Iran: Syria crisis can’t be solved unless uninvited forces end occupation

Iran has slammed serious violations of Syria’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity by both uninvited foreign parties and terrorists, saying that the long-running crisis could only be resolved when the occupation ends.

“The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria continues to be seriously violated either through the occupation of parts of this country or by the aggression of the Israeli regime and the terrorists,” Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said during a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in West Asia (Syria) on Wednesday.

“While the Syrian crisis has no military solution, it cannot also come to an end without ending its occupation, restoring its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and confronting the threat of terrorism,” he added.

The senior diplomat said occupation, aggression and the imposition of unlawful and inhumane sanctions have created continuous sufferings for the Syrian people, adding that all occupying and uninvited foreign forces must leave Syria “without any precondition or further delay.”

He further called on the Security Council to strongly condemn a recent “provocative” meeting of the Israeli cabinet in the occupied side of Syria’s Golan Heights and its statement to build two new settlements there.

Elsewhere in his address, Takht-Ravanchi once again reiterated Iran’s support for the Syrian people and government in their efforts to restore unity and territorial integrity of their country and the holding of the Constitutional Committee’s next meeting soon.

He noted that the convening of the fifth and sixth meetings of the Constitutional Committee raised hopes for the convergence of views among the parties.

“We emphasize again that the Committee must work in full accordance with its Terms of Reference and Rules of Procedure and without any external interference or pressure or setting any artificial deadline for its work or any other conditions of similar nature. Ultimately, it must be a truly Syrian-led and Syrian-owned effort, and the UN’s role must be exclusively to facilitate that process,” he said.

Takht-Ravanchi hailed the unanimous adoption of resolution 2585 last year as an important development, emphasizing that it must be implemented “fully, effectively, and in a balanced manner, particularly with respect to the early recovery projects and the removal of unilateral sanctions.”

He voiced Iran’s objection to separatist activities or illegitimate self-rule initiatives in Syria and condemned any effort to support such illegal measures.

“The Syrian crisis must be settled peacefully and in accordance with principles of international law, particularly the full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states,” the Iranian diplomat pointed out.

ME