QNA/Geneva

 

Qatar yesterday strongly condemned the continued indiscriminate attacks carried out by the Syrian regime forces and their targeting of civilians and civilian targets such as hospitals, schools and places of worship without exception, stressing that the Syrian regime is primarily responsible for the emergence and growth of extremist currents and ideas in Syria and their spread in the region, as well as the dispersal of international efforts aimed to help the Syrian people.

This came in a speech delivered by HE the Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the UN Office and other international organisations in Geneva Faisal bin Abdullah al-Henzab, during the 27th session the Human Rights Council, as part of Item 4 and in the public debate with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic.

Al-Henzab said: “We thank the members of the International Inquiry Commission on the information they have provided to us today, in spite of the continued refusal of the Syrian authorities to allow the Commission to enter the Syrian territories to implement the mandate entrusted to it to the fullest, a matter which we strongly denounce.”

He added: “After getting briefed on the Commission’s report, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the continuing indiscriminate attacks carried out by the Syrian regime forces and the targeting of civilians and civilian targets such as hospitals, schools and places of worship without exception, and we also condemn the Syrian regime’s use of the chlorine gas, in flagrant violation of UN Security Council Resolution No. 2118, and the explosive barrels or ‘Drums of Death’ as called by the Syrians, which emphasises that the Syrian regime is determined to pursue a policy of scorched earth and the practice of killing and destruction, detention and torture as an approach to deal with the crisis.”

Al-Henzab stressed that “While the State of Qatar condemns all violations carried out by extremist groups in Syria, and as we condemn violence and extremism whatever their source, we would like to emphasise that the Syrian regime is primarily responsible for the emergence and growth of extremist currents and ideas in Syria, their spread in the region, and the dispersal of international efforts aimed to help the Syrian people.”

Qatar’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office and other international organisations in Geneva stressed that Qatar has warned since the beginning of the Syrian crisis that facing the legitimate peaceful demands of the Syrian people, with repression and the use of a military solution will lead to a situation where we are today, asserting that the Syrian regime seeks to achieve political and military gains at the expense of the blood of the Syrian people. He added that the Syrian regime is the main beneficiary of the presence of extremist groups that it do not seek to confront or eliminate them seriously, according to paragraph 10 of the Commission’s report.

Al-Henzab urged the international community to end the state of failure to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis, take urgent and effective action and put pressure on the Syrian regime to force it to abide by the resolutions of the international legitimacy and to achieve political transition leading to the establishment of a transitional rule authority, according to the Geneva I communique, that could be able to achieve the legitimate demands of the Syrian people.

Concluding, al-Henzab stressed the importance of taking all necessary measures to hold accountable those responsible for human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria and bring them to the international criminal justice.

 

 

Related Story