António Guterres: It is now time for unity in Syria

United Nations secretary general António Guterres has termed the fall of the Assad regime in Syria a cause for hope in the Middle East, and called for a smooth political transition in which minority rights are respected.

“The UN is totally committed to supporting a smooth transition of power, with an inclusive political process in which the rights of all minorities will be fully respected, and paving the way towards a united sovereign Syria with its territorial integrity fully reestablished.

“I fully trust Syrian people to be able to choose their own destiny,” he added in remarks on Wednesday at a meeting with South Africa’s international relations minister, Ronald Lamola, on the sidelines of a G20 meeting.

Guterres said the Middle East was marked by tumult, including the tragedy of Palestinian suffering in Gaza.

“We are witnessing the reshaping of the Middle East, with the changes in the correlation of forces among the key regional actors, with the immense tragedy of the Palestinian people whose right for self-determination whose rights to have their own state must be constantly reaffirmed,” he said.

“But we also see some signs of hope, and signs of hope mainly coming from the end of the Syrian dictatorship.”

Lamola said South Africa hoped that the ousting of Bashar al-Assad would lead to an inclusive political process that allowed Syrians to find lasting peace. 

“The Syrian crisis, which began as part of the political wave referred to as the Arab Spring almost 15 years ago, has resulted in a tremendous loss of life, a grave humanitarian crisis and internal and international displacement. 

“This crisis was compounded by a lack of consensus on the part of the international community on how to resolve it best and external involvement that further complicated the quest for peace.”

Geir Pederson, the UN envoy for Syria, has warned there was a risk of renewed civil strife if the transition prompted by Islamist rebel alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s toppling of Assad was mishandled. Syria has endured nearly 14 years of civil war.

“My biggest concern is that the transition will create new contradictions in the manner that could lead to new civil strife and potentially a new civil war,” AFP quoted Pedersen as saying in Geneva.

Lamola said he hoped the UN Security Council would rise to the moment and the international community would agree that stability required a political process, not military solution or intervention.

The council has been divided on Syria because Russia, which helped to prop up the Assad regime, repeatedly blocked calls for UN-mediated peace talks.

Lamola said the security council must now “work towards the peaceful resolution of the Syrian crisis, which, if left unresolved, could further plunge the whole Middle East region further into political and economic chaos”.

He urged other countries to avoid exploiting the current situation for their own geopolitical interests. 

“In particular, Israel must refrain from its attacks on Syria and allow the Syrian people the space and opportunity to extricate themselves from the current situation.”

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on Syrian military installations in recent days and moved soldiers into a demilitarised buffer zone in the south of the country. It has described the strikes as “defensive missions” intended to prevent weapon stockpiles from “falling into extremist hands”.

France and Germany have also urged Israel not to jeopardise the possibility of a peaceful transfer of power in Syria.

Lamola stressed that Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity must be respected in terms of international law and the UN Charter.

“We hope that the Syrian people will soon begin an inclusive and Syrian-led dialogue that will lead to a peaceful transition and pave the way for a sustainable political solution reflective of the will of the people of Syria,” Lamola saId.