Moscow Thwarts Western Pursuit to Implement Resolution 2401

Smoke rises from Hamouriyeh, eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, Syria, February 21, 2018. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh
Smoke rises from Hamouriyeh, eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, Syria, February 21, 2018. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh
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Moscow Thwarts Western Pursuit to Implement Resolution 2401

Smoke rises from Hamouriyeh, eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, Syria, February 21, 2018. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh
Smoke rises from Hamouriyeh, eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, Syria, February 21, 2018. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh

UN members failed, during an urgent meeting on Wednesday, to reach a unified standpoint towards the implementation of resolution 2401 with Russia thwarting western countries' pursuit to cease the extensive military campaign conducted by Syrian forces and backed by Iranian militias and Russian air cover-up in Eastern Ghouta.

Asharq Al-Awsat was informed by diplomats, who have attended the closed session of consultations, that tension and frustration dominated the session after listening to speeches of UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura and Chief of United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) Lisa Doughten.

De Mistura briefed the Security Council about the humanitarian condition in Eastern Ghouta, said a diplomatic source, and underpinned necessity of responding to rebel forces’ message to the UN and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to allow fighters of ISIS, Tahrir al-Sham and al-Qaeda to evacuate the district.

He considered that the five-hour daily pauses in fighting are not enough, renewing calls for implementing resolution 2401.

Concluding the session, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations Karel Oosterom said that the Security Council reiterated its calls for implementation of resolution 2401 on the 30 days ceasefire.

“We've called this meeting with the UK because the Syrian regime, as we speak, keeps besieging and bombing its own citizens in eastern Ghouta in complete violation of Resolution 2401 that was unanimously adopted by the council,” French UN representative Francois Delattre told reporters before the meeting.

Delattre pointed to Syrian government interference with a UN convoy it authorized to deliver aid.

He said it was “completely unacceptable” and another example of the “extreme cynicism of the Syrian regime.”

“France is mobilized at the highest level to pressure all those who have leverage on the Syrian regime,” he added.



Syria, Jordan, US Agree to Back Ceasefire Enforcement in Sweida

This handout picture released by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry shows (L to R) Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, and US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack meeting in Amman on August 12, 2025. (Jordanian Foreign Ministry / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry shows (L to R) Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, and US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack meeting in Amman on August 12, 2025. (Jordanian Foreign Ministry / AFP)
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Syria, Jordan, US Agree to Back Ceasefire Enforcement in Sweida

This handout picture released by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry shows (L to R) Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, and US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack meeting in Amman on August 12, 2025. (Jordanian Foreign Ministry / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry shows (L to R) Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, and US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack meeting in Amman on August 12, 2025. (Jordanian Foreign Ministry / AFP)

Syria, Jordan and the United States agreed on Tuesday to form a joint task force to support Damascus’ efforts to uphold a ceasefire in the Sweida province in southern Syria and end the crisis there, the three countries said in a joint statement.

The agreement was reached during talks in Jordan between Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi, and US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, the statement said.

The meeting discussed ways to help rebuild Syria “on foundations that guarantee its security, stability, sovereignty, unity and non-interference in its internal affairs.”

Jordan and the United States welcomed Damascus’ steps, including “full investigations and holding all perpetrators of crimes and violations in Sweida accountable” and its readiness to cooperate with relevant UN agencies in the probe, the Syrian foreign ministry said.

They also praised Syria’s moves to expand humanitarian aid access to all areas of Sweida, restore disrupted services, start community reconciliation, and promote civil peace.

Both countries reiterated their “full solidarity” with Syria’s security, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Sweida and its communities were an “integral part of Syria” whose residents’ rights must be preserved in the rebuilding process, the statement said.

The three sides agreed to meet again in the coming weeks to continue Tuesday’s discussions.

Barrack said on X: “Syria remains steadfastly committed to a united process that honors and protects all its constituencies, fostering a shared future for the Syrian people despite intervening forces seeking to disrupt and displace its communities.”

“Delivering justice and ending impunity are paramount to achieving lasting peace,” he stressed.

“The Syrian government has pledged to utilize all resources to hold perpetrators of the Sweida atrocities accountable, ensuring no one escapes justice for violations against its citizens,” he added. “Syria will fully cooperate with the UN to investigate these crimes.”

During a meeting with Shaibani, Safadi reaffirmed Jordan’s rejection of foreign interference in Syria and its support for the country’s security, sovereignty and territorial integrity, according to a Jordanian foreign ministry statement.

The FMs condemned repeated Israeli air strikes and incursions into Syria, calling them a “flagrant violation of international law” that threatened regional stability.

They discussed efforts to cement the Sweida truce, agreed last month after violence between armed groups in the mainly Druze province killed hundreds.

On X, Shaibani said Syria was committed to protecting Sweida’s Druze, Bedouin and Christian residents and to countering any sectarian or inciting rhetoric. “Our Druze people are an integral part of Syria... we reject any attempt to marginalize them under any pretext,” he said.

He pledged accountability for all violations in Sweida “regardless of the party involved,” saying justice was essential to building a state governed by law.