UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called on the international community not to lower its guard against terrorism, a day after 11 people, mostly civilians, were killed in a central Syria attack.
The appeal came in his message to mark the first-ever ‘International Day for the Prevention of Violent Extremism as and when Conducive to Terrorism’, established in December by the UN General Assembly.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday the IS group “attacked about 75 people on Saturday while they were collecting truffles in the Palmyra area, in the eastern countryside of Homs”.
The attack killed “10 civilians, including a woman, and a member of the (Syrian) regime forces,” it said, adding that others remain missing.
UK-based war monitor says most of the victims were civilians
Syria’s state news agency SANA reported the attack but gave a lower death toll, saying IS “terrorists” fired machine guns and killed four civilians, including a woman. Ten others were wounded in the attack, some “critically”, the news agency added.
In April 2021, the extremist group launched a similar attack, abducting 19 people, mostly civilians, in the eastern countryside of the central city of Hama.
Syrian and Russian helicopters continue to launch air strikes targeting IS desert hideouts.
With extremist groups expanding their reach, UN chief called on the international community not to lower its guard against terrorism.
He described terrorism as an “affront to humanity as it undermines the values that bind us together.” Terrorism also threatens collective efforts to promote peace and security, protect human rights, provide humanitarian aid, and advance sustainable development, Mr Guterres said.
“We must be more vigilant than ever,” he said, noting that terrorist and violent extremist groups were finding fertile ground on the internet to spew their vicious venom.
He also said that neo-Nazi, white supremacist movements are becoming more dangerous by the day and now represent the top internal security threat in several countries, as well as the fastest growing. Countries must act to confront the challenge through prevention, and by addressing the underlying conditions that drive terrorism in the first place, he added.
He highlighted the importance of inclusion and ensuring that counter-terrorism strategies reflect a wide array of voices especially minorities, women, and young people. Human rights must be at the core of all counter-terrorism policies, he added.
“Today and every day, let us work together to build more peaceful, inclusive, and stable societies in which terror and violent extremism have no home,” the secretary-general said.
Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2023