Letter of Syria to the Security Council

Identical letters dated 24 December 2014 from the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

On instructions from my Government, I should like to convey to you the following information:

From the start of the Syrian crisis, certain States have violated the Charter of the United Nations and international law by interfering in the sovereign affairs of Syria and by funding and arming terrorists in Syria and facilitating their entry into the country from neighbouring States. What is more, certain journalists and prominent figures from those countries have even gone so far as to enter Syrian territory illegally and without having obtained an entry visa. Such actions are a blatant violation of Syria’s sovereignty and of the resolutions of the Security Council concerning Syria, all of which have affirmed the Council’s strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. By way of example, I should like to draw attention to some of those persons:

• Walid al-Tabtaba’i, former member of the Kuwaiti Parliament, entered Syrian territory in September 2013. He provided money and arms to terrorists in Syria and took part in combat with them.

• John McCain, an American Senator, entered Syrian territory in June 2013. He met with terrorist groups, including leaders of the Nusrah Front, which the Security Council has designated as a terrorist organization associated with Al-Qaida.

• Bernard Kouchner, the former French Minister for Foreign Affairs, entered Syrian territory in November 2014. He visited a number of Syrian cities without the consent or knowledge of the Syrian Government.

• Peter Galbraith, the former Ambassador of the United States of America to Croatia, entered Syrian territory in December 2014, accompanied by three American political and military leaders. He did so without the consent or knowledge of the Syrian Government.

As it conveys this information to you, the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic would like to state that it holds the Governments of the States of which those persons are nationals fully responsible for the violations that have been committed against the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic and the Security Council resolutions concerning Syria. It calls upon the Secretary-General and the Security Council to put pressure on those Governments to take immediately the necessary measures against their nationals who enter Syrian territory illegally. The Syrian Government also holds the Governments of those States fully responsible for threatening the territorial integrity of Syria and for dealing with non-State armed groups and designated terrorist groups.

I should be grateful if the present letter could be circulated as a document of the Security Council.