UN Envoy Calls for Russia-US Talks to Help End Syria War

A woman seen on the outskirts of the town of Tal Tamr near the Syrian Kurdish town of Ras al-Ain along the border with Turkey in the northeastern Hassakeh province on October 16, 2019. (AFP)
A woman seen on the outskirts of the town of Tal Tamr near the Syrian Kurdish town of Ras al-Ain along the border with Turkey in the northeastern Hassakeh province on October 16, 2019. (AFP)
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UN Envoy Calls for Russia-US Talks to Help End Syria War

A woman seen on the outskirts of the town of Tal Tamr near the Syrian Kurdish town of Ras al-Ain along the border with Turkey in the northeastern Hassakeh province on October 16, 2019. (AFP)
A woman seen on the outskirts of the town of Tal Tamr near the Syrian Kurdish town of Ras al-Ain along the border with Turkey in the northeastern Hassakeh province on October 16, 2019. (AFP)

United Nations special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen called Monday for talks between Russia and the United States to help end the more than nine-year-old war, saying the two major powers could play “a key role.”

Pedersen’s encouragement to Moscow and Washington to take a leading role was his first public appeal to the rival powers on opposing sides of the conflict — Russia which has been the key backer of Bashar Assad’s regime and the United States which supports the opposition.

Pedersen told the UN Security Council on Monday that the three countries that have taken the lead in arranging ceasefires in Syria — Assad allies Russia and Iran and opposition-backer Turkey “are key players too.”

He said members of a committee from the Syrian regime, opposition and civil society who are supposed to draft a new constitution for the country and the 15 council nations are key players as well.

Pedersen said there have been too many fleeting opportunities in the past decades to move from conflict to a political path that were lost, and “those missed moments were followed by renewed violence and a hardening of positions among regional and international actors.”

“We must not repeat this pattern,” he said.

Pedersen said there is anxiety that while violence has somewhat abated at the moment it could escalate at any time, and deep disappointment that the political process has not delivered tangible improvements for the Syrian people.

“And there is a widespread sense that international competition is more prominent than cooperation, with Syrians paying the price,” he told the UN's top council.

With some calm at the moment and the world facing common threats from the COVID-19 pandemic and ISIS extremists, Pedersen stressed that building trust between key international parties and with Syrians “is essential — and could unlock progress” toward peace.

He then encouraged the US and Russia along with the others to engage in dialogue.

Ultimately, Pedersen said, “there is a need to come together to support a renewed effort in a Syrian-led, Syrian-owned, UN-facilitated political process” toward a political settlement based on the 2015 Security Council resolution that endorsed a road map to peace including drafting a new constitution and UN-supervised elections.



Rescuers Say Israeli Strike Killed at Least 12 People in South Gaza 

Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike on a tent sheltering displaced people at the Gaza seaport, in Gaza City, June 4, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike on a tent sheltering displaced people at the Gaza seaport, in Gaza City, June 4, 2025. (Reuters)
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Rescuers Say Israeli Strike Killed at Least 12 People in South Gaza 

Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike on a tent sheltering displaced people at the Gaza seaport, in Gaza City, June 4, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of an Israeli airstrike on a tent sheltering displaced people at the Gaza seaport, in Gaza City, June 4, 2025. (Reuters)

The civil defense agency in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a tent housing displaced Palestinians near the southern city of Khan Younis on Wednesday killed at least 12 people.  

"At least 12 people were killed, including several children and women, in a strike by an Israeli drone this morning on a tent for displaced persons" near Khan Younis, the agency's spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP, adding that four more people had been killed in other strikes.  

The Israeli army did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.  

Since a truce collapsed in March, Israel has intensified its operations to destroy Hamas, the Palestinian group whose October 7, 2023 attack triggered the war in Gaza. 

Hamas's unprecedented attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. 

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 4,240 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,510, mostly civilians.