Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Briefing by Head of Russian Centre for the Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria Maj.Gen. Alexey Bakin at the Security Council meeting on the situation around the Idlib de-escalation zone

Distinguished colleagues,

The Russian Centre for the Reconciliation of Opposing Sides and Refugee Affairs aims its efforts first and foremost at the non-military settlement of the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, and at providing comprehensive assistance to Syrians as they get back to their home and restore peaceful life. Joint efforts taken in collaboration with the Syrian Government made it possible to improve the situation at these tracks.

The statistics of Syrians returning to their homes is rather self-explanatory. Since the beginning of 2019 over 220 thousand Syrians (223,324) have returned to places of their permanent residence, over 30 thousand of them (31, 958) being internally displaced persons, and over 190 thousand – refugees who returned from abroad (191,336). The majority of Syrians are getting back from the neighboring countries. From one to two thousand people arrive in Syria daily from Jordan and Lebanon, which proves the efficiency of measures that are currently taken.

However, alongside with positive results, there are also problems. Despite the cessation of hostilities that has been established, the situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone is far not easy. As of today, militants from separate terrorist groups that are not controlled by anybody refuse to abide by the ceasefire and create obstacles for Russia and Turkey as we take effort to stabilize the situation in the North-West of Syria.

Since April 2019, this zone has witnessed another cycle of tension. Militants from 'Hayat Tahrir al-Sham' (HTS) have brought terrorist groups together under their lead, then they renewed attacks on the positions of governmental forces and enhanced fire at human settlements.

In April 2019, Russia registered 169 ceasefire violations by the illegal armed formations. 41 Syrian military officers died therefrom, 74 more were wounded. The toll among civilians stood at 8 people killed and 20 peaceful citizens wounded to various degrees.

In May 2019, 338 cases of shelling on the part of militants were registered. Thereby 36 Syrian military officers died, 118 more were wounded, 24 civilians were killed and 32 more – wounded.

In particular, on 5 May, militants from Jaysh al-Izza launched strikes against the city of Suqaylabiyah using multiple rocket launchers, which killed five children and a woman. On 15 May, a mortar-launched bombardment by HTS terrorists in the settlement of Nayrab, Aleppo Governorate, killed eight civilians, among them two children.

Late in April – early in May a significant number of terrorists from HTS and affiliated groups concentrated in the vicinity of Hama and Aleppo.

The radical groups attempted to break through to the cities of Suqaylabiyah and Mhardeh in Hama Governorate that are mostly populated by Christians. During attacks on the positions of the governmental forces, the militants used UAVs, tanks, pick-ups with large-caliber machine guns mounted on top of them, and explosives-laden vehicles driven by suicide bombers.

In June the activity of terrorists in the Idlib de-escalation zone never subsided. We registered 302 cases of fire and armed provocations on the part of the militants. Officers of the Syrian army and civilians are still dying. On 17 June, a mortar-gun bombardment launched by HTS militants at human settlement Kudehi in Governorate Aleppo, killed 11 and wounded 15 more civilians.

In response to continuous provocations coming from the terrorists, the governmental forces have to take robust defense steps. According to the objective monitoring data, at all locations where armed action was in progress, the Syrian governmental forces were confronted by the armed formations that were part of 'Hayat Tahrir al-Sham'. We also took notice of activities of militants from the ‘Caucasus Emirate’, ‘Hurras al-Din’, the ‘Turkistan Islamic Party’. The Security Council lists all these formations among terrorists.

On multiple occasions, jihadists used their multiple rocket launchers to fire at Russian air base “Khmeimim”. It posed a real threat to lives of Russian military personnel. Air-Space Forces of Russia had to respond by surgical strikes against terrorists, their firing positions and ammunition warehouses. Besides, the fire was started only against terrorist targets proved as such by the intelligence data, all of them were outside residential areas.

The situation remains under control only thanks to the joint coordinated action of Turkey and Russia taken in accordance with the Sochi Memorandum on de-escalation and stabilization in Idlib dated 17 September 2018.

