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STORY: UN / SYRIA
TRT: 05:26
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 17 JUNE 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Aerial shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
17 JUNE 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council, Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Najat Rochdi on screen
3. Med shot, Syrian Ambassador Qusay al-Dahhak
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Najat Rochdi, Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria:
“Syria simply cannot withstand another wave of instability. The risks of further escalation in the region are not hypothetical - they are immediate, severe, and risk unravelling the fragile progress toward peace and recovery in Syria.”
5. Wide shot, Council, Rochdi on screen
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Najat Rochdi, Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria:
“The protection and safety of all components of Syrian society and the prevention of incitement of communal tensions are absolute cornerstones for stability. During the reporting period, sporadic violent incidents continued in Homs, Hama, the coastal areas, and other regions, including killings, kidnappings, and infringements on individual liberties.”
7. Med shot, Council members, Rochdi on screen
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Najat Rochdi, Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria:
“The southwest saw a serious incident of Israeli artillery fire and airstrikes on military sites and weapons depots across southern Syria, in response to a rare incident of small rocket fires out of Syria into the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan – claimed by two groups unaffiliated with the interim authorities. The interim authorities denied any involvement in the rocket fire. Last week, there were Israeli incursions, arrests, and drone strikes in Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. These attacks are unacceptable and must cease.”
9. Wide shot, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya addressing Council
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy
Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“While the reduction in conflict and growing engagement with international partners are opening new prospects for investing in Syria’s future – we must not forget that three quarters of the population still need humanitarian relief right now. Security remains volatile in parts of the country – including in the coast, the south and the north east – where attacks continue to affect civilians and humanitarian operations. Over 7 million people remain displaced, including many newly uprooted by recent violence.”
11. Med shot, United States Ambassador Dorothy Shea addressing Council
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dorothy Shea, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“The United States is working towards ceasing US sanctions on Syria. On May 23, Secretary of State Rubio waived sanctions under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act for 180 days, and the US Department of the Treasury issued General License 25, authorizing a broad range of transactions and investments in Syria. We have already begun to see the impact of these actions, most notably in the signing of a 7-billion-dollar deal under which the United States, Qatari, and Turkish firms would invest in Syria’s power sector.”
13. Wide shot, al-Dahhak addressing Council
14. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Qusay al-Dahhak, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Syria:
“Israel's repeated attacks on Syria remain a stumbling block to our stability effort. Israel continues its destructive policies and acts of aggression by seeking to strengthen its illegal presence on Syrian territory. They are building up military installations and launching numerous attacks. The last of such attacks was in the town of Beit Jinn in rural Damascus, last Thursday, which led to the death of a young man and the abduction of others. On the same day, last Thursday, your august Council heard a briefing from the Department of Political Affairs and Peacebuilding on Israeli practices and the systematic violations committed by the occupation forces against the people of the areas in which they have infiltrated. Such acts are a flagrant violation of the UN charter, Security Council resolutions and the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.”
15. Wide shot, Iranian Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani addressing Council
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Amir-Saeid Iravani, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Iran:
“We strongly condemn continued Israeli military aggression in the occupied Golan, which violates the UN charter, all the relevant Security Council resolutions and gravely threatens the regional peace and stability. We urge the Council not to remain silent in the face of the repeated Israeli aggression, which represents the systematic violation of international law. These acts are not isolated. They are part of the broader pattern of unlawful use of force, now extending to continued attacks against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
17. Wide shot, end of Council session
Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, Najat Rochdi, today (17 Jun) told the Security Council that “Syria simply cannot withstand another wave of instability, noting that “the risks of further escalation in the region are not hypothetical - they are immediate, severe, and risk unravelling the fragile progress toward peace and recovery in Syria.”
Rochdi told the Council that Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, continued his meetings with Syrian officials in Damascus, focussing on the importance of a genuinely inclusive and credible political transition in the country.
She said, “the protection and safety of all components of Syrian society and the prevention of incitement of communal tensions are absolute cornerstones for stability,” and pointed out that, “sporadic violent incidents continued in Homs, Hama, the coastal areas, and other regions, including killings, kidnappings, and infringements on individual liberties.”
The Special Envoy said, “the southwest saw a serious incident of Israeli artillery fire and airstrikes on military sites and weapons depots across southern Syria, in response to a rare incident of small rocket fires out of Syria into the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan – claimed by two groups unaffiliated with the interim authorities.”
She said, the interim authorities had “denied any involvement in the rocket fire,” and added that “last week, there were Israeli incursions, arrests, and drone strikes in Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside.”
Rochdi said, “these attacks are unacceptable and must cease.”
For her part, Joyce Msuya, the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that the UN and partners continue to provide critical assistance to the people in need.
Msuya said, “while the reduction in conflict and growing engagement with international partners are opening new prospects for investing in Syria’s future – we must not forget that three quarters of the population still need humanitarian relief right now. Security remains volatile in parts of the country – including in the coast, the south and the north east – where attacks continue to affect civilians and humanitarian operations. Over 7 million people remain displaced, including many newly uprooted by recent violence.”
She underscored the need for more funding, as the humanitarian appeal for Syria has received only 260 million US dollars, just 14 percent of the requirements for the current period.
United States Ambassador Dorothy Shea told the Council that the US is working towards ceasing sanctions on Syria.
