Syrian UN envoy: Saudis exported terror to Syria

Syria’s envoy to the UN says that Saudi Arabia has gathered terrorists from all over the world and exported them to his country.

“They have exported their terror to us. They brought terrorists to us from all over the world,” said Bashar al-Ja'afari (seen below) while addressing the United Nations Security Council on Monday.

Saudi Arabia and its regional allies, particularly Turkey and Qatar, are widely reported to be supporting the militants fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since March 2011.    

“The terrorists are the Takfiris, the Takfiri terrorists that are influenced by the Saudi Wahabi thinking. What Daesh and al-Nusra do corresponds exactly to the very same ideas prevailing in Saudi Arabia,” he added.

Ja'afari also condemned allegations made by the US’s UN envoy Samantha Power that Syrian jets had heavily bombed eastern Aleppo and dropped leaflets over the city, warning civilians to leave or die.

Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, remains divided between government forces in the west and foreign-backed terrorists in the east, making it a frontline battleground.

On September 22, Syria announced the start of a new military operation in Aleppo aimed at driving out the terrorists occupying the eastern part of the strategic city.

Stressing that such allegations are purely fictional, Ja'afari condemned the US’s hypocrisy while noting that on Monday alone US airstrikes had claimed the lives of a number of civilians in Raqqah.

“More than ten civilians lost their lives in raid by said airplanes of the United States against the village of Salehia in northern rural Raqqah. The war planes of the  coalition targeted a cotton mill in the same area which led to the death of three workers and an entire family that was displaced from another area whom were living in the village,” he said.

 One million living under siege in Syria: UN                    

Also on Monday, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O'Brien said that the number of people living under siege in Syria has reached around one million.

While addressing the UNSC, O'Brien stressed that most of these people are in need of humanitarian aid and medical attention.

He noted that over 350 mortars and missiles have been launched indiscriminately into western Aleppo since the beginning of the month and that reportedly 60 people had been killed and 350 injured. 

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura have put the death toll from the conflict at more than 300,000 and 400,000, respectively. This is while the UN has stopped its official casualty count in the Arab country, citing its inability to verify the figures it receives from various sources.

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