Syrian Constitutional Committee Launches Process to Draft Syria Constitution

UN envoy Geir Pedersen with the heads of the Syrian government and opposition delegations, Ahmed al-Kuzbari and Hadi al-Bahra in Geneva (United Nations)
UN envoy Geir Pedersen with the heads of the Syrian government and opposition delegations, Ahmed al-Kuzbari and Hadi al-Bahra in Geneva (United Nations)
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Syrian Constitutional Committee Launches Process to Draft Syria Constitution

UN envoy Geir Pedersen with the heads of the Syrian government and opposition delegations, Ahmed al-Kuzbari and Hadi al-Bahra in Geneva (United Nations)
UN envoy Geir Pedersen with the heads of the Syrian government and opposition delegations, Ahmed al-Kuzbari and Hadi al-Bahra in Geneva (United Nations)

The Syrian Constitutional Committee’s “small body” resumed its work on Monday amid optimism spread by the UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen on the government and opposition co-chairs of the Committee agreeing to draft a new constitution.

The Committee’s small body includes 45 representatives from the Syrian government, opposition, and civil society.

“The two Co-Chairs now agree that we will not only prepare for constitutional reform, but we will prepare and start drafting for constitutional reform,” Pedersen told journalists in Geneva.

“So, the new thing this week is that we will actually be starting a drafting process for constitutional reform in Syria,” he added.

For the first time ever, Committee co-chairs Ahmad Kuzbari, the Syrian government representative, and Hadi al-Bahra, from the opposition side, met together with Pedersen on Sunday morning.

The UN special envoy described it as “a substantial and frank discussion on how we are to proceed with the constitutional reform and indeed in detail how we are planning for the week ahead of us.”

For his part, al-Bahra pointed out that the opposition delegation is after reforms that included equal rights to all Syrians.

In a statement, he pointed out that the lack of a clear separation of powers in the current constitution led to an imbalance that was misused.

According to the opposition leader, each party would present proposed texts and formulations on issues, including sovereignty and the rule of law.

“We will now start discussing the proposals related to the constitutional text put forward by each party,” noted al-Bahra, adding that “all parties have agreed to this mechanism.”

“We will hold a first round in which each party presents the principles that it proposes to discuss on the first day,” clarified al-Bahra.

On the other hand, the Syrian government delegation maintained its silence ahead of the upcoming talks.



Building in Beirut Southern Suburbs Struck After Israeli Warning

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
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Building in Beirut Southern Suburbs Struck After Israeli Warning

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A building in Beirut’s southern suburbs known as Dahieh was struck on Sunday almost an hour after the Israeli army issued an evacuation order to residents of the area.

The Israeli army's spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, earlier said on X that residents should evacuate several buildings in the Hadath neighborhood and move "at least 300 meters away.”

Residents reported hearing gunfire across the area, which they said they believed was intended to warn people to leave, as well as seeing a massive traffic jam on roads leading from the area.

"To everyone located in the building marked in red on the attached map, and the surrounding buildings: you are near facilities belonging to Hezbollah," Adraee wrote in a post that included a map of the potential targets.

The Israeli army said the building was being used to store precision missiles belonging to Hezbollah.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Hezbollah's precision missiles "posed a significant threat to the State of Israel."

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on the United States and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire agreement struck in November, to compel Israel to stop its attacks.
"Israel's continued actions in undermining stability will exacerbate tensions and place the region at real risk, threatening its security and stability," he said in a statement.

Earlier this month an Israeli airstrike killed four people, including a Hezbollah official, in Beirut's southern suburbs -the second Israeli strike on a Hezbollah-controlled area of the Lebanese capital in five days.