UN calls for ‘inclusive’ political process in Syria

(Keystone-ATS) The members of the Security Council, including Russia, historic support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and the United States, “also stressed the need for Syria and its neighbors to each refrain from any action or interference that could jeopardize the security of others,” notes the press release.

They also “reaffirm their strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria and call on all States to respect these principles,” the text further notes.

The new authorities, dominated by radical Islamists who ousted Bashar al-Assad from power on December 8, are now trying to reassure about their ability to pacify and reunify the country, fragmented and devastated by 13 years of civil war.

Conflict “not yet over”

“This political process must respond to the legitimate aspirations of all Syrians, protect them all and allow them to peacefully, independently and democratically determine their own future,” declared the UN Security Council, which sits in New York.

The “conflict is not yet over” in Syria, UN special envoy Geir Pedersen warned earlier in the day, referring to clashes in the north of the country between pro-Kurdish forces and pro-Turkish groups.

He also criticized the “more than 350 strikes” carried out since December 8 by Israel on military sites in the country and called on Israel to “cease all settlement activity in the occupied Syrian Golan, which is illegal.”

Since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011, the Security Council had been largely paralyzed on the Syrian issue, with Russia regularly using its veto power to protect the regime of Bashar al-Assad until its fall.

Moscow still has military bases on Syrian territory and their future has still not been decided, the Kremlin said on Monday.