Tehran Calls on Unauthorized Foreigners to Leave Syria

Iran's Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Eshaq Al-e Habib urged the world body to throw its weight behind the ongoing political process on Syria and help rebuild the war-wracked country.

The United Nations Security Council held a meeting on Syria with a focus on a UN-backed constitutional body for the crisis-hit country, days after the three mediators of a peace process in Syria reached a set of agreements in Geneva, Austria, on the issue.

Addressing the Security Council session on Thursday, Eshaq Al-e Habib further called for the withdrawal of the foreign forces operating on Syrian soil without the Damascus government's permit.

The senior Iranian diplomat further emphasized the need for the continuation of peace efforts in parallel with counter-terrorism battles based on international law.

It is the Syrian people who can decide their country's fate, and the international community can only help facilitate that process, he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the Syrian crisis can be solved with following and facilitating political solution, condemning the approach undertaken by the West.

He added that Iran, Turkey and Russia have always insisted on a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

Zarif made the remarks after a trilateral meeting with foreign ministers of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey as guarantors of the Astana format on the formation of Syria Constitutional Committee in the Swiss city of Geneva.

He called on the Western countries to facilitate the resolution of the crisis instead of pushing ahead with their own agenda.

“In Geneva alongside Russian and Turkish counterparts to move forward on a constitutional committee to resolve Syria crisis. We always insisted on a political solution led and owned by Syrians. The West has now been compelled to accept this. But it needs to facilitate; not dictate,” Mohammad Javad

In the joint statement at the end of the meeting, the senior negotiators from the three guarantor states agreed to take efforts aimed at convening the first session of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva early next year.

Following the meeting, they also met with UN’s Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura at the UN headquarters in the Swiss city. 

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