Syria’s new leaders must keep their promises on rights, UN envoy says

As for Syria’s neighbours, Mr Pedersen said Israel’s actions since Assad’s ouster had been “extremely irresponsible”.

Since the 1967 Middle East War, Israel has occupied and then annexed the area known as the Golan Heights in southern Syria. Most countries except the United States consider the Gola an occupied land.

Israel’s current bombing campaign against Syrian military targets and its occupation of more Syrian territory in the Golan Heights demilitarized buffer zone and neighboring areas, Mr. Pedersen said, “are a threat to the future of Syria and these activities must be stopped immediately.”

“There is no reason for Israel to occupy new areas of Syria. The Golan is already occupied. They don’t need new land to occupy. So what we need to see is that Israel also moves in a way that does not destabilize a very, very fragile transition. process,” he added.

Mr Pedersen is also concerned about the complex network of power in northern Syria.

Turkey has well-established relations with HTS. It has troops in the northwest, as well as a militia known as the Syrian National Army (SNA), made up of rebel groups it supports.

After Assad was ousted, the SNA attacked another force in northern Syria, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led militia alliance.

Mr. Pedersen said that it is in Turkey’s interests to adhere to certain basic principles along with other foreign powers.

“What should we all see in Syria now? We should see stability. We should see that there are no new displaced population groups. We should see that people do not flee Syria as refugees. We should see that refugees return, IDPs can return to their homes.”