Middle East crisis: UN envoy to Syria warns conflict is not over amid ‘significant hostilities’

UN envoy to Syria warns that the conflict is not over

Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, has warned that the conflict “has not ended” even after the dramatic ousting of former president Bashar al-Assad, highlighting clashes between Turkish-backed and Kurdish groups in the north.

The Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) rebels have been involved in clashes with the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Pedersen also called at the UN security council for Israel to “cease all settlement activity in the occupied Syrian Golan”.

“There have been significant hostilities in the last two weeks, before a ceasefire was brokered… A five-day ceasefire has now expired and I am seriously concerned about reports of military escalation. Such an escalation could be catastrophic,” he said.

The comments come after Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that toppled the Assad regime, said all rebel factions would “be disbanded and the fighters trained to join the ranks of the defence ministry”. The HTS group are Syria’s new de-facto rulers.

Pedersen said he had met with the new leadership and has called for an end to sanctions to allow for reconstruction of Syria.

“Concrete movement on an inclusive political transition will be key in ensuring Syria receives the economic support it needs,” Pedersen said.

Key events

Closing summary

Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, has warned that the conflict “has not ended” even after the dramatic ousting of former president Bashar al-Assad, highlighting clashes between Turkish-backed and Kurdish groups in the north.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson denied reports that he is in Cairo for Gaza ceasefire talks. Netanyahu was holding a briefing on Mount Hermon, a strategic location overlooking Damascus, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, said ceasefire talks in Qatar aimed at a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange in Gaza were “serious and positive”, while White House national security communications spokesperson John Kirby said “we believe we are getting closer to a Gaza ceasefire deal”.
Israeli lawmakers narrowly approved the country’s 2025 state budget in an initial vote. The 59-57 vote in the Knesset – the Israeli parliament – to pass the wartime austerity budget in its first of three readings.
A UN refugee agency official said that about one million Syrian refugees are expected to return to the country in the first six months of 2025, with thousands of people already having returned to the country mostly from Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said his country’s forces will maintain “security control” over the devastated Gaza Strip, even after the war is over, with Israeli soldiers able to act with “full freedom of action” over the territory.
At least 45,059 Palestinian people have been killed and 107,041 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. Of those, 31 Palestinians were killed and 79 injured in the latest 24-hour reporting period, the ministry said.
At least 10 people were confirmed killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City that destroyed the building, while further north in the town of Beit Lahiya at least 15 people were reportedly killed while they were sheltering in a house.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that toppled Assad, said all rebel factions would “be disbanded and the fighters trained to join the ranks of the defence ministry” during a meeting with members of the minority Druze community.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the bloc would send an ambassador back to Damascus. “We are ready to reopen our delegation, which is the European embassy, and we want this to be fully operational again,” she said. Kallas added that the EU would aim to help authorities restore basic services like electricity, water and infrastructure.

We are closing this blog now. Thanks for following along. You can find all of our latest Middle East coverage here.

Israeli airstrikes killed extended families in homes in two parts of the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, medics have said. At least 10 people were confirmed killed in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City that destroyed the building, while further north in the town of Beit Lahiya at least 15 people were killed while they were sheltering in a house, according to Al Jazeera. Beit Lahiya is among the areas in the devasted northern Gaza Strip that have been under siege for more than 70 days by Israeli forces.

Swiss judicial authorities have suggested the trial of Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of the recently ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, be cancelled due to the defendant’s illness, a spokesperson has said.

He was due to face trial in Switzerland for alleged crimes committed dating back to his time as a military commander in 1982.

“I can confirm to you that due to the state of health of the accused, who would be physically incapable of travelling to Switzerland and psychologically incapable of participating in debates, those responsible for the trial invited the parties to decide on whether to close the case,” a spokesperson for the Federal Criminal Court told Reuters.

She added that the court – the highest criminal authority in the country – has not yet taken a decision on whether or not to terminate the case and expected to have input from all parties by mid-January. Rifaat al-Assad has denied any wrongdoing.

The Attorney General’s Office initiated war crimes proceedings against Rifaat al-Assad in December 2013. Photograph: Michel Euler/AP

The Attorney General’s office said in March that Rifaat al-Assad had been charged with “ordering homicides, acts of torture, cruel treatments and illegal detentions” in February 1982 when he was in charge of troops in the western city of Hama. His current whereabouts are unknown. He lived in exile, mostly in France, from the mid-1980s, after being accused of trying to topple his brother, then-President Hafez al-Assad, Bashar’s father.

