BEIRUT: Syria’s government and opposition in the war-torn country have agreed to start drafting constitutional reforms, the UN Syria envoy announced Sunday, a major step after a nine-month hiatus of talks and several fruitless rounds.
UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen didn’t say what was behind the agreement or offer details of what comes next. The drafting sessions formally begin Monday.
Pedersen met Sunday with the co-chairs of a committee which includes figures from fourth-term President Bashar Assad’s government, as well as exiles and civil society representatives. The two sat together for the first time to discuss how to proceed, and plans for the week ahead, Pedersen said.
Thirty representatives divided between the two sides, along with 15 members of civil society, will be meeting with Pedersen in Geneva until Friday.
“I have been negotiating between the parties to establish a consensus on how we are going to move forward. I am very pleased to say we have reached such consensus,” Pedersen told reporters, appealing to all parties to maintain the spirit.
“My appeal for the 45 (members) is that we work as we have agreed to, and that we now start the drafting process of the constitutional committee,” he said.
The last round of talks ended in January without progress. Pedersen announced late September an agreement on “methodology” for a sixth round. It’s based on three pillars: respect for rules of procedure, the submission of texts of “basic constitutional principles” ahead of the meeting, and regular meetings of the co-chairs with him before and during the meeting.
Syria’s 10-year conflict has killed over 350,000 people and displaced half the country’s pre-war 23 million population, including more than 5 million refugees mostly in neighboring countries.
At a Russia-hosted Syrian peace conference in January 2018, an agreement was reached to form a 150-member committee to draft a new constitution.
The 2012 United Nations’ road map to peace in Syria calls for the drafting of a new constitution and ends with UN-supervised elections with all Syrians, including members of the diaspora, eligible to participate.
After the fifth round of negotiations failed in late January, Pedersen hinted the Syrian government delegation was to blame for the lack of progress.
The United States and several Western allies accused Assad of deliberately stalling and delaying the drafting of a new constitution until after presidential elections to avoid a UN-supervised vote, as called for by the Security Council.
In late May, Assad was re-elected in what the government called a landslide for a fourth seven-year term. The West and his opposition described the election as illegitimate and a sham.
Pedersen said the need for “a genuine intra-Syrian dialogue” was reportedly discussed by Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin recently in Moscow, “and through this, a genuine process of Syrian political reform.”
Syrian constitutional committee agrees to start drafting constitutional reform: UN envoy
https://arab.news/6ct6g
Syrian constitutional committee agrees to start drafting constitutional reform: UN envoy
- Syrian government and opposition co-chair meeting for first time, agree to launch process for drafting constitutional reform
- Pedersen says the Syrian Constitutional Committee is an important contribution to the political process but will not be able to solve the political crisis itself
Trump claims Iran working on missiles that could hit US
- Trump says his preference is diplomacy, but would never allow Tehran to have a nuclear weapon
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed Iran is seeking to develop missiles that can strike the United States and accused Tehran of working to rebuild a nuclear program that was targeted by American strikes last year.
The United States and Iran are engaged in high-stakes negotiations over Iran’s atomic program and other issues including missiles, with Trump saying he prefers diplomacy but is willing to use force if talks fail.
“They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America,” Trump said during his State of the Union address.
In 2025, the US Defense Intelligence Agency said Iran could potentially develop a militarily viable intercontinental ballistic missile by 2035 “should Tehran decide to pursue the capability,” but did not say if it had made such a decision.
Tehran currently possesses short- and medium-range ballistic missiles with ranges that top out at about 1,850 miles (3,000 kilometers), according to the US Congressional Research Service.
The continental United States is more than 6,000 miles from Iran’s western tip.
Washington and Tehran have concluded two rounds of talks aimed at reaching a deal on Iran’s nuclear program to replace the agreement that Trump tore up during his first term in office.
‘Preference’ is diplomacy
The United States has repeatedly called for zero uranium enrichment by Iran but has also sought to address its ballistic missile program and support for armed groups in the region — demands Iran has rejected.
Iran has also repeatedly rejected that it is pursuing nuclear weapons.
Trump ordered strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last year, claiming afterward that Tehran’s atomic program was obliterated.
On Tuesday, he said Iran wants “to start all over again,” and that it is “at this moment again pursuing their sinister nuclear ambitions.”
Trump has sent a massive US military force to the Middle East, deploying two aircraft carriers as well as more than a dozen other ships, a large number of warplanes and other assets to the region.
He has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran if negotiations fail to reach a new agreement. Talks with Tehran are currently set to continue on Thursday.
“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy but one thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
The US president’s speech primarily focused on domestic issues, making no mention at all of China — Washington’s primary military and economic rival — and only briefly referring to Russia.
Trump said he was working to end the bloody conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and repeated his inaccurate claim that he had brought eight other wars to an end since returning to office in January 2025.
He also hailed NATO’s decision to spend five percent of gross domestic product on defense — a move made under heavy pressure from Trump and his administration.
