Syria Blames Qaida, Criticizes Turkey in Letter to U.N.
Syria's regime accused al-Qaida of being behind a deadly attack in Hama and criticized Turkey for sheltering what it called "terrorists," in a message to the U.N. aired by state television Tuesday.
"Armed terrorist groups headed by al-Qaida targeted citizens yesterday in the town of Salmiyeh in a cowardly terrorist act and destroyed the national hospital," the foreign ministry said in a letter to the U.N. secretary general and head of the Security Council.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 42 people, both civilians and pro-regime militiamen, were killed Monday when a suicide car bomb struck a building used by paramilitary forces in Salmiyeh, in the central province of Hama.
"Terrorists are arriving in Syria via neighboring countries, including Turkey, which opens its doors unconditionally to all terrorists of the world to penetrate Syria," the letter read.
"Damascus once again calls on the U.N. Security Council to condemn these terrorist acts committed on our soil, and calls for countries that are opposed to reconsider their positions, which do not serve world security and peace."
The anti-regime revolt, which broke out in March 2011 as a peaceful uprising and transformed into an armed insurgency under brutal repression, has left more than 60,000 people dead according to the U.N., the majority civilians.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/69336 |