Russia and US trade accusations of complicity in war in Syria

Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN. (AP)

• Russian envoy accused UN secretary-general of employing double standards; US envoy said Moscow is using same “barbaric tactics” in Syria and Ukraine
• Arab League’s assistant secretary-general called on council members to take the “same level of interest” in Syria as they do in the war in Ukraine

NEW YORK: Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, told his fellow members of the Security Council on Thursday that the root causes of the volatility in Syria lie in Western countries’ continuing policy of “pandering to terrorists” and their attempt to use the activities of those terrorists for their own gain.
“Despite the fact the Washington presents its military presence (in Syria) as a counterterrorist operation, we fail to see any active measure to combat terrorists there,” Polyanskiy said.
“The US and their allies have repeatedly used the far-fetched pretext of destroying chemical weapons, in violation of international law and the UN charter, to launch massive missile and bomb strikes on the military and industrial infrastructure of the Syrian republic.”
His remarks came during a regular meeting of the council to discuss the ongoing conflict in Syria and the resultant humanitarian catastrophe.
Polyanskiy also took aim also at UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, accusing him of abandoning “the customary neutral language that is appropriate to an international official” in his repeated pleas to Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
“We ask Guterres to be consistent and to finally provide his assessment of the compliance of the presence of the US and other forces in Syria with the UN Charter,” said Polyanskiy.
“We expect him to publicly name those who are illegally occupying Syrian territory and indicate who is responsible for the situation in IDP (internally displaced people) camps outside the control of Damascus. Otherwise we will regard the silence of the secretary-general as a vivid example of double standards.
“After emotional assessment of what is happening in Ukraine, assessments based on unverified information, the head of UN is simply obligated to call a spade a spade in the context of the ongoing US occupation of Syrian territory.”
Richard Mills, the deputy US representative to the UN, reiterated that his country will not normalize relations with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. He urged states who are considering engaging or are already engaged with the regime to “weigh carefully the horrific atrocities visited by Assad on Syrians over the last decade, as well as the regime’s continuing efforts to deny much of the country access to humanitarian aid and security.”
He accused Russia of fueling and perpetuating the conflict in Syria “with reckless attacks” on civilians and infrastructure.
“We are watching with horror as Russia uses some of the same barbaric tactics in Ukraine,” he added. “Russia’s relentless disinformation, including debasing the work of this council and falsely alleging that other forces are responsible for these cruel attacks, whether in Syria or Ukraine, defies all credibility. It is disgraceful.”
Mills also said his country is “deeply troubled” by reports that Russia has recruited Syrians to fight on its behalf in Ukraine.
“This would demonstrate Russia’s true disdain for the Syrian people,” he said. “Russia has hundreds of thousands of troops but would instead send Syrians to die in President Putin’s war of choice.”
The bickering followed sobering remarks by Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, who addressed the council from Geneva where the seventh round of the Small Body of the Syrian Constitutional Committee was set to hold its final day of meetings on Friday.
“We are at an important moment in the week’s deliberations (which) have not been easy,” said Pedersen. Committee members from both sides were busy revising the constitutional texts that each side submitted to reflect the deliberations of the past few days of meetings, he added, and are expected to submit the final revisions on Friday.
“We will therefore see if the next 24 hours help to move us forward,” he said. “There are significant differences but it is possible to find and build on common points, if the will exists to do so.”
The 150-member Syrian Constitutional Committee was established in 2019. It includes 50 representatives of the Syrian government, 50 from the opposition, and 50 civil society representatives who are the so-called “middle third.”
The committee’s Small Body consists of 15 members from each bloc and is tasked with deciding the draft text for a new constitution.
Pedersen called on committee members to make serious efforts to begin to narrow the differences between them and adopt the “sense of seriousness and spirit of compromise” that the situation requires.
“A constitution-making effort that actually starts to explore compromises could help build trust and confidence in this process — something sorely lacking among the Syrians at present,” he said.
The envoy reiterated that the idea of “a military solution is an illusion. This was always the case but it is not plain for all to see.”
The UN’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, delivered another sobering briefing to the council. He told members that the devastation wrought on Syria over the past 11 years of war “finds few parallels” in recent history.
More than 350,000 people have been killed, he said, and nearly 14 million have been displaced from their homes. As civilian deaths and injuries continue in the northwest and the northeast, Griffiths called for the intensification of early recovery efforts, noting that about 15 million Syrians are now in need of humanitarian assistance, “more than at any time since the start of the conflict.”
Hussam Zaki, the assistant secretary-general of the Arab League, warned the council about the negative effect of the war in Ukraine in exacerbating the Syrian conflict and causing the resultant humanitarian catastrophe to worsen.
“We express our deep concern over the impact of the war in Ukraine on the Syrian crisis, whether on the ground or the way your council deals with the situation in Syria,” Zaki said.
“Given the global challenges resulting from the war in Ukraine, we hope that the international community will continue to address the humanitarian situation with the same level of interest, and we hope that purely political considerations will not prevent the council from addressing the humanitarian aspect.
Zaki called on the council to renew the cross-border mechanism for aid delivery in Syria in July and to avoid any politicization of humanitarian assistance.