Syria says US and its allies must stop supporting, financing and training terrorists and work under UN

In a September 23 television interview with Russia Today, Walid al-Moallem, Syria’s Deputy Prime Minister, and also its Foreign and Expatriates Minister of Syria, stressed if the U.S. and its allies are serious about combatting terrorism, they must “immediately halt supporting, financing and training the terrorist organizations” and “stop facilitating their flow into the Syrian territories through coordination with the Syrian state.” Furthermore, the U.S. must start to act under the framework of the United Nations without excluding anyone, including Russia, Iran and Syria.

“For decades, Syria called for the holding [of] an international conference on combatting terrorism as it has realized the danger of terrorism. Since the beginning of the crisis, Syria said that terrorism will affect its supporters and funders and will spread outside the country to reach even Europe and the US,” al-Moallem said.

“We must distinguish between the international efforts in the framework of the Security Council’s Resolution No. 2170 to combat the terrorism of ISIS [Islamic state in Iraq and Syria], Jabahat al-Nusra and other al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organizations, and the hidden intentions of the U.S. and its allies as the members of this alliance are the same countries which have conspired against Syria for more than three years,” al-Moallem added.

He reiterated that the air strikes will not be fruitful without coordinating with the active forces on the ground or without military action on the ground.

He criticized the U.S., saying that it is ironic to hear the U.S. say it will not coordinate with the Syrian government but will coordinate with the so- called moderate opposition as this opposition is killing Syrians just as ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra are doing.

al-Moallem added that there are suspicions about sincerity of the U.S. and its allies’ claim they wish to achieve a political solution in Syria as they are training armed groups prior to sending them into Syria to continue fighting the Syrian Arab army. This means that they want the crisis to continue and they want to wreck any political solution, he said.

“Any violation of Syria’s sovereignty is an aggression. This aggression is clearly defined by international law,” Al-Moallem said, noting that Syria is still extending a hand in the spirit of cooperation, to coordinate action to counter ISIS, al-Nusra Front and other terrorist organizations according to UN Security Council Resolution No. 2170.

(SANA)