‘International community needs to get behind Syrian people’, says UN

The UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, addressed the Security Council earlier from Damascus where he met Syria’s new leadership.

We began by asking him what he made of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the HTS rebel group.

Tom Fletcher: I had a good session with him. He’s quiet, softly spoken. He was very thoughtful. He listened very carefully. We talked a lot about the challenges of governing. I used to work in Number 10 under three prime ministers, so I’ve seen how difficult that is, even in normal times and even without an inheritance like the one that he has. So I was encouraged and by the end of the meeting, he’d agreed to give us what we were hoping for. We’ve got a better, more permissive environment now for our aid operations than we ever had under Bashar al-Assad.

Matt Frei: So from your dealings with him, he doesn’t sound like a terrorist, and yet he’s still on the terrorist list amongst a number of countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. Do you think he should be off that list?

Tom Fletcher: That’s a matter for those countries. The great joy of my job is that I can go anywhere, talk to anyone to get the job done. I’m here to get the aid through, and that’s the mission. And that means talking to whoever is on the ground and can help us to do that.

Matt Frei: But there are so many factions inside Syria, they all seem to be working together at the moment. There are so many outside powers who have an interest in Syria, not least Israel and, of course, Turkey. From your experience of these kinds of situations, is there any way that this does not all end in tears?

Tom Fletcher: I’m an optimist and I’m also a former diplomat. And George Mitchell said of diplomacy: ‘It’s 799 days of failure and one day of success.’ So I believe that in the end, we do get there. Now, there’s a definite moment of hope here. I was walking through the old city of Damascus last night and meeting Syrians, and they are scared. They are daunted. They are worried about whether the government will truly be as inclusive as they hope it will be. There are concerns about whether it really will ensure that the rights of women and girls are protected, as I’ve been insisting that they must be. But they’re also feeling this sense of cautious hope and liberation after decades of this oppressive Assad regime. So I think there’s something there to work with. And I think that having failed Syria for so long, that we as the international community should get behind the Syrian people now. And that means, by the way, that all those various hands, those various countries that are meddling in Syria, that are trying to take advantage of the situation, should now back off and create the space for Syrians themselves to chart their own independent course.

Matt Frei: And do you think that a functioning, transparent, accountable, maybe even democratic society can be born from the ruins and the atrocities and the brutality of the last 50 years?

Tom Fletcher: In the end, all democracies have come from some pretty bad situations. I know from talking to people that that’s what they want, that they feel an optimism that they can do it. Now, it is not going to be easy. And I’m not going to sit here and be starry eyed that we’ll be having some sort of Swedish-style democracy in the next couple of weeks. It will take real time and real effort, but it’s what the Syrian people deserve and we should be giving them all the support they need, including my work delivering that humanitarian support to get the country through this period and get it rebuilt.

Matt Frei: Finally, and very briefly, we’re hearing tonight that there might be some sort of ceasefire deal, hostages, for a cessation of fighting in Gaza. What are you hearing?

Tom Fletcher: I’m just picking up those reports as well. And you know, as ever encouraging, if true, that there’s that wider prospect for a normalisation and a ceasefire deal. We’ll be ready if it happens. Delivering aid at the moment is incredibly difficult. And anything that helps us save lives in such a grim situation will be hugely welcome.