Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at a UNSC Briefing on Syria
Mr. President,
We thank Mr. Khaled Khiari, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, and Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary General for Peace Operations, for their detailed briefings on the situation in Syria.
We view today's emergency meeting, which was requested by our Algerian and Somalian colleagues and supported by the Arab group, as very timely. In the four months since the change of power in Damascus, Israel has already carried out more than 700 strikes against Syria.
Recently, the geographical span of the strikes has expanded, with the Hama air base and a military facility near Palmyra being targeted as well. The Israelis retain control over the buffer zone occupied after December 8, 2024, as well as over a significant part of the territories in the south of Syria. We are also alarmed by the statements made by senior Israeli officials about the need to demilitarize southern Syria and about the IDF plans to remain in the country indefinitely.
These actions constitute a gross violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity, which under no circumstances should be called into question, regardless of who is in power in Damascus. What is worth noting in this context, is the statement by Ahmed Sharaa, who on January 16 reaffirmed his country's commitment to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, as well as the readiness to host and defend peacekeepers. And in general, despite Israeli provocations, the new Syrian authorities still do not demonstrate any hostile intentions towards Israel, nor do they pose any real threats to its national security.
We would like to recall that in March, at the initiative of Russia and the US, there was adopted a Security Council Presidential statement; paragraph 4 of the statement unequivocally calls on all States to refrain from any action that could further destabilize Syria or lead to interference in its internal affairs. At the same time, Israel's Permanent Representative to the UN, Danny Danon, sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council as early as December 9, 2024, asserting “the temporary, limited and defensive nature” of the measures taken by the Israeli army in southern Syria, including in the area of deployment of peacekeepers of the UN Disengagement Observer Force in the Golan (UNDOF). We call on the Israeli side to reaffirm in practice its commitment to the Disengagement Agreement and international law, as set out in the letter, and to immediately return to the implementation of this agreement without any preconditions. At the practical level, it includes the withdrawal of Israeli army units and the cessation of arbitrary strikes.
In general, we consider any attempts to destabilize Syria or derail efforts to normalize the situation there to be detrimental to the security of the entire Middle East. Only a strong, united, prosperous and independent Syria, where the rights of all ethno-religious minorities are respected, will become home for all Syrians. I’m talking about a Syria that will embark on the path to national reconciliation, and will have a unified army and security service with experienced Syrian professionals in their ranks; this Syria will become a reliable and predictable neighbor for all States in the region. We strongly condemn any attempts to exploit the period of political transformation and economic uncertainty to impose foreign and alien directives on Syrians people. Such actions will not support Syrians, but, on the contrary, they will generate centrifugal processes and sprawl chaos in the country for years to come. We must not allow that to happen.
We also reaffirm our unwavering and principled position regarding the Syrian sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
We are convinced that lasting normalization of the situation in Syria is only possible through inclusive inter-Syrian dialogue geared towards achieving national consensus and advancing a comprehensive political settlement in accordance with the core principles enshrined in UNSC resolution 2254. We believe that the UN should play a key role in accompanying the Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process. We extend our support for the efforts of UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen, and call upon the Syrian authorities to proactively engage with him.
Mr. President,
We would like to separately draw the Council’s attention to the importance of a transparent and objective investigation into the recent wave of violence in the coastal areas of Latakia and Tartus, where hundreds, if not thousands, of Alawite, Christian and other ethnic and religious minority civilians have been killed and injured.
We are waiting for what will be done by the specialized commission formed by the Syrian authorities; the outcome of this work must be promptly brought to the attention of the members of the Security Council. This demand is also set out in the relevant Statement by the President of the Security Council, which, inter alia, emphasizes the need to expeditiously bring all those responsible to justice.
Only on such a solid, just and inclusive foundation is it possible to build a new Syria, where the rights of all ethno-religious minorities and all citizens of that country will be upheld. We trust that the Syrian authorities will adopt a constructive approach to implementing the provisions of the aforementioned Presidential statement.
Mr. President,
Russia is a loyal, tried and true friend of the Syrian people; and we champion (as we have always done) Syria's sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity. We sincerely hope that the Syrians will make and implement the right decisions that will guarantee the political and social stability of the country as well as progressive and sustained development for the benefit of all residents of that country barring none. We stand ready to contribute to this as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, as well as through bilateral channels.
Thank you.
