QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Conflicting parties in the war-torn Syria continue breaching ceasefire agreements passed by the United Nations (UN)
On November 6, Syrian government forces targeted Maram IDP camp in the western countryside of Idlib, northwest Syria, where more than 30 cluster bombs fell collectively, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
That coincided with four air raids by Russian warplanes against a jungle in the west of the city of Idlib.
Prior to that, Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria in the Khmeimim Air Base in Latakia announced that militants of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS – formerly al-Nusra Front) were preparing to attack IDP camps in Idlib and then accuse Russian and Syrian government forces of attacking humanitarian and civil facilities.
Such intensification comes weeks after the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Mr. Geir Pederson, affirmed the UN will press for an overall ceasefire in the country.
On August 23, the US State Department called on all parties to respect the ceasefire agreement on the border between Turkey and Syria.
UN Res.2042
On April 14, 2012 the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2042 (2012), “authorizing advance team to monitor ceasefire in Syria.”
The UN Res. 2042 authorized sending an advance team of up to 30 unarmed military observers to Syria “to liaise with the parties and to begin to report on the implementation of a full cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties.”
The Res. 2042 was the very first resolution adopted by the UN Security Council (UNSC) regarding Syria. Prior to that, China and Russian used to veto any resolution be passed. However, three Presidential Statements were issued by the UNSC regarding the situation in Syria.
In October 2011 and February 2012, Russia and China vetoed a draft resolution in the UNSC supporting a call made by the Arab League stipulating the Syrian President Bashar Assad step down and hand over power to his deputy.
In the aftermath of the decision passed by the Arab League to withdraw its observers from Syria and the appointment of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Anan to be a Joint Special Envoy of the UN and the Arab League and his success to reach a ceasefire agreement in the country on April 12, the UNSC passed the Res. 2042.
The UNSC stated its intention, if the cessation of violence was sustained, to establish immediately a UN supervision mission in Syria to monitor all relevant aspects of Mr. Annan’s plan, after consultations between the Secretary-General and the Syrian government. For that purpose, it requested a formal proposal by the Secretary-General, not later than April 18, 2012.
Calling on the parties to ensure the safety and free movement of the advance team in order to allow it to carry out its mandate, the UNSC stressed the primary responsibility of the Syrian government in that regard and to “allow immediate and unimpeded access of humanitarian personnel to all populations in need of assistance.”
UN Res. 2043
On April 21, 2012, the UNSC adopted Resolution 2043 (2012), by which it established the UN Supervision Mission in Syria for an initial period of 90 days with a mandate “to monitor the cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties, and to monitor and support the full implementation of the six-point plan endorsed by the Council in its resolution 2042 (2012).”
Mr. Annan’s six-point plan sought to stop “the violence and the killing, give access to humanitarian agencies, release detainees, and kick-start an inclusive political dialogue.”
That was followed on July 21, 2012 by Res. 2059 hereby the UNSC unanimously agreed to renew the mandate of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria for a final period of 30 days.
On September 21, 2016, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the international community to push for the revival of the ceasefire.
On September 14, 2022, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (IICI) on Syria warned against the return of confrontations to the war-torn country with “several frontlines across the country flared up in recent months.”
That came in a report, in which Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, chair of the UN’s Syria commission, told journalists in Geneva, “Syria cannot afford a return to larger-scale fighting, but that is where it may be heading.”
Pinheiro told the journalist that the UN thought to some extent that war in Syria ended.