Air traffic resumes at Damascus International Airport, and the Security Council calls for a political process

Agencies – New York – Damascus:

The first plane since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime took off on December 8, Wednesday, from Damascus Airport, heading to the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. The plane, an Airbus belonging to the national Syrian Airlines, carried 43 people; Among them are journalists.

Politically, the UN Security Council called for the implementation of an “inclusive and Syrian-led” political process, about ten days after the ousted President Bashar al-Assad fled Syria, stressing also the need to enable the Syrian people to “determine their future.”

In a statement issued unanimously by its fifteen members, including Russia, an ally of Assad, and the United States, the Council called on Syria and its neighbors to refrain from any actions that would undermine regional security. The Council said in its statement, “This political process should meet the legitimate aspirations of all Syrians, protect them all, and enable them to determine their future in a peaceful, independent and democratic manner.”

In their statement, Council members stressed “their strong commitment to Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity,” and called on all states to respect these principles. The UN Security Council also stressed in its statement “the need for Syria and its neighbors to mutually refrain from any action or intervention that would undermine each other’s security.”

The Council issued its statement after the UN envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, warned that despite the overthrow of Assad, “the conflict is not over yet” in Syria, in reference to the ongoing confrontations in the north of this country between factions supported by Türkiye and Kurdish fighters. Pedersen also called on Israel to “stop all settlement activities in the occupied Syrian Golan,” noting that lifting the sanctions imposed on Syria is essential to helping this country.