Syrian Foreign Ministry: What happened in Khan al-Assal exposed neighboring countries’ role in supporting terrorist groups

The Foreign an Expatriates Ministry on Saturday stressed that what happened in Khan al-Assal in the past few days has exposed the role of some neighboring countries which are involved in providing military, material and logistic support to the armed terrorist groups.

The Ministry’s stress came in letters it addressed to the UN Secretary General, Chairman of the UN Security Council , the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Chairman of the UN Human Rights Council.

”After hundreds of armed terrorist groups’ members gained full control of Khan al-Assal area to tighten the blockade on Aleppo city in order to prevent food and medical supplies from arriving there, a terrorist gang called ‘Ansar al-Khilafa Brigade’ committed mass killings in an atrocious massacre that bears the hallmarks of al-Qaeda against scores of soldiers and civilians in Khan al-Assal before mutilating their bodies and hurling them in a big hole on the outskirts of the town, also incinerating the bodies of several other martyrs.”

What happened in Khan al-Assal over the past few days has exposed the role of some neighboring countries which are involved in providing military, material and logistic support to the armed terrorist groups, the ministry said, adding that the involvement went as far as issuing orders to attack specific sites and commit crimes there with the aim to destabilize Syria.

The ministry said that some Security Council permanent members continue to pursue a double- standard policy in combating terrorism through preventing the Council from denouncing many terrorist crimes perpetrated by al-Qaeda-linked takfiri organizations in Syria, the latest of which was a terrorist bombing in Jaramana city on July 25, 2013.

Those countries serve as complicit in terrorism through their direct involvement in providing the armed groups with weapons and political cover in a grave violation of their responsibilities as permanent members in preserving international peace and security, the letters said, which raises many questions as to their seriousness in combating terrorism and commitment to the UNSC counter-terrorism resolutions.

”The stances of these countries and their allies in the region contradict the international consensus on combating terrorism and incite more terrorist crimes against the Syrians, and hinder international endeavors to find a political solution to the crisis through a Syrian-Syrian dialogue that respects their choices, helps put an end to terrorism and combat the extremist takfiri groups,” the letters affirmed.

The crime, which comes on the heels of a string of massacres in Jisr al-Shughour in Idleb and Hatla village in Deir Ezzor pushes Syria to demand that the international community, especially the UNSC and the Human Rights Council to take serious and responsible steps to face terrorism in Syria that is practiced by takfiri gangs connected to al-Qaeda organization, said the letters, urging them to unveil the circumstances of the heinous crime and the motives behind it away from hypocrisy and double standards.