The above video is an address by Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari to the UN Security Council after the council–yesterday– unanimously adopted a resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria. During the ambassador’s remarks Nikki Haley got up and walked out, apparently unwilling to listen to anything he had to say.
In his address, Ja’afari discusses Syrian casualties in Damascus due to shelling from terrorist-held East Ghouta. He lambasts the US and other countries for supporting the so-called “moderate rebels” who have killed Syrian civilians, and he stakes a claim to the right of Syria to resist US occupation:
“According to the article 51 of the Charter, my country has the right to defend itself with all legal tools. There is a military presence, a colonial presence, a US presence, in our country and we have the right to respond to that. She (Haley) threatened us and we’re threatening her from this rostrum because we have the right to defend ourselves according to article 51 of the Charter.”
He also makes a good point: that whenever ceasefires have been agreed upon in the past, the terrorist factions have used the ceasefires as an opportunity to regroup and re-arm. Perhaps they will do so this time as well, although apparently the groups occupying Ghouta don’t, at least for now–despite yesterday’s UN vote–seem to be laying down their weapons. The following is reported by RT:
Jihadists in control of East Ghouta are “deliberately exacerbating” the humanitarian crisis in the Damascus suburb, hindering all government attempts to help civilians, according to the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria.“The humanitarian, social and economic situation in Eastern Ghouta is deliberately exacerbated by the leaders of the al-Islam, Failak Ar-Rahman and Jabhat al-Nusra illegal armed groups,” Maj. Gen. Yuri Yevtushenko said on Saturday. “All attempts by the government of the Syrian Arab Republic to provide assistance to civilians in the Eastern Ghouta region are blocked by militants.”The Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria specifically noted that Jeyish al-Islam militants continue to terrorize the local population and prevent civilians from leaving the militant-controlled areas by blocking a humanitarian corridor near Muhayam al-Waffedin.Over the last 24 hours, the militants in control of the suburb of East Ghouta detonated 27 mines and fired two missiles into residential areas of Damascus. One of the rockets hit a house in Rukn ad-Din district of the Syrian capital. “There is significant destruction and casualties among civilians,” Yevtushenko said. “Over 24 hours, a total of four civilians were killed and 51 more were injured.”The Russian military accused the terrorists of deliberately subverting the negotiation progress and attempting to provoke government forces to respond.
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