On March 10, information widely circulated on Facebook (1,2,3,4,5) claiming that after the UN Security Council meeting, 25 countries, including Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, the Baltic, and Scandinavian countries, did not vote for the resolution on Syria.
On March 10, a UN Security Council meeting on Syria did take place; however, the Security Council did not adopt a resolution on Syria. No such resolution has been adopted by the UN General Assembly either.
On March 10, the UN Security Council held a closed meeting to discuss the tense situation in Syria caused by violent clashes. The meeting was initiated by the United States and Russia. On the same day, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, stated that the Council was working on a document regarding Syria and aimed to adopt it soon. According to Nebenzya, the Council was quite unanimous on the issues discussed during the closed session. As of now, the Security Council has not adopted a resolution on Syria. No such resolution has been published on the official website of the Security Council, nor has any information about it been reported in the media.
Most of the countries listed in the Facebook posts are not members of the UN Security Council. The Council has a total of 15 members, consisting of 5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members. Given the number of countries mentioned, the resolution referred to in the posts would have had to be adopted by the UN General Assembly. However, no such resolution has been adopted by the General Assembly either.
No resolution regarding the violence that began in Syria on March 6 has been submitted for consideration at the General Assembly. Consequently, countries could not have refrained from supporting it.
-
What Is Happening in Syria and How Are European Countries Responding?
Violence in Syria began on March 6 when Assad-supporting armed groups attacked the police in the city of Jableh. As a result of this clash, 16 members of the security forces were killed. The government forces killed 31 people, including 28 Assad loyalists and 3 civilians. Over the following days, the situation in Syria escalated dramatically, and the death toll exceeded 1,000. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, among the deceased are 830 civilians, 231 members of the security forces, and 250 Assad-supporting fighters.
The majority of those killed belong to the Alawite community. Alawism is a branch of Shia Islam. Former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad is Alawite, and Alawites held privileged positions in his government. Alawites make up approximately 10% of Syria’s population.
According to Tamim Al-Khitan, a spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), as of now, the UN has confirmed 111 deaths, including young children. However, reports suggest that the actual death toll is significantly higher. Al-Khitan also noted that many of these cases were executions that appear to have been carried out on religious grounds. According to available information, the perpetrators were members of armed groups supporting the current government’s security forces, as well as supporters of the former government.
According to testimonies collected by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, attackers asked residents whether they were Alawite or Sunni before deciding whether to kill them.
It is worth noting that most of the countries mentioned in widely shared posts have responded to the difficult situation in Syria. France and Germany have called on Syria’s transitional government to investigate the incidents of violence and hold the perpetrators accountable. The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, and Sweden, as well as foreign ministries Estonia and Italy, have issued statements emphasizing the need to protect the rights and safety of all Syrians, regardless of their minority group affiliation.
The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.
Read detailed instructions for editing the article.
Read detailed appeal instructions.
