Friday | 10 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Friday | 10 January 2025 | Epaper

UN envoy warns Syria conflict not over yet 

Published : Thursday, 19 December, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 265
DAMASCUS, Dec 18: A UN envoy has warned that Syria's protracted conflict "has not ended yet", even as victorious Islamist-led rebels stepped up contacts with governments that deemed ousted president Bashar al-Assad a pariah.

Assad fled Syria just over a week ago following a lightning offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), more than 13 years after his crackdown on democracy protests precipitated one of the deadliest wars of the century.

However, the United Nations' special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said on Tuesday "there have been significant hostilities in the last two weeks, before a ceasefire was brokered".

"I am seriously concerned about reports of military escalation. Such an escalation could be catastrophic," said Pedersen, referring to fighting between the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkish-backed groups who have captured several Kurdish towns in recent weeks.

Washington later announced it had brokered an extension to the ceasefire in the flashpoint town of Manbij and was seeking a broader understanding with Ankara.

The Manbij truce "is extended through the end of the week and we will, obviously, look to see that ceasefire extended as far as possible into the future", State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

That came amid fears of an assault by Turkey on the Kurdish-held border town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab.

SDF leader Mazloum Abdi proposed in a post on social media platform X the establishment of a "demilitarised zone" in Kobane under US supervision.

Washington regards the SDF as an important ally in its war against the Islamic State group in Syria, although the new Damascus authorities have made clear their opposition to continued Kurdish self-rule in the northeast.

The HTS military chief said in an AFP interview on Tuesday that Kurdish-held areas of Syria would be integrated under the country's new leadership.

"The Kurdish people are one of the components of the Syrian people... Syria will not be divided and there will be no federal entities," said Murhaf Abu Qasra, known by his nom de guerre Abu Hassan al-Hamawi.

Abu Qasra also called on the international community to "find a solution" to repeated Israeli strikes on military targets and its "incursion" into the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syrian military assets since Assad's overthrow in what it says is a bid to prevent them falling into hostile hands.    —AFP 



LATEST NEWS
MOST READ
Also read
Syria eyes 'strategic' ties with Ukraine, Kyiv vows more food aid shipments
China-US relationship 'one of the most important' in world: Xi tells Biden
WHO chief calls for end to hospital attacks in Gaza after Israeli strike
S Korea orders airline safety probe after worst domestic crash kills 179
Russia opposes Western peacekeepers in Ukraine 
Former US president Jimmy Carter dies aged 100
Nearly 300 arrested in Syria crackdown on Assad loyalists: Monitor 
Russia will abandon its unilateral missile moratorium, Lavrov says
Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Online: 41053014; Advertisement: 41053012.
E-mail: district@dailyobserverbd.com, news©dailyobserverbd.com, advertisement©dailyobserverbd.com, For Online Edition: mailobserverbd©gmail.com
🔝
close