On the Series of Terrorist Acts in Iraq and Syria
On 9 September, Baghdad and a number of other cities in Iraq were shattered by a wave of terrorist acts - the largest attack by extremists over the recent period. More than 90 people fell victims of the acts of violence, most of them officers of the national security services. Over 300 people, including civilians, were injured.
On the same day a series of terrorist attacks swept through Aleppo, the second largest city of Syria, inflicting harm on civilians and civil infrastructure. Two car bomb explosions completely destroyed the Al-Hayat Hospital, and partially the Al-Mashfa Al-Markazi Hospital. Another car bomb detonated across the street from a school located 500 meters away from the hospitals. The death toll as a result of the terrorist attacks reached 47, over a hundred people were injured.
On 10 September, following the standard UN Security Council practice, the Russian delegation circulated two draft UN SC Press Statements, condemning in strongest terms the terrorist acts committed in Iraq and Syria and expressing condolences to the victims of the acts and to their families. The texts contained the language reaffirming that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security and is unjustifiable, and that the UN Security Council members were determined to combat terrorism in accordance with their responsibilities under the Charter of the United Nations.
We express our gratitude to our partners in the Security Council for the adoption of the UN SC Press Statement on terrorist attacks in Iraq.
At the same time we are perplexed by the fact that due to a non-constructive approach taken by some of its members the UN Security Council failed to adopt a Press Statement on terrorist attacks in Syria. The motivation used that the terrorist acts in Syria ‘should not be taken out of the general context of violence in the country’, in effect constitutes a departure from the principle, reaffirmed by the UN Security Council members on numerous occasions, that there can be no justification for terrorism. Such attitude encourages terrorism and is conducive only to further surge of violence in Syria.
