Damascus briefs UN on transfer of Libyan, Turkish, Saudi arms, militants to Syria

Syria has written to the United Nations over a measure by Turkey to assign a special mission to a Libyan ship carrying arms and terrorists to help the militants fighting against Damascus.

Syrian Foreign Ministry highlighted Ankara’s interference in the Arab country’s internal affairs in letters to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and current Chairman of the UN Security Council Vitaly Churkin, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported on Thursday.

According to the letters, Turkish lawmakers have recently raised the issue of Turkey’s Interior Ministry assigning a special mission to a Libyan ship, dubbed “Intisar,” to carry 400 tons of weapons and hand them over to the militants fighting against the Syrian government.

The Libyan ship, which entered Turkey’s Iskenderun Port about two months ago, also carried 250 Libyans to fight along with militants in Syria, the letters said.

The Ministry said the enquiry list was submitted to the Turkish Parliament by Atilla Kart, a member of Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP).

The Turkish lawmaker has also urged Ankara to explain the reasons behind permitting “three C-130 Saudi airplanes earmarked for military transportation and evacuation to use the Turkish airspace to transport weapons and gunmen to Syria,” according to the letters.

The letters further said, Turkish Cumhuriyet newspaper mentioned in its version published a few days ago that Hursit Gunes, another member of the Republican People’s Party, has submitted a criminal complaint against the government officials over their anti-Syria policies.

According to the Syrian ministry, Gunes said in a press conference that the ruling Justice and Development Party trains gunmen in Turkey, transports weapons to Syria and provides all types of support to the armed groups in Syria.

He added that a number of militants’ leaders in Syria have provided information in this regard to international news agencies and media.

“This information proves in an irrefutable way that the Turkish territories have become a center for gathering, harboring, exporting, supporting and financing terrorism and terrorists from al-Qaeda to work inside Syria under the supervision of the Turkish government,” the ministry added.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry also expressed hope that the United Nations will fulfill its responsibility of “condemning the acts perpetrated by the Turkish government and by the other countries which support and finance al-Qaeda-linked armed terrorist groups” in Syria.