Guterres Establishes Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria

19 December 2024, US, New York: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference, ahead of a Security Council meeting. Photo: Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
19 December 2024, US, New York: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference, ahead of a Security Council meeting. Photo: Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
TT
20

Guterres Establishes Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria

19 December 2024, US, New York: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference, ahead of a Security Council meeting. Photo: Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
19 December 2024, US, New York: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference, ahead of a Security Council meeting. Photo: Bianca Otero/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed on Thursday Karla Quintana of Mexico as Head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria.

“Indeed, all international mechanisms to advance the protection of human rights in Syria and accountability for crimes committed – must have what they need to carry out their vital work,” he said.

The International Commission on Missing Persons in The Hague separately said it had received data indicating there may be as many as 66, as yet unverified, mass grave sites in Syria.

More than 150,000 people are considered missing, according to international and Syrian organizations, including the United Nations and the Syrian Network for Human Rights, it said.

Ahead of a UN Security Council meeting chaired by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Guterres underlined that Israel's widespread strikes on Syrian military infrastructure were “violations” of the country's sovereignty and called for them to cease, AFP reported.

Israeli warplanes have carried out hundreds of attacks across the country, including in the capital, Damascus.

Israeli officials said the strikes across Syria were aimed at destroying strategic weapons and military infrastructure to prevent them being used by rebel groups that drove President Bashar Assad from power this month.

Ahead of the Security Council meeting, Guterres called for the full restoration of Syria’s sovereignty, territorial unity, and an end to all fighting.

He condemned Israel for pushing its forces into a UN-run buffer zone on its border with Syria following the fall of Assad.

“Let me be clear, there should be no military forces in the area of separation other than UN peacekeepers -- period,” he said.

“Those peacekeepers must have freedom of movement to undertake their important work. Israel and Syria must uphold the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement which remains fully in force.”

Guterres then stressed that the UN is working to facilitate a peaceful political transition in Syria, adding that adequate funding for humanitarian and recovery response is critical.

He said there is “a real risk that progress could unravel,” without an “inclusive, credible and peaceful” political transition that is Syrian led, on behalf of all its citizens.

“This is a decisive moment – a moment of hope and history, but also one of great uncertainty,” the UN chief said.

“Some will try to exploit the situation for their own narrow ends. But it is the obligation of the international community to stand with the people of Syria who have suffered so much,” he added.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Syrians protested Thursday in central Damascus calling for democracy and women’s rights, more than a week after the opposition coalition ousted Assad.

“We want a democracy, not a religious state,” men and women demonstrators chanted in central Damascus’s Ummayad Square, as well as “Free, civil Syria” and “the Syrian people are one”, while some protesters held signs including “No free nation without free women.”

The protest came more than 10 days after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a lightning offensive from their northwest Syria bastion, sweeping swathes of territory from government control and taking the capital on December 8, toppling Assad.



Türkiye Says It Will Intervene Against Any Attempt to Divide Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2025. (Reuters)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2025. (Reuters)
TT
20

Türkiye Says It Will Intervene Against Any Attempt to Divide Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2025. (Reuters)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends a press conference following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, May 27, 2025. (Reuters)

Türkiye will directly intervene to stop any attempt to fragment Syria and will prevent any attempts by militants to obtain autonomy after clashes in southern Syria, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Tuesday.

His warning against fragmentation, in comments to reporters in Ankara, appeared aimed at Israel as Türkiye considers this to be Israel's ultimate aim in Syria.

Türkiye has condemned Israeli strikes on Damascus last week as an attempt to sabotage Syria's efforts to establish peace and security, and sees clashes between Druze fighters and Syrian Bedouin tribes in the southern province of Sweida as part of an Israeli policy of regional destabilization.

NATO member Türkiye supports Syria's new government and has called for a ceasefire between the Bedouin and Druze fighters.

Fidan said Israel wanted a divided Syria to make the country unstable, weaker and a liability to the region, and added that Kurdish YPG militants were looking to take advantage of the chaos.

"God willing, we will prevent this policy from being realized," he said.

In an apparent reference to the YPG, he said groups in Syria should not see such chaos as a tactical opportunity to achieve autonomy or independence within Syria and that they faced "a big strategic catastrophe".

"This leads nowhere," he said.

Ankara sees the YPG, which spearheads the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, as a terrorist organization, and has carried out several cross-border operations against them.

"We are warning you: no group should engage in acts towards division," Fidan said.

He said many issues could be discussed via diplomacy "but if you go beyond this and seek fragmentation and destabilizing we will consider this a direct threat to our security and intervene."

Fidan said Türkiye would support efforts to secure peace and stability in Syria, and talks on this, but would not let itself be exposed to threats.

Israel did not immediately comment on Fidan's remarks. It said it struck targets in Syria last week to defend the Druze.