Syria accuses US, its allies of backing terrorism
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E-mail Xinhua, October 2, 2012
Syria on Monday accused the United States and its allies, who make up part of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, of supporting terrorism in the Middle East country "under the pretext of humanitarian intervention" and "under the pretext of the 'Responsibility to Protect'."
The statement came as Walid Al-Moualem, the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Syria, was taking the floor at the one-week annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly, which is scheduled to conclude here later on Monday.
"Instead of seeking to contribute to the settlement of regional and international disputes by peaceful means, some well-known countries continue to pursue new colonial policies based on political hypocrisy in dealing with those crises," he said.
"Under the pretext of humanitarian intervention these countries interfere in the domestic affairs of states, and impose unilateral economic sanctions that lack the moral and legal basis," he said. "And under the pretext of concepts such as the 'Responsibility to Protect', drums of war are beaten, and sedition and unrest are spreading and damaging the structure of national societies," he said.
"Perhaps, worse of all is to see that permanent members of the Security Council, who launched wars under the pretext of combating terrorism, now support terrorism in my country without any regard to the United Nations resolutions that established the regulations and mechanisms for concerted international efforts to fight this scourge away from political polarization and double standards," he said.
He accused the United States and France and their other allies of their moves to "clearly induce and support terrorism in Syria with money, weapons and foreign fighters."
"For more than one year now, my country has been facing organized terrorism that affected our citizens, our human and scientific resources, national establishments, and also much of Syria's historic and archeological landmarks through terrorist bombings, assassinations and massacres, looting and sabotage activities that horrified citizens in many parts of Syria," said the Syrian deputy prime minister.
Al-Moualem cited an example of the Sept. 26 bombing in the Syrian capital of Damascus, saying that "A terrorist group with the name 'Jabhat Al-Nosrah', one of the Al Qaeda arms, took the responsibility for this attack."
"It is no surprise that the Security Council failed to condemn this and other terrorist bombings, because some of its members are supporting such acts," he said, "this terrorism which is externally supported is accompanied by unprecedented media provocation based on igniting religious extremism sponsored by well-known states in the region that facilitate the flow of arms, money and fighters through the borders of some neighboring countries."
"Those states either turn a blind eye to the activities of terrorist groups crossing their borders, or provide active material and logistical support from their territory for armed terrorist groups," he said.
Meanwhile, the Syrian official termed the Western countries' call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to resign as "a blatant interference in the domestic affairs of Syria."
"We heard calls from this podium, and on other platforms, some calls from those who are ignorant of the facts or maybe ignoring them, or also from those who are shareholders in exacerbating them, that invite the president of the Syrian Arab Republic to step down, " he said. "This is a blatant interference in the domestic affairs of Syria, and the unity of its people and its sovereignty."
