Bashar al-Jaafari
Syria’s Permanent Representative at the UN Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari
Bashar Jaafari, permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations © Eduardo Munoz / Reuters Syrian envoy to UN said that the strikes against his country by US and its allies is "another message to the terrorists" that encourages them to use chemical weapons in their future attacks.

The "three aggressors" showed the terrorist groups that they can "continue to commit their crimes not only in Syria but in other countries" as well, Bashar al-Jaafari said, referring to Washington, London and Paris.

The airstrikes targeting the Syrian civil and military facilities were also apparently an attempt to prevent the OPCW investigators from doing their work even before the investigation of the alleged incident in Douma even started, al-Jaafari said. He also rhetorically asked why the western countries did not inform the OPCW or any other relevant international organization about the alleged chemical facilities they supposedly uncovered in Syria before launching the strikes.

He also questioned why the Western powers, who claimed Damascus used chemical weapons, did not share their evidence with the OPCW.

The Syrian envoy to the UN said that the western aggression would not "prevent the Syrian people from deciding their own political future."

The UNSC meeting came after a massive missile strike on Syria was launched by the US, the UK and France. Washington and its allies unleashed the bombardment in the early hours of Saturday morning in retaliation for the alleged "chemical attack" last week in the Syrian town of Douma, which the Western countries immediately attributed to Damascus.

The airstrikes were conducted before an investigation of the alleged incident even started, as a team of investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arrived in Damascus only later that same day.