UN envoy says creating an inclusive Syrian government could help lift sanctions

UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Otto Pedersen addresses a press conference in Damascus on January 22, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 21 February 2025
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UN envoy says creating an inclusive Syrian government could help lift sanctions

DAMASCUS: Creating an inclusive government in the Syrian Arab Republic in the coming weeks will help determine whether Western sanctions are lifted as the country rebuilds after the ouster of former President Bashar Assad, the UN special envoy to Syria said on Thursday.

“What I’m hoping is that with a truly new inclusive government in place on the 1st of March, this will help us in lifting sanctions” imposed on Syria by Western countries during Assad’s rule, Geir Pedersen said in an interview during a visit to Damascus.

After Assad was toppled in a lightning rebel offensive in December, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, the group now in control of Syria, set up an interim administration comprising mainly members of its “salvation government” that had ruled in northwestern Syria.

At the time, the country’s de facto authorities said that a new government would be formed through an inclusive process by March. 

In January, former HTS leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa was named Syria’s president after a meeting of most of the country’s former militant factions.

In recent weeks, a committee has been holding meetings in different parts of Syria in preparation for a national dialogue conference to chart the country’s political future, the date of which has not yet been announced.

Pedersen said that in his first meeting with Al-Sharaa in December, Al-Sharaa had insisted that the interim government would rule for only three months. 

However, Pedersen warned him the timeline was tight.

“I think the important thing is not whether it is three months or not, but it is whether they will deliver on what they have said all along, that this is going to be an inclusive process where all Syrians will be included,” Pedersen said.

The US and European countries have not lifted sanctions that were imposed on the Syrian government under Assad’s rule, which the new authorities have said is handicapping their ability to rebuild the country after nearly 14 years of civil war and restore essential services like state electricity. 

Officials from some Western countries have said they want to see if the interim rulers will follow through on their promises of inclusive governance and protecting minorities.

Organizers of the national dialogue have said the conference will include all segments of Syrian society except for Assad loyalists and the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led force in the northeast that has so far refused to dissolve and be absorbed into the new national army. 

The SDF is currently negotiating with the central government, and Pedersen said he hopes to see a “political solution” to the impasse.

Pedersen said he is also concerned about a security vacuum following the country’s new rulers’ disbanding of the former national army and security services.

“It’s very important that the new structures of the state are coming in place quickly and that there is an offer to those who are no longer in service of the army or the security services, that there are other job opportunities, and that people do not feel that they are excluded from the future of Syria,” he said.

The UN envoy said he also remains concerned about Israel’s incursions into Syrian territory since the fall of Assad. The Israeli army has seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria and has also made forays beyond the buffer zone. 

The UN has said that Israel is violating the agreement.

Israeli officials have said they took the action to protect Israel’s security and that their presence would be temporary.

Pedersen said the security concerns are being addressed, and “there is really, in my opinion, no argument for why the Israelis should be staying.”

“The solution is very simple. The Israelis need to withdraw,” he said.


UAE president, Qatar emir review regional developments in Abu Dhabi

Updated 3 sec ago
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UAE president, Qatar emir review regional developments in Abu Dhabi

  • Leaders discussed efforts to address the latest developments in the Middle East

LONDON: The president of the UAE and the emir of Qatar discussed bilateral ties during a meeting at Qasr Al-Shati in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani discussed regional and international issues of mutual interest, focusing particularly on the latest developments in the Middle East and sharing insights on efforts to address them.

The leaders explored ways to boost cooperation for the benefit and prosperity of both nations, the Emirates News Agency reported.

Several senior officials and ministers attended the meeting, including Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi and national security adviser, and Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani.


Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 16, including 3 children

Updated 5 min ago
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Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 16, including 3 children

GAZA: Gaza’s civil defense agency on Sunday said Israeli strikes on the Palestinian territory killed 16 people, including at least three children.
Six people were killed in overnight air strikes in Khan Yunis governorate, in the south of the Gaza Strip, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said. They included two boys aged five and two, in an apartment in Al-Mawasi.
The civil defense later said 10 more people were killed in a strike on a tent also in Al-Mawasi, among them a child and seven women.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond for comment when contact by AFP. A spokesperson said they were gathering details.
A military statement issued in the morning said the army had “struck more than 100 terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip” during the past two days.
It said soldiers found “weapons caches” and killed “a number of terrorists” in the south.
Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on March 18 after a two-month truce in its war against Hamas, which was triggered by the Palestinian militant group’s October 7, 2023 attack.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza on Sunday said at least 2,436 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in Gaza, bringing the war’s overall death toll to 52,535.
Israel halted aid deliveries to Gaza, saying Hamas had diverted supplies. Israel says the blockade is meant to pressure the militants into releasing hostages held in the Palestinian territory.
UN agencies have urged Israel to lift restrictions, saying Gazans have been experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe and warning of famine.

Lebanon holds local polls in first vote since Israel-Hezbollah war

Updated 55 min 24 sec ago
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Lebanon holds local polls in first vote since Israel-Hezbollah war

BEIRUT: Lebanon on Sunday began the first stage of long-delayed municipal elections, the first vote since a devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah and after a new national government was formed.
Polls opened at 7:00 am (0400 GMT) for voters in the Mount Lebanon district, a heavily populated area with mixed political and religious affiliations that includes Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold that was heavily damaged by Israeli strikes.
“We have come to exercise our right and have our voices heard,” said Hashem Shamas, 39, a Hezbollah supporter, after voting in south Beirut’s Shiyah neighborhood.
According to the interior ministry, 9,321 candidates including 1,179 women are running in the Mount Lebanon district.
Lebanon is supposed to hold municipal elections every six years, but cash-strapped authorities last held a local ballot in 2016.
President Joseph Aoun emphasized the vote’s importance to “give confidence to the people and internationally that Lebanon is rebuilding its institutions and is back on the right track.”
Aoun was elected in January and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam formed a government the following month, ending a more than two-year vacuum as Lebanon’s balance of power shifted following the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The new authorities have promised reforms in order to gain the trust of the international community, as well as unlock billions in bail-out funds amid a five-year economic crisis. They have also vowed a state monopoly on bearing arms.
Hezbollah was left badly weakened in more than a year of hostilities with Israel, with a slew of commanders including the group’s longtime chief, Hassan Nasrallah, killed and its strongholds pummelled in the south and east and in south Beirut.
Israel has continued to strike targets in Lebanon despite a ceasefire and still has troops in five areas it considers “strategic.”
In April 2024, the municipal polls were postponed amid the hostilities, which escalated in September into a major Israeli bombing campaign and ground incursion before the ceasefire about two months later.
Aoun urged voters not to let sectarian, “partisan or financial factors” impact their vote.
Religious and political affiliations are usually key electoral considerations in multi-confessional Lebanon, where power is shared along sectarian lines.
Municipal ballots however provide a greater margin for local community dynamics to play a role.
Polls are set to close at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Areas of northern Lebanon will vote on May 11, with Beirut and the country’s eastern Bekaa Valley area set to go to the polls on May 18, while voters in the heavily damaged south will cast ballots on May 24.


Lebanese army says Hamas handed over suspect in missile launches toward Israel

Updated 04 May 2025
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Lebanese army says Hamas handed over suspect in missile launches toward Israel

CAIRO: The Lebanese army said on Sunday that Hamas handed over a suspect involved in launching missiles towards Israel in March, days after Lebanon warned the Palestinian group not to conduct operations that compromise Lebanese security or sovereignty.


UAE to lift Lebanon travel ban on May 7

Updated 04 May 2025
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UAE to lift Lebanon travel ban on May 7

  • UAE will lift a ban for its citizens traveling to Lebanon as of May 7, 2025

DUBAI: The UAE Foreign Ministry announced Sunday that it will lift a ban on its citizens traveling to Lebanon as of May 7, 2025, following a visit by the Lebanese head of state last week, according to WAM News Agency. 

The decision comes after a joint statement issued on Thursday, announcing that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed agreed to implement measures to facilitate travel and improve movement between the two countries.

The UAE banned its citizens from traveling to Lebanon in 2021. Lebanese citizens were not banned from traveling to the UAE.