Syria
Expected Council Action
In November, the Security Council will hold a meeting on the political process and the humanitarian situation in Syria.
Key Recent Developments
The Israel-Hamas war that erupted on 7 October 2023 has fuelled an escalation of tensions and violence in the Middle East, including in Syria. Israel has continued to strike positions in Syria that it claims are associated with Iranian forces and affiliated militants, including Hezbollah. Iran-linked proxies, in turn, have attacked US and allied forces stationed in the region, including in Syria. On 8 October, an Israeli airstrike hit a residential and commercial building in the densely populated Mezzeh neighbourhood of Damascus that houses UN offices and several embassies, killing 13 people, including nine civilians. Media reports indicate that the Israeli military was targeting a senior Hezbollah official involved in weapons smuggling. As at 6 October, Israel had conducted 255 attacks in Syria since 7 October 2023, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a non-governmental organisation that collects conflict-related data.
Israel conducted large-scale attacks in Lebanon on 23 and 24 September, targeting Hezbollah positions in southern and eastern Lebanon as well as some areas of Beirut. In response, Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets into Israel. The hostilities have aggravated the suffering of Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, which, prior to the onset of hostilities, hosted approximately 1.5 million Syrian refugees. According to the 25 October update from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), approximately 440,000 people are estimated to have fled from Lebanon to Syria since 23 September, 71 percent of whom are Syrians and 29 percent are Lebanese and third-country nationals. The security situation remains volatile as strikes, allegedly conducted by Israel, have been documented in the vicinity of the border crossings between Lebanon and Syria.
Tensions continued to escalate within Syria across multiple front lines. In mid-October in north-west Syria, Russia carried out its first airstrikes in three months, coinciding with the increase in drone strikes and shelling by pro-Syrian government forces. In a 17 October statement, the UN’s Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, David Carden, expressed alarm over the escalating violence in north-west Syria since 14 October. In the ensuing three days, he noted that at least 144 attacks were reported, 115 of which struck Idlib and western Aleppo, including residential areas, local shops and farmland. On 15 October, two airstrikes struck a power station west of Idlib city, disabling two water stations that serve 30,000 people. The fighting halted critical humanitarian activities, including services provided by ten healthcare facilities, he added. Between 14 and 16 October, the Syrian Network for Human Rights—a UK-based organisation that monitors and documents human rights violations in Syria—reported at least 13 civilian deaths, including five children, with 42 people injured.
On 29 September, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it had conducted two targeted strikes in Syria that killed 37 terrorist operatives, including several senior leaders of ISIS and Hurras al-Din, an affiliate of the terrorist group Al-Qaida. On 11 October, CENTCOM conducted another round of airstrikes targeting several ISIS camps in Syria, with the aim of disrupting its capacity to plan and coordinate attacks against the US and its allies.
On 23 October, Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen and Director of Operations and Advocacy at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Edem Wosornu briefed the Council on the political and humanitarian tracks in Syria, respectively. Two civil society representatives also participated at the meeting—Regional Vice President (Middle East and North Africa) at the International Rescue Committee Su’ad Jarbawi and Abir Haj Ibrahim, a peacebuilder from Syria.
Pedersen highlighted the urgent need to prevent Syria from becoming “a free-for-all venue, where different actors settle their scores or fuel other theatres, nor a staging ground for attacks or retaliation”. He called for de-escalating regional tensions and for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon. He also expressed concern about the prospect of further escalations between Israel and Iran and what this could mean for Syria. Moreover, he cautioned that regional escalation posed a risk of undermining ceasefire agreements that, despite their imperfections, have maintained a crucial freeze in the front lines within Syria for nearly four years.
On the political front, Pedersen noted that partial, piecemeal or conflict-management approaches alone could not tackle the scale of the ever-mounting challenges facing Syria. He remarked that Syria would continue to be embroiled in crises unless the long-stalled Syrian-owned and -led political process facilitated by the UN resumes and begins to move forward. He underlined the need to develop a “new and comprehensive” path out of the conflict, one that addresses the political issues central to the conflict as well as issues pertaining to sovereignty, security, civilian protection, and economic issues.
In her remarks, Wosornu stressed the need to ensure the safety and security of Syrians who are fleeing Lebanon under extreme duress and the freedom to reach their preferred destinations. She also called for unhindered access for the humanitarian organisations providing aid to those arriving and all people in need. She said that the humanitarian response is now shifting to providing assistance to people in the areas where they have settled and to support host families and communities, “many of whom are themselves already stretched to breaking point”. She said that attacks at the Lebanon-Syria border crossings have rendered the roads impassable for vehicles, forcing people to cross the border on foot. In addition, she pointed to the disruptions caused in the transport of humanitarian assistance and commercial goods because of damage to the roads connecting Lebanon and Syria.
