We will continue to respond wherever we can, says UN aid chief on Syria situation
Dec 08, 2024, at 02:12 pm
As reports continued to emerge from Damascus where opposition forces declared victory on State television on Sunday, the UN’s top humanitarian official insisted that aid teams will continue to provide emergency relief wherever possible.
UN report shows systematic torture in Syrian detention facilities
Dec 07, 2024, at 05:24 am
The UN General Assembly-mandated team investigating serious crimes in Syria released a new report on Friday, documenting systematic torture and abuse across over 100 Government detention facilities.
Syria: Rebels takes control over 80 percent of Daraa city: Reports
Dec 07, 2024, at 04:42 am
Escalating tension in Syria, rebel forces took control over 80 percent of Daraa province, days after Aleppo and Hama fell to the hands of an Islamist-led rebel alliance.
UN officials warn over escalating violence in northwest Syria
Dec 02, 2024, at 03:51 pm
A sharp escalation in fighting in Syria’s Aleppo Governorate has displaced thousands and caused heavy civilian casualties, prompting urgent warnings from senior UN officials about the growing humanitarian crisis and threat to regional stability.
Syria: UN chief welcomes reopening of life-saving aid corridor
Sep 20, 2023, at 05:48 pm
A large UN aid convoy was able to cross into northwest Syria on Tuesday following the reopening of a vital border crossing.
UN: Deal reached with Syria to reopen main border crossing from Türkiye
Aug 11, 2023, at 08:17 pm
New York: A deal has been reached with the Government of Syria to reopen the main border crossing from Türkiye to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Syria still mired in division, top UN envoy tells Security Council
Jul 25, 2023, at 10:59 pm
New York: Months of “potentially significant diplomacy” to resolve the crisis in Syria have not yielded any outcomes or political momentum for the war-weary population, both within the country and those displaced outside, the UN Special Envoy for the country said on Monday.
First UN aid convoy reaches Syria’s quake-hit northwest since disaster
Feb 10, 2023, at 07:16 pm
New York: As a UN aid convoy reached Syria on Thursday for the first time since devastating earthquakes cut off supply lines from Türkiye three days ago, UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, called for assurances that desperately needed assistance inside Syria would not be held up or “politicized”.
Syria: Chemical weapons pose unacceptable threat, and are a ‘danger to us all’
Jan 06, 2023, at 08:51 pm
Any use of chemical weapons anywhere is simply “unacceptable”, the deputy head of the UN Disarmament Affairs office (UNODA) told the Security Council on Thursday, briefing on efforts to eliminate the scourge from the battlefields and towns of Syria.
UNDP steps up efforts to keep Syrians off the daily breadline
Jun 03, 2022, at 07:12 pm
New York: As the Syria war enters its 12th year, the impact that the war in Ukraine is having on food security, is being felt by the most vulnerable Syrians, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said on Wednesday.
UNICEF: Grim start to new year as 2 children are killed, 5 injured, in Syria
Jan 05, 2022, at 09:26 pm
New York: Warring parties should never attack children or the services they rely on, a senior official with the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said on Tuesday, following recent violence and disruption in Syria.
Syria: Conflict, COVID and rising costs, ‘pushing people beyond their limits’
Nov 13, 2021, at 09:59 pm
New York: World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley concluded a three-day visit to Syria on Friday, warning that more people there are in the grips of hunger than at any time during their country’s decade-long conflict.
After 10 years of war in Syria, siege tactics still threaten civilians
Sep 15, 2021, at 04:22 pm
New York: The future for Syria’s people is “increasingly bleak”, UN-appointed rights experts said on Tuesday, highlighting escalating conflict in several areas of the war-ravaged country, a return to siege tactics and popular demonstrations linked to the plummeting economy.
UN strongly condemns ‘appalling’ attack on Syrian hospital
Jun 15, 2021, at 09:06 pm
New York: Senior UN officials have condemned a deadly attack on a hospital in Syria this past weekend, underlining the need for accountability for crimes committed in the country’s decade-long war.
‘No respite’ for civilians in Syria, UN officials urge international support
Mar 30, 2021, at 05:46 pm
New York: Senior United Nations officials have called on the international community to step up funding for relief programmes supporting millions of people in Syria and the region, who depend on the life-saving assistance and livelihood support after a decade of brutal conflict.
Syria’s decade of conflict takes massive toll on women and girls
Mar 17, 2021, at 08:49 pm
New York: This week, Syria marks a grim anniversary: 10 years since the start of the country’s grinding conflict. Today, one decade into the catastrophe, about half the country’s population has been uprooted, with some 12 million people internally displaced or living as refugees.
