Equipo Nizkor - S/2016/820 - Letter from Syria regarding the bombing by the "international coalition" of two main bridges that span the Euphrates River.

United Nations
Security Council

S/2016/820

Distr.: General
30 September 2016
Original: Arabic

Identical letters dated 29 September 2016 from the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council

On instructions from my Government, and further to the letters that I had previously sent to you, the most recent of which was dated 17 September 2016 and issued as document S/2016/790, I should like to inform you that the so-called international coalition led by the United States of America continues to attack the Syrian Arab Republic and to target vital service facilities and infrastructure under the pretext that it is waging war on Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). In that connection, the air forces of the coalition bombed two main bridges that span the Euphrates River in the Dayr al-Zawr countryside. The "coalition" air raids, which were aimed at fragmenting the Dayr al-Zawr countryside along the banks of the Euphrates, resulted in the destruction of the Mayadin bridge and then, hours later, the Asharah bridge in the eastern countryside.

The deliberate destruction of those bridges by the United States of America was part of a series of attacks that came on the heels of the blatant American aggression that killed and injured dozens of Syrian Arab Army personnel in Dayr al-Zawr on 17 September 2016. This action also serves to confirm that the methodology of the "coalition" is founded on the bombardment and destruction of Syrian infrastructure, economic facilities and social institutions. Such attacks have occurred repeatedly, and we have informed the Secretary-General and successive Presidents of the Security Council of them in many official identical letters.

The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic reiterates that the operations of the so-called international coalition are illegal because it was established outside the framework of international law, in contravention of the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations, and without prior coordination and complete cooperation with the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic. The Government furthermore reiterates that citing Article 51 of the Charter to justify the establishment of the coalition and its operations is a distortion of the principles of the Charter and constitutes an attempt to exploit its provisions in order to achieve the political aims of specific States.

The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic calls for the condemnation of those criminal acts of aggression and reiterates that the only beneficiaries of the attacks by the "international coalition" are extremist terrorist groups, notably ISIL and the Nusrah Front. Those groups are striving to spread chaos and destruction throughout the Syrian Arab Republic, and events have proven that the United States of America and its allies are not serious about combating them.

The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic therefore calls on the Security Council to condemn this attack and compel the members of the "international coalition" to halt the deliberate destruction of infrastructure in Syria and to respect international law and Security Council resolutions concerning counter-terrorism, all of which stress that counter-terrorism measures must be in line with international law and the Charter of the United Nations.

I should be grateful if the present letter could be issued as a document of the Security Council.

(Signed) Bashar Ja'afari
Ambassador
Permanent Representative

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30Sep16

Letter from Syria regarding the bombing by the "international coalition" of two main bridges that span the Euphrates River