Syria slams recent UN resolution as erroneous, biased

Syria has criticized a recent resolution passed by the United Nations against Damascus as “erroneous, unilateral and biased.” The resolution was “completely unrelated to what is going on the ground in Syria,” said Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja'afari in an address to the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday. The United Nations General Assembly on February 16 passed an Arab League-sponsored resolution on Syria over what it called the government's crackdown on opposition protests. A total of 137 members of the UN voted in favor of the resolution while 12 members including Iran, Russia and China voted against it. Ja'afari went on to slam the US and some Arab countries for openly talking of arming the Syrian opposition. He said that Syrian security forces managed to find arms caches mostly containing Israeli weapons in Homs after taking control of the restive town from armed groups. Ja'afari also rejected recent remarks by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the Syrian government as “extremely virulent rhetoric that confines itself to slandering a government based on reports, opinions or hearsay.” The reaction came after the UN chief accused Damascus of failing to protect its people and urged the Syrian government to grant aid workers immediate access to restive areas. Ja'afari noted that the false allegations "come from the opposition or from people who are abroad or people who are living in countries which are open enemies of Syria." He added that the reports of a humanitarian crisis in his country were "absolutely false." "The secretary-general is not duly informed," he said, reiterating that the Syrian opposition consisted of "armed terrorist groups" who use civilians as "human shields." Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March last year. Hundred of people, including security forces, have been killed in the turmoil. While the West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of the killings, Damascus blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, stating that it is being orchestrated from abroad.