Speaker of the People’s Assembly Mohammad Jihad al-Laham warned that any act of training or arming the opposition in Syria under whatever names would be "a violation of the international law."
Addressing the 131st General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Laham dismissed such acts as “an attempt to reproduce armed groups in a different form with the aim to fan the flames of violence in Syria".
This “portends continuous chaos and a long-term terrorist war which would give birth to 'new ISISs' that are dangerous to the region and the world,” Laham cautioned, referring to the terrorist organization of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria whose threat has recently spread rapidly.
There have been proposals recently by the newly forged US-led international alliance against ISIS to conduct training and supply arms to the so-called “moderate opposition” in Syria with the excuse of fighting the terrorist organization.
Slamming the world response to Syria’s warnings since the outset of the crisis about the spread of international takfiri terrorism “that have fallen on deaf ears”, Laham said the facts on the ground have now proved Syria’s warnings correct. Those countries “have suddenly woken up to the fact that most of the fighters they have been supporting in Syria are members of ISIS and the Nusra Front," he said.
He called for moving quickly to “put the international alliance against terrorism on the right track” by expanding it to include all countries of the world, including the Syrian government, reaffirming that Syria has all along announced its readiness for cooperation with any international counterterrorism effort as long as it is in the line with international law and the Security Council’s relevant resolutions.
Jaafari slammed the U.S. administration for having formed the alliance in violation of the Security Council’s resolution no. 2170 on counterterrorism and outside the frame of the Council.
The alliance, Laham said, has excluded countries like Russia, China, Iran and Syria contrary to the resolution which stressed that terrorism cannot be defeated except through a diligent and comprehensive approach that involves the participation and effective cooperation of all countries and international and regional organizations.
"Is there any item in resolution 2170 or in the U.N. Charter that allows a country to train armed groups under the name of ‘moderate opposition’ to fight the Syrian Arab Army?" he asked.
Laham confirmed that combating terrorism starts with confronting the takfiri extremist thinking and implementing the Security Council’s resolutions on counter-terrorism and cooperating with the countries that are hardest hit by terrorism.
"Syria is fighting terrorism on behalf of the whole world, and whoever is keen to back it must support it in combating terrorism and in the reconciliation efforts the Syrian government is making in volatile areas," Laham said.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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