Syria

Nearly 8 years on, ‘gaps, inconsistencies, discrepancies’ remain over Syria chemical weapons declaration

The Security Council heard new evidence in longstanding international efforts to eradicate Syria’s chemical weapons programme on Thursday, including the results of an investigation into the possible of use of chlorine gas in the city of Saraqib in 2018, as the UN’s top disarmament official provided her regular briefing to ambassadors.

Revived peace process, lasting calm, and a new constitution needed in Syria 

In addition to the challenges that all Syrians have faced during a 10-year conflict, women have experienced sexual and gender-based violence, early and forced marriage and trafficking, the country’s UN envoy told the Security Council on Wednesday. 

Syria’s decade of ‘death, destruction, displacement, disease, dread and despair’

Now is not the moment to reduce humanitarian aid to Syria, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council on Monday, stressing that after 10 years of conflict, more support was needed to avoid further “dramatic and widespread” deterioration. 

Syria: Grim 10-year anniversary of ‘unimaginable violence and indignities’ 

As the Syrian war reaches its grim decade-long milestone, the UN envoy for the country told the Security Council on Monday that it will “go down as one of the darkest chapters in recent history” referring to the Syrian people as among “the greatest victims of this century”. 

Syria: Economic decline, rising hunger and surging humanitarian needs

Syria’s fragile economy has “suffered multiple shocks” over the past 18 months, with its currency plummeting and joblessness swelling as people struggle to cover their basic needs, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council on Thursday. 

Decade of conflict triggering ‘slow tsunami’ across Syria, Security Council hears 

After a decade of conflict, economic collapse compounded by COVID-19, corruption and mismanagement, the UN Syrian envoy told the Security Council on Wednesday that “a slow tsunami” is now “crashing across Syria”. 

Syria: ‘Identified gaps, inconsistencies’ raise questions over elimination of chemical weapons

“Identified gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies” that remain unresolved, have brought into question the true extent of the elimination of chemical weapons during Syria’s bloody conflict, the UN disarmament chief told the Security Council in her briefing on Tuesday. 

Syria: Millions displaced, impoverished and traumatized, Security Council hears

As the end of another year of war looms, “families in Syria remain without respite after almost a decade of conflict”, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council on Wednesday.

UN Syria envoy places hope in new talks, works towards lasting ceasefire

The UN’s special envoy for war-torn Syria is hoping that a fourth round of talks on a new constitution will take place in November in Geneva, after Government and opposition negotiators failed to agree on the agenda.

‘Widespread’ COVID-19 transmission, limited testing, deepen Syria’s humanitarian woes

COVID-19 is having a dramatic impact on health services in Syria, where limited testing is obscuring the real extent of the pandemic, the UN’s Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator said on Thursday.