MPPM condemns the attacks on Syria

MPPM strongly condemns the US and Israeli military attacks on Syria.

In the last three days of February, US planes bombed the border area between Syria and Iraq, while Israel launched a missile attack on the Damascus region.

These are war actions that clearly violate international law and the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic, which has been a victim since 2011 of an aggression sponsored, armed and financed, among others, by those same countries.

Furthermore, Israel has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights for more than half a century, while the United States of America maintains, illegally and against the express will of the internationally recognized Syrian government, occupation troops in the North East of Syria – with the objective explained by ex-President Trump of “taking the oil” –, as well as in the South, where they have built the Al Tanf military base.

The United States has also imposed strict sanctions against Syria, with obvious consequences for its people, its economy, and the fight that the government of the country is waging against fundamentalist terrorist groups.

The US military strikes are the first military action of the new Biden administration and come at a time when its hesitation to reverse the violation of the nuclear agreement with Iran is clear.

They also add up to the confirmation that the new US administration will maintain the illegal decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel.

Taken together, these actions confirm a course of repeated and open violation of international law and make it clear that between the Trump and Biden administrations, at least as far as the Middle East region is concerned, there are more continuities than the speeches at first sight suggest.

Decades of wars sponsored by the US and its allies for control of the Middle East enormous resources have led the region into a dramatic situation.

The trivialization of repeated and clear violations of international law is an unmistakable threat to international peace.

It is imperative to stop this course and immediately return to the principles of international relations contained in the UN Charter.

MPPM demands that the Portuguese Government clearly condemn any military aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.

March 3, 2021

The National Directorate of MPPM