On instructions from my Government, I should like to draw to your attention the following information:

At 3.42 a.m. on Wednesday, 7 February 2018, the occupying Israeli authorities once again attacked the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. In this latest incident, Israeli aircraft fired missiles from Lebanese airspace at an area in Rif Dimashq governorate. Meanwhile, armed terrorist groups have launched more than a thousand rockets and mortar shells over the past few days at various residential neighbourhoods and suburbs, diplomatic missions, service facilities and churches in Damascus and various other cities. The terrorist attacks killed dozens of civilians and injured hundreds more, most of them women and children.

These ongoing attacks are emblematic of the belligerence of Israel, which supports armed terrorist groups, and are intended to help Israel prolong the Syrian crisis and boost the armed terrorist groups’ morale, which has been flagging as a result of the gains made by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies. The fact that the Israeli attacks on the Syrian Arab Republic coincided with those launched by their terrorist allies on peaceful residential neighbourhoods in Damascus, the countryside around Damascus and in other cities is further incontrovertible proof of the coordination, partnership and alliance that exists between Israel and its terrorist proxies.

The occupying Israeli authorities practice state terrorism. Israel’s ongoing coordination with and sponsorship of terrorist organizations, particularly the Nusrah Front and associated terrorist groups, leaves no room for doubt that it is a rogue entity that does not adhere to international law. The threat Israel poses to international peace and security is no less dangerous than that posed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and the Nusrah Front. Moreover, the occupying Israeli authorities continue to violate blatantly Security Council resolution 350 (1974) concerning the separation of forces and other Security Council resolutions and international instruments on combating terrorism. That is why a halt must be brought to the unrestrained and ongoing support and impunity provided by the American Administration that allow Israel to continue practicing State terrorism and threatening peace and security in the region and around the world.

The repeated Israeli attacks against the Syrian Arab Republic have not and will not succeed in protecting the terrorist organizations that are Israel’s partners and proxies. Neither will those attacks divert the Syrian Arab Army from continuing to make gains in combating terrorism and other Israeli tactics in many parts of the Syrian Arab Republic.

The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic reiterates its warning to Israel about the dangerous consequences of its attacks against the Syrian Arab Republic, its continued support for armed terrorist groups and its ongoing occupation of Arab lands, including the occupied Syrian Golan, and holds Israel fully responsible for those actions. Syria once again calls on the Security Council to condemn these blatant Israeli attacks and take resolute and immediate measures to end them. The Council must also hold Israel accountable and not allow it to go unpunished.

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

Mounzer Mounzer