Leaked UN Report Accuses Iran of Syrian Army Support

May 17, 2012 from Al Jazeera English

The United Nations is blaming Iran for supplying the Syrian army with weapons. The UN says it has found evidence Iran been organising illegal shipments. Meanwhile, both Russia and the US acknowledge that they are helping the two sides in Syria's internal conflict as well. The implications of this are profound: not only are the two sides on the ground ignoring the terms of the ceasefire, but it also seems that foreign countries - which on paper signed up to the Annan plan and its spirit of demilitarisation - are, in practice and in different ways, both offering supplies which undermine it. Iran would say that makes criticism of it sound a bit hollow. And it also reinforces the idea that Syria has turned into a proxy conflict between Russia on one side, and the self-titled Friends of Syria on the other. Laurence Lee reports.

(more) (less)

In This Video

Iran

Irano Islamo Respublika – valstybė Artimuosiuose Rytuose, Azijos pietvakarinėje dalyje. Ribojasi su Armėnija, Azerbaidžanu, Turkmėnija bei Kaspijos jūra šiaurėje, Afganistanu ir Pakistanu rytuose, Iraku ir Turkija vakaruose, Persijos įlanka bei Omano įlanka pietuose. Explore this topic

Syrian army

The Syrian Army, officially the Syrian Arab Army, is the land force branch of the Syrian Armed Forces. It is the dominant military service of the four uniformed services, controlling the senior most posts in the armed forces, and has the greatest manpower, approximately 80 per... Explore this topic

Bashar al-Assad

Bashar Hafez al-Assad is the President of Syria and Regional Secretary of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. He has served as President since 2000, when he succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had ruled Syria for 30 years prior to his death. Al-Assa... Explore this topic

Demilitarisation

Demilitarisation or demilitarization is the reduction of a nation's army, weapons, or military vehicles to an agreed minimum. Demilitarisation is usually the result of a peace treaty ending a war or a major conflict. A drastic voluntary reduction in size of a victorious army i... Explore this topic

Russia

Russia or, also officially known as the Russian Federation, is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania an... Explore this topic

Syria

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, i... Explore this topic

Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006. Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for his founding of the Global AIDS and Health F... Explore this topic

Kofi Annan peace plan for Syria

The Kofi Annan peace plan for Syria or the six-point peace plan for Syria, launched in February 2012, is considered the most serious international attempt to resolve the Syrian civil war in the Middle East diplomatically. The peace plan enforced a cease-fire to take place acro... Explore this topic

United Nations

The United Nations is the world's largest, foremost, and most prominent international organization. The stated aims of the United Nations include promoting and facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human r... Explore this topic

United States

The United States of America, commonly called the United States or America, is a federal republic consisting of fifty states and a federal district. The lower forty-eight contiguous states and the federal district of Washington, D.C. are in central North America between Canada... Explore this topic

Also See

Iran

Syrian army

Bashar al-Assad

Watch Next

2:25

Associated Press | Aug 8

Syria has become the bloodiest uprising of the Arab Spring and has now descended into a full-blown civil war. Find out what's behind the conflict a...