Speaking Wednesday at a United Nations Security Council briefing on Syria, the United States Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley called Saturday’s incursion by an Iranian drone into Israeli airspace “a wake-up call for all of us.”
Haley punctuated her assessment by noting that the incursion suggested that “Iran and Hezbollah are making plans to stay in Syria.”
Earlier in her remarks, Haley called the incursion of the drone from Syria, “an egregious and unprompted escalation.” She characterized the actions as “Iran was once again doing what it does – risking conflict and testing the will of its neighbors and opponents to resist its aggression.”
Echoing remarks earlier this week from the State Department and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Haley said that Israel “rightly took action to defend itself.” She added, “The United States will always stand by our ally when confronted with provocations from Iran, Hezbollah, or the Assad regime.”
Noting that last week pro-regime forces attacked Kurdish fighters and recently bombed civilian neighborhoods, Haley faulted the Assad regime and its supporters Iran and Hezbollah for “helping direct those atrocities.” She also faulted Russia for not preventing violence in the agreed-upon de-escalation zones in Syria, noting “Russia was supposed to guarantee adherence to these de-escalation zones to help the political process. But then again, Russia was also supposed to guarantee that all chemical weapons would be removed from Syria.”
Haley called on all parties to follow UN Security Council Resolution 2254 and to follow the Geneva process.
Thank you Amb. Haley for condemning Iran and its proxies, Assad and Hezbollah. Thank you for standing up for America’s ally, Israel, and for our right to defend ourselves against Iran. Thank you for again being, in a forum infamous for ethical blindness, a force for moral clarity
— Michael Oren (@DrMichaelOren) February 14, 2018
[Photo: U.S. Department of State / YouTube]