Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at a UNSC Briefing on the Situation in Syria
Point of order:
Mr. President,
Before this meeting begins, I want to draw your attention to the totally inadmissible policy of the US presidency, which, regrettably, has been abusing their powers since the very first day.
This meeting was convened at the request of the A3+Guyana, and the initiative was supported by Russia and China. Not a single Western delegation, including the United States itself in its national capacity, supported this request. Apparently, they do not care a bit about the situation in Syria, which have been subject to an unprecedented terrorist attack clearly coordinated from abroad. Well, this is not a ritual meeting on the Ukrainian issue (which everybody has become sick and tired of), whereby they can “score points” with their domestic audience.
But the US presidency went even further: in breach of established practice and without any consultation with those delegations that had requested the meeting, they arbitrarily added a briefer – a representative of the notorious NGO ‘the White Helmets’. The White Helmets, as we know, have been repeatedly implicated in large-scale falsifications, which were geared to vilify the Syrian authorities. They have no expertise whatsoever on what is currently happening in Aleppo. And at this critical juncture, when the Council must express solidarity with the Syrian State in the face of the terrorist threat, the American presidency is trying to sow division in its ranks and politicize the discussion.
Such a policy by the United States is unworthy of a UNSC permanent member.
We demand a vote on the candidacy of this additional briefer and we call on the members of the Security Council to vote against the US proposal.
Thank you.
Main statement:
Mr. President,
We thank Mr. Pedersen, UNSG’s Special Envoy for Syria, for his briefing on the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), which has encountered a terrorist attack unprecedented since 2020 by the UNSC-listed fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (the HTS), formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, and illegal armed groups that joined them. We regret that the Special Envoy, like other UN representatives, did not summon the courage to call a spade a spade and condemn the terrorist attack against the Syrian Arab Republic. We share the concerns and assessments set out in the letter by the Permanent Representative of Syria to the President of the Security Council of December 1.
We have gathered here today because on November 27, the former AL-Nusra fighters violated the ceasefire agreements in Idlib mediated in 2020, and launched a large-scale offensive in the north-west of Syria. On their side, they have several thousand fighters involved in the hostilities. The terrorists have occupied a significant part of Aleppo, they are shelling western, southwestern and central parts of the city. At least 30 civilians have already been perished as a result of the offensive.
For our part, we firmly condemn this coordinated attack by the HTS terrorists in control of Idlib, which is destabilizing the already tense situation on Syrian soil. We have repeatedly warned against flirting with international terrorists who have entrenched themselves in direct proximity to Aleppo. However, our Western colleagues, driven by hatred towards the legitimate authorities in Syria, have not stopped cooperating with them. And here is the result: the fighters – who were lying in wait for their era to come – have capitalized on the dire situation in the country, especially in the Golan Heights and on the border with Lebanon, to stab the Syrians in the back. Thus, the Middle East crisis, which has been metastasizing since October 2023, has gained yet another – Syrian – dimension.
Since the very first day of the terrorist attack, the SAR Armed Forces – with support of the Russian Aerospace Forces and other allies operating at the request of the legitimate Syrian authorities – have been repelling the fighters. Precision and calibrated strikes with the use of fighter jets, artillery and multiple rocket launchers are being carried out against positions of the terrorist movement and the fighters who have joined it. Since the beginning of the operation, about 400 terrorists have been eliminated and over 600 have been wounded. The enemy will be defeated, regardless of the support provided by some external forces. And undoubtedly there are such forces – according to the information we have, the support for terrorists has been provided to a greater or lesser extent primarily by the Americans and their allies. We believe that it is in the interests of Western countries to dispel all suspicions about their role in this terrorist actions.
In this context, we would like to pay particular attention to the traced involvement of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR) in organizing combat activities and providing weapons to the fighters operating in the north-west of the Central African Republic. We have repeatedly exposed, including in the UNSC chamber, that GUR military instructors were present in Idlib to train HTS fighters for combat operations. Cooperation between Ukrainian and Syrian terrorists, driven by hatred of Russia and Syria, is underway both when it comes to the recruitment of fighters to the Ukrainian army and to mounting attacks against the Russian and Syrian troops in Syria. It was also reported today that Ukrainian specialists accompanied by HTS terrorists were spotted at a scientific center in Aleppo province.
