DAMASCUS(National times)- A United Nations Security Council delegation made its first-ever visit to Syria on Thursday, pledging the international community’s support for the country days before the anniversary of Bashar al-Assad’s ousting. “We reiterated our clear support for sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity of Syria,” Slovenian UN ambassador Samuel Zbogar told a press conference in Damascus. “Our united message was simple and clear: We recognise your country’s aspirations and challenges, and the path to a better future of new Syria will be Syria-led and Syria owned,” said the diplomat, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the UN body. “The international community stands ready to support you whatever you believe that we can be helpful,” he said, adding: “We want to help build a bridge to this better future for all Syrians.” The delegation met with Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a presidency statement said, publishing images of the meeting. While the UN works to reestablish itself in Syria, the Security Council recently lifted sanctions on Sharaa, a former jihadist whose forces led the offensive that ousted Assad on December 8 last year. The UN has urged an inclusive transition in the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional country after nearly 14 years of civil war. Zbogar said the delegation also met communities from the Syrian coast and southern Sweida province, where sectarian violence this year killed saw hundreds killed from the country’s Alawite and Druze minority communities respectively. He said they also met with Syrian committees investigating those events, as well as the country’s commission for missing persons, religious leaders and other figures.

‘HISTORIC MOMENT’

The day’s discussions included issues from justice and reconciliation to political inclusivity, reconstruction, economic development and counterterrorism, “as well as the need for Syria not to be the source of threat to the security of other countries”, Zbogar said. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said the visit represented “a historic moment for rebuilding trust, with the support of the international community for the Syrian people”. State news agency SANA said the delegation also visited Damascus’s historic Old City and the heavily damaged suburb of Jobar. The diplomats are to visit neighbouring Lebanon on Friday and Saturday. Zbogar had said Monday that “the visit to Syria and Lebanon is the first official visit of the Security Council to the Middle East in six years, the first visit to Syria ever”. The trip comes “at a crucial time for the region” and for both countries, Zbogar had said, noting the new authorities’ efforts towards Syria’s transition as well as a year-old ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and militant group Hezbollah “which we see daily that is being challenged”. He noted that “there’s still a bit of lack of trust in the UN-Syria relationship, which we try to breach with this visit”. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday that “we very much hope that the visit will increase the dialogue between the United Nations and Syria.”