Syria Support Movement solidarity with the Syrian people
Originally posted by Sonja van den Ende, on Devend.online
Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari, is a Syrian diplomat. During his tenure as Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations from 2006 to 2020, Jaafari was known for his fierce defense of the Syrian people against the terrorists (takfiri) that plagued the country from 2011 until the takeover by them in December 2024. Eventually, with the help of the US (Biden regime), the EU, Israel and Turkey, the terrorists group HTS took over the country in a coup d’état, installing former terrorist Al-Julani as President, who was designated a terrorist by the US, UN and the EU and had a bounty of $10 million on his head.
Jaafari was the first representative of the former Syrian Arab Republic to the UN. Jaafari was the lead negotiator during the Syrian peace process with the Syrian opposition. Later, Jaafari served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2020 to 2022 and as Syria’s ambassador to Russia from 2022. He has sought asylum in Russia in April 2025, because his assets have been confiscated and his life is in grave danger in the new so-called Syria, which is now ruled by the terrorist regime of Al-Julani who turned it into a new caliphate collaborating with Israel and Turkey.
Press Release by Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari
April 21, 2025
In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
In a scene that encapsulates the nation’s tragedy and embodies a painful paradox between those who have dedicated their lives to defending the sovereignty of the state and the dignity of its institutions, and those who use power as a tool for oppression and the confiscation of rights, I find myself compelled to reveal the arbitrary and illegal seizure of my private real estate, located in the areas of Qaryat al-Sham (formerly Assad Villages) and the Qudsaya suburb, by elements affiliated with the current Damascus security forces. This behavior can only be described as blatant political revenge and the unjustified deprivation of a Syrian citizen of his most basic constitutional and legal rights.
The seizure of private property that had been legally acquired for more than two decades, including my family home in Al-Qura, which I purchased in 2002 with my own savings after my mission to Indonesia, and another home in the Qudsaya suburb, which I purchased in installments over many years when I was my country’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva and New York, represents a serious violation of the principle of the sanctity of private property, guaranteed by the national constitutions of all civilized countries and divine laws, and clearly enshrined in the International Bill of Human Rights.
I have represented my country, Syria, in the highest diplomatic forums for many years, during which I have been committed to defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and I have prevented, to the best of my ability, its slide into the quagmire of Chapter VII. The political terminology I used at the United Nations was not an individual endeavour, but rather a strict adherence to the vocabulary contained in international legitimacy resolutions on combating terrorism, the situation in Syria, the Palestinian issue, and the situations in Iraq and Libya. I also represented the Syrian state as a member of the United Nations since its founding in 1945, not in my personal capacity. I was not working for myself there, nor did I have a private business that I managed in international forums.
My role models in my work were national icons, unanimously recognized by the Syrian people as unquestionable authorities, such as Yusuf al-Azma, Saleh al-Ali, Ibrahim Hanano, Sultan Pasha al-Atrash, Hassan al-Kharrat, Faris al-Khoury, Khaled al-Azm, Antoun Saadeh, Shukri al-Quwatli, Hashim al-Atassi, Farouk al-Sharaa, Izz al-Din al-Qassam, Ahmed Urabi, Omar al-Mukhtar, Djamila Bouhired, Abdelkrim al-Khattabi, Emir Abdelkader al-Jazairi, Abdel Rahman al-Shahbandar, Muhammad Kurd Ali, Khaled al-Asaad, Harith al-Dhari, and many others. My message to those who brought me this very tempting bribe offer in exchange for betraying trust was: “Tell whoever sent you that Yusuf al-Azma sends your greetings!”
Photo: CNN
I served my country abroad because it has been my profession as a diplomat since I successfully passed a diplomatic selection competition for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs 45 years ago. I did not work in the Ministry of Interior, the security services, the Ministry of Defense, or any political party. My duty was to defend my country’s supreme interests abroad, in international forums dominated by the hyenas of global politics who prey on nations and peoples.
The American economist Jeffrey Sachs exposing the truth at the Antalya Forum in the heart of Turkey a few days ago…! When he said that Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were the ones who planned the “creative” chaos in Syria. The famous American General Wesley Clark and former Secretary of State Colin Powell had preceded them in this, as everyone knows.
Syria is an eternal homeland for all Syrians, with no majorities or minorities. The slogan of independence was: “Religion belongs to God, and the homeland belongs to everyone.”
Since when have we been saying that Syrians are warring sects seeking international protection and seeking to slaughter one another under shameful, criminal, takfiri pretexts?! The culture of killing and excommunication is not unique to the Syrian environment. Rather, it is the product of a destructive agenda that undermines the authentic Syrian social fabric, a vengeance-based settlement of scores, and the uniqueness of Syrians in their love for their homeland and their staunch defense of the causes of their Arab nation.
Not everyone who has defended their country with awareness, sincerity, and loyalty is a “remnant of the regime.” We are all for the rule of law, but where is this law when armed individuals, undisciplined by the morals of the law, storm Syrian homes, confiscate and loot them, then sit inside and tamper with their owners’ property… without, of course, forgetting to perform prayers in those homes, considering them spoils of war…
As I bring this dangerous development to the public eye, I warn that this unprecedented behavior opens the door wide to a collapse of trust between citizens and the state, and perpetuates a dangerous equation: those who work hard and serve their country are punished, while looted properties and accounts abroad become standards of safety and legitimacy.
The first thing we heard from the authorities in Damascus, after they established control, was that “there is no revenge in liberation.” I was among the first to call for adherence to state institutions and a rejection of the logic of liquidation and infighting. Does what happened truly reflect the content of those slogans? Or does reality prove otherwise? Can this be described as an individual act? Or is it a systematic approach intended to settle scores and undermine anyone with a popular following or a history of serving the nation?
The seizure of the property of an ambassador who is still officially in office cannot be viewed in isolation from similar scenes being reported on the coast, the Ghab Plain, and the western Hama countryside, where the property of ordinary people has become vulnerable to confiscation and theft under various pretexts, perhaps not the most recent of which is what is called “spoils of war,” a description that has no connection to Islamic law, reason, or the constitution.
God Almighty says: “And do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly,” and the Prophet Muhammad said: “All of a Muslim is sacred to another Muslim—his blood, his wealth, and his honor.”
Changing circumstances and authorities do not give any party the right to dispossess its owners based on a position or opinion in a particular political context.
If this logic is accepted, we are facing the collapse of fundamental principles and the consecration of the legitimacy of revenge, not the legitimacy of the state.
I, Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari, have never been a party to a conflict against my fellow citizens. Rather, I have been and remain a soldier on the side of the Syrian state, working in the shadows and in public to prevent its collapse and destruction.
What I am experiencing today is nothing but a reflection of a state of political panic and an attempt to marginalize any free national voice that carries a true memory among the people.
What is happening today is not merely a personal matter; it is a warning bell ringing for everyone:
If we remain silent today, tomorrow no one will find a roof over their head or a law to protect them.
Now, after the person who issued the order to seize my property and confiscate my home on Monday has registered, and taken the same irresponsible action against some other ambassadors and diplomats, I ask them: What is your message to me and to the other ambassadors who are employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and have served the country for decades?
Are you telling us to go to hotels or…?
And God knows best.
Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari
April 21, 2025
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