ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The UN special envoy to Syria warned the Security Council on Wednesday that international actors need to better cooperate in countering Council-listed “terrorist groups,” while highlighting increased violence “across many fronts” in the decade-long conflict.
“I reiterate my long-standing call for an immediate and sustained de-escalation of hostilities in Syria towards a nationwide ceasefire and a cooperative approach to countering Security Council listed terrorist groups, in-line with international law,” Geir Pedersen of Norway, UN special envoy for Syria, told the 15-member Council during an update on the conflict.
Pederson encouraged international actors in Syria to coordinate better, so as to avoid clashes between and attacks on their partnered and supported groups.
“I am also working on bringing better coordination among international stakeholders,” he said. “The political process must be ‘Syrianal’ and led, but this requires the unified and cooperative support of key international stakeholders.”
While emphasizing de-escalation nationwide, the UN envoy said he was “deeply concerned about the ongoing tense and violent situation across many fronts in the country.”
He noted an increase in “multiple clashes, air and drone strikes, exchanges of artillery and rocket fire across northeast and northwest Syria, including a brief uptick in cruel government drone strikes on Idlib and a spike in hostilities involving the SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces] and armed opposition forces near Azaz.”
With the Turkish military and its proxies occupying the Kurdish city of Afrin and its surroundings, including Azaz, skirmishes with the Kurdish-led SDF in northwest Syria have been overshadowed by the SDF’s control of northeast Syria and eastern oil-rich Deir ez-Zor with the support of the US-led anti-Islamic State (ISIS) coalition.
“A significant escalation in hostilities took place between the SDF and some Arab tribal forces in Deir ez-Zor with reports of dozens of deaths and injuries, displacements and strikes on civilian infrastructure,” Pedersen said, adding that “the SDF claims that pro-government forces were involved in some of these hostilities.”
Turkey accuses the Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, of being the Syrian front for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK); however, the Council lists none of the groups on its “terror” list.
“July and August also saw attacks on numerous military positions in northeast Syria after a month's long lull in attacks which the US claimed were carried out by armed groups backed by Iran and which resulted in injuries of US servicemen,” the envoy said.
The representatives from Syria, Iran, and Turkey accused the US military of supporting “terrorist groups and militias” in Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Hasaka, and Aleppo provinces.
“The recent attacks and violence committed by United States-backed militias and terrorist groups against innocent civilians in Deir Ez-Zor, Al-Hasakah are alarming,” said Alhakam Dandy, Syria’s UN deputy permanent representative, reiterating for the United States “to end the illegal presence of their forces.”
In response, US Ambassador Robert Wood said “the regime shows little interest in engaging meaningfully in the political process,” noting it has been more than two years since the last meeting of the Constitutional Committee.
“When it comes to the political process, the Assad regime’s default approach is to delay,” Wood said.
The UN envoy expressed his continued optimism in resolving the conflict that began in 2011 and has killed about half a million people and displaced millions more.
“What is needed is political will for the Syrian parties to come together and for international cooperation,” Pedersen said. “I, of course, realize that geopolitical alignments on Syria remain challenging, but there is a way forward."
