Bashar Jaafari

A lot of speculation is swirling around nowadays concerning the words of Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari in relation to Israel’s illegal and aggressive airstrikes against the Syrian Arab Army near Palmyra last weekend.
Many people are interpreting Jaafari’s comment as conveying the idea that President Putin supposedly issued a threat to the new Israeli Ambassador, who was unprecedentedly summoned to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs just a day after presenting his credentials.

Those who had high hopes for the Astana peace talks were ultimately naïve. The most the conference could accomplish is preventing a very bad situation from getting worse. At the moment it appears that such a thing might be happening. I say so with caution.
The biggest obstacle to progress is the fundamental different way in which each party views peace.

This was from 2013, before the US put a travel restriction of 25 miles on Ambassador al-Ja’afari.  Prior to that, he was fulfilling his role as a diplomat and meeting with Syrian-Americans who both desired to hear him speak and also wanted updates on their country.  Very worthwhile listening!

Jul 16, 2013

RT | September 28, 2013

The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution outlining the details of taking under international control and ultimately destroying Syria’s chemical arsenal.
“Today’s historic resolution is the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the council immediately after the vote.

From the New York Times online, Aug. 28: Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari repeated the Syrian government’s denials that it had ever used chemical weapons in the conflict with the insurgents, and said the accusations were a conspiracy by Western nations acting on Israel’s behalf.The ambassador rejected assertions by the United States, Britain and other Western allies that there was persuasive evidence of Syrian government culpability in the use of the banned weapons.Mr. Jaafari added a new level of complexity to the issue on Wednesday, Aug.