MNA – “In line with international law, Iran supports the inherit right of the Syrian government to fight terrorists designated by the Security Council,” said Iranian ambassador to the UN, Majid Takht-Ravanchi.

Addressing the 8553rd meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday on the topic of ‘the situation in the Middle East’, the envoy noted that “Iran continues consultation with other guarantors of the Astana Format on a range of issues including Idlib de-escalation area to which we attach great importance.”

“While international humanitarian law must be fully observed by all without exception, this cannot and should not be used as a pretext to call for stopping the fight against terrorism,” he said, adding, “fighting against the most dangerous terrorist groups who have taken large number of civilians as hostages is a must. This, in fact, is a practical protection of civilians and should lead to the release of all civilians who are trapped in terrorists-held areas.”

“It is also obvious that these internationally designated terrorist groups cannot and should not be allowed to continue their control over a large part a sovereign state’s territory, otherwise Idlib will certainly turn to a safe haven for the cruelest terrorists to continue conducting their operations and to kill more civilians inside and outside of Idlib.”