Supporting terrorists, main objective of US-led coalition: Syria

Syria’s ambassador to the UN says the prime objective of the US-led military coalition, which is purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri group, is supporting terrorists operating in the Arab country.

Bashar Ja’afari said in a statement to the UN Security Council on Thursday that the US presence in Syria violates the 15-member body's resolutions and the UN Charter.

He also accused the US, France and Britain of having "made every effort to undermine Syria and its people and exploit the media to reach this end, distort the reality of what is happening and mislead the public opinion regarding the humanitarian suffering of civilians due to the practices of armed terrorist groups."

He further stressed that "the main task of US-led coalition is supporting terrorists in Syria," citing the February 8 "illegitimate attack" on pro-government forces fighting Daesh in Syria's eastern Dayr al-Zawr Province as a proof.

"The US decision on military intervention in Syria was illegitimate and unilateral under the pretext of fighting the Daesh terrorist organization, then Washington declared that it wants to establish military bases to preserve the strategic security and the security of its allies and later on it made clear that they are in Syria to create armed militias which will control oil, gas and water resources and establish a mini-state," he said.

The US and its allies back militants fighting to topple the Syrian government. They have also been bombarding what they call Daesh positions inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate. 

The strikes, however, have on many occasions resulted in civilian casualties and failed to fulfill their declared aim of countering terrorism.

Elsewhere in his statement, the Syrian envoy criticized the Western countries for remaining silent on the repeated Israeli attacks on the Syrian territory, the most recent of which was the February 10 aggression.

SS