Syria urges international community to tackle terrorism

Middle East, News April 10, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

Syria’s Ambassador to the UN Bashar al-Ja’afari has urged the international community to tackle terrorism in the crisis-ridden country.

During a press conference after talks between representatives of the Syrian government and members of the domestic opposition in Moscow on Friday, Ja’afari asked world countries to support the inter-Syrian consultations in the Russian capital.

The Syrian official also welcomed the results of the negotiations, saying, “I can say that our assessment of what happened during the second consultative meeting is positive.”

“The delegations of the government and the opposition proved able to formulate a joint document entitled ‘Assessment of the Current Situation in Syria,’” he said, adding, “We managed to find a common denominator and secure our common approach to a number of key issues. This was impossible earlier, during our first meeting in Moscow.”

The head of the Syrian government delegation to Moscow talks further accused some regional countries of fueling the militancy in Syria, and hailed efforts made by Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement in fighting terrorism there.

Ja’afari pointed out that terrorist groups such as ISIS and the al-Nusra Front are common enemies of Syrian people.

Moscow hosted the second round of talks between the Syrian leadership and the opposition between April 6 and 9. The first round of the peace talks took place in the Russian capital on January 26 and 29.

Representatives of both sides agreed on Friday on a ten-point plan proposed by Vitaly Naumkin, the Russian moderator to the meeting.

Naumkin said the plan calls upon “the international community to immediately and seriously pressure Arab and foreign sides to abide by UN Security Council resolutions concerning fight against terrorism, and halt their support for terrorism, transit of terrorists to Syria and their training, protection, financing and arming.”

The plan also demands “the removal and abolition of all violent unilateral economic measures against the people of Syria and its institutions.”

Hundreds of thousands of people have seen their lives upended by the turmoil that has convulsed Syria since March 2011. According to reports, over 215,000 people have died in the conflict.

New figures show that more than 76,000 people, including thousands of children, lost their lives in Syria in 2014.

Over 3.8 million Syrians have left their country since the beginning of the crisis. More than 7.2 million Syrians have also become internally displaced, according to the United Nations.

MP/HSN/SS