Syrian Blames Western Imperialists for Conflict

Walid al-Maallem, Syrian Foreign Minister, addressed the United Nations General Assembly opening debate on October 1, 2012. Syria has been a target of imperialist regime-change strategy for the Middle East., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

October 1, 2012
At U.N., Syria Blames Foes for Conflict and Says Refugee Crisis Was Invented

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
New York Times

UNITED NATIONS — Syria’s foreign minister told the United Nations on Monday that the violence racking his country was entirely the fault of other nations supplying the armed opposition, that the refugee crisis was concocted by Syria’s enemies and that a dialogue on a political transition was still possible.

The minister, Walid al-Moallem, speaking on behalf of Syria at the annual opening debate of the General Assembly, did not introduce any new initiative in his recap of his country’s standard positions over the conflict that began in March 2011.

Even as he was speaking, the United Nations was condemning his government for not doing enough to reduce the violence that has gradually engulfed the entire country, leaving more than 20,000 people dead and thousands more wounded.

In an earlier meeting with the Syrian minister, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon “stressed that it was the Syrian people who were being killed, and appealed to the Government of Syria to show compassion to its own people,” according to a statement issued by Mr. Ban’s spokesman just as Mr. Moallem had begun speaking.

The sharp tone of Mr. Ban’s statement was unusual for him. “The secretary general raised in the strongest terms the continued killings, massive destruction, human rights abuses, and aerial and artillery attacks committed by the government,” it said. “He expressed deep frustration that, after 19 months of repression and fighting, the situation was still getting worse.”

But Mr. Moallem apparently rejected the criticism, using his 30-minute speech to blame those supporting the opposition and imposing sanctions on Syria as responsible for both the violence and the dire humanitarian situation.

“We wonder to what extent the statements of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States and France, which clearly induce and support terrorism in Syria with money, weapons and foreign fighters, are in line with the international responsibilities of these countries in combating terrorism,” he said.

The Syrian foreign minister placed blame for the high toll on terrorists, his government’s standard terminology for members of the armed insurgency.

In one of his more striking assertions, Mr. Moallem said the refugees who had fled Syria had been manipulated into leaving by Syria’s neighbors, in order to create an artificial crisis so that these neighbors could receive foreign aid.

Nearly 300,000 Syrians have sought sanctuary in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, and the United Nations refugee agency has called the outflow a major humanitarian problem that could destabilize the region.

“While my government is working hard to meet the basic needs of citizens who have been forced by the violence of the armed groups to flee their homes, some have sought to fabricate a refugee crisis through inciting armed groups to intimidate Syrian civilians in border areas and forcing them to flee to neighboring countries,” the foreign minister said.

He appealed to refugees to return home, “where the state will guarantee their safe return and their precious lives away from inhuman conditions they suffer in these camps.”

The foreign minister also said that sanctions imposed by the West and Arab nations were only worsening the plight of Syrians.

“How can imposing sanctions on the banking, health and transport sectors be consistent with caring for the best interest of the Syrians?” Mr. Moallem asked.

Syria is the target of a plot to extend Western hegemony and the interests of Israel throughout the eastern Mediterranean, the Syrian foreign minister said. The only way out of the crisis is a national dialogue, he said, adding that “the doors of Syria” are open for a dialogue that would lead to establishing “a more pluralistic and democratic Syria.”

Syrian opposition leaders and the foreign governments who support them say that such statements are negated by what they call President Bashar al-Assad’s increasingly ruthless campaign to crush the opposition, most recently in the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s commercial capital.

The uprising started as a peaceful protest movement in March 2011, but opposition figures said they where pushed into violence by brutal government attacks on the protesters.

A marked division in the Security Council — with Russia and China backing Mr. Assad’s government by vetoing three resolutions — has prevented any concrete United Nations action to end the bloodshed.

During the gathering of world leaders over the past week, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani of Qatar called for some manner of Arab force to intercede in the conflict. But diplomats and other analysts suggested it was more an off-the-cuff suggestion to be seen to be doing something about the crisis, rather than a plan.

When Nabil Elaraby, the secretary general of the Arab League, approached Sheik Hamad to inquire what exactly he had in mind in terms of a force, according to one senior diplomat here, the sheik responded, “That is for you to figure out.”