Syria Rejects Inserting Its Name in Res. 1559 Reports, Criticizes Larsen

Local Editor

Syria's Permanent Representative to the UN Bashar Al Jafari on Wednesday slammed UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen for insisting on inserting Syria's name in the UN resolution 1559 reports. Al Jafari was speaking at an open session of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation inside Syria under the item titled "The Situation in the Middle East". Al Jafari sent identical letters late Thursday to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Council President, France, in which he complained about continuing to insert Syria's name in UN reports about the implementation of resolution 1559.

"It is unacceptable to continue to insert Syria in the Secretary-General's report ... even though Syria implemented all the relevant provisions," he complained.

Moreover, he said, Syria rejects the report's call on Syria and Lebanon to delineate their border, stressing that it is a bilateral issue and reiterating that the main obstacle to do so is "Israel's" continuous occupation of the Golan Heights and Sheba'a farms.

He said that if the international community is serious about the delineation, it has to compel "Israel" to end its occupation.

He also urged the international community, "If it wants to play a positive role in Lebanon, to work quickly to end the "Israeli" occupation of the Lebanese territory so that it consolidates security and stability in Lebanon and consequently have positive effect on Syria and the region".