Iran urges US to end its illegal presence in Syria

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Iranian permanent representative to the UN underlined Syrian territorial integrity and sovereignty and urged the US to put an immediate end to its illegal presence in Syria.

"In this context, we strongly condemn the violation of international law, in particular, the IHL by the U.S. in Syria, and stress that it must put an immediate end to its illegal presence in parts of Syria," Majid Takht-e-Ravanchi said addressing the United Nations Security Council meeting on "Middle East: Syria – Humanitarian".

Noting that "the Islamic Republic of Iran continues its consultations with other Guarantors of the Astana Format on a range of issues, including Idlib s de-escalation area to which we attach great importance," he said that "along with other Guarantors and in line with international law, Iran continues supporting the inherent right of the Syrian Government to fight terrorists designated by the Security Council."

"While International Humanitarian Law must be observed by all without exception, this cannot and should not be used as a pretext to call for stopping the fight against terrorism as it would be paradoxical," he added.

The Iranian diplomat went to stress the need for "fighting against the most dangerous terrorist groups, who have taken a large number of civilians as their hostages," and said: "this, in fact, is a practical protection of civilians and should lead to the release of all civilians who are trapped in terrorist-held areas.

"It is also obvious that these internationally designated terrorist groups cannot and should not be allowed to continue their control over a large part of a sovereign State territory."

Commenting on the situation in Syria, Ravanchi said that "the current situation in Idlib, which allows terrorists to use over two million civilians as human shields and to conduct their operations, cannot and must not continue indefinitely. This, among other things, will prevent the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, delay the country's reconstruction, and hamper the political solution, all of which are inherently interlinked."

He went on to stress that "in this context, we strongly condemn the violation of international law, in particular, the IHL by the U.S. in Syria, and stress that it must put an immediate end to its illegal presence in parts of Syria."

The Iranian representative to the United Nations finally underlined that "the Islamic Republic of Iran continues its consultations with other Guarantors of the Astana Format to further facilitate the agreement of the Syrian Government with the formation of the Constitutional Committee facilitated by the SRSG Pedersen."

Ravanchi concluded by underlining the fact that "ultimately, the right to determine the future of Syria belongs exclusively to Syrians themselves. We must genuinely support a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned, UN-facilitated political process."

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