The UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, affirmed that the presidential polls being held under the auspices of the current constitution is not part of the political process called for in Security Council resolution 2254.
He explained that the resolution includes elections in accordance with a new constitution and administered under UN supervision with all Syrians, including the diaspora, eligible to participate.
“The UN is not involved in this election”, he said, calling the implementation of resolution 2254 “the only sustainable path to ending the conflict and the suffering of the Syrian people.”
In his briefing to the Council, Pedersen pointed out that the “tragic irony” of Syria is that humanitarian suffering is increasing, despite the “relative calm.”
While the military situation is calm in some areas, there are spikes in mutual shelling and three air strikes in the north-west Syria.
“Recurring signs of a hot conflict are abundant,” he said, calling for a lasting nationwide ceasefire.
At the same time, the country’s southwest remained as turbulent as ever, and ISIS has perpetrated more attacks on the ground.
“Israel has launched more airstrikes into Quneitra, Latakia and Hama, while rockets were launched from southern Syria toward the occupied Syrian Golan,” Pedersen said.
He also said that international diplomacy was “essential” to overcome the mistrust of international participants and Syrian parties, as it can help develop “mutual and reciprocal steps” with parallel implementation and verification.
Mark Lowcock, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, for his part, began his briefing by tackling the water situation in Syria.
He indicated that the “reduced water levels in the Euphrates since January have reached a critical point in May resulting in partial closure of Tishreen dam in Aleppo.”
Meanwhile, people currently rely on the Tabqa dam in Raqqa governorate “as an emergency backup.” However, he said water levels there are now 80 percent depleted.
“It is critical to extend the Security Council authorization for cross-border assistance, which expires in just over six weeks,” Lowcock stressed.
Such assistance provides food deliveries for 1.4 million people every month, millions of medical treatments, nutrition assistance for tens of thousands of children and mothers and education supplies for tens of thousands of students, he explained.
Noting the ongoing work to find an arrangement for cross-line missions that all parties can agree to, he said that, in the meantime, the cross-border operation constitutes a lifeline for more than three million people and cannot be substituted.
“We look to this Council to ensure that that lifeline is not severed,” he said.
