UN Resolution to Reinforce Fight against Terrorism in Syria: Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian hailed a recent resolution on Syrian crisis adopted by the UN Security Council on Friday, saying it would help the peace process and fight against terrorism in the war-torn country.
“It is expected that the new UN resolution would reinforce the trend of fight against terrorism and strengthen the political process based on the commitments of countries and a transparent voting by the Syrian people,” Amir Abdollahian said Friday at the conclusion of a meeting of the International Syria Support Group at New York's Palace Hotel.
Meantime, the UNSC unanimously approved a resolution endorsing an international roadmap for a peace process in Syria, which has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with Takfiri terrorists from various groups, including the ISIL (Daesh), currently controlling parts of it.
The text calls for the UN to present the council with options for monitoring a ceasefire within one month of adoption of the resolution. It also backed a timeline previously agreed in Vienna for talks between the government on a unity government and opposition, and eventual elections.
Diplomats said the main problem in the negotiations on the resolution involved Russian and Iranian concerns about how to refer to a bloc of opposition groups that would join UN-led peace talks with the Syrian government set to begin in January.
As regards Iran's concerns, Amir Abdollahian stressed that a politically-biased list of terrorist groups was being adopted in the international meeting, but the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s “logical arguments” prevented that from happening.
“It was finally agreed that a working group composed of Iran, Russia, Oman, Egypt, Jordan, and France prepare the list and present it to the UN,” he added.
He further reaffirmed Tehran’s support for intra-Syrian talks, stressing that there would be no room for terrorists in Syria’s national talks, but “the real opposition groups who believe in political resolution will play their role.”
In similar remarks on Thursday, Zarif had emphasized that terrorists and extremist groups who have the blood of innocent people of Syria on their hands cannot have any role in Syria’s future.
The New York meeting and the UN resolution came following two rounds of talks held in the Austrian capital of Vienna on October 30 and November 14 to discuss settlement of the ongoing crisis in Syria.
Influential countries like Russia, the United States, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, as well as representatives from the Syrian government and opposition groups have taken part in the recent negotiations on Syria.
