Syria demands int’l community compel countries sponsoring terrorists to stop

Syria demanded that the international community compel the countries which provide funds, arms, passage and harbor to the terrorists in Syria to respect their commitment to the international resolutions on counterterrorism.

Addressing the 6th International Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva, which kicked off Wednesday, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Faissal al-Hamwi, said Syria has been facing over the past two years and a half a systematic terrorist attack aimed to spread sedition and takfiri thinking within a national fraternal society that has lived in unity and understanding over hundreds of years.

He stressed that Syria has enjoyed a distinguished experience of co-existence, freedom and equality among its people amid a combination of religions and races and has always provided a haven for people fleeing religious and ethnic oppression and cleansing.

Yet, al-Hamwi added, Syria is now being inflicted with an assault by terrorists coming from over 80 countries who are killing and mutilating civilians only because they disagree with the extremist belief and thought of al-Qaeda and are defending their country to remain united and secular.

He cited crimes that are being committed based on takfiri fatwas, including most importantly suicide bombings, random shelling of safe neighborhoods by mortar rounds and the operations of religious and ethnic cleansing that have forced many residents of areas with minorities to leave.

The Syrian representative also highlighted the terrorist groups’ acts of using citizens as human shields, attacking Islamic and Christian places of worship and setting up so-called Sharia law courts and schools.

Al-Hamwi denounced the fact that all these crimes are taking place amid dead silence of the very same countries which falsely claim to defend human rights while they continue to provide all forms of military, material and logistic support to the terrorists.

“Terrorism knows no borders, nor does it respect any values or human rights,” said al-Hamwi, calling upon the international community to come together and work to confront terrorism and drain its sources.

He demanded that the countries which fund and arm terrorists and “supply them with support, passage and safe harbor…respect their obligations towards the international resolutions and agreements relevant to counterterrorism.”

Al-Hamwi affirmed that these countries must stop their behavior immediately, “otherwise they will find themselves vulnerable to their crimes”.

“Syria stresses that combating terrorism and extremist beliefs is the only way to preserve cultural diversity,” he said, calling upon the UN Security Council and other concerned international organizations to play a basic role in cautioning against the grave dangers of such acts for the national unity and security in many countries.