Syria: Briefing and Consultations
Tomorrow morning (17 June), the Security Council will hold its monthly briefing on the political and humanitarian situations in Syria. Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Najat Rochdi and Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya will brief the Council. A civil society briefer is also expected to brief. Closed consultations are scheduled to follow the open briefing.
Speakers at tomorrow’s meeting are likely to emphasise the importance of promoting stability in Syria, including by making progress on its political transition and improving economic and humanitarian conditions in the country. They may also emphasise the need to insulate Syria from rising regional tensions amid the recent escalation of direct conflict between Israel and Iran. (For more information, see our 13 June What’s in Blue story.)
Rochdi may detail the steps that the international community can take to support stability in Syria. She might welcome in this regard the lifting of sanctions against Syria by the US and the European Union (EU) as a means of improving the welfare of the Syrian people and creating conditions to support Syria’s political transition. This would be consistent with messages conveyed by UN Special Envoy Geir O. Pedersen in his most recent briefing to the Council on 21 May. During that meeting, Pedersen stressed, however, that further steps will need to be taken since “Syria faces significant structural challenges, with an economy ravaged by over a decade of war and conflict, and a host of other destabilising factors”. (For more information, see the brief on Syria in our June 2025 Monthly Forecast.)
An important step towards the goal of economic recovery was the 1-5 June visit by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Syria—its first since 2009—which aimed to “assess the economic and financial conditions in Syria and discuss with the authorities their economic policy and capacity building priorities to support the recovery of the Syrian economy”. The IMF said that there is an urgent need to address Syria’s enormous challenges and achieve a sustainable economic recovery, including through “substantial international assistance” towards rehabilitation and meet urgent humanitarian needs. Speakers in tomorrow’s briefing are expected to echo these messages, while underscoring existing efforts towards supporting Syria’s recovery. In this regard, the Council’s EU member states (Denmark, France, Greece, and Slovenia), may highlight the EU’s 3 June announcement of €175 million pledged towards supporting the country’s economic and social recovery.
Rochdi is likely to stress the need for continued progress towards an inclusive political transition in line with Security Council resolution 2254 of 18 December 2015, which focused on a political solution to the Syrian crisis. Council members may be interested in hearing updates from Rochdi regarding Pedersen’s engagement with Damascus on Syria’s envisaged interim People’s Assembly—the transitional legislative authority until elections are held—while reiterating their calls that the composition of the body should be inclusive and reflective of Syria’s diverse population. Rochdi may welcome the formation on 13 June of the Supreme Committee for People’s Assembly Elections, a body consisting of 11 members that is entrusted with supervising the establishment of electoral sub-committees in each governate to facilitate the formation of two-thirds of the members of the new People’s Assembly, while the other third will be appointed by the president.
Council members are likely to emphasise that a successful transitional political process also depends on the interim authorities’ prioritisation of issues relating to transitional justice and accountability. Members may recall recent episodes of sectarian violence targeting the Alawite minority in March and the Druze minority at the end of April—both of which resulted in the killing of scores of civilians—and echo messages from the Council’s 14 March presidential statement, which called on Damascus to prevent any further instances of violence and to safeguard the right of all Syrians, regardless of ethnicity or religion.
In this regard, Council members may stress that mechanisms established by the interim authorities to pursue accountability, reconciliation, and transitional justice need to do so in a credible, impartial, independent, and transparent manner. A fact-finding committee established by Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa following the killings of Alawites in March has reportedly faced questions regarding the effectiveness of its work. Meanwhile, Syria’s National Authority for Transitional Justice and National Commission for Missing Persons—both announced by presidential decrees on 17 May—have been criticised for lacking a transparent, victim-led, and inclusive approach and are reportedly facing challenges in building trust within Syrian communities.
Syria’s security landscape also remains challenging and is an expected focus of the discussion at tomorrow’s meeting. At the 21 May Council meeting, Pedersen warned that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) “has been escalating its attacks in various areas in recent weeks, with signs of more coordinated operations involving improvised explosive devices and the use of medium-range weapons”. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based human rights monitoring organisation, ISIL has conducted at least 110 attacks since early this year. While most of these attacks targeted the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—a Kurdish-led group which controls most of Syria’s autonomous northeastern territory—on 30 May, for the first time ISIL claimed responsibility for an attack against forces affiliated with the Syrian interim government.
The escalation in violence comes as the US is taking steps to reduce its military presence in Syria as part of a strategic recalibration. Approximately 2,000 US troops are currently in the country, engaged in anti-ISIS operations, which have also included providing support to the SDF. According to the US Special Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack, the US will leave seven of its eight military bases, including those in the eastern Deir ez-Zor governorate, an area which has experienced recurrent ISIL attacks.
Another related challenge is the integration of the SDF into the Syrian state military. On 10 March, the interim Syrian government and the SDF signed a deal which set out a plan to merge forces, in line with the interim authorities’ aim to unite Syria. Syrian media has reported that, despite the agreement, the SDF has continued its recruitment and training activities.
Tomorrow, Council members may stress the need for maintaining vigilance in the face of any potential resurgence of ISIL, and for the Syrian interim authorities to pursue security sector reform (SSR) and consolidate control over all armed groups in Syria.
Some Council members may reiterate concerns regarding the presence of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) in Syria, including their reported integration into Syria’s military ranks. Much of the sectarian violence in early March was reportedly committed by foreign fighters nominally affiliated with the caretaker authorities. Council members have urged Syria’s authorities to address the threat posed by FTFs, including through the Council’s 14 March presidential statement. In addition, in past meetings, China has called on the Syrian interim authorities to take all necessary measures to combat terrorist groups listed by the Council, including the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a Uyghur Islamist group that China also designates as a terrorist organisation. The US had previously demanded that the interim authorities deport all FTFs from Syria; however, in an apparent shift in policy, on 2 June it expressed support for the interim authorities’ plan to integrate some 3,500 foreign fighters—many of whom are Uyghurs—into a new division of the Syrian army.
Tomorrow, several Council members are also likely to raise concern about renewed strikes and incursions by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) into Syrian territory since the beginning of June. The IDF has described these moves as retaliation for rockets fired into the Golan and as part of operations targeting Hamas fighters within Syria. On 12 June, Syria’s Interior Ministry condemned an overnight Israeli incursion into the countryside south of Damascus, in which one person was killed and several detained by Israeli forces, referring to it as a blatant violation of Syria’s sovereignty and calling on the Security Council to stop such attacks in the interest of regional security. Speakers at tomorrow’s meeting are expected to reiterate their demands for respect for Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and call on both Israel and Syria to fully respect the 1967 Disengagement of Forces Agreement and to engage in diplomatic dialogue to ease tensions.
The humanitarian situation in Syria will also be an important focus of tomorrow’s meeting. Despite improved access for the UN and its humanitarian partners—which has allowed a significant increase in aid reaching Syrians in need—16 million people still require humanitarian assistance. In her briefing, Msuya may highlight various challenges, including the country’s severely strained health system; the continued risks posed by explosive remnants of war and unexploded ordinance, which have caused over 1000 casualties—one third of whom are children—since 8 December 2024; and the negative impacts of drought conditions on food security in Syria. She may also call for enhanced funding disbursements to Syria’s humanitarian response plan, which requires $2 billion until the end of June and is currently less than 14 per cent funded.
