Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Walid Muallem addressed the U.N. General Assembly Friday, and used the occasion to jab the United States and its allies for aiding terrorism and the Islamic State, in its attempt to topple the administration of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Assad was not present. Muallem spoke in his place.
“I greet you from a land, baptized by the blood of its people, who fight terrorism,” Muallem said.
“Bombing and assassinations have returned once again in the West,” he said. “What is the guilt of the innocent people in your countries who started paying the price for supporting terrorism by some of your politicians? You know better than anyone else that terrorism is an ideology that recognizes no boundaries.”
While never naming it, it appears likely that Muallem was referencing U.S. ally Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has long been criticized for being the birthplace of Islamic Wahabbism, an ultraconservative reading of Islam that is said to inspire the leaders of the Islamic State and influenced Osama bin Laden. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were citizens of Saudi Arabia. Some critics, including Russia and Iran, assert that U.S. opposition to Assad and its alliance with Saudi Arabia helps the Islamic State.
An exasperated Muallem asked the Assembly: “Why do some of your governments support countries that export their crises outsides their borders? … How can developed countries governed by elections and parliaments ally with countries that do not originally have parliaments, and do not recognize an active half of the society, being women?”
Maullem did praise Russia and President Vladimir Putin, however, and condemned Israel.
“The so-called ‘Arab Spring’ was a spring only for Israel and its undercover and known allies,” he said.
“The important invitation of his excellency President Vladmir Putin to establish an international, regional coalition to counter terrorism… came upon a request of the Syrian government,” he said.
Muallem also supported his country’s ally, Iran.
“We emphasize the right of all countries to acquire and develop nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes,” he said.
