Source: United Nations (Video News)
“The legacies of 14 years of war and conflict and five decades of one-man rule are huge. So are the immediate challenges facing the Syrians today,” said UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen.
Briefing the Security Council today (Mar 25) on Syria’s political and humanitarian landscape, Pedersen described a resurgence of violence in early March that he said bears the hallmarks of renewed internal conflict.
“On Thursday March 6, armed groups associated with the former regime attacked and ambushed caretaker authority forces across the coastal region,” Pedersen said. “Reports indicate attacks on military and internal security targets, and also several hospitals.”
He noted the “scale and sophistication” of the attacks were “striking,” many carried out by groups linked to former regime officers. But what followed was worse, he said, pointing to mass killings of civilians.
“Far more disturbing was the appalling civilian death toll, including widespread summary killings of civilians and unarmed individuals,” he told the Council. “Accounts of entire families executed at point blank, and widespread footage of grave violations of a plainly sectarian and retaliatory nature – singling out Allawites.”
On the humanitarian front, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher warned that critical funding gaps are forcing aid agencies to make “brutal choices.”
“Last year’s appeal was only 35 per cent funded – causing us to reduce our humanitarian response by more than half,” he said. “We are under no illusions about the grim financial outlook.”
Fletcher said the UN had completed a country-wide rapid needs assessment and was now focusing aid on the most vulnerable — roughly half of the 16.7 million people in need.
“Let us be problem solvers rather than problem observers,” he urged. “The price of failure will far outweigh the investment we are asking for.”
Joumana Seif, co-founder of the Syrian Women’s Political Movement, echoed calls for long-term accountability alongside immediate aid, urging Syrians to lead the process.
“Today, more than ever, Syrians must create a transparent and inclusive national plan for transitional justice,” she said, emphasizing the role of civil society and victim associations in ensuring justice and preventing future atrocities.
Representing the Syrian government, Ambassador Qusay Abdul Jabbar al-Dahha told the Council that the country is moving forward with constitutional reform following the national dialogue conference.
“With the aim of preparing the legal framework for the transitional phase, the Presidency of the Republic formed a committee to draft the Constitutional Declaration, which was subsequently approved,” he said.
He stressed that the “new Syria will be a state of law,” vowing that attacks on civilians “will not go unpunished, regardless of the identity of the perpetrators.”