syria-un-20120904 1

Secretary-General's remarks to the General Assembly on Syria New York, 4 September 2012 I thank you for this opportunity to report on the situation in Syria and the implementation of General Assembly resolution 66/253-B, adopted on 3 August. It is also our first opportunity to welcome the new Joint United Nations and Arab League Special Representative for Syria, Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi. I know he is counting on your collective support for his difficult mission. We also welcome the appointment of Mr. Nasser Al-Kidwa as his Deputy. I have just returned from Iran, where I took part in the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. I engaged in frank dialogue with the Iranian leadership on a number of important issues, including the situation in Syria. I also had in-depth discussions with Mr. Nabil El Araby, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, and met with Prime Minister al-Halqui and Foreign Minister al-Moualem of Syria. I thanked them for the Syrian Government’s support for Mr. Brahimi’s appointment, and we discussed the need for a small liaison office now that UNSMIS is drawing down. I thanked all the countries who contributed personnel. They performed with courage and dedication in the most difficult and dangerous circumstances. While in Tehran, I repeated my consistent demand that all sides must cease all forms of violence. In particular, the Government must halt its use of heavy weapons. I also expressed my deep concern about the humanitarian situation, and stressed the urgent need for the Syrian Government to authorize more international humanitarian organizations to work with us inside the country. United Nations agencies will need to expand their presence in Syria, too. The humanitarian situation is grave and deteriorating, both in Syria and in neighbours affected by the crisis. Humanitarian organizations continue to scale up their response in both Government and opposition-held areas, and in neighbouring countries