Official Letter to the UN Security Council from Bashar Al Jaafari
| Al-Jaafari: Terrorists planning to launch chemical attack on Jobar to accuse the government
Apr 01, 2014
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New York, (SANA) Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari said that terrorist groups are planning to launch attacks using chemical weapons in Jobar area to accuse the Syrian government of it , as indicated by a phone call between terrorists monitored by the authorities. Al-Jaafari told Russia Today TV channel in a phone call on Tuesday that he sent two identical letters on March 25th to the UN Secretary-General and President of the Security Council drawing their attention to two vital issues. He said that the first issue is that the Syrian authorities monitored a landline phone call between two terrorists in Jobar area in Damascus’ suburb, during which one of the terrorists said a third terrorist referred to as Abu Nader is secretly distributing gas masks to protect from toxic gas among his cohorts. Al-Jaafari said the Syrian authorities also intercepted another call between two terrorists, one of them referred to as Abu Jihad who said that there will be a use of toxic gas in Jobar area, asking the terrorist members working with him to prepare gas masks. He added that the purpose of this talk is to use toxic gas once again to accuse the government of the attack, just like what happened last year in the Ghouta area in Damascus Countryside and in Aleppo before it. Syria’s Permanent Representative said that the more critical piece of information is that the terrorist organization known as Jabhat al-Nusra broadcast a video on their YouTube channel on March 23rd showing preparations for carrying out a bombing in Sukkar site in Adra area in Damascus Countryside, where Jabhat al-Nusra and Al Qaeda terrorists are running amok. He noted that the video showed a BMP armored vehicle loaded with 7,000 kilograms of TNT and C4 and driven by a terrorist called Shamel al-Ansari, in addition to another car loaded with explosives driven by a Jordanian terrorist called “Abu Stef al-Urduni,” with the purpose of the two vehicles is to detonate them in Sukkar site, which contains chemicals. “There’s nothing called international community, unfortunately,” al-Jaafari said, “we directed two letters to the Security Council to have the countries that keep talking about the threats of chemical weapons to pressure the countries sponsoring and funding these terrorist groups – specifically the Turkish, Saudi, and Qatari governments – to prevent such terrorist acts by pressuring these gangs and terrorist gangs,” adding that now this matter is in the hands of the Security Council. He added that the joint coordinator of the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) as well as the UN Secretary-General are aware of this, and the Syrian authorities are doing their duties in this regard, noting that the area in question is blockaded, adding “as far as we are concerned as a government, we are doing our duty to the fullest, but the issue now has regional, and international and Arab aspects.” Regarding developments in Kassab and Lattakia countryside, and the steps to be taken by the Syrian government, al-Jaafari said that on the political side, Syria sent five letters on the issue of Kassab to the UN Secretary-General and President of Security Council during the past seven days, with all the letters full of information on the direct involvement of the Turkish government in sponsoring the terrorist attacks on Kasab. “These terrorist groups came from Turkish territories and were covered by Turkish artillery, tanks and aircrafts so that they aren’t engaged by the Syrian Army in that area, with the purpose of the Turkish military involvement being an attempt to distract the Syrian Army form these terrorist groups so that they may commit their heinous acts,” he said. Al-Jaafari pointed out that there’s considerable migration of Syrian Armenians from Kasab and that there have been many victims, but the Syrian authorities are liberating the area one meter at a time, with intense battles taking place there. He concluded by asserting that in the end, the Syrian Arab Army will emerge victorious and liberate all areas up to the borders with Turkey, just like what happened in al-Hosn, Yabroud and al-Queseir. H. Sabbagh |
Militants in Syria prepare chemical attack in Damascus – UN envoy
A handout image released by the Syrian opposition’s Shaam News Network shows a Syrian couple mourning in front of bodies wrapped in shrouds ahead of funerals following what Syrian rebels claim to be a toxic gas attack by pro-government forces in eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21, 2013. (AFP Photo / Shaam News Network)
Armed gangs in Syria are conspiring to stage a chemical attack in the Damascus suburbs in order to later lay the blame on the Bashar Assad’s government, Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari has warned the Security Council.
“Competent Syrian authorities intercepted a wireless communication between two terrorists in the Jawbar area of the Damascus governorate,” Jaafari said in a letter addressed to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council. The letter was published on Tuesday on the UN website.
In that communication, the diplomat said, one “of the terrorists said that another terrorist named Abu Nadir was covertly distributing gas masks.”
The Syrian security services, Jaafari said, also intercepted another communication between militants one of whom was called Abu Jihad. During that conversation, the latter indicated that toxic gas would be used and “asked those who are working with him to supply protective masks.”
Back in March, Jaafari informed the Security Council that a person named Haytham Salahuddin Qassab “transported chemical substances from Turkey on behalf of the terrorist organization known as Ahrar al-Sham.” He allegedly purchased the chemical agents from Turkey’s Dharwa Import and Export Company.
The substances reportedly included among others white phosphorous and isopropyl hydroxylamine. It was alleged, Jaafari said, that militants planned to use them to produce white smoke in certain areas and later claim that Syrian planes had bombed them.
“However, the primary reason for requesting those substances was to use them as chemical weapons,” the Syrian diplomat warned.
The information in the previous letter along with new details obtained from the intercepted communications confirm “that armed terrorist groups are preparing to use toxic gas in the Jawbar quarter and other areas, in order to accuse the Syrian Government of having committed such an act of terrorism,” Jaafari said.
Syria’s UN Ambassador confirmed his concerns to RT Arabic. He said that militants had earlier followed a similar scenario in the chemical attacks in Allepo and in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, when they blamed Assad’s forces for the deadly incidents. Jaafari said that the UN is currently considering the issue. The Secretary General as well as the Coordinator of the UN-OPCW joint mission to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons program, Sigrid Kaag, are also being kept up to speed with developments.
Syria agreed to the destruction of its chemical weapons arsenal through a deal brokered largely by Russia, after the US threatened to use military force against the country. That followed a deadly chemical attack in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta in August, 2013. The Syrian government and the opposition have pointed the finger of blame at each other over the incident that killed hundreds, and both have denied their involvement.
So far, 49 percent of the raw materials for Syria’s poison gas and nerve agent program scheduled for destruction have been shipped overseas, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said last week.
The rest is expected to leave the country by the end of April, the global chemical weapons watchdog added in a report to the UN, reported AP. The total amount of chemicals either removed or already destroyed inside Syria is 53.6 percent.
According to the OPCW, Damascus pledged to remove all chemicals by April 13, except for those in areas “that are presently inaccessible,” which face an April-27 deadline. But so far the deadlines have not been met, with the Syrian government blaming the unstable situation inside the country.
Under the deal, some chemicals are to be destroyed at facilities in the US and Europe, while a large part of the toxic material is to be eliminated on board a ship at sea. Syria has declared around 700 tons of the most-dangerous chemicals, 500 tons of less-dangerous precursor chemicals and 122 tons of isopropanol – an active ingredient in sarin gas production. The deadline for the mission’s completion is June 30.
SYRIA 360° INTERNATIONALIST 