorist activities.

The letters called upon the UN-Secretary General and the Security Council to take immediate steps to hold the Saudi regime responsible for spreading extremist takfiri mentality and supporting terrorism in Syria, noting that this doesn’t just threaten Syria; rather it puts the entire region and world at risk.

The Ministry concluded by hoping that the Security Council’s counterterrorism committees will take the information provided in the letters into consideration and take the necessary action to stop this unprecedented support for terrorism by the Saudi regime.