Military solution in Syria is an illusion, says UN Envoy

Geir Pedersen

28 Jan 2022; MEMO: The possibility of a military solution in Syria is "an illusion," the UN's Special Envoy to Syria told the Security Council on Thursday, UN News reports.

According to the report, the UN's Special Envoy, Geir Pedersen, said the violence continues unabated, including airstrikes on Idlib that kill civilians and damage infrastructure, mutual shelling across the front lines, hostilities in the north-east, improvised explosive device attacks in the north, and the Israeli shelling of the main commercial port of Latakiah.

"There have also been security incidents involving drug smuggling and Daesh attacks in north-eastern and central Syria," he added.

Geir Pedersen also highlighted that, despite the continued violence and suffering, there have been no shifts in the front lines for nearly two years.

Meanwhile, more than 45,000 civilians have been displaced by the clashes that followed and retaliatory airstrikes from the US-led global coalition in support of the SDF, according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).