Saudi, Qatar, Turkey support terrorists to serve own interests: Syria

Syria has complained to the UN about the Saudi, Qatari and Turkish continued support for terrorists fighting in the Arab country, and condemned persistent violations of truce in Aleppo by militants as an attempt to thwart peace talks.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in two identical letters to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the head of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday that the violation of truce in Aleppo and terrorist attacks on residential areas in Aleppo and Homs Province aim to undermine peace efforts and prove that Qatar, Riyadh and Ankara defy the UNSC resolutions in their own interests.

​The ministry added that the international community could not depend on those countries to find a solution to the Syrian crisis.

On Wednesday, Russia and the US agreed on extending a shaky ceasefire they had brokered in February to Aleppo province. The two-day truce took effect at 1 am local time on Thursday.

The letters highlighted the terrorist attacks against several residential areas of Aleppo that left at least three people dead and several others injured. The ministry also referred to the terrorist attacks in al-Mukharram in Homs killed 12 people and injured 40 others.

The foreign ministry also noted that the government has been respecting the truce deal since early hours of Thursday, May 5, adding that the blatant violation of the truce exposes the real face of foreign-backed militants groups whose real intention is to shed the blood of Syrians and destroy the country.

It stressed the country’s determination to fight terrorism and find a solution to the crisis via intra-Syrian dialogue that would restore security to the country and uproot terrorism.

Meanwhile, the ministry called on the UN and UNSC to condemn the terrorists attacks and asked the UNSC to fulfill its obligations and take punitive measures against countries supporting terrorism.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which has furthermore displaced over half of Syria’s pre-war population of about 23 million.