Syria on Thursday complained that UN officials are interfering in its internal affairs and accused them of “improper conduct.” In identical letters to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Security Council President, Japan, Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari complained that Ban’s latest report on resolution 1559 mentioned recent visits to Syria by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah Secretary-General Said Hassan Nasrallah.

Syria “believes that this constitutes unacceptable interference in Syria’s internal affairs and its foreign relations in as much as those are sovereign matters that do not concern the UN. We further believe that meetings that take place in Syria do not fall within the scope of resolution 1559,” Ja’afari said in his letters.

Without mentioning by name throughout the letters Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN special representative for the implementation of resolution 1559, Ja’afari said “UN officials responsible for following up implementation of resolution 1559 must respect the limits of their mandate.” “It is unacceptable that they should expand that mandate beyond monitoring implementation of the resolution to include the assessment of States’ policies and bilateral relations. We believe that the Security Council and the Secretariat have a responsibility to hold those officials accountable for their improper conduct,” he added.

Resolution 1559, adopted in 2004, called on Lebanon to establish its sovereignty over all its territory and invited all foreign forces, interpreted as Syrian, to Leave Lebanon and not to intervene in its internal political affairs.

Ja’afari also rejected in Ban’s recent report, prepared by Roed-Larsen, the allegations, inspired by Israel, that the arms embargo is being violated, especially that the report itself said the UN does not have the means to verify those allegations.

He recalled that the Lebanese Prime Minister, the Minister of Defence and the Commander of the Lebanese Army confirmed that those allegations were “inaccurate.” “If the person (Roed-Larsen) responsible for preparing this report was truly concerned about Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial independence, he should first address Israel’s daily violation of Lebanese sovereignty by land, sea and air, before turning his attention to allegations and false information, ” he urged.

“It is surprising,” he added, “that the UN should choose to follow up certain resolutions and to ignore other resolutions concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict and the attainment of just and comprehensive peace in the region and that it should adopt the Israeli position in this regard,” he noted.

If the representatives of the UN Secretariat are truly concerned with the stability of the region, he argued, “they should take an impartial and serious approach” when informing the UN, in particular the council, of the crimes that Israel commits in full view of member states and certain council members.