The United Nations’ chief envoy for Syria has alerted the Security Council to a significant resurgence in terrorism, primarily driven by Islamic State extremists. This alarming trend threatens to double the number of attacks this year, putting civilians in grave danger amid ongoing displacement and severe humanitarian crises.
Geir Pedersen, the UN Special Envoy, highlighted Syria’s complex and dangerous landscape, which remains plagued by armed factions, recognized terrorist organizations, foreign military presence, and active conflict zones. Thirteen years after President Bashar Assad’s harsh response to peaceful protests spiraled into a civil war, nearly half a million people have perished, and half of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million has been forced to flee.
The Islamic State, which once held a vast territory across Syria and Iraq, declared itself a caliphate in 2014. Although it was officially defeated in Iraq in 2017 after a brutal three-year battle that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and widespread devastation, its sleeper cells continue to operate in both countries.
Pedersen warned the Security Council about Syria’s fragile security situation, emphasizing the potential for broader regional conflict.
“The risk of regional conflict spilling over into Syria has not diminished, especially with an increase in Israeli airstrikes on Syrian territory,” Pedersen stated.
For years, Israel has targeted Iranian-linked sites in Syria, but the frequency of these strikes has increased over the past five months amid ongoing tensions in Gaza and skirmishes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces along the Lebanon-Israel border.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert A. Wood pointed fingers at Iran, Assad’s staunchest regional ally, for the ongoing violence in Syria.
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“Iran and its affiliates have only inflicted death and destruction on Syria, offering no aid to the Syrian populace,” Wood remarked, urging Assad to curtail Iran’s influence.
In response, the Syrian, Iranian, and Russian ambassadors to the U.N. vehemently denounced Israel’s actions in Syria.
Iranian Ambassador Amir Saeed Iravani condemned the strikes as “blatant violations of international humanitarian law” and a “grave threat to regional peace and stability.” He asserted that Israel’s actions compound the chaos caused by Syria’s civil war.
Currently, over 16 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian aid, with 7.2 million displaced in what Ramesh Rajasingham, director of the U.N. humanitarian coordination office, described as the “worst humanitarian crisis since the conflict began.”
Rajasingham noted that “severely diminished humanitarian funding” is exacerbating the suffering of Syrians, especially during months of extreme heat when drying rainwater and inadequate sanitation infrastructure heighten the risk of waterborne diseases.
In the rebel-controlled northwest, over 900,000 individuals, more than half of them children, are deprived of “essential water and sanitation support,” Rajasingham added.
Both Rajasingham and Pedersen stressed the need for enhanced humanitarian access and international funding for Syria. The U.N.’s 2024 humanitarian appeal for $4 billion is only 20% funded, which, according to Rajasingham, “severely limits” their relief efforts.
On the political front, Pedersen urged the Security Council to advance Syrian-led peace negotiations involving “all major international stakeholders,” in accordance with a 2015 resolution adopted unanimously by the council.
“The conflict is fundamentally political and can only be resolved when Syrian parties achieve their legitimate aspirations,” Pedersen emphasized.
Last week, Syria announced that all 185 candidates from Assad’s Baath party secured parliamentary seats in the latest elections, increasing the party’s majority by seven seats.
Pedersen criticized these elections as “not a substitute” for the political process outlined in the 2015 Security Council resolution, while Wood labeled the elections a “sham” and a “rubber stamp on Bashar Al-Assad’s continued dictatorship.”
Wood asserted that the U.S. will not normalize relations with the Syrian regime or lift sanctions without a genuine and lasting political solution.
