DAMASCUS, Syria — U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres appealed to the international community on Saturday to support the people of Syria and criticized Israel’s actions in the country’s south as he kicked off his first visit to the Arab nation as the U.N. chief, nearly two years after the fall of Syrian strongman Bashar Assad. Guterres ' visit is also the first by a U.N. secretary-general to the Syrian capital, Damascus, since 2009. Shortly after his arrival, Guterres held talks with Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, before touring the old quarter of Damascus and the famous Umayyad Mosque. The U.N. chief also visited the notorious Saydnaya military prison, a sprawling complex just north of Damascus that has become synonymous with some of the worst atrocities committed under the Assad family rule. Guterres’ visit comes as Syria is trying to recover from the civil war that broke out in March 2011 and killed nearly half a million people, causing widespread destruction that will cost tens of billions of dollars to rebuild. “I have just arrived in Damascus for a visit of solidarity,” Guterres posted on X at the start of his three-day visit. He added that the United Nations stands with Syria at this “pivotal moment.” “I appeal to the international community to spare no effort to support the people of Syria,” said Guterres, who is scheduled to visit the U.N. force deployed along the border with Israel. After taking power, al-Sharaa said he had no desire for a conflict with Israel. But Israel was suspicious of the new Islamist-led leadership and quickly moved to take control of the buffer zone. Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military facilities and periodic incursions into villages outside the buffer zone, which have sometimes led to violent confrontations with residents. Speaking about the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, a region considered occupied Syrian territory by the international community, Guterres said the U.N. recognizes “without limitations, that the Golan Heights belong to Syria.” Israel captured the Golan Heights during the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it in 1981. In 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the region, reversing more than a half-century of U.S. policy in the Middle East. “We will maintain firmly our position and our strong advocacy for the international community to recognize that what is Syrian is Syrian, and cannot be taken away,” Guterres told journalists during a joint new conference with Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani. Al-Shibani criticized Israel for violating Syria’s sovereignty saying that there can be no regional peace amid the continuation of Israeli military operations and occupation that form a “direct threat to the security of the region.” Guterres said Israeli violations of Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity must cease, saying that “what is happening in the region around the Golan Heights is totally unacceptable.” Since the five-decade Assad family rule came to an end in December 2024, when fighters led by gunmen — former insurgents and militants — loyal to al-Sharaa stormed Damascus, the nation has been struggling to recover from the war and the effects of crippling Western sanctions. While the United States and Europe have lifted many of the sanctions imposed Assad’s rule, the impact on the ground has so far been limited. Cuts to international aid have worsened living conditions for many. The U.N. estimates that 90 per cent of Syria’s population lives in poverty. An assessment last year by the World Bank said rebuilding Syria is expected to cost about US$216 billion.
