Statement by Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Mr.Dmitry Polyanskiy at the Security Council meeting on Syria
We thank Ms. Ghelani for her briefing.
As the Council is aware, the capital of Kazakhstan just hosted the eleventh international meeting in the framework of the Astana process, in which the issues of progress on a political settlement based on the groundwork laid in Geneva and Sochi, further improvements in the situation on the ground and the development of confidence-building measures among the Syrian parties were discussed.
We thank our partners in Kazakhstan for their unwavering hospitality. As a result of the meeting, a joint statement was agreed on in which, having emphasized their determination to strengthen their trilateral cooperation, the guarantor countries among other things repudiated all attempts to create new realities on the ground on the pretext of combating terrorism, and expressed their determination to counter any separatist plans designed to undermine Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity or the national security of its neighbours.
Iran, Russia and Turkey welcomed the success on 24 November of the pilot project to exchange people who had been forcibly detained, which was a step forward in the work of building trust among the Syrian stakeholders. On the whole, the situation in much of Syria is stable. While problems remain, there is clear evidence that things on the humanitarian front are improving, which is particularly noticeable in the areas controlled by Damascus.
It is perhaps premature to take stock of outcomes for the year, but we believe that it is a major achievement that the so-called besieged areas have completely dropped off our agenda, for instance. However, the growing number of violations of the cessation of hostilities regime in the Idlib de-escalation zone is worrying.
There was a particularly alarming incident last week when militants based inside the zone fired shells containing toxic substances on resident neighbourhoods in Aleppo, as has already been mentioned today. There are casualties. We hope that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will undertake the necessary measures in connection with the reports from Damascus as soon as possible.
Prior to that, there was an attack in the area of Jurin by militants from Haras Al-Din, an illegal armed group affiliated with Al-Qaida, in the repelling of which 18 soldiers were killed. The Astana guarantor countries will ramp up their efforts to ensure that the cessation of hostilities is maintained and affirm their willingness to fully implement the 17 September memorandum on the stabilization of the situation in Idlib. But it is important to understand that however significant a sustainable ceasefire is, it does not eliminate the need to continue working effectively to combat terrorism.
The flow of refugees and internally displaced persons returning to their homes is gaining strength, with an average of up to 1,000 people returning from Lebanon and Jordan every day. To the extent that they can, the Syrian authorities are making significant efforts to create favourable conditions for their citizens. Helpful adjustments are being made at the legislative level.
As we have repeatedly stressed, at this critical juncture it falls to the international community to collectively get behind the Syrian people in order to repair the devastation as soon as possible and establish normal life for those who have voluntarily decided to return to their homeland. The guarantor countries of the Astana process have urged the international community, especially the United Nations and its humanitarian agencies, to increase assistance to Syria, including by expanding humanitarian deliveries and rebuilding civilian infrastructure.
Meanwhile, however, we are obliged to assume that some Western capitals have not grasped this and have made assistance in the restoration conditional on political circumstances, which is an inhumane approach. Sometimes they are also intimidating others who might dare to circumvent illegal unilateral sanctions, for example, and that is also unacceptable. Following the eradication of the terrorist presence in the southern suburbs of Damascus, the Syrian authorities have been developing a plan to restore the Palestinian refugee camp in Yarmouk, and the streets there are currently being cleared.
We assume that the foreign donors who are traditionally sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians might participate in implementing those plans. The situation in the health-care sector remains very serious. According to the response plan for Syria in 2019 prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) country office, humanitarian medical assistance is still needed, especially in newly liberated areas. More than half of the country’s medical facilities are closed or functioning only partially.
There is an acute shortage of medicines for treating common diseases, owing to disruptions in the supply chain. A third of the population is using water from unreliable sources. Over the past year all of these factors have led to outbreaks of measles, leishmaniasis and diarrhoea. It is important for WHO to focus on restoring the local authorities’ capacity to provide medical care.
We continue to highlight the inadmissibility of maintaining unilateral sanctions against Syria, which significantly limit the ability of the authorities to obtain medicines and medical equipment. Unfortunately, many questions remain about the activities of the so-called coalition led by the United States, which is present on Syrian soil in violation of the basic principles of international law. We are deeply concerned about the continued build-up of the United States military presence on the left bank of the Euphrates.
According to the media, the total number of United States military bases in Syria has already reached 19. The speed of its occupation and consolidation of quasiState structures on the ground is growing, complicating the prospects for a political settlement. The military operation in the area of Hajin in Deir ez-Zor governorate, which was announced as being against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has done no significant damage to the terrorists. Instead, as we have heard, including from Ms. Ghelani, time and time again its victims are civilians, and that is ever more difficult to deny.
