UN envoy warns Syria conflict not over yet

UN envoy warns Syria conflict not over yet

Syrians paint a mural of independence-era flag on a wall in the old city of Homs

A UN envoy warned on Tuesday that Syria's protracted conflict "has not ended yet", even as the country's 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.

But the United Nations' special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said: "There have been significant hostilities in the last two weeks, before a ceasefire was brokered... A five-day ceasefire has now expired and I am seriously concerned about reports of military escalation. Such an escalation could be catastrophic."

He was referring to fighting between the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces 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.

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

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

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

In an AFP interview on Tuesday, the military chief of HTS said 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.

Israeli troops also occupied strategic positions in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in a move UN chief Antonio Guterres described as a breach of the 1974 armistice.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security briefing on Tuesday on Syria's highest peak, Mount Hermon, one of the areas of the buffer zone that Israel seized earlier this month, Defence Minister Israel Katz said.

Netanyahu visited "outposts at the summit of Mount Hermon for the first time since they were seized by the military", Katz's office said.

- UN warns against mass returns -

The UN's migration chief, Amy Pope, meanwhile warned against a "large-scale return" of refugees to Syria, adding that "sending people back will only destabilise the country further".

She told AFP that "tens of thousands" of people had fled Syria and "we are hearing that especially religious minorities are leaving".

She pointed to reports that members of the Shiite Muslim minority had fled "not because they're actually threatened, but they're concerned about the possible threat".

Rooted in Syria's branch of Al-Qaeda, HTS is proscribed by several Western governments as a terrorist organisation, though it has sought to moderate its rhetoric and pledged to protect the country's religious minorities.

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen pledged to intensify the EU's engagement with Syria's new rulers.

"Now we have to step up and continue our direct engagement with HTS and other factions," she said after talks in Ankara.

France sent a delegation to Damascus, with special envoy Jean-Francois Guillaume saying his country was preparing to stand with Syrians during the transition.

A British delegation also visited Damascus this week for "meetings with the new interim Syrian authorities", Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesman said.

Syria came under international sanctions over Assad's crackdown on an uprising against his rule, which sparked a war that killed more than 500,000 people and the exodus of millions of refugees.

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who heads HTS, stressed the need in a meeting with the British delegation to end "all sanctions imposed on Syria so that Syrian refugees can return to their country".

He also said Syria's rebel factions will be "disbanded and the fighters trained to join the ranks of the defence ministry".

- 'Finally' able to weep -

In Damascus's old souk, many shops had reopened more than a week after Assad's ouster, according to an AFP journalist.

Some shopkeepers were painting their store facades white, erasing the colours of the old Syrian flag that under Assad's rule had become ubiquitous.

"We have been working non-stop for a week to paint everything white," Omar Bashur, a 61-year-old artisan said.

"White is the colour of peace," he added.

Around the country, Syrians deprived for years of news of missing loved ones searched desperately for clues that might help them find closure.

In a war-ravaged Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus, Radwan Adwan was stacking stones to rebuild his father's grave, finally able to return to the cemetery.

"Without the fall of the regime, it would have been impossible to see my father's grave again," the 45-year-old said.

His mother Zeina said she was "finally" able to weep for him. "Before, my tears were dry."

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