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STORY: UN / SYRIA
TRT: 7:40
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / NATS
DATELINE: 03 DECEMBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
03 DECEMBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Geir Pederson, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria:
“My first core-message is simple: we need de-escalation and we need calm. I appeal to all parties to their obligations under international law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure and allow safe passage for Syrians fleeing violence. But this alone does not suffice. Further military escalation risks mass displacement and civilian casualties.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Geir Pederson, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria:
“The Syrian parties and key international stakeholders need to be seriously engaged in meaningful and substantive negotiations to find a way out of the conflict. That is why today I call for urgent and serious political engagement – among Syrian and international stakeholders - to spare bloodshed and focus on a political solution in accordance with Security Council resolution 2254.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Raed Al Saleh, Director of the White Helmets:
“The White Helmets and since our formation, have been unwavering in our mission to support the people of Syria in all their diverse backgrounds. We are from the people and for the people. Tragically, it has become impossible for us to continue to provide our services in areas that came under the control of the regime. This is because of its deliberate targeting of our volunteers. Over the years, we have lost 313 volunteers, mostly due to the deliberate military targeting of our personnel, vehicles and centres by the regime and by Russia.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Raed Al Saleh, Director of the White Helmets:
“We as Syrians are fully aware that Russia has been involved in obstructing international decisions and efforts aimed at addressing chemical weapons. We call on Russia to end its support and protection of the Syrian regime by using the veto against international resolutions. We call for it to stop spreading disinformation related to the White Helmets and international investigation teams at every occasion. We urge Russia to halt Its obstruction of the path to justice and accountability.”
10. Various shots, Security Council
11. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“For our part, we categorically condemn this coordinated attack by HTS terrorists who control Idlib, destabilizing the already fraud situation on Syrian soil. We repeatedly warned against the inadmissibility of colluding with international terrorists who have entrenched themselves in direct proximity to Aleppo. However, our western colleagues, motivated by hatred towards the legitimate authorities in Syria, have continued to cooperate with these terrorists. And here is the result. The fighters were lying in wait for their hour to come, they capitalized on the dire situation the country, first and foremost, in the Golan Heights and on the border with Lebanon, to stab the Syrian people in the back. In this way, the Middle East crisis, which has been metastasizing since October 2023 has gained yet another Syrian dimension.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
13. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“The events of recent days in Syria clearly demonstrate the perniciousness of the policy of the United States and their allies who have been illegally present in Syria since 2014 under the pretext of countering terrorism. Their perniciousness of the policy of undermining State institutions in this Middle East country, including through the illegal presence of US troops in the Al-Tanf, and an equally destructive factor lies in the motivation and the aspiration of Washington to preserve the de facto occupation of the wealth of oil, gas and agricultural resources in areas in the northeast of Syria, the US and allies, take any opportunity to sew chaos in the country, using sanctions to fixate the country's economy, and supporting Idlib-based terrorists and extremists underground in the Syrian armed Republic.”
14. Wide shot, Security Council
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Wood, Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs, United States:
“The Council must speak with one voice in demanding that all parties cease brutal aerial attacks and adhere to international law. We must also renew this Council’s demand that the regime not launch a chemical weapons attack, as it has done more than 50 times over the course of this conflict. And we must continue to hold the regime and its backers to account for these heinous actions.”
16. 16. Wide shot, Security Council
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Robert Wood, Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs, United States:
“Recent events serve as a stark reminder that Syria will never be at peace until Assad accepts a settlement that gives all Syrians a voice in the country’s future. Again, the United States will defend and protect U.S. personnel and U.S. military positions in northeast Syria, which remain essential to ensuring that ISIS can never resurge.”
18. Wide shot, Security Council
19. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Koussay Aldahhak, Permanent Representative of Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations:
“First, the delegation of my country would like to condemn the failure of the US presidency at the start of its presidency of the Security Council for this current month, to respect the procedures of the work of the Security Council and the running of its sessions and using it to serve its own agenda and try to do harm to a Member State of the United Nations for well-known objectives that are manifest in its continued US support and its investment in terrorism that my country is confronting, and which is manifest in Da’esh and the HTS, terrorist organizations providing cover for them, and furthering their hostilities towards my country.”
20. Wide shot, Security Council
21. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Koussay Aldahhak, Permanent Representative of Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations:
“Syria, State, army and people reaffirms its commitment to exercise its sovereign right and to fulfill its constitutional and legal duty to combat terrorist organizations with all necessary force and determination. Syria will take all necessary measures to defend its citizens, to confront the threat posed by terrorism, to liberate its land from the terrorist presence and to restore the authority of the State and the rule of law over the entire national territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. This is the legitimate right of every country. This not only serves Syria, it also guarantees the stability of the entire region, the security and the safety of its peoples, and its countries. Those who sponsor terrorism in Syria must know that it will go back and it will turn against them.”
22. Wide shot, Security Council
Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pederson appealed to all parties in Syria to their obligations under international law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, adding that “further military escalation risks mass displacement and civilian casualties.”
