Syrian rebels and civilians celebrate the overthrow of the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad on Sunday near the Damascene Sword Monument in Damascus’ Umayyad Square. The U.N. Security Council was set to discuss the situation Monday in an emergency session called by Moscow. Photo by Bilal al-Hammoud/EPA-EFE
Moscow said that the United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency session at its request Monday to discuss the situation in Syria following the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad over the weekend.
First Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N., Dmitry Polyansky made the announcement in a social media post saying a meeting of the 15 member-country body had been scheduled for the afternoon in New York. Advertisement
“In connection with the latest events in Syria, the depth and consequences of which for this country and the entire region have yet to be realized, Russia has requested urgent closed consultations of the U.N. Security Council,” said Polyansky.
He said, in particular, Moscow wanted to raise the issue of the U.N.’s mandate to uphold a 50-year-old cease-fire between Israeli and Syrian troops in the Golan Heights via the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force. Advertisement
The U.N. meeting comes a day after Israeli forces seized a buffer zone in the eastern part of the Golan Heights, which is claimed by both countries, established in the agreement with Syria which was signed in May 1974 following the Yom Kippur War the previous fall.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Sunday that the Agreement on Disengagement between Israeli and Syrian forces had collapsed as Syrian troops had abandoned their positions.
The U.S.-brokered agreement provided for an area of separation and for two equal zones of limited forces and armaments on both sides of the area, and called for the establishment of a United Nations observer force to supervise its implementation.
“This is a historic day in the history of the Middle East. We will not allow any hostile force to establish itself on our border,” Netanyahu said.
Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that it had deployed troops in the buffer zone and in a number of areas that are “necessary to defend, in order to ensure the security of the communities in the Golan Heights and the citizens of Israel.”
“We emphasize that the IDF is not interfering with the internal events in Syria. The IDF will continue to operate as long as necessary in order to preserve the buffer zone and defend Israel and its civilians.” Advertisement
However, Israel and the United States carried out scores of airstrikes inside Syria in the past 24 hours — the Americans attacking ISIS leaders, operatives, and camps to prevent the group from taking “advantage of the current situation to reconstitute in central Syria” and the IDF apparently targeting “strategic weapons systems.”
“The only interest we have is the security of Israel and its citizens. That’s why we attacked strategic weapons systems, like, for example, remaining chemical weapons, or long-range missiles and rockets, in order that they will not fall in the hands of extremists,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.
CNN, which has reporters on the ground in Damascus, reported airstrikes in Damascus in the early hours of Monday morning but said it was not immediately clear who had carried out the strikes.
The Pentagon said in a statement that U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had spoken with Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler with the pair calling on Syrian opposition forces to actively “protect civilians, including ethnic and religious minorities, and abide by international humanitarian norms.”
Austin emphasized that the United States was closely watching the statements and actions of the various opposition groups and that he and Guler agreed the importance of close coordination between the United States and Turkey to prevent further escalation of an “already volatile situation, as well as to avoid any risk to U.S. forces and partners, and volatile situation, as well as to avoid any risk to U.S. forces and partners, and the ‘Defeat-ISIS Mission.'” Advertisement
A Biden administration official said Washington would be talking with regional leaders and contacts across the spectrum of Syrian society, including opposition groups and groups currently in exile “to establish and help wherever we can a transition away from the Assad regime towards an independent, sovereign Syria that can serve the interests of all Syrians under the rule of law.”
The official said the United States had been “watching very closely” to see if rebel leaders’ promises were “translated into actions on the ground,” a reference to assurances from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani that calm will be preserved and of a smooth political transition.
As recently as 2017, Washington was offering a $10 million reward for information “leading to the identification or location” of Al-Jawlani due to the group’s al-Qaida links.
