Damascus - New York: Europe and the Arabs
The UN spokesman said that local authorities in the Syrian city of Hama reported that tens of thousands of families in the city were displaced, some of whom fled to Homs, recalling that Hama was previously a destination for those fleeing hostilities in and around Idlib and Aleppo, "so one can only imagine the scale of the crisis in that city," he said. At the daily press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, Stephane Dujarric stressed that the United Nations and its partners continue to provide support wherever and whenever possible to people displaced by the ongoing hostilities. According to the UN daily news bulletin, he reported that the Deputy Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, David Carden, led a cross-border mission to Idlib from Turkey on Wednesday to assess the situation, accompanied by a number of other UN agencies including the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNICEF, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organization, and members of the UN Department of Safety and Security. For his part, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all those with influence to do their part for the long-suffering Syrian people, adding that it was painful to see this gradual fragmentation of Syria. Speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday, he referred to the recent attack launched by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham - a group that the Security Council has imposed sanctions on - along with a wide range of other armed opposition groups on government-controlled areas, adding that this had led to major shifts on the front lines. The Secretary-General explained that tens of thousands of civilians are at risk in an already volatile region. Guterres said: “We are witnessing the bitter fruits of the chronic collective failure of previous de-escalation arrangements to produce a genuine national ceasefire or a serious political process to implement Security Council resolutions. This must change.” He stressed that after 14 years of conflict, it is time for all parties to engage seriously with the Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, to develop a new and comprehensive approach to resolving this crisis in line with Security Council resolution 2254, adding: “In other words, restoring the sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity of Syria, and meeting the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.” This came as the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs expressed concern about the deteriorating security situation in Syria, and reiterated the Special Envoy for Syria’s appeal for de-escalation and for all parties to respect their obligations under international law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. This came during the periodic briefing provided by High Representative Izumi Nakamitsu to the Security Council on the implementation of its resolution No. 2118 on the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons program.
Nakamitsu said that her office continues its regular contacts with the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on activities related to the resolution. She stated that the organization’s team specialized in assessing declared activities from Syria continued its efforts to verify the outstanding issues.
She added that the Technical Secretariat reports that the nature of the 19 outstanding issues is of great concern because they relate to large quantities of chemical warfare materials and ammunition that were reported to have been destroyed or consumed before Syria joined the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and whose fate cannot be fully verified. These issues also include potentially large quantities of chemical warfare materials, the production of which Syria has not declared to the Technical Secretariat.
The UN official indicated that the eleventh round of inspections at the Barzeh and Jamrah facilities of the Scientific Studies and Research Center took place between 12 and 20 November after being postponed in September for security reasons. She said that the OPCW Technical Secretariat will report on the inspection results in due course, and that it plans to conduct the twelfth round before the end of this year. Nakamintsu stressed that the OPCW Technical Secretariat is fully committed to implementing its mandate to verify Syria's implementation of its stated obligations under the Convention and the decisions of the policy-making bodies of the organization and the Security Council. She stressed the importance of Syria's full cooperation with the Technical Secretariat to resolve all outstanding issues.