Syria abides by NPT rules: Miqdad says

Syria's Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Faisal Miqdad said that Syria was among the first in the Middle East to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

In his address to the Involved Countries Conference which is currently being held at the United Nations headquarters, Miqdad added that possessing of nuclear arms by any state in the Middle East poses a threat and constitutes a source of instability for the peoples in the region and in the world.

He pointed out that Israel is the only state that doesn't express desire to join the treaty and to subject its nuclear capabilities to the comprehensive guarantee system of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

He said that Syria has for long called to have a Middle East free of all forms of weapons of mass destruction and proposed draft resolutions on behalf of the Arab states when Syria was non permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2002 and 2003, but some countries rejected Syria's call, in order to defend a country not even a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and threatened to use the veto to prevent the passing of the resolution on having a Middle Eat free of weapons of mass destruction.