We mentioned in the opening post that German diplomats were expected to hold their first talks with representatives of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Damascus today, focusing on a transitional process for Syria and the protection of minorities.

The delegation, led by Germany’s Middle East commissioner Tobias Tunkel, has now held talks with HTS leader Ahmed al Sharaa, its foreign affairs representative Zaid al-Attar and the transition government’s education minister, the German foreign office has said in an updated statement.

At Tuesday’s meeting the two sides discussed the political transition in Syria and human rights, the foreign office said. The German delegation spoke with civil society and religious organisations and inspected Germany’s embassy building in Damascus.

The UN’s special envoy for Syria also said that Israel had conducted more than 350 strikes on Syria following the departure of the former regime, including a major strike on Tartous.

“Such attacks place a battered civilian population at further risk and undermine the prospects of an orderly political transition,” Geir Pedersen said.

Israeli air raids have hit bases, heavy weapons, sites associated with the former Assad regime’s missile and chemical weapons programme, and destroyed Syria’s small naval force in port of Latakia.

UN envoy to Syria warns that the conflict is not over

The Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) rebels have been involved in clashes with the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Pedersen also called at the UN security council for Israel to “cease all settlement activity in the occupied Syrian Golan”.

Pedersen said he had met with the new leadership and has called for an end to sanctions to allow for reconstruction of Syria.

“Concrete movement on an inclusive political transition will be key in ensuring Syria receives the economic support it needs,” Pedersen said.

Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Syria and Gaza:

White Helmets recover bodies from mass grave in Damascus containing sacks of human remains. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Members of Bashar Assad’s army or pro-government militias line up to register with Syrian rebels as part of an “identification and reconciliation” process at an army compound in Latakia, Syria. Photograph: Léo Corrêa/AP

Palestinian people stand in wait for a food portion at a distribution centre south of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. Photograph: Bashar Taleb/AFP/Getty Images

The aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on a building in Gaza City’s Daraj neighbourhood. Photograph: Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images

Summary of the day so far…

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson denied reports that he is in Cairo for Gaza ceasefire talks. Netanyahu was holding a briefing on Mount Hermon, a strategic location overlooking Damascus, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, said ceasefire talks in Qatar aimed at a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange in Gaza were “serious and positive”, while White House national security communications spokesperson John Kirby said “we believe we are getting closer to a Gaza ceasefire deal”.
Israeli lawmakers narrowly approved the country’s 2025 state budget in an initial vote. The 59-57 vote in the Knesset – the Israeli parliament – to pass the wartime austerity budget in its first of three readings.
A UN refugee agency official said that about one million Syrian refugees are expected to return to the country in the first six months of 2025, with thousands of people already having returned to the country mostly from Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said his country’s forces will maintain “security control” over the devastated Gaza Strip, even after the war is over, with Israeli soldiers able to act with “full freedom of action” over the territory.
At least 45,059 Palestinian people have been killed and 107,041 injured in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. Of those, 31 Palestinians were killed and 79 injured in the latest 24-hour reporting period, the ministry said.
The US military on Tuesday said it bombed a Houthi military facility in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in what was the latest US-led attack on the Iranian-backed rebels. The Houthi media office said the airstrike hit part of the sprawling complex that houses the rebels’ defense ministry.

Hamas says Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha are ‘serious and positive’

Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, has issued a statement in relation to the talks being held in Qatar aimed at a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange in Gaza, calling the discussions “serious and positive”.

Hamas said:

Hamas affirms that, in light of the serious and positive discussions taking place today in Doha under the auspices of our Qatari and Egyptian brothers, reaching an agreement for a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange is possible if the occupation ceases to impose new conditions.

Qatar, along with the US and Egypt, has been involved in months of behind-the-scenes negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release.

Hamas and other Palestinian militia now reportedly appear to be more open and flexible over a slower, phased end to the fighting with talks focused on the number of hostages to be released in any first phase.

As my colleague Peter Beaumont notes in this story, sticking points that torpedoed previous rounds of talks, including the presence of Israel troops in the so-called Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors inside Gaza, appear to have been sidelined for now, although a continuing issue is understood to be the ability of Palestinians in Gaza to return to their homes in the strip’s north.

