Syria crisis: Nothing must stop peaceful transition, says UN Special Envoy

This article is published in association with United Nations.

Barely 48 hours since opposition forces including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept into Damascus and forced out President Bashar al-Assad, the top UN negotiator tasked with helping the Syrian people to create a peaceful and democratic future insisted that nothing could be taken for granted.

“Syria is now at a crossroads with great opportunities for us, but also with grave risks. And we need really to look at both,” said Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria. “We know that, of course, HTS is now the dominant group in control of Damascus, but it’s important also to remember that they are not the only armed group in Damascus.”

Amid images of jubilant scenes on the streets of the capital following the end of the Assad regime, Mr. Pedersen cautioned that the transfer of power had been accompanied by reports of robberies and the “invasion of public buildings or private homes. But this seems to have stopped and that is a good thing,” he told journalists in Geneva.

Peace chances dashed

Beyond Damascus, the situation remains less certain, a legacy of Syria’s 13-year war that has drawn in regional and international actors, stymying UN-led efforts towards peace.

“The conflict in the northeast is not over; there has been clashes between the Syrian National Army, the opposition groups and the [Syrian Democratic Forces]. We are calling obviously for calm also in this area,” the UN Special Envoy said.

Turning to numerous reports of Israeli troop movements into the Occupied Golan Heights and bombardments of targets inside Syria, Mr. Pedersen insisted: “This needs to stop.”

He added: “I am not in contact with the Israelis, but of course, the United Nations in New York, they are. And, you know, the peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, are in daily contact with the Israelis. And of course, the message from New York is just the same – that what we are seeing is a violation of the disengagement agreement in 1974.”

High-stakes diplomacy

The veteran negotiator, a Norwegian national, also provided insight about how the transition of power is playing out inside Syria, via a key diplomatic exchange during his closed-door briefing to the Security Council at UN Headquarters in New York late Monday evening.

“When I briefed the Security Council yesterday, I received a message from the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations in New York. And he was then addressing me on behalf of the authorities in Damascus. So that is still functioning.”

Much is still unclear about HTS and its motivations, Mr. Pedersen stressed, noting that [Abu Mohammad al] “Jolani himself mentioned this in an interview with US news network CNN that they are discussing the possibility of dismantling HTS. So, again, let me emphasize that we are still in what we called a very fluid period and things have not settled. There is a real opportunity for change, but this opportunity needs to be grasped by the Syrians themselves and supported by the UN and the international community.”

A key potential sticking point to conducting international dialogue with HTS – which led the opposition forces’ advance into Damascus via Aleppo, Hama and Homs – is that it is still regarded as a terrorist group by the Security Council. The forum’s core resolution on Syria – number 2254 – adopted unanimously in December 2015, explicitly calls on Member States “to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed specifically by” HTS’s predecessor, the Al-Nusra Front.

Terror listing

This terror listing may be about to change, Mr. Pedersen suggested. “You have to look at the facts and to see what has happened during the last nine years. It is nine years since that resolution was adopted and the reality is so far is that the HTS and also the other armed groups have been sending good messages to the Syrian people; they have been sending messages of unity, of inclusiveness and frankly speaking, also we are also seeing in Aleppo and in Hama, we have also seen, you know, reassuring things on the ground.”

As many Syrians exiled by the war now prepare to return home, the UN Special Envoy stressed the collective wish of the foreign ministers he met in Doha at the weekend – from Turkey, Russia, Iran and many Arab States – for Damascus’s new rulers to act on their initial promising declarations in favour of a peaceful transition of power. And for the international community to ensure that this can happen.

He added: “When I was leaving Doha, there was a Syrian family that came towards me, they were, living in Sweden and they said, ‘Mr. Pedersen, you know, we are so hopeful, we know there are many challenges. We left Hama 10 years ago, we really want to go back. We hope it will be possible.’ And I think that is really something that many, many Syrians are hoping for to this day.”