UN Calls for 'Coordinated Process' to Resolve Syrian Crisis

The United Nations Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen (AFP)
The United Nations Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen (AFP)
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UN Calls for 'Coordinated Process' to Resolve Syrian Crisis

The United Nations Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen (AFP)
The United Nations Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen (AFP)

The United Nations Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, called for building on the Arab and international response to recover from the earthquakes that recently struck Türkiye and Syria.

Pedersen said the earthquakes caused "unspeakable suffering for millions of people" to carry out a coordinated process to meet the challenges of resolving the military conflict that has been going on for 12 years.

Pedersen was briefing members of the Security Council meeting in New York on the latest developments in the Syrian crisis. He addressed the recent earthquake, stressing that "the immediate priority is the emergency humanitarian response" to Syrians wherever they are.

Referring to his recent meetings concerning Syrian crisis and aid donors, he made it clear that he saw "a remarkable goodwill among many Syrians themselves in both words and actions to organize and send relief to their fellow citizens across the front lines, irrespective of the challenges and hardship they also face," noting that "Syrian women have been at the forefront of these efforts."

He welcomed the recent introduction of earthquake-related exemptions from several countries, including the US, the UK, and the EU.

The UN envoy also welcomed the Syrian government's decision to open the Bab al-Salam and al-Rai crossing points from Türkiye to northwestern Syria, with a "blanket approval" for crossing operations into northwestern Syria until next July and other measures to reduce red tape for humanitarian actors, and facilitate humanitarian financial transactional concerning the earthquake response.

The envoy said he recorded "a relative lull in violence after the earthquake, which can facilitate the relief operations."

However, Pedersen said he was worried he has seen "reports of concerning incidents: exchange of shelling and mortar fire between areas under the control of the Syrian government, the Syrian Democratic Forces, armed opposition, or Hayat Tahrir al-Sham," in addition to "Turkish drone strikes and air strikes in central Damascus attributed to Israel, assassinations in the southwest, and the terrible attacks attributed to ISIS in the desert."

He called for building on the four elements involving action from a different side "if we are to move beyond responding to the emergency the earthquake has brought and confront the challenges of resolving the conflict itself and address the deep crisis in Syria."

The diplomat described Syria as "one of the most complex political landscapes on the planet" because it is a territory split into several areas of control: a government under sanctions, de facto authorities elsewhere, more than one terrorist group, and five foreign armies.

He called on the international community to "take inspiration from the Syrian people on the ground, who have come together against the odds during this time to deal with their enormous challenges."

"The situation today is unprecedented. It calls for leadership, bold ideas, and a cooperative spirit. A serious political way forward will require a serious conversation among key stakeholders to make progress on some of the unresolved political issues of the conflict that could block much-needed recovery after the disaster."

The envoy urged "more pragmatism" because the matter requires "realism and frankness from the Syrian government, the Syrian opposition, and all key outside actors" to protect Syria from the broader geopolitical disputes among key players.

"It calls for a coordinated process," the UN Envoy reiterated.

"We will need all key Arab players, all key European players, and of course the Astana players, and the US to work in a coherent effort," he said, adding: "if all, and I really mean all, can envisage compromise from previous positions: all will gain."

Pedersen assessed that "the approach of seeking reciprocal and verifiable confidence measures, the so-called 'step-for-step,' is more element now more than ever before," under Security Council Resolution 2254.

"Let's build on a step so far from all sides, with further moves from all sides. Let's in that spirit identify and move additional confidence-building steps from all parties to confront the challenges of recovery after the disaster and address unresolved political issues."



Israeli Troops Burn Northern Gaza Hospital after Forcibly Removing Staff and Patients, Officials Say

A fire burns as seen through a window from Kamal Adwan hospital, during the ongoing Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 18, 2024. (Reuters)
A fire burns as seen through a window from Kamal Adwan hospital, during the ongoing Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 18, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Troops Burn Northern Gaza Hospital after Forcibly Removing Staff and Patients, Officials Say

A fire burns as seen through a window from Kamal Adwan hospital, during the ongoing Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 18, 2024. (Reuters)
A fire burns as seen through a window from Kamal Adwan hospital, during the ongoing Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 18, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli troops stormed one of the last hospitals operating in northern Gaza on Friday, igniting fires and forcing many staff and patients outside to strip in winter weather, the territory’s health ministry said.

Kamal Adwan Hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli troops waging an offensive against Hamas fighters in surrounding neighborhoods, according to staff. The ministry said a strike on the hospital a day earlier killed five medical staff.

Israel's military said it was conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and fighters in the area of the hospital, without details. It repeated claims that fighters operate inside Kamal Adwan but provided no evidence. Hospital officials have denied that.

The Health Ministry said troops forced medical personnel and patients to assemble in the yard and remove their clothes. Some were led to an unknown location, while some patients were sent to the nearby Indonesian Hospital, which was knocked out of operation after an Israel raid this week.

Israeli troops during raids frequently carry out mass detentions, stripping men to their underwear for questioning in what the military says is a security measure as they search for Hamas fighters. The AP doesn’t have access to Kamal Adwan, but armed plainclothes members of the Hamas-led police forces — tasked with keeping security and officially separate from the group’s armed wing — have been seen in other hospitals.

The Health Ministry said Israeli troops also set fires in several parts of Kamal Adwan, including the lab and surgery department. It said 25 patients and 60 health workers remained in the hospital out of 75 patients and 180 staff who had been there. The account could not be independently confirmed, and attempts to reach hospital staff were unsuccessful.

“Fire is ablaze everywhere in the hospital,” an unidentified member of the staff said in an audio message posted on the social media accounts of hospital director Hossam Abu Safiya. The staffer said some evacuated patients had been unhooked from oxygen. “There are currently patients who could die at any moment,” she said.

Since October, Israel’s offensive has virtually sealed off the northern Gaza areas of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and leveled large parts of them. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were forced out but thousands are believed to remain in the area, where Kamal Adwan and two other hospitals are located. Troops raided Kamal Adwan in October, and on Tuesday troops stormed and evacuated the Indonesian Hospital.

The area has been cut off from food and other aid for months, raising fears of famine. The UN says Israeli troops allowed just four humanitarian deliveries to the area from Dec. 1 to Dec. 23.

The Israeli rights group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel this week petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice seeking a halt to military attacks on Kamal Adwan. It warned that forcibly evacuating the hospital would “abandon thousands of residents in northern Gaza.” Before the latest deaths Thursday, the group documented five other staffers killed by Israeli fire since October.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza vowing to destroy Hamas after the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which fighters killed around 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others. Around 100 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, around a third believed to be dead.

Israel’s nearly 15-month-old campaign of bombardment and offensives has devastated the territory’s health sector. A year ago, it carried out raids on hospitals in northern Gaza, including Kamal Adwan, Indonesian and al-Awda Hospital, saying they served as bases for Hamas, though it presented little evidence.

Israel’s campaign has killed more than 45,400 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, and wounded more than 108,000 others, according to the Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

More than 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have been driven from their homes, most of them now sheltering in sprawling, squalid tent camps in south and central Gaza.

Children and adults, many barefoot, huddled Friday on the cold sand in tents whose plastic and cloth sheets whipped in the wind. Overnight temperatures can dip into the 40s Fahrenheit (below 10 Celsius), and sea spray from the Mediterranean can dampen the tents just steps away.