After concluding a visit to Damascus and meeting the new administration, UN envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen, said that the country needs “a political transition that will be credible, inclusive and include the broadest range of the Syrian society and parties.”
Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Pederson made clear that the UN wants the transition process to take place under the resolution adopted in 2015. The resolution was made at the time to help negotiate a political settlement between the government of now-deposed President Bashar Assad and the opposition.
“There is a lot of hope that we can now see the beginning of a new Syria, a new Syria that is in line with the Security Council Resolution 2254, will adopt a new constitution that will ensure that it is a social contract, a new social contract for all Syrians. And that we will have free and fair elections,” Pedersen said.
“We have expressed to the new administration that the UN is here to help and to assist and that we are hoping for close cooperation where we can move together on all the critical issues for Syria,” he added.
It is not yet clear if Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the main former rebel group now in control of Syria, will pursue such a process.
The group has set up an interim administration comprising members of its “salvation government” that had ruled its former stronghold in the north of the country.
HTS will govern the country until March, but its leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, previously known as Mohammed Al-Jolani, has not made clear how the transition to a new, fully empowered government would take place.
Ongoing concern over Kurdish groups
Pedersen also warned of ongoing violence in parts of the country, particularly in the northeast, where Kurdish forces and Turkish-backed armed groups have clashed. He called for humanitarian assistance and for starting a process to end Western sanctions on Syria.
“The conflict isn’t over yet. Yes, there is stability in Damascus, but there are challenges in some areas. And, of course, one of the biggest challenges is the situation in the northeast. I’m very pleased that the truce has been renewed and that this seems to be holding. But hopefully, we will see a political solution to that issue,” Pedersen told reporters.
Assad fled the country earlier this month, bringing to a dramatic close his nearly 14-year struggle to hold onto power as his country fragmented in a brutal civil war that became a proxy battlefield for regional and international powers.