In order to search for solution to the Idlib problem, Russia in collaboration with Turkey is steadily taking active steps to develop new measures and mutually acceptable solutions to stabilize the situation. In the framework of this activity, upon Russia’s request, the Syrian army started ceasefire twice in May-June.

However, every time a number of radical formations that are active at the area of the Idlib de-escalation zone, violate the ceasefire. They fire not only at the positions of the governmental forces and human settlements, but also at the observation posts of the Turkish armed forces.

We continuously take notice of terrorists plotting renewed stagings in order to have the governmental forces accused of alleged usage of “chemical weapons”.

When working here on the ground, we see that some countries provide unilateral coverage of the developments in the Idlib de-escalation zone, whereby they blame Syria and Russia for escalation of tension, while they turn a blind eye to the outrageous acts of jihadists and their terrorist activity in the province.

We reject point blank any allegations that the governmental forces launch indiscriminate strikes against targets in Idlib. It is with regret that we have to say that anti-Syrian NGOs eagerly spread this fake and unverified information and by doing so mislead the international community and protect HTS terrorists.

Militants from 'Hayat Tahrir al-Sham' and other groups do not receive the right assessment of their activities from the international community and continue executions of members of the Syrian army and civilians whom they have taken hostage – same that ISIS terrorists did in Palmira and Raqqa. In the course of two years terrorists from HTS have kidnapped no fewer than five thousand people, they fate remains unknown. Hundreds of people have been executed without any charge or trial.

Taking into account the dire humanitarian situation in this region, the Syrian Government together with the Reconciliation Center and with the support of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent has taken steps to ensure dignified, safe and voluntary exit of civilians from the Idlib de-escalation zone.

In particular, on 4 March 2018, checkpoint ‘Abu al-Duhur’ was opened in Governorate Aleppo. The capacity of the checkpoint is 1100 persons and 50 vehicles per day. As of now, refugees do not use this checkpoint to exit the zone, because of high risks of being shelled at by terrorists.

On 27 May 2019, additional checkpoint ‘Suran’ was opened, its capacity is up to 1000 persons and 50 vehicles per day.

Since the opening of the checkpoints, over 44 thousand people (44,736) left the Idlib de-escalation zone, among them over 14 thousand women (14,413) and over 20 thousand children (20,398).

According to our data, as of today, 40 to 80 thousand IDPs a ready to exit the zone. Provisional accommodation centers in Governorates Hama, Homs and Deir ez-Zor have prepared places in order to house them.

The Syrian Government stands ready to use every opportunity to create the required conditions in order to have the people get back from the Idlib de-escalation zone.

Almost 15 thousand of Syrians (14,890) who have left refugee camp ‘Rukban’ could see for themselves that the Syrian government had created appropriate living conditions for the people. UN representatives could also make sure of this, because the Syrian authorities provided to them opportunities to talk to people who had returned to Governorates Homs and Hama.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In general, cooperation between the guarantors makes it possible to effectively counteract international terrorist organizations at the Syrian territory and keep the situation in the North-West of the country under control. We highlight robust efforts of our Turkish colleagues to maintain the regime of cessation of hostilities in the Idlib de-militarized zone.

Let me stress – action taken by the Reconciliation Center to monitor the movements of refugees, remains in the framework of implementation of the Turkish-Russian memorandum on stabilization and de-escalation in Idlib and of agreements that were achieved during regular consultations with Turkey and Iran in “Astana format”. All efforts of the Astana guarantors are aimed at implementing resolution 2254 of the Security Council for the purpose of bringing peace back to the Syrian land.

At the same time, let me draw your attention to the fact that agreements to stop the military action cannot cover fight against terrorist organizations, no matter where they might be situated.

We believe the only way to revive Syria is the one that foresees ultimate eradication of terrorism, including in the de-escalation zone, return of refugees and IDPs to places of their pre-conflict residence and post-conflict recovery of the country.

Thank you.