A senior Iranian security official has slammed a United Nations Security Council resolution that calls for international observers to monitor the evacuation of civilians trapped in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.
“The United Nations Security Council Resolution 2328 will not help resolve this country’s [Syria’s] crisis because it ignores the conditions and problems of the [Syrian] people and the Syrian government’s role and only focuses on rescuing terrorists. It [the resolution] can exacerbate the tension in Syria,” warned Ali Shamkhani, the secretary general of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC). He claimed that Western countries and “mysterious intelligence elements” have exploited similar ceasefires in the past to send weapons and financial aid to the Syrian rebels.
Comment:
Shamkhani’s objection to the UN resolution demonstrates that the Iranian government has no respect for international humanitarian law and for the safety of thousands of civilians who are still trapped in Aleppo and fear being killed or tortured by Iran-backed militias. His remarks also reveal a widening policy gap between Iran and Russia vis-à-vis the Syrian conflict. Moscow voted in favor of the French-drafted UN resolution on December 19 that demanded “all parties to provide these monitors with safe, immediate and unimpeded access.”
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