The U.N. special envoy for Syria is calling for an end to violence and for the protection of civilians, as the country grapples with renewed violence three months after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.
Geir Pedersen issued his appeal Friday, which is the 14th anniversary of the start of pro-democracy protests of al-Assad that led to more than a decade of civil war.
“What began as a plea for reform was met with staggering brutality, leading to one of the most harrowing conflicts of our time,” Pederson said. “The conflict exposed the darkest depths of human cruelty. Families continue to mourn the loss of loved ones, communities remain fractured, millions remain uprooted from their homes, and far too many persist in their search for the missing.”
The U.N. says the conflict displaced some 12 million people in Syria, including more than 6 million refugees.
Assad was ousted in December 2024 but hope for a return to stability has been shaken by deadly violence that began March 6 in Syria’s coastal region, where security forces clashed with fighters loyal to the former president, leading to hundreds of deaths, including many civilians.
The fighters were members of the country’s Alawite minority — the same religious group of which the Assad family is a member. Syria’s transitional authorities said their forces in the sect’s coastal region near the port city of Latakia came under a calculated attack from Assad loyalists in an attempted insurrection.
Pedersen said Friday that recent agreements between Syria’s transitional authorities and an armed group, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), “are a positive reminder of how important it is that Syria comes together in a manner that truly restores its sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity.”
He called for the creation of a “credible and inclusive transitional government and legislative body; a constitutional framework and process to draft a new constitution for the long term that is credible and inclusive too; and genuine transitional justice.”
Margaret Besheer contributed to this report from the United Nations.
