Pedersen Turns Attention to Syria’s Daraa amid Local Calls for ‘Decentralization’

Reinforcements from the pro-regime 4th Armored Division enter the city of Daraa, southwestern Syria, in late July. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Reinforcements from the pro-regime 4th Armored Division enter the city of Daraa, southwestern Syria, in late July. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Pedersen Turns Attention to Syria’s Daraa amid Local Calls for ‘Decentralization’

Reinforcements from the pro-regime 4th Armored Division enter the city of Daraa, southwestern Syria, in late July. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Reinforcements from the pro-regime 4th Armored Division enter the city of Daraa, southwestern Syria, in late July. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen on Monday met with several representatives from Syria’s southwestern Daraa governorate to discuss the latest field developments, especially the regime’s 4th Armored Division's siege to the provincial capital, also called Daraa.

For over a month now, the Division has blockaded Daraaa, forcing untold suffering and extremely dire living conditions upon the city.

Civilians are demanding end to the siege. Daraa’s only bakery has been put out of service after its flour supplies ran out.

Locals are suffering from a severe shortage in medical supplies, water and electricity.

Regime forces have also barred the entry of essential goods to Daraa.

Despite Russia, a vital ally of the Syrian regime, promising local Hauran committees that the military escalation against Daraa will end and peaceful solutions will prevail, no final agreement has been made.

Many activists on social media circulated a statement allegedly released by a collective of Hauran Clans in Daraa calling for decentralization in the southern governorate.

“The party that rules in this world cannot run it; administrative issues must be left to residents and their local representatives,” the statement read, adding that experience goes to show that the people of Daraa are better at achieving development and justice for themselves.

The statement urged a “peaceful transfer of power in Syria according to international resolutions, especially UN Security Council resolution 2254.”

It reiterated that people in Daraa seek “making Syria for all Syrians” and transforming it into a civil and democratic state where everyone exercises their freedoms under international human rights laws.



Trump Says Gaza Ceasefire Possible this Week or Next

US President Donald Trump listens to opening remarks, on the day he hosts a lunch for African representatives of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, July 9, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
US President Donald Trump listens to opening remarks, on the day he hosts a lunch for African representatives of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, July 9, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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Trump Says Gaza Ceasefire Possible this Week or Next

US President Donald Trump listens to opening remarks, on the day he hosts a lunch for African representatives of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, July 9, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
US President Donald Trump listens to opening remarks, on the day he hosts a lunch for African representatives of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, July 9, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

US President Donald Trump said there is a "very good chance" of a ceasefire in Gaza this week or next, after meeting Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday for the second time in two days to discuss the situation.

"We have a chance this week or next week," Trump told reporters.

Israel's military chief said on Wednesday "conditions have been created" for the advancement of a hostage release deal in Gaza, as indirect negotiations were under way between Israel and Hamas.

"We have achieved many significant results, we have caused great damage to the governance and military capabilities of Hamas," armed forces chief Eyal Zamir said in a televised speech.

"Thanks to the operational power that we have demonstrated, the conditions have been created to advance a deal to release the hostages."

Netanyahu said on Wednesday that his meeting with Trump focused on freeing the hostages held in Gaza, and stressed his determination to "eliminate" the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas.