POSITION PAPER

Name: Madhuram Nangalia

School: Don Bosco Liluah
Committee: United Nations Security Council
Allotment:The Islamic Republic of Iran (observer)
Agenda:Discussing the Syrian Civil War with special emphasis on
preventing the spread of extremism.
(Freeze Date: October 1, 2015; 12:30 pm)

Statement of the problem

Arab Springs:
The Arab Springs were a wave of protests calling for political reforms and leadership changes
that wrecked the Arab countries of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria. In Tunisia and Egypt these
movements were successful. In Libya Muammar Gaddaffi toppled due to NATO intervention
which led to huge political instability in Libya and left a large stockpile of weapons in the hands
of armed militia groups. In Syria, Bashar al-Assad responded with repression which has been
strongly condemned by most international players. The six point plan by former UN envoy to
Syria Kofi Annan was a breakthrough which was accepted by the Syrian President. However, he
has been blamed for not implementing the plan fully.

Formation of armed opposition groups

Because of the political crisis in Syria several armed opposition groups emerged with the support
of other countries such as the United States of America, Turkey, Qatar UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The USA aids moderates rebels such as the Free Syrian Army and the Kurdish forces fighting
against Bashar al-Assad. Since the uprising in Syria, Turkey has actively promoted and assisted
armed factions whose mission is to eliminate Kurdish factions in Syria. Qatar has delivered heat
seeking shoulder missiles- FN-6 to the Syrian rebels which the American president Obama had
vowed to prevent from falling into the hands of the rebels in hope that one day they will end up
in the hands of the Islamic State. Saudi Arabia has also been supporting Sunni militants in a bid
to overthrow the president, Assad. It has been supporting the Syrian government through the
fight or defending the current government from the so-called rebels. Syria was turned into a
playground of proxy wars to some extent. In November 2012, the united Syrian opposition forces
got together in Doha, the capital of Qatar, to create the National Coalition for Syrian
Revolutionary and Opposition Forces that grouped forces fighting against the regime of Bashar
al-Assad. CIA affiliated countries like Turkey , Saudi Arabia and Qatar have backed the creation
of Ahrar al-Sham, another terror group targeting Syria’s government.

Rise of Islamic State and Al Qaeda

The political instability in Syria has been exploited by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria(ISIS)
and Al Qaeda affiliated branch in Syria- Jabhat al-Nusra and they control swaths of territory
currently in Syria and Iraq. ISIS imposed a caliphate on the territory controlled by it in Syria in
2014 with Raqqa as its capital and Mosul as capital in Iraq with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as its
leader. ISIS has recruited individuals from abroad, even from Europe. The United Kingdom
recently claimed that it had a kill list of all British citizens recruited by ISIS and they had killed
two targets- Reyaad Khan and Ruhul Amin. ISIS controlled almost 88,000 sq km of land across
Syria and Iraq

Chemical weapons
On 21st August, 2013 the Syrian government had allegedly used Sarin- a chemical weapon in an
attack that killed and injured hundreds of civilians in Aleppo and Ghouta. This was largely
condemned by the international community. Following international pressure and persuasion
from the Russian Federation, Syria joined the chemical weapons convention(CWC) in which
under Part IV of which Syria was bound to destroy all the chemical weapons it possessed.
Following this, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons(OPCW) deployed a
monitoring team to ensure that the convention was implemented to its fullest by the Syrian
authorities. At a point after the freeze date Bellingcat conducted an investigation in which it
tracked the transport of dual use substances-isopropanol and propanol to Syria between 2013 and
2017 by Belgian companies. Syria has denied that it has used any chemical weapons and blames
the armed rebellion groups if they have been used in the war. The use of chemical weapons have
been condemned unilaterally by the Security Council resolutions in Syria.

Operation Inherent Resolve

In 2014 the US led coalition- Operation Inherent Resolve decided to launch airstrikes against
ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq with strong participation from Middle Eastern countries like
Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Tukey and many more middle eastern and western
partners like UK, France, Belgium, Australia and Germany. The problem with this coalition was
that it was not invited by the Syrian government unlike the Russian Federation which was invited
in late September, 2015 to counter ISIS. It violated Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United
Nations. It also violated the principle of proportionality as defined by Rule 14 of the Customary
International Humanitarian Law.