Fate still unclear of ‘tens of thousands’ of civilian detainees in Syria
Mar 02, 2021, at 04:26 pm
New York: The fate of tens of thousands of civilians being held in Syria’s “notorious” prisons or detention centres is still unclear, 10 years after the country’s civil war began, UN investigators said on Monday.
Syria: ‘Identified gaps, inconsistencies’ raise questions over elimination of chemical weapons
Jan 06, 2021, at 03:42 pm
New York: “Identified gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies” that remain unresolved, have brought into question the true extent of the elimination of chemical weapons during Syria’s bloody conflict, the UN disarmament chief told the Security Council in her briefing on Tuesday.
UN rights expert urges United States to remove sanctions hindering rebuilding in Syria
Dec 30, 2020, at 03:38 pm
New York: A UN independent human rights expert, on Tuesday, called on the United States to remove unilateral sanctions against Syria that may hamper efforts to rebuild the war-torn country’s destroyed civilian infrastructure.
Sep 19, 2020, at 02:37 pm
New York: While deep distrust persists among warring parties in Syria, a “faint but real ray of hope” emerged with the convening in Geneva of the Constitutional Committee after a nine-month hiatus, the top UN envoy helping chart a path out of the near decade-long conflict, told the Security Council on Friday.
UN rights chief calls for Turkey to probe violations in northern Syria
Sep 19, 2020, at 02:13 pm
New York: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged Turkey to launch an immediate independent investigation into violations and abuses committed in parts of north, northwest and northeast Syria, which are under the control of its forces and affiliated armed groups.
Syria constitutional reform talks, hold promise for new social contract
Aug 20, 2020, at 05:10 pm
New York: Constitutional reform talks between Syria’s Government and opposition leaders next week in Geneva, offer an opportunity to reconcile differences and establish a social contract with people across the country, who are desperate for progress after more than nine years of war, the Special Envoy told the Security Council on Wednesday.
Renewed trust and cooperation could finally ‘unlock progress’ toward peace in Syria – UN envoy
May 19, 2020, at 12:16 pm
Renewed trust, confidence, and cooperation between international players and Syrians could finally “unlock progress”, putting the country on a political path towards lasting peace, the UN Special Envoy for Syria told the Security Council on Monday.
As Syrian conflict enters 10th year, ‘brutal truth’ is, there is little protection for families
Mar 14, 2020, at 08:57 am
New York/IBNS: Although a fragile ceasefire agreed in northwest Syria is still holding, UN humanitarians on Friday warned of dire conditions for hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced by conflict, now in its tenth year.
War in Syria: 'Carnage', flouting of rights and international law, must stop: Guterres
Mar 13, 2020, at 09:15 am
New York/IBNS: UN agencies have underscored their commitment to continue supporting civilians affected by the war in Syria, which this month enters its tenth year. The Secretary-General issued a statement on Thursday, declaring that "we cannot allow the tenth year to result in the same carnage, the same flouting of human rights and international humanitarian law."
Mar 06, 2020, at 10:14 am
New York/IBNS: The UN Secretary-General said on Thursday that he hoped the latest ceasefire agreement between Russia and Turkey to end fighting across Syria’s stricken Idlib region, would finally lead to “an immediate and lasting cessation”, that would protect civilian lives.
Syria: UN food relief agency ‘doing everything we can’ to reach Idlib civilians
Mar 05, 2020, at 02:33 pm
New York/IBNS: Difficult winter weather conditions, road congestion and military manoeuvres are restricting humanitarian aid delivery to desperate civilians in the Syrian province of Idlib, where a Government operation to weed out extremists has uprooted nearly one million people since December.
Feb 29, 2020, at 11:12 am
New York/IBNS: With the Security Council meeting in emergency session on Syria following the death on the battlefield of dozens of Turkish troops, the UN strongly urged Russia and Turkey on Friday “to build on previous agreements to secure a fresh ceasefire” across the war-torn northwest.
‘Mayhem’ in Syria’s Idlib amid ongoing violence, as Guterres urges immediate ceasefire
Feb 29, 2020, at 10:25 am
New York/IBNS: Rapidly escalating conflict in northwest Syria has created healthcare “mayhem”, amid reports of displaced people moving closer to the Turkish border in search of shelter, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, as the UN Secretary-General appealed for all warring parties to "step back from the edge of further escalation."
Syria: ‘Massive waves of civilian displacement and loss of life must stop now’: UN Special Envoy
Feb 07, 2020, at 09:52 am
New York/IBNS: Air and ground strikes in the region of Idlib, northwest Syria, are causing “massive waves of civilian displacement and major loss of civilian life”, causing unacceptable human suffering which must stop now, Geir Pedersen, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, told the Security Council on Thursday.