UN Envoy Says Syria Constitution Talks to Resume, 4 Killed

Rubble covers a street after air attacks in the town of Ariha in Idlib province. (AP file photo)
Rubble covers a street after air attacks in the town of Ariha in Idlib province. (AP file photo)
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UN Envoy Says Syria Constitution Talks to Resume, 4 Killed

Rubble covers a street after air attacks in the town of Ariha in Idlib province. (AP file photo)
Rubble covers a street after air attacks in the town of Ariha in Idlib province. (AP file photo)

The UN's special envoy for Syria said Wednesday he expects a committee representing the Syrian government and the opposition to resume talks next month over draft constitutional reforms.

Geir Pedersen's comments came as opposition activists reported that government shelling hit a fuel market in the country's northwest killing four people and causing a huge fire.

Pedersen spoke to reporters in the capital of Damascus after he met with Syrian officials, including Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, over the country’s lengthy conflict.

Talks were last held in Geneva in October when Pedersen said the Syrian government’s refusal to negotiate on revisions to the country’s constitution was a key reason for their failure.

“I must say that after my discussions today, I am more optimistic that it will be possible to convene the seventh round of the drafting body of the constitutional committee, hopefully sometime in March,” Pedersen said.

Syria’s conflict that began in March 2011 has killed half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, including more than 5 million refugees mostly in neighboring countries. Though fighting has subsided in recent months, there are still pockets controlled by the Syrian opposition, where millions of people live.

A 2012 UN roadmap to peace in Syria approved by representatives of the United Nations, Arab League, European Union, Turkey and all five permanent Security Council members calls for the drafting of a new constitution. It ends with UN-supervised elections with all Syrians, including members of the diaspora, eligible to participate. A Security Council resolution adopted in December 2015 unanimously endorsed the roadmap.

Pedersen said he would meet later Wednesday with government representative Ahmad Kuzbari and then contact the opposition’s Syrian National Council after which “we will be able to send out an invitation.”

The talks in October followed a nine-month hiatus in the UN-led meetings of the Syrian constitutional committee.

At a Russia-hosted Syrian peace conference in January 2018, an agreement was reached to form a 150-member committee to draft a new constitution. A smaller 45-member body would do the actual drafting, including 15 members each from the government, opposition and civil society. It took until September 2019 for the committee to be formed.

In the country's northwest, Syrian government shelling hit a fuel market Wednesday killing four people, wounding others and triggering a huge fire, an opposition war monitor and paramedics said.

The attack on the village of Tirmanin comes amid increasing tensions near the last major opposition stronghold in northwest Syria and two days after government shelling of a nearby village killed six people, including two children.

The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense group, also known as the White Helmets, said four people were killed in the Wednesday afternoon attack.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also reported that four people were killed, including two brothers, and three others wounded.

Idlib province is the last opposition stronghold in war-torn Syria, and is home to about 3 million people, many of them internally displaced. It is regularly bombed by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.



UN Calls for Independent Probe into Civilians Harmed Trying to Get Food in Gaza

 Palestinians carry bags filled with food and humanitarian aid provided by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization approved by Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry bags filled with food and humanitarian aid provided by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization approved by Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
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UN Calls for Independent Probe into Civilians Harmed Trying to Get Food in Gaza

 Palestinians carry bags filled with food and humanitarian aid provided by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization approved by Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry bags filled with food and humanitarian aid provided by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization approved by Israel, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Tuesday slammed as "unacceptable" the deaths of Palestinians seeking food aid in Gaza, a spokesman said, calling the loss of life in the territory "unthinkable".

"The Secretary-General continues to call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for the perpetrators to be held to account," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

"We are witnessing unthinkable loss of life in Gaza (and) the secretary-general condemns the loss of lives and injuries of Palestinians seeking aid," he said. "It is unacceptable civilians are risking and in several instances losing their lives just trying to get food."

At least 27 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire near a food distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, local health authorities said, in the third day of chaos and bloodshed to affect the aid operation.

A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross told Reuters that its field hospital in Rafah received 184 casualties, adding that 19 of those were declared dead upon arrival, and eight died of their wounds shortly after.

The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation launched its first distribution sites last week in an effort to alleviate widespread hunger amongst Gaza's war-battered population, most of whom have had to abandon their homes to flee fighting.

The Foundation's aid plan, which bypasses traditional aid groups, has come under fierce criticism from the United Nations and established charities which say it does not follow humanitarian principles.

The private group, which is endorsed by Israel, said it distributed 21 truckloads of food early on Tuesday and that the aid operation was "conducted safely and without incident within the site".

However, there have been reports of repeated killings near Rafah as crowds gather to get desperately needed supplies.

On Sunday, Palestinian and international officials reported that at least 31 people were killed and dozens more injured. On Monday, three more Palestinians were reportedly killed by Israeli fire.

The Israeli military has denied targeting civilians gathering for aid and called reports of deaths during Sunday’s distribution "fabrications" by Hamas.