{"id":44826,"date":"2024-09-20T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/middle-east-regional-crisis-risks-engulfing-syria-un-envoy-warns\/"},"modified":"2024-09-20T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T12:00:00","slug":"middle-east-regional-crisis-risks-engulfing-syria-un-envoy-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=44826","title":{"rendered":"Middle East: Regional crisis risks engulfing Syria, UN envoy warns"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Briefing ambassadors in the Security Council, Geir Pedersen expressed grave concern over the mounting violence and its cascading impact on Syria, which has been embroiled in civil conflict \u2013 later drawing in outside forces \u2013 since 2011. \u00a0<\/p>\n

He highlighted an attack earlier in the day on a vehicle at Damascus International Airport, warning of the imminent risk of a wider regional war.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a clear and present danger of a wider regional war that drags the Syrian people into its crosshairs…the utmost need of the hour is for de-escalation, now, across the region \u2013 including a ceasefire in Gaza<\/strong>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Situation in Lebanon<\/h2>\n

The Security Council is set to discuss the situation in Lebanon Tuesday afternoon. UN News<\/em> will be covering the meeting LIVE and on social media. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Follow our coverage here (will be live shortly before 3 PM New York time) and on X here.<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

A file photograph of the Security Council in session.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Divided by active frontlines<\/h2>\n

Mr. Pedersen described the dire situation within Syria, with hostilities involving pro-Government groups and terrorist groups Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria (ISIL-Syria), including use of heavy weapons, drones and snipers.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us remember, that Syria remains in a profound state of high conflict and territorial division. There are millions of Syrians living under Government control, but many millions still living outside Government control or abroad<\/strong>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He emphasized that there are \u201cfour or more areas divided by active frontlines\u201d comprising six foreign armies engaged in active conflict \u2013 some at the invitation of the Government, and a multitude of Syrian armed actors and Security Council-listed terrorist groups.<\/p>\n

And there is also a regional crisis, which is in \u201cperpetual danger of crashing over Syria\u201d.<\/p>\n

Social trust in short supply<\/h2>\n

He further warned that in addition to military and territorial divisions, Syrian society is also fragmented.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe drivers of conflict continue<\/strong>, grievances are real and enduring and there remain very different visions of post-conflict Syria,\u201d he said, underscoring that without a comprehensive UN-facilitated political process, \u201cit is unrealistic to think\u201d that stability can be achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe, as the United Nations, are among the very few who can directly engage with Syrians from all sides of this conflict \u2013 not just the political actors but civil society too, including women, who we bring to Geneva from all corners of the country and from the diaspora,\u201d Mr. Pedersen emphasized.<\/p>\n

Deepening humanitarian crisis<\/h2>\n

As the Syrian crisis unravels, the humanitarian crisis deepens, with millions of civilians, especially children, facing unprecedented challenges.<\/p>\n

More than 16 million require humanitarian aid and protection, over half of them children, Ramesh Rajasingham, Director of Coordination at OCHA, told ambassadors.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Ramesh\n<\/div>\n

Ramesh Rajasingham, Director of Coordination at OCHA, briefs the Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Families in desperate needs are forced into \u201cnegative coping strategies\u201d \u2013 sending young boys out to work and pushing young girls into early marriages<\/strong>, he noted.<\/p>\n

Children also face a heightened risk of sexual violence and other forms of abuse, particularly those who are separated from their families or are in internally displaces persons (IDP) camps.<\/p>\n

Mr. Rajasingham further noted that faced with skyrocketing needs, humanitarians lack resources to respond. The $4.07 billion 2024 response plan for Syria is just about 25 per cent funded<\/strong> at about $1.04 billion.<\/p>\n

Determined to find ways forward<\/h2>\n

Faced with these \u201csobering realities\u201d, Mr. Pedersen said he remains determined to find constructive ways forward.<\/p>\n

He is set to meet with the Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the President of the Syrian Negotiations Commission in New York next week, along with other stakeholders and representatives from donor countries.<\/p>\n

His message to all will be clear: the UN-facilitated political process must be advanced on three critical fronts.<\/p>\n

These include revitalizing the stalled Constitutional Committee, undertaking trust-building measures and forging a comprehensive new approach that balances the interests of all.<\/p>\n

\n
\"A\n<\/div>\n

A view of the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva. (file)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Human Rights Council discussions<\/h2>\n

Meanwhile in Geneva, the Human Rights Council \u2013 UN\u2019s paramount body on all rights-related matters \u2013 discussed the situation in Syria, with the head of an independent commission of inquiry stating that the country \u201cdescends further into a quagmire of misery and despair<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cCivilians continue to be killed on a daily basis in a senseless war that has left the country economically and politically broken<\/strong>, dramatically eroding the social fabric,\u201d Paulo Pinheiro, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry, said during an interactive dialogue with Geneva-based ambassadors.<\/p>\n

The discussion followed the presentation earlier this week of the Commission of Inquiry\u2019s report detailing the human rights situation and recommendations for action.<\/p>\n

The Commission was established by the Human Rights Council in August 2011 to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law in Syria since March that year, which saw massive anti-government protests and subsequently quashing by the security forces.<\/p>\n

Its chairperson and members are independent of the United Nations. They are not UN staff and do not draw a salary for their work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Briefing ambassadors in the Security Council, Geir Pedersen expressed grave concern over the mounting violence and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[481,1558,2902,475,2016,2247,672,2512,368],"class_list":["post-44826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east","tag-crisis","tag-east","tag-engulfing","tag-envoy","tag-middle","tag-regional","tag-risks","tag-syria","tag-warns"],"yoast_head":"\nMiddle East: Regional crisis risks engulfing Syria, UN envoy warns - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Middle East: Regional crisis risks engulfing Syria, UN envoy warns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-20T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1726854455_image1170x530cropped-jpg.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"530\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Middle East: Regional crisis risks engulfing Syria, UN envoy warns - Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Middle East: Regional crisis risks engulfing Syria, UN envoy warns","og_description":"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site","og_url":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611","og_site_name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","article_published_time":"2024-09-20T12:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1170,"height":530,"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1726854455_image1170x530cropped-jpg.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"gulftimes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_site":"@Gulftimesuae","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"gulftimes","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=44826"},"author":{"name":"gulftimes","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977"},"headline":"Middle East: Regional crisis risks engulfing Syria, UN envoy warns","datePublished":"2024-09-20T12:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=44826"},"wordCount":842,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1726854455_image1170x530cropped-jpg.webp","keywords":["crisis","East","engulfing","envoy","Middle","Regional","risks","Syria","warns"],"articleSection":["Middle East"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=44826","url":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611","name":"Middle East: Regional crisis risks engulfing Syria, UN envoy warns - Gulf Times | News by the minute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1726854455_image1170x530cropped-jpg.webp","datePublished":"2024-09-20T12:00:00+00:00","description":"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1726854455_image1170x530cropped-jpg.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1726854455_image1170x530cropped-jpg.webp","width":1170,"height":530},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2024\/09\/1154611#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Middle East: Regional crisis risks engulfing Syria, UN envoy warns"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","name":"Gulf Times | News by the minute","description":"Largest News Aggregator in the Gulf","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Gulf News Aggregator","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#organization","name":"Gulf Times","url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Gulf Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786","https:\/\/x.com\/Gulftimesuae"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/#\/schema\/person\/4c5b0f90aae48bb43165ee6e39ddc977","name":"gulftimes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8f9c2e07a9cd7e7e7c302c8c7ce8d5e0865a0bbcc732793d6e761588fd10b03?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"gulftimes"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/gulftimes.ae"],"url":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}