Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara met members of a UN Security Council delegation in Damascus on Thursday, one month after the council voted to remove him from its sanctions list.
The visit is the council’s first official trip to Syria and coincides with the anniversary of the downfall of former president Bashar Al Assad's regime. The trip aims to show the "international community’s support for Syria during its reconstruction phase and its commitment to the country’s sovereignty and stability", Syrian state media reported.
Senior officials including Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani also attended the meeting at the People’s Palace.
Last month, the council adopted a resolution to lift sanctions on Mr Al Shara. Washington had pressed the 15-member council to vote in favour of the resolution as part of its broader effort to ease restrictions on Syria. The resolution, which also lifted sanctions on Syria’s Interior Minister Anas Khattab, passed with 14 votes.
The US has long argued that easing sanctions on Damascus is essential to supporting regional stability after more than a decade of war. Samuel Zbogar, Slovenia’s UN ambassador and president of the council, said last week that the visit to Damascus aimed 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.'”
During their trip, the delegation toured the Jobar neighbourhood, "surveying the destruction caused by bombardment under the former regime", Syrian state media reported. It added that the council members also visited other historical sites in Old Damascus, including the Umayyad Mosque.
They were accompanied by Syria’s permanent representative to the UN, Ibrahim Olabi, and the country's deputy special envoy to the UN, Najat Rochdi. The council delegation is also expected to travel to Lebanon.
