The UN General Assembly's human rights committee on Thursday adopted a resolution condemning Russian and Iranian intervention in Syria.

The resolution, penned by Saudi Arabia and sponsored by Qatar and other moderate Arab nations, is particularly critical of Russian and Iranian strikes targeting moderate rebel forces in Syria fighting in opposition of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, which they blame for the 5-year civil war ravaging the country.  

The General Assembly adopted the non-binding resolution with 115 votes in favor, 15 against, and 51 abstaining. The UN said that it "strongly condemns all attacks against the Syrian moderate opposition and calls for their immediate cessation, given that such attacks benefit so-called ISIL (Daesh) and other terrorist groups, such as al Nusra Front."

The resolution also condemned "all foreign terrorist fighters ... and foreign forces fighting on behalf of the Syrian regime, particularly the al Quds Brigades, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (of Iran) and militia groups, such as Hezbollah" and demanded that foreign militias leave Syria.

Iranian and Syrian representatives both rejected the resolution. Iran's UN Ambassador Gholamhossein Dehghani said that the resolution failed to distinguish the clear difference between "terrorists with those who fight against them" while Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari accused the Saudis of hypocrisy, pointing out what he said are widespread human rights issues in Saudi Arabia itself and accusing them, along with Qatar and Turkey of supporting what he called terror groups in Syria.

Tehran Slams 'Iranophobia' over U.N. Rights Criticism

Iran accused countries backing a seperate resolution which criticizes its rights record of spreading "Iranophobia" and said they should instead focus on the threat from violent Islamic extremists.

The resolution drafted by Canada was backed by a vote of 76 to 35 with 68 abstentions in a U.N. General Assembly committee. Support for the measure dropped by two votes from last year.

The resolution expresses "serious concern" over the use of the death penalty in Iran and calls on Tehran to end torture and other cruel treatment.

It also calls on President Hassan Rouhani to make good on his promises to address rights violations and make "demonstrable improvements as soon as possible."

Iran's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Gholamhossein Dehghani dismissed the resolution as "hostile" and "short-sighted," saying it ignored "the real threats to the most fundamental rights by violent extremists."

"The Iranophobia that the co-sponsors of the draft are trying to spread in this committee and beyond is to serve this process," he said.

Dehghani urged the new government of Justin Trudeau in Canada to drop the annual exercise of drafting the "counter-productive and unjust" resolution on Iran's rights violations and begin talks to address concerns.

Iran has come under sharp criticism over its draconian use of the death penalty with more than 800 people executed this year, the highest total in years.

The country is on track to reach 1,000 executions by the end of the year, according to the U.N. rights rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed.

Among the countries that voted against the resolution were China, Russia, India and Iraq.

Human rights groups were expecting controversy over the draft resolution following the historic nuclear deal with Iran that opened up new avenues for cooperation with Tehran.

"The Iranian authorities shouldn't think that they are getting a pass on human rights just because the nuclear accord has been signed," said Sarah Lean Wilson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

  (Staff and AFP)