Syria urges UN Security Council to swiftly end US aggression after recent strike on resistance forces

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has urged the United Nations Security Council to assume its responsibility and put an immediate end to US acts of aggression against the Arab country. 

The ministry made the request in a Saturday letter addressed to the UN secretary general and the president of the Security Council with regard to the US breach of the provisions of the international law and the UN Charter following Washington’s recent air raid against positions of Iraqi counter-terrorism forces on the Iraqi-Syrian border, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.

The ministry said the “flagrant” aggression is regarded as one of the series of American forces’ attacks under “flimsy pretexts or shameful justifications” which the US officials have boasted of from their forums in Washington. 

At least one has been killed and four injured after US warplanes on Thursday conducted airstrikes on areas in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr near the Syrian-Iraqi border, the first of its kind under new American President Joe Biden. 

The airstrikes, which were carried out against facilities used by forces with Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), have been met with a negative reaction, with many observers likening Biden’s approach to that of his hawkish predecessor, Donald Trump. 

The PMU – better known as Hashd al-Sha’abi – has been fighting remnants of the Takfiri Daesh terror group across border regions of Iraq and Syria in coordination with the governments in both Arab countries. 

A US-led military coalition has been active inside Syria under the pretext of fighting Daesh since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. The US military strikes in the Arab country have on many occasions resulted in civilian casualties and failed to fulfil their declared aim of countering terrorism. 

The Syrian ministry emphasized that this act of aggression contradicts the supposed role of the US, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which is tasked with safeguarding global peace and security. 

It warned that such acts of aggression would escalate the situation in the region and constitute a negative indication of the new US administration’s policies that are expected to abide by the international law and the Security Council’s resolutions related to safeguarding Syria’s territorial integrity, national sovereignty and independence. 

It recalled upon the Security Council to shoulder its responsibility in preserving international peace and security, immediately move to stop a permanent member from continuing its aggression and crimes against a sovereign country and a UN founding member and to prevent the repetition of such hostile policies. 

The ministry emphasized that these attacks would only spread chaos, destroy Syria’s infrastructure, fuel regional and international tensions and serve the interests of terrorist groups. 

In a statement on Friday, the ministry said it “strongly condemns the American act of aggression” on PMU facilities, describing it as a “bad sign” from the administration of US President Biden. 

“It is a bad sign regarding the policies of the new US administration which should adhere to international” norms, the statement added.