World
Guterres arrives in Syria for first UN secretary-general visit since before civil war
- During the three-day visit, Guterres is set to reaffirm support for Syria's transition, more than a year and a half after the new authorities led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad after more than 13 years of war.
- Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani received Guterres "and his accompanying delegation at Damascus international airport", state news agency SANA reported.
- The transition has been marred by two major episodes of sectarian bloodshed that have tested Sharaa's repeated pledges to protect Syria's religious minorities.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres touched down in Damascus Saturday for a three-day visit where he is expected to reaffirm support for the multi-confessional country's efforts to rebuild after more than a decade of bloody civil war. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Syria on Saturday on the first visit by a head of the global body since before the country's civil war broke out, state media reported. During the three-day visit, Guterres is set to reaffirm support for Syria's transition, more than a year and a half after the new authorities led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad after more than 13 years of war.
Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani received Guterres "and his accompanying delegation at Damascus international airport", state news agency SANA reported. hat went on to kill more than half a million people before Assad's overthrow in December 2024. Sharaa, who broke ties with al Qaeda in 2016, led an alliance of Islamist rebel factions that ousted Assad in a lightning offensive in December 2024. Since Sharaa took power, the international community has urged the new Islamist authorities to build strong and effective institutions and establish a governance system that includes all components of Syria's multi-ethnic, multi-confessional country society.
The transition has been marred by two major episodes of sectarian bloodshed that have tested Sharaa's repeated pledges to protect Syria's religious minorities. Nearly 1,500 Alawites – the minority religion to which Assad belonged – were killed in Syria's coastal region last year by government-aligned factions, and hundreds of Syrians from the Druze minority were killed months later in the country's south.
Guterres expressed alarm over both bouts of violence and has called for accountability. The UN secretary-general "will emphasise that the opportunity now is not only to recover from conflict, but also to lay the foundations for a future for Syria that will be more stable, more inclusive and more prosperous for all Syrians", his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said ahead of the visit. He will also "reaffirm the role of the United Nations is to accompany and support the Syrian people on this journey", Dujarric added.
UN special envoy to the country Claudio Cordone said earlier this week that Guterres would "reaffirm the United Nations commitment to supporting the Syrian government and the Syrian people at this defining period in Syria's history". Guterres is to meet Sharaa, who last year made a landmark visit to the UN where he became the first Syrian president in decades to address the body's General Assembly. The UN chief is also set to meet representatives of Syrian civil society and non-governmental organisations supporting women's issues, and to address the new transitional parliament, which held its first session earlier this month.
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Source: France24 English