Far from concealing the fact of Ukraine's support, the HTS fighters are openly flaunting this. We also shared information that GUR is going to provide fighters in Idlib with armaments, including with drones and coded GPS modules. Experts, including Western ones, were skeptical about this information at the time. What happened on November 27 corroborated our data. Moreover, it became clear yet again that under the current Western-backed Kiev regime, Ukraine has morphed into a hotbed of international terrorism and is openly threatening international peace and security, as evidenced, in particular, not only by its terrorist acts in Russia, but also by its operations in the Sahel and Syria.
Mr. President,
The events of recent days in Syria clearly demonstrate the perniciousness of the policy of the USA and its allies, who have been illegally present in Syria since 2014 under the pretext of combating terrorism while undermining the statehood of this Middle Eastern country, including through the illegal presence of American contingents in the area beyond the Euphrates and Al-Tanf. The equally destructive factor is Washington's aspiration to preserve its de facto occupation of the oil, gas and agricultural resource-rich areas in north-eastern Syria. The United States and its allies are using every opportunity to sow chaos in the country, applying sanctions to asphyxiate the country’s economy and supporting Idlib-based terrorists and the extremist underground in the SAR.
At the same time, they are openly attempting to “whitewash” the HTS, presenting the terrorist organization as a kind of allegedly moderate Syrian opposition. The HTS has just demonstrated its so-called “moderate nature”. Such “double standards” are unacceptable and the fight against international terrorist groups, which have been designated as such by the UN Security Council, must certainly continue. We expect Washington and its satellites today to unconditionally condemn the action of the former Al-Nusra affiliates and to express support for the legitimate Syrian government, which has been attacked by terrorists, as Syria's neighbors and the members of the LAS have done. As practice has shown, the use of terrorists for the advancement of parochial geopolitical interests always turns against their own patrons.
For our part, we are maintaining intensive contacts with our partners on the Astana format. We are in contact with our colleagues from Iran and Turkey at various levels, which reaffirms our shared concern about the military escalation in Aleppo and Idlib and the need to coordinate joint efforts aimed at stabilizing the situation in Syria, primarily by using the potential of the Astana format. We consistently and unwaveringly advocate a return to the implementation of the agreement on a cessation of hostilities in Idlib of March 2020.
We believe that stabilization “on the ground” and the restoration of lasting peace and security in the SAR is only possible by ending the illegal foreign military presence, which is carried out in violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the SAR, and by stopping the airstrikes against Syrian territory.
Thank you.
First right of reply by Vassily Nebenzia:
Mr. President,
Your statement today has become a glaring demonstration of the hypocritical, or rather unsavory nature of the foreign policy pursued by the outgoing US administration. You were unable to summon the courage to condemn an clear terrorist attack against peaceful civilians in Syrian cities, who are struggling to rebuild a peaceful life despite hundreds of illegal unilateral sanctions imposed by your country. Moreover, you have slyly asserted that the attack on Aleppo and northwestern Syria was perpetrated by some rebels. But it is terrorists and extremists who in your flawed worldview are turning into rebels and then attacking the countries pursuing independent foreign policies that are not in line with US interests. You did not even notice that you blew your cover by promising to protect not the lives of ordinary Syrians but only those of American soldiers, who are illegally occupying parts of Syria and shamelessly plunder its natural resources.
Today we have seen once again that the United States is ready to silence any kind of crimes for the sake of profit and gain, be it the slaughter of 45,000 Palestinian civilians or the terrorist attack on peaceful Syrian cities by armed thugs. No one has any illusions that Washington will ever be willing to honestly and sincerely combat international terrorism, no one today will leave this chamber with such illusions. And, frankly speaking, we are happy that we are on the opposite side of the barricades from you, since such notions as honesty, justice and conscience do not intrinsic to the US foreign policy.
Second right of reply by First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy:
Today, thanks to your unskillful management, we have seen how a meeting on an extremely serious issue can be turned into a shameful political buffoonery. You did so by inviting an absolutely inappropriate briefer and playing along with him. It is not clear to us why you gave him the floor once again. You did not even say that he would answer questions from delegations. We view that as an egregious disregard for your duties as president. We regret it very much.