UNITED NATIONS, August 24. /TASS/. The security situation has deteriorated in Syria’s Deraa and Idlib governorates and in the northeast of Syria, United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said at a United Nations Security Council meeting on Tuesday.
"Over the past seventeen months, I have been informing you that, as compared with past phases of the conflict, there was relative calm in Syria across largely frozen front lines of conflict. I have however been highlighting the contact incidents and the dangers they bear on civilians, and the fragility of the situation," he said. "We have very regrettably seen an escalation in many parts of Syria recently."
According to Pedersen, the situation has escalated in the Deraa governorate, in Idlib, Aleppo, Raqqa, and Hassakeh in northeastern Syria. He also recalled Israel’s airstrikes in Syria. "The sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity of Syria continues to compromised," he stressed.
He focused special attention on the situation in Idlib. "The last months have witnessed an intensification in airstrikes and shelling - leading to dozens of civilian casualties, including women and children, and the largest displacements recorded since March 2020," he noted.
"These developments remind us that the conflict in Syria is far from over, and that we need a credible political process as well as more sustained international cooperation," he added.