Report: Saudi to Propose U.N. Resolution Condemning Foreign Fighters in Syria, 'Especially Hizbullah'
Saudi Arabia intends to propose a U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning the presence of foreign fighters in Syria, especially those dispatched by Hizbullah, a media report said on Friday.
According to a copy of the draft resolution obtained by Sky News Arabia, the text condemns “the intervention of all fighters in Syria, including those fighting to support the Syrian regime and especially Hizbullah's intervention.”
The resolution voices support for “the Syrian people's aspirations for a peaceful and democratic society” and calls for forming a transitional government enjoying full powers.
It also calls for holding accountable those behind the August chemical attack near Damascus.
On Friday, Riyadh rejected membership of the U.N. Security Council, a day after it was elected to the body, accusing it of "double-standards" in resolving world conflicts, namely Syria.
The Saudi foreign ministry statement pointed specifically to the nearly three-year civil war in Syria and the protracted Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as key reasons to decline a council seat.
"Failing to find a solution to the Palestinian cause for 65 years" it said, has led to "numerous wars that have threatened world peace."
Likewise, it said, "allowing the regime in Syria to kill its own people with chemical weapons... without confronting it or imposing any deterrent sanctions... is a proof of the inability of the Security Council to carry out its duties and assume its responsibilities."
The ministry also criticised the body's "failure" to turn the Middle East into a region free from weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms -- in a reference to Iran and Israel.
Saudi Arabia is a staunch backer of the rebellion against the Iranian-backed regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Hizbullah -- which has always presented itself as Lebanon's first line of defense against Israel -- has come under intense criticism for its decision to enter the Syrian civil war on behalf of the Assad regime.
It has said it joined the battle to protect Lebanon from extreme Islamists among the ranks of the Syrian rebels.
Syria has long been a key part of the supply line between Iran and Hizbullah.
The Syrian civil war has also drawn in Sunni fighters from across the Muslim world and beyond since it flared in March 2011.
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