Syria Dominates UN General Assembly 68th Session
Local Editor
The UN General Assembly's 68th session kicked off on Tuesday, with Syria dominating the talks.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed Tuesday to all the world countries to stop sending weapons which fuel the bloodshed in Syria, as he opened the annual General Assembly summit.
"I appeal to all states to stop fuelling the bloodshed and to end the arms flows to Syria," Ban told world leaders.
The UN chief also called on working immediately to arrange a second Geneva conference aimed at reaching a political solution.
"Military victory is an illusion. The only answer is a political settlement," he said.
Wednesday's lineup of speeches include those from Kenya, the Democratic of Congo and Libya.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has repeated his call for military action against Syria, once again accusing the Syrian government of using chemical weapons in an attack last month.
"On August 21, the regime used chemical weapons in an attack that killed 1,000 people," Obama said during his speech.
"It's an insult to human reason and to the legitimacy of this institution to suggest that anyone other than the regime carried out this attack," he added.
"The United States of America is prepared to use all elements of our power, including military force, to secure these core interests in the region. We will confront external aggression against our allies and partners, as we did in the Gulf War," he said.
Obama noted "an agreement on chemical weapons should energize a larger diplomatic effort" in Syria, referring to a deal that would put Syria's chemical weapons stockpile under international control.
He also mentioned his call for a political solution regarding the conflict in Syria during his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The UN Security Council must endorse a strong resolution that insures Syria will verify it is handing over its chemical weapons or face "consequences" if it fails to do so, Obama said.
Also addressing the General Assembly, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called for a political solution to the crisis in Syria that would preserve the country's unity. He said he hoped the US-Russian understanding to destroy Syria's chemical stockpiles would be "a gateway to a political solution" in the strife-torn country.
He also called for reforming the world's political and financial systems in order to guarantee the participation of minorities in running public affairs and preserving the free presence of these minorities in the world.
He stressed Tuesday that Lebanon faced a crisis of existence as a result of regional conflicts around it and urged the international community to help his cash-strapped country cope with the rising flow of refugees from war-ravaged Syria.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani for his part assured that the issue can't be solved through military action.
"The human tragedy in Syria represents a painful example of catastrophic spread of violence and extremism in our region. From the very outset of the crisis and when some regional and international actors helped to militarize the situation through infusion of arms and intelligence into the country and active support of extremist groups, we emphasized that there was no military solution to the Syrian crisis".
Source: Agencies