Failure of Geneva Conferences

There were two geneva conferences -I and II respectively to discuss a long term political solution
for Syria and put an end to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. In Geneva I Conference led to the
drafting of the Geneva communique. This was even endorsed by the Security Council resolution
2118 and UNGA resolution 66/2253. However, this conference failed in its objectives. The
Geneva II conference aimed to end the conflict by inviting the Syrian government and the
opposition forces to negotiate. However, this conference did not lead to the formation of any
consensus and was a total failure
Country’s policy on the agenda:
Iran recognises that the Syrian President- Bashar al- Assad is the legitimate leader of the Syrian
Arab Republic and strongly opposes the support of armed opposition groups by foreign powers
in Syria. Under the Nicaragua case of 1986 the International Court of Justice(ICJ) had declared
that the United States of America’s support of armed rebel groups in Nicaragua was illegal
violating the principles of non intervention in domestic affairs of a state violating Article 2(7) of
the United Nations Charter. In Libya, after the fall of Muammar Gaddaffi a huge political
instability was formed which created further instability. Iran expects the world to learn from such
experiences and avoid another intervention against the Syrian government. Iran, closely aligned
with its “Axis of Resistance” , supports the efforts made by Hezbollah in coordination with the
Syrian government to fight rebel groups in the region. The Quds Force of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps(IRGC) with Qassem Soleimani as its commander has been working
closely with the Iraqi and Syrian authorities to defeat terrorism in the region. Iran’s primary
objective is to counter the threat posed by the Islamic State.

Solutions to the problem

Strengthening porous borders: The countries in the Middle East especially this bordering Syria
and Iraq must take efforts to strengthen their vulnerable borders to curb the cross border
trafficking in the region through their own military or assistance from the UN missions or
legitimate foreign powers in enhancing cross border surveillance. It will help in addressing the
problem of the influx of foreign terrorist fighters(FTFs) and cross border terrorism.

UN resolutions: The Security Council has passed resolutions on the situation in Syria and Iraq
like 2233, 2235 and many more. The Security Council had established a counter-terrorism
committee with the passing of the UNSCR 1373. Iran proposes that the stronger implementation
of these resolutions should be important in finding a long term political solution and terrorism in
the Middle East. The implementation of UNSCR 1540 is key to prevent the proliferation of
WMDs in the hands of violent non-state actors.

Support for the Russian intervention: Russia has intervened in the Syrian civil war under a
mandate to combat and remove ISIS from power under the invitation of the Syrian government.
The Russian intervention, unlike the US led coalition, does not violate the principle of political
independence of Syria. This intervention is based on mutual trust and friendship between the two
nations.

International Cooperation:All nations must collaborate with their allies by conducting joint
investigations and sharing intelligence on the extremist groups to disrupt the network existing
between these extremist groups and their operations.
International Convention on the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism: This convention aims at
preventing the financing of terrorist organizations and disrupting their flow of funds which
ultimately they use to acquire arms and related materials and other necessary things
required for carrying out their operations. Iran has ratified this convention. The implementation
of this convention by all parties is crucial to disrupt the finances received by the extremist
groups.

Condemning the support of armed opposition forces: Iran deems the support of armed opposition
forces in Syria illegal by recalling the ICJ judgement on the Nicaragua case where it declared the
American support of armed rebels in Nicaragua was illegal violating the principle of non
intervention in domestic affairs of a state.

Long term solution: Iran supports a long term political solution to the civil conflict in Syria. Iran
has actively taken part in the Geneva peace conferences. Iran believes that the negotiations and
consensus formation is crucial to end the conflict in Syria.

Citations
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/text-of-annans-six-point-peace-plan-for-syria-idUSBRE83
30HJ
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/01/world/middleeast/the-syria-conflicts-overlapping-agendas-
and-competing-visions.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/world/middleeast/sending-missiles-to-syrian-rebels-qatar-
muscles-in.html
https://www.clingendael.org/pub/2019/strategies-of-turkish-proxy-warfare-in-northern-syria/2-tu
rkey-and-the-armed-syrian-opposition-nationalist-islamist-groups/
https://dod.defense.gov/OIR/Airstrikes/
https://www.opcwon.org/media-centre/featured-topics/opcw-and-syria.html
https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2018/04/19/methodology-tracked-illegal-ship
ment-sarin-precursor-belgium-syria/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47210891
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/08/drones-uk-isis-members-jihadists-syria-kill-l
ist-ministers
https://dppa.un.org/en/mission/special-envoy-syria#:~:text=To%20this%20day%2C%20the%20
Communiqu%C3%A9,resolution%202118%20in%20September%202013.