The Syrian government's counter-terrorism efforts are legitimate and aimed at safeguarding the country's sovereignty, Syria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari told CCTV in a recent interview. 

"From a legal perspective, we are fighting against terrorist groups designated by the Security Council. This is dual legitimacy: First of all, we are combating terrorists on the list of the Security Council designated terrorist organizations; secondly, as a member state of the UN, we are safeguarding our sovereignty," Jaafari said.  

Sunday marks the ninth anniversary of the beginning of the Syrian conflict. Supported by Russia, Syrian government forces have regained control over most of the country's territories, except the northwestern region of Idlib – the last stronghold of Turkey-backed rebels as well as some terrorist groups. Damascus has stressed that it has the right to fight terrorism in the region. 

After months of escalation of tensions in Idlib, Russia and Turkey last week agreed on a ceasefire in the de-escalation zone in the province and will begin joint patrolling of the M4 highway on Sunday.

Read more: The Heat: Syria's civil war

The Security Council has passed 13 resolutions on counter terrorism, most of which were related to Syria, Jaafari said. However, these resolutions have not been well implemented because "some member states did not fulfill their pledges on fighting terrorism," he noted. 

Each time the Syrian government made progress in fighting terrorism, some countries would pressure Damascus in the name of "humanitarianism," said the Syrian envoy. 

Damascus says it is fighting "terrorist groups" headed by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, which is the umbrella group of the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. 

"Fighting terrorism" has been politicized by the United States, Jaafari told CCTV, noting that Washington has repeatedly expressed the possibility of holding talks with the HTS group under certain circumstances. 

"The Americans claimed they have killed Osama bin Laden, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which they said were part of the fight against al-Qaeda," the diplomat said. "But now they are supporting the same group of people to oppose the Syrian government."

Jaafari also urged Western countries to remove sanctions against Syria, saying the unilateral economic sanctions have led to the economic difficulties in the war-torn nation and worsened the Syrian crisis. 

He criticized the hypocrisy of some Western countries, which imposed sanctions on Syria on the one hand, but called for providing humanitarian aid to the country on the other. 

Read more: Chinese envoy stresses avoiding politicizing of humanitarian issue in Syria

The envoy urged foreign countries to stop intervening in Syria's internal affairs or attempting to overthrow the legitimate government in Damascus. 

The government is willing to resolve the Syrian issue through political means, he added.

China's UN envoy Zhang Jun said last week that Beijing welcomes the Russia-Turkey agreement on a ceasefire for Idlib, hailing it a "step forward" in promoting a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process. 

Zhang stressed that in the process of implementation, Syria's sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence should be fully respected. 

He said China hopes the international community will continue to commit to the fight against terrorism in the process.

(Cover: Syria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari speaks during an interview with CCTV in New York. /CCTV)