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Syria on Monday said that it was willing to work with the international community against “terrorism” as the United Nations accused extremists in Iraq of conducting an “ethnic and religious cleansing”. UN human rights Chief Navi Pillay leveled the accusations as Kurdish peshmerga forces forced back militants from the Islamic State (IS) northeast of Baghdad only a day after they had overrun an important airport in Syria.
In a statement, Pillay said that the IS’ reign of terror targeting non-Sunni Muslims and non-Arabs alike with killings, abductions, trafficking, forced conversions and the destruction of holy sites.
“They are systematically targeting men, women and children based on their ethnic, religious or sectarian affiliation and are ruthlessly carrying out widespread ethnic and religious cleansing in the areas under their control.Such persecution would amount to crimes against humanity”, Pillay said as the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination urged the UN Human Rights Council to organize an emergency session to discuss the crisis.
She also said that it was time the UN Security Council deployed a “peace force” to create a “safe zone” around Nineveh.
IS militants have taken over large swaths of land in Iraq and neighboring Syria, and have declared a “caliphate” straddling their contiguous territory in both countries.
Syria, struggling with a civil war with several rebel groups since March 2011, on Monday said that it will work with the global community, including the US, to deal with the problem.
At a press conference in Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem insisted that any strikes on Syrian territory must be co-ordinated with Syria.
“Syria is ready for cooperation and coordination at the regional and international level to fight terrorism and implement U.N. Security Council resolution 2170”, he said.
The resolution, passed earlier in the month, seeks to cut funding and the surge of foreign fighters to the Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State.