Wosornu also highlighted the UN inter-agency emergency appeal for $324 million for the influx from Lebanon to Syria to support up to 480,000 people over the next six months. This appeal is in addition to Syria’s 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), which requires $4.07 billion. At the time of writing, the HRP was only 27.2 percent funded. She urged further support for the critical activities under these plans.
Human Rights-Related Developments
On 10 October, during its 57th session, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on human rights in Syria (A/HRC/RES/57/21). The resolution expressed grave concern over the conflict in Syria, characterised by consistent patterns of gross violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. It reaffirmed the critical need to establish appropriate mechanisms to achieve justice, reconciliation, and accountability for violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. The resolution strongly reiterated the Secretary-General’s call for a “global ceasefire”; the Special Envoy for Syria’s call for a complete, immediate and nationwide ceasefire throughout Syria; and the Syria Commission of Inquiry’s recommendation to ensure the space for Syrian-led negotiations, including full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation of women. The resolution was adopted with 26 votes in favour, four against, and 17 abstentions. Council members France, Japan, and the US voted in favour of the resolution, Algeria abstained, and China voted against.
Key Issues and Options
Addressing the spillover effects of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Lebanon—as well as de-escalating rising tensions in the region, including in Syria—is also an issue of utmost importance for the Council. One option would be for the Council to request a briefing from the Secretary-General covering the regional impact of the Hamas-Israel conflict on Syria and other countries in the region.
An important issue for Council members is the ongoing hostilities across multiple front lines in Syria. Continuing violence and the lack of accountability threaten to destabilise the country further. Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) remains one of the key security threats in Syria. The deteriorating socioeconomic conditions in the country are also of concern.
Regardless of the escalating violence in the country, the international community’s attention appears to be inadequate in addressing the gravity of the situation.
Another key issue is how to alleviate the growing humanitarian needs throughout the country. The Syrian refugee crisis is of paramount importance. Since the start of the civil war in 2011, approximately 6.8 million Syrians have sought refuge in third countries, including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Türkiye. Concerns about safety and security within Syria and the lack of livelihoods have been the key obstacles to the voluntary return of refugees. The recent escalation of hostilities in the region has left Syrian refugees in peril, however.
One option would be for the co-chairs of the Informal Expert Group on the Protection of Civilians (Switzerland and the UK) to hold a meeting on the situation in Syria to receive briefings from relevant UN entities about the impact of the conflict on civilians. Another option would be a presidential statement on the deteriorating humanitarian situation, including the refugee crisis.
The need to break the underlying political impasse in the country and support the Special Envoy’s work in this regard is another key issue. The Council could consider holding a private meeting with stakeholders to discuss the impediments to the resumption of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, including the issue of venue, and support Pedersen’s efforts to reinvigorate the political process. (The Syrian Constitutional Committee has not met since June 2022 because Russia, a close ally of Syria, opposed Geneva as the venue following Switzerland’s imposition of sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.)
Another option for Council members would be to adopt a press statement that could:
- express strong concern about the persisting violence across Syria and the spillover effects of the regional escalation and the resulting humanitarian consequences;
- call on relevant stakeholders to de-escalate tensions in the region and within Syria and make efforts toward a nationwide ceasefire;
- express strong support for the efforts of the UN and humanitarian actors on the ground;
- call on the international community to scale up the humanitarian response in Syria, including through enhanced funding; and
- express support for Pedersen’s efforts to reinvigorate the political process.
Council Dynamics
Over the years, Syria has been one of the most divisive files on the Council’s agenda. China and Russia are supportive of the Syrian government, emphasising the need to respect the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and drawing connections between unilateral coercive measures on Syria and the country’s challenging humanitarian and economic situations. In contrast, the P3 (France, the UK, and the US) and other like-minded members criticise the government for violating international humanitarian law and human rights law, arbitrarily detaining people, not engaging meaningfully in political dialogue, and not creating conditions for the safe and voluntary return of refugees. Ensuring accountability for violence against civilians also remains a key issue for these members.
Russia has consistently criticised the presence of US forces in Syria, accusing them of destabilising the country. The US maintains that its deployment of forces in the country remains focused on fighting ISIL/Da’esh and has blamed Damascus for allowing Iranian-backed militias to operate in the country. (For more information, see the brief on Syria in our October 2024 Monthly Forecast.)
Switzerland is the penholder on the Syria humanitarian file.
| Security Council Resolutions | |
| 18 December 2015S/RES/2254 | This was the first resolution focused exclusively on a political solution to the Syrian crisis. It was adopted unanimously. |
