The international community must step up efforts to support Syria amid the current conflict raging in the Middle East, two senior UN officials told the Security Council on Wednesday.
Claudio Cordone, the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, and Joyce Msuya of the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, briefed ambassadors alongside Syrian Olympic athlete Yusra Mardini, a Goodwill Ambassador with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR
Mr. Cordone began by addressing how “the alarming regional escalation” is impacting Syria, which continues along the path to political transition more than a year after the overthrow of the Assad regime and 14 years of civil war.
“Incidents inside Syrian territory have mainly involved the crashing of debris following interception of Iranian missiles and drones in Syrian airspace, causing civilian casualties, and one incident of shelling from Lebanon attributed to Hezbollah,” he said.
Israeli helicopter and drone operations in Syrian airspace have also increased, and Israeli forces continued to carry out incursions into Syrian territory.