The Syrians have been sending desperate letters to the Security Council but for some reason they seem to resonate very little with the international community, just as we have seen no reaction to the discovery of mass graves of victims of the coalition’s air strikes in Raqqa. Incidentally, the discrepancies in the statistics jump out at one. The Secretary-General’s report (S/2018/1041) speaks of 1,000 bodies exhumed, while according to the letter from Syria to the members of the Security Council the figure is four times larger.
According to some reports, the United States refuses to consider the possibility of paying compensation for those killed in Raqqa. Against that backdrop, we are genuinely shocked by the details that have time and time again come to light of some Western capitals’ support for Syrian opposition armed groups, including the transfer of arms and other material means to terrorists, while the public has been kept in the dark or deliberately misled. In our view, those with influence over the armed groups controlling certain areas in north-eastern Syria should convince their clients to address the situation in which schoolchildren are not being given access to educational institutions in Government-held areas, which we also heard about in Ms. Ghelani’s briefing and which can only be described as barbaric.
In Damascus, by the way, they are doing everything possible to ensure uninterrupted schooling throughout Syria. In general, it should be acknowledged that the self-proclaimed local councils, which have the support of external allies, have from time to time been implementing discriminatory policies in the country’s north-eastern areas that are changing the historical composition of the population.
The situation in the Rukban camp remains very unfortunate. The humanitarian operation launched at the beginning of November was inadequate from an organizational standpoint. United Nations and Syrian Arab Red Crescent personnel were not allowed inside the 55-kilometre zone occupied by the United States around the Al-Tanf base. Militants from the Maghawir Al-Thawra armed group organized the distribution of aid. Without the necessary oversight, a significant portion of the humanitarian assistance failed to reach those who needed it.
Many could not get inoculated because the vaccinations were being administered at a distance from the camp. Considering such gross errors, it would be difficult to expect that the Syrian Government, which has no authority in the area of the camp, to give instant permission for a new humanitarian convoy to come in. It is the United States, which is fully responsible for the plight of the civilians in the area, that should ensure the security of humanitarian operations in Rukban, not shift the fulfilment of the job onto illegal armed groups. It is important to ensure that United Nations humanitarian personnel are involved in the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid, with the assistance of reputable organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. We urge that the possibility of organizing a permanent humanitarian corridor to Rukban be considered.
The bigger picture should focus on gradually dismantling the camp and resettling its residents. We are ready to continue consultations with the United Nations, the Government of Syria and our United States and Jordanian colleagues. However, the only real way to solve the problem is by ending the occupation around the Al-Tanf base, not through one-off humanitarian initiatives. Incidentally, one of the ISIL terrorists taken hostage during a special operation to liberate Druze prisoners on the Al-Safa plateau in eastern Suwayda testified that he and his accomplices had received weapons, munitions and food from the area around the Al-Tanf base. It would be a good idea to properly investigate what exactly is going on in that grey area.
One extremely worrying fact is this year’s record low wheat harvest in Syria, the worst in 30 years, which is partly due to drought. In that regard, the United Nations specialized agencies should help to support the country’s food security, including by re-establishing its stores of vital cereal grains. There is continuing major uncertainty with regard to cross-border deliveries of humanitarian assistance to Syria under the interim mechanism introduced by Council resolution 2165 (2014).
Despite the persistent assertions about its transparency, there is absolutely no sign of it. Inside Syria, everything is farmed out to various so-called third parties and partners, who for some reason are reluctant to be identified to the Council. There is evidence that part of the humanitarian aid coming from outside is being confiscated and stored by Jabhat Al-Nusra and its satellites in Idlib.
Armed groups are extorting at checkpoints along the line of demarcation, and local authorities, escorted by terrorists, are extracting tribute from farmers and businesses. The Secretary-General’s report briefly touches on the problem in a reference to abuses at the Bab Al-Hawa border crossing. However, the description does not convey the scale of the manipulations, with Al-Nusra’s participation. The data shows that in 2015 and 2016, the forces controlling that border crossing from the Syrian side were making $2 million a month.
It is difficult to believe that no one in the United Nations was aware of the scale of these operations. The Secretary-General’s survey of the situation has made none of it any clearer. The reality is that the situation on the ground in Syria has significantly changed, and that should be reflected in a comparable way in the adjustment of the crossborder mechanism.
