Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad
Damascus, September 12 (RHC)-- Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad has censured the United Nations for failing to help the victims of terrorism, saying his country deserves international support and the removal of US-led economic sanctions.
Addressing a UN international meeting on the victims of terrorism via a video conference from Damascus, Mekdad said Syria had fought global terrorism on behalf of the whole world and paid "unprecedented prices" from its human and economic resources.
"Despite the plans set by the UN to help victims of terrorism, Syria has not received any support to combat it or support its victims… The Syrian people are subjected to an economic blockade imposed by countries that backed terrorism."
He said the Syrian people, who have withstood and suffered immensely from the crimes committed by terrorist groups, deserve the international community's support to uphold their rights to sustainable development and early recovery. Mekdad urged the international community to help end the coercive economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its Western allies on the Syrian nation.
Over the past years, the U.S. has been maintaining an illegal military presence on the Syrian soil, collaborating with anti-Damascus militants, and stealing the country’s crude oil resources.
Syria’s foreign minister says the sanctions spearheaded by the U.S. and its Western allies against Syria and Iran represent the most heinous kind of terrorism. Washington imposed a set of sweeping economic sanctions against Syria last year.
The much-condemned Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, signed into law by former President Donald Trump, targeted individuals and businesses anywhere in the world that operate either directly or indirectly in Syria’s economy. The restrictive measures have blocked imports of essential goods, impacting the Syrian people’s access to medical equipment, food, heating, gas and electricity.
Syrian Ambassador to Moscow Riad Haddad has said Damascus has suffered greatly from the ideology of Takfiri terrorism, which is another aspect of fascism. Addressing the International Anti-Fascist Forum 2022 in Moscow on Thursday, Haddad said extremist terrorist groups had killed innocent people and displaced children and the elderly from their villages and cities. He warned against the growing danger of fascist ideology, saying some are trying to revive such anti-human tendencies and invoke fascist ideology under different names.
"With the determination of our people, the courage of our army, and the support and assistance of allies and friends in the Russian Federation, we have defeated these extremist groups which were eliminated."
