Syrian FM raises new flag at UN headquarters

UNITED NATIONS, United States: Syria´s foreign minister on Friday raised his country´s new flag at UN headquarters in New York, hailing the move as a “proclamation of a new existence” after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

Asaad al-Shaibani raised the three-starred flag, officially adopted after Assad´s December ouster, and later spoke to the Security Council, where he urged a lifting of international sanctions and for Israel to be pressured to leave Syrian territory.

“This flag is not a mere symbol, but rather a proclamation of a new existence,” he said in his first United Nations speech. Since Assad´s fall to Islamist-led forces, Israel has deployed troops in a UN-controlled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights since 1974.

“We would like to ask the Council to make pressure on Israel to withdraw from Syria,” al-Shaibani said in his first UN speech. Israel has also launched airstrikes in Syria, which al-Shaibani slammed Friday as “not only a flagrant violation of international law and Syrian sovereignty, but also a direct threat to regional stability.”

“We have repeatedly announced our commitment that Syria will not constitute any threat to any of the neighboring countries or any country around the world, including to Israel,” he said. He also called for the lifting of all sanctions imposed under the previous government.