The Special Envoy addressed the Security Council today (03 Dec) via video link, warning dramatic shifts in frontlines in Syria, radically altering a status quo that had been largely in place well over four years.
He described the situation as “extremely fluid and dangerous.”
Pederson briefed the Council as a vast swathe of territory has come under the control of non-state actors, including Security Council-listed terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and armed opposition groups, including the Syrian National Army. These groups now de facto control territory containing what estimates to be some 7 million people, including Aleppo – Syria’s second biggest city and a vast and diverse metropolis of more than 2 million people, the Special Envoy said.
He reiterated, “The Syrian parties and key international stakeholders need to be seriously engaged in meaningful and substantive negotiations to find a way out of the conflict.”
The Special Envoy called for an “urgent and serious political engagement” – among Syrian and international stakeholders – “to spare bloodshed and focus on a political solution in accordance with Security Council resolution 2254.”
Director of the White Helmets, Raed Al Saleh, also spoke to the Council. Russian Federation and China voted against his briefing at the beginning of the meeting.
Al Saleh said, “The White Helmets and since our formation, have been unwavering in our mission to support the people of Syria in all their diverse backgrounds. We are from the people and for the people.”
“Tragically, it has become impossible for us to continue to provide our services in areas that came under the control of the regime,” explaining that it is because of deliberate targeting of its volunteers.
“Over the years, we have lost 313 volunteers, mostly due to the deliberate military targeting of our personnel, vehicles and centres by the regime and by Russia,” the Director of the White Helmets said.
Al Saleh also said, “We as Syrians are fully aware that Russia has been involved in obstructing international decisions and efforts aimed at addressing chemical weapons.”
He called on Russia to “end its support and protection of the Syrian regime by using the veto against international resolutions.”
“We call for it to stop spreading disinformation related to the White Helmets and international investigation teams at every occasion. We urge Russia to halt Its obstruction of the path to justice and accountability,” the Director of the White Helmets added.
For his part, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya “categorically” condemned the “coordinated attack by HTS terrorists who control Idlib, destabilizing the already fraud situation on Syrian soil.”
Ambassador Nebenzya said, “We repeatedly warned against the inadmissibility of colluding with international terrorists who have entrenched themselves in direct proximity to Aleppo. However, our western colleagues, motivated by hatred towards the legitimate authorities in Syria, have continued to cooperate with these terrorists.”
He added, “And here is the result. The fighters were lying in wait for their hour to come, they capitalized on the dire situation the country, first and foremost, in the Golan Heights and on the border with Lebanon, to stab the Syrian people in the back. In this way, the Middle East crisis, which has been metastasizing since October 2023 has gained yet another Syrian dimension.”
The Russian Ambassador highlighted, “The events of recent days in Syria clearly demonstrate the perniciousness of the policy of the United States and their allies who have been illegally present in Syria since 2014 under the pretext of countering terrorism.”
“Their perniciousness of the policy of undermining State institutions in this Middle East country, including through the illegal presence of US troops in the Al-Tanf, and an equally destructive factor lies in the motivation and the aspiration of Washington to preserve the de facto occupation of the wealth of oil, gas and agricultural resources in areas in the northeast of Syria, the US and allies, take any opportunity to sew chaos in the country, using sanctions to fixate the country's economy, and supporting Idlib-based terrorists and extremists underground in the Syrian armed Republic,” he said.
US Ambassador Robert Wood, whose country is presiding the Presidency of the Council this month urge Member States to “speak with one voice in demanding that all parties cease brutal aerial attacks and adhere to international law.”
He said, “We must also renew this Council’s demand that the regime not launch a chemical weapons attack, as it has done more than 50 times over the course of this conflict. And we must continue to hold the regime and its backers to account for these heinous actions.”
“Recent events serve as a stark reminder that Syria will never be at peace until Assad accepts a settlement that gives all Syrians a voice in the country’s future,” Ambassador Wood said,
The US Ambassador reaffirmed that his country will “defend and protect US personnel and US military positions in northeast Syria, which remain essential to ensuring that ISIS can never resurge.”
Syrian Ambassador Koussay Aldahhak started his briefing by condemning “the failure of the US presidency at the start of its presidency of the Security Council for this current month.”
He said the US failed to “respect the procedures of the work of the Security Council and the running of its sessions and using it to serve its own agenda and try to do harm to a Member State of the United Nations for well-known objectives that are manifest in its continued US support and its investment in terrorism.”
Ambassador Aldahhak reaffirmed his country’s commitment to “exercise its sovereign right and to fulfill its constitutional and legal duty to combat terrorist organizations with all necessary force and determination.”
“Syria will take all necessary measures to defend its citizens, to confront the threat posed by terrorism, to liberate its land from the terrorist presence and to restore the authority of the State and the rule of law over the entire national territory of the Syrian Arab Republic,” he said.
The Syrian Ambassador continued, “This is the legitimate right of every country. This not only serves Syria, it also guarantees the stability of the entire region, the security and the safety of its peoples, and its countries.”
“Those who sponsor terrorism in Syria must know that it will go back and it will turn against them,” he concluded.
