SYRIA: U.N. monitors who were based in eastern Deir al-Zor province arrive in Damascus ahead of leaving Syria now that the mandate for the observer mission has expired

Record ID: 281347

  • Title: SYRIA: U.N. monitors who were based in eastern Deir al-Zor province arrive in Damascus ahead of leaving Syria now that the mandate for the observer mission has expired
  • Date: 21st August 2012
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF MONITORS MOVING LUGGAGE AND ENTERING ELEVATOR INTERIOR OF HOTEL WITH IMAGES OF SYRIAN PRESIDENT BASHAR AL-ASSAD AND HIS FATHER HAFEZ AL-ASSAD
  • Embargoed: 5th September 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA8LKZ41E6RI8JNR6ABNZ6BDFVK
  • Story Text: Fourteen U.N. observers who had been based in eastern Deir al-Zor province left their positions and arrived in the capital Damascus on Monday (August 20) on their way out of the country.
    Most United Nations military observers have already left Damascus after a four-month mission in which they became helpless spectators of Syria's spiralling conflict, instead of monitoring a ceasefire between President Bashar al-Assad's forces and rebels.
    Seven U.N. cars were seen leaving a Damascus hotel on Monday morning, carrying some of the last members of a mission which at its height deployed 300 observers across the country.
    The unarmed monitors suspended operations in June after coming under fire and most have already left the country, leaving a small 'liaison office' in Damascus in case a chance for a political settlement to the bloodshed ever emerges.

    "Our mission failed because the two sides did not abide by their commitments," one uniformed U.N. observer, who declined to be named, said at the Damascus hotel.
    Battling a 17-month-old uprising against his family's 42-year rule, Assad has used fighter jets and helicopter gunships to pound rebel strongholds. Insurgents have stepped up their attacks, hitting tanks, military convoys and security buildings.
    The mandate of the monitoring mission, known as UNSMIS, expired on Sunday (August 19) night after diplomats at the United Nations said conditions for continuing operations had not been met. The last monitors are expected to be out of the country by Friday (August 24).
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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