Zahra Ershadi, Iran’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations

Iran’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Zahra Ershadi says the United Nations Security Council must act to force Israel to end the occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights and aggression against the country.

Ershadi made the remarks in an address to a UN Security Council session on the situation in Syria on Monday during which she strongly condemned all aggressions of the Israeli regime against Syria.

Reaffirming Syria’s inherent right to self-defense and to respond to Israel’s acts of aggression at a time and place of its choosing, Iran’s deputy ambassador to the UN said, The Security Council must compel the Israeli regime to end the occupation of the Syrian Golan and also stop immediately its aggressions against Syria.

The senior diplomat added that the continued occupation of parts of Syrian territory by foreign forces, which constitutes flagrant violation of international law and the UN Charter, must come to an end.

All occupying and uninvited foreign forces must leave that country without any precondition or further delay, Iran’s envoy said.

She then referred to a recent report by the New York Times, which said based on newly obtained Pentagon documents that the US military’s aerial campaigns in the Middle East have been marked by deeply flawed intelligence and claimed the lives of thousands of civilians, including many children, without accountability.

According to the report, published by the New York Times on Saturday, a trove of confidential documents covering more than 1,300 reports of civilian casualties undercuts Washington’s claims of aerial raids with all-seeing drones, precision strikes and smart bombs.

The New York Times said US forces carried out more than 50,000 airstrikes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria over a five-year period.

Iran’s envoy said, The recent reports by the US media about the killing of dozens of Syrian civilians such as farmers, children and villagers, by the United States forces, which, we strongly condemn, indicate the urgency of their withdrawal from Syria.

The Syrian crisis must be settled peacefully and in accordance with principles of international law, particularly the full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, she noted.

The Islamic Republic of Iran continues to support the people and government of Syria to restore the unity and territorial integrity of their country, Ershadi concluded.