(20 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria – 20 February 2025
1. Wide of U.N. special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, speaking
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Geir Pedersen, U.N. special envoy for Syria:
“We need to work on lifting the sanctions regime and of course, what I’m hoping is that, with a truly new inclusive government in place on 1st March, this will help us in lifting also sanctions.”
3. Various Pedersen speaking
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Geir Pedersen, U.N. special envoy for Syria:
“This is about developing a new social contract for Syria, so, obviously, (it is) very important that all segments of the Syrian society is part of that process. And this is also what we want to see with the national conference, that all Syrians are feeling, that they can begin input, that their advice is heard, and that there is a real dialogue that’s seen what will then hopefully be a new inclusive transitional government and the Syrian people, through the national dialogue, and then we will see how the national dialogue will develop.”
5. Mid of Pedersen speaking
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Geir Pedersen, U.N. special envoy for Syria:
“I think the important thing is not, of course, whether it is three months or not, but it is whether they will deliver on what they have said all along, that this is going to be an inclusive process where all Syrians will be included.”
7. Close of Pedersen’s hands
8. Pedersen speaking
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Geir Pedersen, U.N. special envoy for Syria:
“It’s very important that the new structures of the state are coming in place quickly, and that there is an offer to those who are no longer in service of the army or the security services, that there are other job opportunities and that people do not feel that they are excluded from the future of Syria.”
10. Mid of Pedersen speaking
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Geir Pedersen, U.N. special envoy for Syria:
“It’s important that Israel is now returning to the status quo ante and that they will withdraw from the territories that were occupied since then. I’m hopeful that it should be possible to find a solution to this and we will, of course, continue to go between the Syrian authorities and the Syrian government.”
12. Pedersen speaking
STORYLINE:
The U.N. special envoy for Syria said Thursday that the coming weeks will be crucial in determining the country’s future following the ouster of former President Bashar Assad.
“What I’m hoping is that with a truly new inclusive government in place on 1st March, this will help us in lifting sanctions” imposed on Syria by western countries, Geir Pedersen told The Associated Press in an interview during a visit to Damascus.
After Assad was toppled in a lightning rebel offensive in December, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the main former rebel group now in control of Syria, set up an interim administration comprising mainly members of its “salvation government” that had ruled in northwestern Syria.
The country’s de facto authorities said at the time that a new government would be set up through an inclusive process by March.
In January, former HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa was named Syria’s interim president after a meeting of most of the country’s former rebel factions.
In recent weeks, a committee has been holding meetings in different parts of Syria in preparation for a national dialogue conference, the date of which has not yet been announced, but which is supposed to serve as a precursor to the formation of a new government.
AP video shot by Ghaith Alsayed
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