Members of the UN Security Council are to travel to Syria and Lebanon next week in a rare trip they hope will rebuild confidence in the world body, and support stability in the fragile ceasefire along the Israeli-Lebanese border, the Slovenian mission said on Tuesday.
The visit to Damascus on December 4 will be the council’s first official trip to Syria since the fall of Bashar Al Assad's regime in December, and the installation of new leadership this year.
The delegation is expected to meet Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara, several ministers, politicians, civil society members and NGO representatives.
Samuel Zbogar, Slovenia’s UN ambassador who will take on the presidency of the council next month, confirmed the visit to the Syrian capital and to Lebanon.
As the UN seeks to reassert its role in Syria, the Council recently lifted sanctions on Mr Al Shara and urged him to oversee an inclusive political transition.
Mr Zbogar told a group of reporters, including The National, that the council hopes the visit will help to rebuild trust in the UN among Syrians and reinforce support for the country's political process.
“We want to help re-establish confidence in the UN...that's why we are going there so that people see that the UN is coming now to Syria,” he said. “We are saying, ‘This is Syria-led and Syria-owned'.”
Maya Ungar, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the Syrian government continues to view the UN with mistrust because of its dealings with Mr Al Assad during his decades-long rule.“This has stymied the UN’s role in Syria, although the government seems to be willing to engage with the UN when it suits their interests, and exercises caution when it does not,” Ms Ungar told The National. “There are openings for the UN to assist Syria on issues ranging from technical electoral assistance to intercommunal reconciliation, but the question remains how much the government wants to ask for their help.”
Ms Ungar added that for the UN to play an effective role, “the next special envoy must prioritise trust building with the authorities”.
The UN’s former special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, resigned in September after nearly seven years trying to broker a settlement to the country’s conflict. A replacement has yet to be agreed on, and discussions remain sensitive.
Diplomats told The National that the UN had put forward one serious candidate from the region, but Damascus indicated a preference for a figure from Latin America with “experience navigating transitions from dictatorship to democracy”.
Council members will travel to Beirut on December 5, and are expected to head south the following day to meet peacekeepers from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), which has served as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel since 1978 and is scheduled to withdraw by the end of 2027.
The visit comes as Lebanon accuses Israel of violating a November 2024 ceasefire aimed at halting more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah, saying Israeli forces have continued strikes and maintained troops inside Lebanese territory.
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