Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ibrahim Olabi, spoke about the meeting that brought together Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and a delegation of representatives of UN Security Council member states during the delegation’s visit to Damascus today, Thursday, 4 December.
In a statement to the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), Olabi said that Israeli violations formed a main focus of the meeting, as al-Sharaa raised them as a “priority” for what the Security Council can offer Syria, referring to the incident in the town of Beit Jinn (in the southwestern countryside of Damascus, near the occupied Syrian Golan Heights) as an example of repeated Israeli incursions.
The discussion also touched, according to Olabi, on economic and development issues, as well as sanctions and their impact on Syrians.
Olabi considered that the Security Council delegation’s visit to Damascus on the anniversary of liberation “carries a clear message of solidarity,” noting that the members expressed consensus on supporting Syria, its government, and its people at this stage.
He believes the timing of the visit reflects Council members’ recognition of what he described as the “achievements” made over the past year, considering that the presence of Security Council members came to send a “strong message of solidarity” and to listen to al-Sharaa’s vision for the country’s future.
Olabi pointed to a change in how the Security Council is dealing with the Syrian file, explaining that Syria had previously constituted a crisis within the Council, which was at the same time divided over Syria. He now sees the 15 members coming together on a single position during this visit as an “important shift,” and the unanimous agreement on the visit as a “historic achievement.”
Olabi noted that Slovenia’s ambassador to the UN, Samuel Žbogar, who holds the Council presidency for December, had explained before arriving in Damascus that the purpose of the visit is to “restore the trust of the Syrian people” after years of division within the Council, pointing out that the delegation is seeking to build that trust.
He added that continued unity in the Security Council around supporting Syrians could help move Syria from being a “source of crises” to a “stable” country capable of contributing to international peace and security.
The delegation of representatives of Security Council member states arrived in Syria this morning via the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing and visited the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus, which suffered extensive destruction as a result of shelling by the former regime.
Accompanied by Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ibrahim Olabi, and the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, Najat Rochdi, the delegation also visited several historical and heritage sites in Old Damascus, including the Beit al-Wali hotel in Bab Touma and the Umayyad Mosque.
The delegation held successive meetings with several Syrian civil society actors and religious leaders from various sects at the Semiramis Hotel in Damascus, according to SANA.
First visit
On 26 November, the Slovenian mission to the Security Council announced that a UN Security Council delegation would visit Syria on 4 December.
Slovenia’s ambassador to the UN, Samuel Žbogar, who holds the Council presidency for December, said the Council hopes the visit will help rebuild confidence in the UN among Syrians and bolster support for the political process in the country.
This visit by a Security Council delegation to Syria is the first since the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024.
The visit to Damascus will last one day, after which the delegation will travel on 5 December to Beirut to meet representatives of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in southern Lebanon. UNIFIL is scheduled to leave Lebanon at the end of 2027, after having served as a peacekeeping force between Israel and Lebanon since March 1978.
The visit to Beirut comes as Israel continues its airstrikes on Lebanon despite the ceasefire agreement reached in November 2024 to end the war with Hezbollah.
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