Syria

Briefing the Security Council today on Mali, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said that there had been progress in the implementation of the peace agreement, including with the establishment of interim authorities in a number of cities.  However, he noted that there remain delays and that the gains are fragile.

The High Representative for Disarmament Affairs briefed the Security Council today on the alleged chemical weapons attack in Khan Shaykhun, southern rural Idleb, Syria.  If confirmed, he said, this would be the largest single chemical weapons attack in Syria since the Ghouta attack in August 2013.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres' remarks to the opening plenary session of the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference, in Brussels today:

The reported use of chemical weapons in north-western Syria, if confirmed, would constitute the largest single such attack in that war-torn country since 2013, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs told the Security Council today, as members weighed a draft resolution to be tabled by France, United Kingdom and the United States.

Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien told the Brussels Conference on Syria today that humanitarian workers cannot stop indiscriminate attacks, sieges and forced displacements, but will continue to provide a lifeline to millions in need, including through regular programmes, cross-line, cross-border and air operations.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Secretary-General took notice with disappointment and alarm of the decision by Israel to build a new settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  He condemns all unilateral actions that, like the present one, threaten peace and undermine the two-State solution.

As the possibility of famine looms, more children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, cholera or acute watery diarrhoea in Somalia and the number receiving food aid more than doubled in January and February from the same period in 2016, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Amid hope that 2017 would bring noticeable improvements in the level of humanitarian access in Syria, the ability of the United Nations to reach millions in need was no better than this time in 2016, the Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council today.

Parties to the conflict in Syria have reportedly reached an agreement to evacuate people from Madaya and Zabadani in Rural Damascus, and Foah and Kefraya in Idleb, known as the Four Towns.  The United Nations was not part of the negotiations or the agreement, but is monitoring developments closely.