UN chief Guterres arrives in Damascus for historic visit to Syria’s transitional government
Antonio Guterres begins three-day tour to meet President Ahmed al-Sharaa, address the transitional parliament, and inspect UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights amid ongoing security challenges.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Damascus on Saturday for a three-day visit, marking the first time a UN chief has set foot in Syria since Ban Ki-moon in 2009. The visit underscores the international community’s focus on the transitional authorities led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who ousted Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 following a decade and a half of civil war that claimed more than half a million lives.
Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani received Guterres and his delegation at Damascus International Airport, according to state news agency SANA. The UN secretary-general is expected to reaffirm support for Syria’s transition, emphasising the need to lay foundations for a stable, inclusive, and prosperous future for all Syrians, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated ahead of the arrival.
Guterres is scheduled to meet President al-Sharaa, representatives of civil society, and the transitional parliament, which held its first session earlier this month. The UN chief will also address the parliament and meet with non-governmental organisations supporting women’s issues. These engagements follow a landmark visit by al-Sharaa to the UN General Assembly last year, where he became the first Syrian president in decades to address the body.
The visit comes against a backdrop of significant sectarian violence that has tested the new government’s commitment to protecting religious minorities. Nearly 1,500 Alawites were killed in the coastal region last year, followed by the deaths of hundreds of Druze in the south. Guterres has expressed alarm over these incidents and called for accountability, while UN special envoy Claudio Cordone reiterated the organisation’s commitment to supporting the Syrian government and people during this defining period.
A key component of the itinerary involves a visit to a UN peacekeeping force stationed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Since Assad’s overthrow, Israel has occupied the buffer zone and conducted strikes deeper into Syrian territory. Despite tensions, Israel and Syria’s new authorities have agreed to an intelligence-sharing mechanism, although this has not halted Israeli military actions, which have drawn condemnation from the UN and other international actors.
