Russia and the US are maintaining contact over the worsening situation in Syria, Moscow’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, has said. Hundreds of civilians have reportedly been killed in renewed fighting in the war-torn country over the past several days.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Nebenzia revealed that all the members of the UN Security Council share a similar stance on the deteriorating situation in the Middle Eastern country, noting that Moscow and Washington are in contact on the issue.
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“The council was united in what we discussed today, everyone spoke out. I wouldn’t say with one voice, but everyone emphasized the same elements: the inadmissibility of what happened, the mass murders, and violence,” Nebenzia said.
Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was concerned about the surge of violence in Syria and called for swift action. “Many nations and international organizations, including the UN, share our concern,” Peskov stated.
The Syrian government fell in late 2024, after militant forces opposing then-President Bashar Assad launched a surprise offensive and took control over Damascus in a matter of days. The nation’s military collapsed during the offensive and has been replaced by new security forces composed of assorted former jihadist groups.
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The situation in coastal Syria deteriorated last week, with clashes between the new security forces and local militias, described in Western media as Assad loyalists. The violence has been centered in areas populated by Alawites, an ethnoreligious group the former president belongs to. While commonly described as an Islamic sect, Alawites are regarded negatively by hardline Islamists, who believe them to be apostates subject to extermination.
Numerous extremely graphic videos circulating online purport to show militants with the new security forces torturing and executing civilians, including women and children, in broad daylight. At least 1,300 people, including more than 800 civilians, have reportedly been killed in the cities of Latakia and Tartus over the past three days. Syria’s de-facto leader and former head of the jihadist force HTS, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has condemned the violence and promised to hold those harming civilians accountable.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has denounced “radical Islamist terrorists, including foreign jihadis” for massacring members of Syrian minority groups, including Christians, Druze, Alawites and Kurds. The EU has blamed the situation on “pro-Assad elements” attacking “interim government forces” and condemned “all violence against civilians,” without attributing the killings to any party.