Syrian UN Envoy: We, Before Any Other Country, Are Concerned About Dangers of Terrorism

Local Editor

Syria's permanent representative to the UN, Bashar al-Jaafari stressed that Syria, before any other country, is concerned about the danger of terrorism as the Syrian people have suffered from new forms of beyond-borders terrorism.

"If you have responded to our calls and complaints, during the last 7 years, of the involvement of some governments and intelligence apparatus in the flow of thousands of foreign terrorists from more than 100 countries into Syria and Iraq, we would all eliminate this phenomenon," al-Jaafari said at a UN General Assembly session about "the UN comprehensive strategy on combating terrorism."

There are governments that have named foreign terrorists in Syria as "moderate opposition" or "Jihadists," but when they returned to their countries, they re-named them as "terrorists," he noted.

"In conclusion, we don't believe the crisis is related to legal texts or tools needed to combat terrorism in as much as it is related to the lack of political will at some governments in the field of fighting terrorism," al-Jaafari said.

As for "preventing violent extremism," the Syrian official renewed his country's firm stance regarding this concept, adding that Syria still sees it is impossible to outline clear lines between extremism when it is related to "religious or political motives" and the violent extremism which leads to terrorism.

He reiterated that Syria believes in the need for developing the traditional pattern in reviewing the comprehensive strategy on combating terrorism each two years as the mounting danger of terror and the emergence of new forms of it require a collective and serious response away from any political motives.

Source: SANA, Edited by website team