‘Assad Has Won’: Reported Remark Fuels Outcry Over UN Syria Mediation
Rizik Alabi reports from Damascus that Geir O. Pedersen has resigned as the United Nations special envoy to Syria after nearly five years defined by stalemate, a move announced during a UN Security Council session that instantly sharpened questions about what comes next. Pedersen’s tenure centered on the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva, but rounds bogged down over agendas and venues, and never reached sustained, text-based bargaining. He worked off United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254—call it the peace plan’s spine—which outlines a Syrian-led transition, a new constitution, and free elections with the UN as mediator; nearly a decade on, none of that advanced.
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Opposition figures point to a perceived tilt toward Damascus, citing a 2024 comment attributed to Pedersen—“Assad has won”—as proof the process drifted from pressure to accommodation. Analysts quoted by The Media Line argue the envoy favored risk-averse “trust-building” over hard negotiations, and they fault a structure that let procedural fights replace substance. His exit joins a line of frustrated departures—Kofi Annan, Lakhdar Brahimi, and Staffan de Mistura—feeding a wider view that without real buy-in from power brokers, no envoy can unlock the door.
Timing adds intrigue: Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, while Bashar Assad’s December 2024 flight to Russia still looms over the landscape. Fourteen years into war, Syrians interviewed by Alabi focus less on names and more on whether states backing the conflict will shift toward a deal that enforces 2254. Read Alabi’s full report for the stakes around a possible successor, where talks might be rebuilt, and whether the UN can move the Syria track from statements to outcomes.
