A United Nations Security Council delegation arrived in Syria on Thursday and met with President Ahmed al-Sharaa, state media reported, in the first-ever visit to the country just days before the anniversary of the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.
The delegation had arrived earlier in the morning via the Jdeidet Yabus border crossing between Lebanon and Syria and “is scheduled to meet a number of Syrian officials” and members of civil society, state news agency SANA reported.
SANA said the delegation also visited Damascus’s heavily damaged suburb of Jobar.
The diplomats are also visit neighboring Lebanon on Friday and Saturday.
While the United Nations works to reestablish itself in Syria, the Security Council recently lifted sanctions against al-Sharaa, whose forces led an armed opposition offensive that ousted al-Assad on December 8 last year.
The UN has urged an inclusive transition in the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional country after nearly 14 years of civil war.
Slovenian UN ambassador Samuel Zbogar told a press conference on Monday that “the visit to Syria and Lebanon is the first official visit of the Security Council to the Middle East in six years, the first visit to Syria ever.”
Slovenia currently holds the rotating presidency of the UN’s top body.
The trip comes “at a crucial time for the region” and for both countries, Zbogar said, noting the new authorities’ efforts towards Syria’s transition as well as a year-old ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and militant group Hezbollah “which we see daily that is being challenged.”
The visit is important in “expressing support and solidarity with both countries, and learning about the challenges, conveying the messages, also, on the path forward that the council would like to see in both countries,” he added.
He noted that “there’s still a bit of lack of trust in the UN-Syria relationship, which we try to breach with this visit.”
The delegation will also “convey messages what we expect from Syria regarding inclusivity, fighting against terrorism and other elements,” he added.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday that “we very much hope that the visit will increase the dialogue between the United Nations and Syria.”
Agencies
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