Above photo: Getty Images.
As Arab states back Syria’s right to confront extremists.
Moscow and Washington had a heated exchange at the Security Council on US reluctance to condemn the ongoing extremist assault against Syria.
The UN General Assembly adopted on 3 December a resolution demanding Israel’s withdrawal from Syria’s illegally occupied Golan Heights, which the Israeli army captured during the 1967 war.
The resolution demanded “once more” that Israel withdraw from the occupied Golan Heights “to the line of 4 June 1967″ while stressing the illegality of settlement building and other activities in the territory.
“The continued occupation of the Syrian Golan and its de facto annexation constitute a stumbling block in the way of achieving a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in the region,” it added. Any decision imposing laws or jurisdiction in the region is “null and void and has no validity whatsoever.”
The vote passed with 97 in favor, eight against, and 64 abstentions.
It was submitted by Bolivia, Cuba, North Korea, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Venezuela and Yemen.
In 2019, US President-elect Donald Trump, during his first term, recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights in a highly controversial move.
The vote followed a heated exchange between Russia and the US about Syria during a UN Security Council meeting earlier on Tuesday.
The session revolved around the ongoing assault launched on 27 November by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly known as Al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front, and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) force, against Idlib, Aleppo, and Hama.
Syria’s military is fighting under the cover of Russian and Syrian airstrikes to recapture territory taken by the extremist armed groups.
“This fight must continue against Security Council-listed terrorist groups,” stated Russian representative Vassily Nebenzia.
“The fact that HTS is listed as a terrorist organization by the US and UN does not justify the further atrocities by the Assad regime and its Russian backers,” responded Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood.
Nebenzia said Washington was “unable to summon the courage to condemn a clear terrorist attack undertaken against peaceful civilians in peaceful Syrian cities.”
“There are no illusions that Washington will ever be willing to sincerely combat international terrorism. To be frank, we are pleased that we are on opposite sides of the barricades right now from you,” Nebenzia added, with Wood responding that Russia was in “no position to lecture us on this issue” because it “props up regimes that sponsor terrorism around the world.”
Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen expressed serious concern over the fighting in Syria.
“As I brief you today, a vast swathe of territory has come under the control of non-State actors, including the terrorist group HTS and armed opposition groups, including the SNA. These groups now de facto control territory containing what we estimate to be some seven million people, including Aleppo – Syria’s second biggest city and a vast and diverse metropolis of more than two million people,” he said.
He added that both sides are escalating attacks, resulting in casualties on both sides.
Meanwhile, 22 states representing the Arab Group at the Security Council condemned the extremist assault against Syria and stood behind Damascus’s right to confront it.
“The Group stresses the importance of respecting the sovereignty, unity, stability, and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and stresses the importance of combatting terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” Lebanese representative Hadi Hachem said, reading the statement on behalf of the group.