Netanyahu’s spokesperson denies reports that PM is visiting Cairo for Gaza ceasefire talks

Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson has denied reports that he is in Cairo for Gaza ceasefire talks. Netanyahu was holding a briefing on Mount Hermon, a strategic location overlooking Damascus, a statement from the prime minister’s office said on Tuesday. The briefing involved discussions about the situation in Syria and was reported to be with Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, and the IDF’s chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, to “review the IDF’s preparations in the field, and set the rules for the next stage”.

“The summit of Mount Hermon serves as Israel’s eyes for identifying both near and distant threats,” Katz said.

Netanyahu ordered Israeli troops to seize the buffer zone on the Golan Heights after Bashar al-Assad’s rule collapsed in Syria (Israel captured about two-thirds of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 six-day war. Last week, it moved troops and armour into a supposedly demilitarised buffer zone beyond the land it already occupies).

Israel has framed the move as temporary and defensive, with Netanyahu claiming it was in response to a “vacuum on Israel’s border and in the buffer zone”.The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said he was “deeply concerned by the recent and extensive violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

White House national security communications spokesperson John Kirby said “we believe we are getting closer to a Gaza ceasefire deal” in a Fox News interview, reports Reuters.

“We believe – and the Israelis have said this – that we’re getting closer, and no doubt about it, we believe that, but we also are cautious in our optimism,” Kirby said. “We’ve been in this position before where we weren’t able to get it over the finish line.”

Kirby did not respond when asked if Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was traveling to Cairo for talks.

Hamas said in a statement that a ceasefire and hostages deal is possible if Israel stops setting new conditions, reports Reuters.

Netanyahu reportedly travelling to Cairo for talks on Gaza ceasefire

A Gaza ceasefire deal expected to be signed in the coming days, according to sources briefed on the talks, reports Reuters. Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly on his way to Cairo for talks on the ceasefire.

Israeli minister accuses HTS leader of being ‘wolf in sheep’s clothes’ because of his jihadist history

Israel’s deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel accused the head of the group that led the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in Syria of being “a wolf in (sheep’s) clothes” because of his jihadist history.

Speaking at a press conference, Haskel held up a photo collage of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the head of the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), showing him while a member of jihadist organisations, reports AFP.

“It is important to avoid falling for the attempt to whitewash jihadist (groups) in Syria. We know who they are and their true nature, even if they change their names, and we understand how dangerous they are to the West,” said Haskel.

“These are terrorist organisations and this is a wolf in (sheep’s) clothes.”

Jolani, who now uses his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa over his nom de guerre, fought for al-Qaida in Iraq in the aftermath of the 2003 US invasion. He later set up the al-Qaida subsidiary in Syria, the Al-Nusra Front, which for a period was allied with the Islamic State group.

However, Jolani later broke with and fought against both jihadist organisations and eventually rebranded Al-Nusra as the Islamist HTS.

Since taking Damascus earlier this month, Jolani and his group have pledged to protect religious minorities and denied having plans to impose strict Islamic rule. Jolani has also said “general exhaustion” in Syria meant it did not want another war.

Nevertheless, HTS remains proscribed by several western governments as a terrorist organisation and is under UN-backed sanctions.

Israeli lawmakers narrowly approved the country’s 2025 state budget in an initial vote.

The 59-57 vote in the Knesset – the Israeli parliament – to pass the wartime austerity budget in its first of three readings.

Total budget spending in 2025 will be 756 billion shekels ($210bn), with a deficit target set at 4.4% of gross domestic product. The budget includes spending cuts and tax increases of 37 billion shekels, which are needed to keep the deficit under control as war costs have soared. Spending on defence will be 108 billion shekels next year.

All three agencies have cut Israel’s credit rating this year due to war expenses that have pushed the budget deficit to near 8% of GDP, Reuters reported. The budget next goes to the Knesset finance and other committees, where it could face changes. It is not expected to be fully approved until at least January.

Israeli forces have detained at least 12 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank since last night, the Palestinian Authority’s Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said.

According to Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, the detentions were carried out in Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

These detentions were accompanied by assaults, threats against detainees and their families and the destruction of homes, Wafa reported.

It is estimated that over 12,100 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since last October.

Human rights groups and international organisations have alleged widespread abuse of inmates detained by Israel in raids in the West Bank.

They have described alleged abusive and humiliating treatment, including holding blindfolded and handcuffed detainees in cramped cages as well as beatings, intimidation and harassment.