Iran and China Forge United Front at UN Meeting on Syria's Humanitarian Crisis

China has joined Iran in expressing support for Damascus' efforts to protect its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence, stressing the need to eradicate terrorism and end foreign occupation as elements necessary to resolve the humanitarian crisis facing the Arab Republic.

"We must take full advantage of the leading role of the Syrian government in order to fundamentally improve the humanitarian situation on the ground. With regard to the severe epidemic and food security issues, targeted humanitarian relief must be provided with a focus on the needs of women, children, and other vulnerable groups", Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, said at a Security Council meeting on Syria on Monday.

At the meeting, dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the conflict in Syria, Zhang warned that terrorist groups continue to "threaten the security and stability of the country and even the whole region", making it vital for the international community to "remain vigilant, strengthen cooperation, and firmly fight terrorism in accordance with international law and Security Council resolutions".

Commenting on the political settlement, Zhang stressed that Syrians themselves must independently determine the future of their country, and that the strategy of "regime change" was not an option, nor a possibility. He added that external military interference only threatens to cause "greater disasters and serious consequences".

The diplomat emphasised that the lifting of sanctions and the West's economic blockade of Syria was critical to enabling the country to rebuild, and called on the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to draw up and present a report on the humanitarian impact of sanctions and other forms of pressure against the country.

Zhang pointed to China's provision of 150,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines, as well as 750 tonnes of rice to Syria, and promised that Beijing would provide additional assistance to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

Zhang's sentiments were echoed by Iranian Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi, who stressed the importance of ensuring that "uninvited foreign forces" are withdrawn from Syria, denounced sanctions, and reiterated that there was no military solution to the conflict.

Ravanchi underscored the keys to resolving the crisis required "ensuring Syria's full sovereignty and territorial integrity through uprooting all terrorists, withdrawing uninvited foreign forces, ending the occupation, and securing its borders. Furthermore, necessary measures must be taken for reconstruction of the country's critical infrastructure, further improving the conditions conducive for the return of all refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as stimulating further progress in the political process", the diplomat said.

The envoy warned that sanctions only threaten to prolong the "crisis and grief of the Syrian people", and said that "certain countries" have sought to use sanctions to try to achieve "objectives that they have failed to gain by military means or political leverage", "punishing the entire Syrian nation" in the process.

"Weaponising food and medicine and endangering the food security of a nation are unjust and unacceptable", the diplomat stressed, adding that such measures were a violation of the principles of the UN and should therefore be "removed immediately".

Russia, Syria's other ally in the fight against jihadist extremism, joined China and Iran in expressing concern about the humanitarian situation at Monday's meeting, with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin accusing terrorists in the Idlib de-escalation zone of restricting civilians' access to humanitarian aid and hindering movement.

Vershinin agreed that unilateral sanctions by the US and the European Union have had a "dramatically negative impact on ordinary Syrians", and accused Washington of a two-pronged strategy of "economic strangulation" of Damascus, with sanctions accompanied by the smuggling of oil and foodstuffs out of the country's northeast.

Red Dragon in the Persian Gulf

Ambassador Zhang's forceful comments came two days after the signing of the Iran-China Strategic Partnership Agreement, a 25-year "strategic roadmap" for relations between the nations, including everything from commitments to expanding political and economic links to joint drills, R&D cooperation, and intelligence sharing.

A former head of the Israeli military's intelligence directorate described the intelligence-sharing component of the pact as "worrying". Israel is known to have carried out hundreds of air and missile strikes against Syria in recent years, targeting what Tel Aviv claims are Iranian proxy forces. Damascus has condemned its neighbour over the aggression, and stressed its sovereign right to station forces in the country to help fight terrorism. Iran has provided Syria with significant military assistance, including arms and advisors, throughout the conflict.

Observers in the US, who illegally maintains garrisons in southern and northeastern Syria, have also expressed concerns about the Iran-China agreement, characterising it as a "direct challenge" to Washington and President Biden in their attempts to pressure Iran on the nuclear deal.