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STORY: UN / SYRIA
TRT: 03:23
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 17 JULY 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
17 JULY 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari addressing Council
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific,
Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“I reiterate the Secretary-General’s unequivocal condemnation of all violence against civilians, including all acts that fan the flames of sectarian tensions and rob the people of Syria of their opportunity for peace and reconciliation after fourteen years of brutal conflict.”
5. Wide shot, Khiari addressing Council
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific,
Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“Citing the violations against the Druze community and pledging to protect them, between 12 and 16 July, Israel resumed and intensified its airstrikes on Syrian territory. I echo the Secretary-General's condemnation of Israel’s escalatory airstrikes, including on Suweida, Daraa, and in the centre of the capital, Damascus. The strikes targeted the Damascus authorities’ forces and official buildings including the Ministry of Defence and the vicinity of the Presidential Palace, as well as the Mazzeh military airport.”
7. Wide shot, Khiari addressing Council
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific,
Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations:
“In addition to violating Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, Israel’s actions undermine efforts to build a new Syria at peace with itself and the region and further destabilize Syria at a sensitive time. I echo the Secretary-General’s condemnation of these developments. It is essential that both Israel and Syria uphold the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement to preserve the ceasefire between both parties, and refrain from any action that would further undermine it and the stability on the Golan.”
9. Wide shot, Syrian Ambassador Qusay al-Dahhak addressing Council
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Qusay al-Dahhak, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Syrian Arab Republic:
“Syria categorically rejects the pretexts used by the Israeli authorities to justify these acts of aggression. We affirm that such practices are merely an extension of the occupation’s systematic policies aimed at undermining Syria's stability and dragging it into conflict.”
11 Wide shot, al-Dahhak addressing Council
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Qusay al-Dahhak, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Syrian Arab Republic:
“Despite the gravity of the Israeli attacks, the Syrian leadership acted with utmost wisdom and responded to American, Arab, and Turkish mediation efforts, whom we thank. These efforts helped prevent the region from sliding into an open confrontation.”
13. Wide shot, Israeli Ambassador Brett Jonathan Miller addressing Council
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Brett Jonathan Miller, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Israel:
“In the book of Leviticus, God orders, ‘you shall not stand idly by the bloodshed of your fellow.’ This is not just a religious obligation, but a moral one. We will not stand idly by as our close brothers and sisters are being slaughtered. This moral obligation is enshrined as formal law in Israel's legal code. And for this very reason, Israel carried out these precise strikes against jihadist militants in southern Syria. Israel's position is clear; we have a commitment to preserve the southwestern region of Syria as a demilitarized area and to prevent the rise of terrorist threats along our border.”
15. Wide shot, end of Council session
Amid escalating intercommunal violence in Syria’s Suweida governorate, and Israel’s resumed and intensified airstrikes on Syrian territory, Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari today (17 Jul) called on Israel and Syria to “refrain from any action that would further undermine” the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement “and the stability on the Golan.”
Khiari reiterated the Secretary-General’s “unequivocal condemnation of all violence against civilians, including all acts that fan the flames of sectarian tensions and rob the people of Syria of their opportunity for peace and reconciliation after fourteen years of brutal conflict.”
The Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations also expressed condemnation at the Israeli airstrikes noting that they had “targeted the Damascus authorities’ forces and official buildings including the Ministry of Defence and the vicinity of the Presidential Palace, as well as the Mazzeh military airport.”
He said, “in addition to violating Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, Israel’s actions undermine efforts to build a new Syria at peace with itself and the region and further destabilize Syria at a sensitive time,” adding that it was “ essential that both Israel and Syria uphold the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement to preserve the ceasefire between both parties, and refrain from any action that would further undermine it and the stability on the Golan.”
Syrian Ambassador Qusay al-Dahhak told the Council that “Syria categorically rejects the pretexts used by the Israeli authorities to justify these acts of aggression,” adding that “such practices are merely an extension of the occupation’s systematic policies aimed at undermining Syria's stability and dragging it into conflict.”
Al-Dahhak said, “despite the gravity of the Israeli attacks, the Syrian leadership acted with utmost wisdom and responded to American, Arab, and Turkish mediation efforts, whom we thank. These efforts helped prevent the region from sliding into an open confrontation.”
For his part, Israeli Ambassador Brett Jonathan Miller quoted the book of Leviticus, and said “we will not stand idly by as our close brothers and sisters are being slaughtered” as this was a “moral obligation” enshrined as Israeli law.
He said, “for this very reason, Israel carried out these precise strikes against jihadist militants in southern Syria.”
“Israel's position is clear” Miller continued, “we have a commitment to preserve the southwestern region of Syria as a demilitarized area and to prevent the rise of terrorist threats along our border.”
Nearly 2,000 families have been displaced from areas impacted by violence in Suweida governorate and are currently sheltering in a dozen collective sites. Many are unable to return home due to damage, looting or destruction of their residences.
The health system in Suweida remains critically strained. Hospitals in neighbouring Dar’a governorate are also overwhelmed. These facilities are operating without power and facing severe supply shortages, with some patients transferred to Damascus. Reports indicate that at least two doctors in Suweida were killed during the recent clashes, and some health facilities have been used by armed groups, endangering patients, and staff.
The World Health Organization has dispatched 35 trauma and emergency surgery kits, enough for 1,750 interventions, but many remain undelivered due to access constraints. The interim health ministry has also mobilized medical supplies to be sent to the area.
