Guterres set to make first UN chief visit to Syria since war

António Guterres arrived in Damascus on Saturday for the first visit by a serving United Nations secretary-general to Syria since 2009 and met President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the People’s Palace. The three-day trip is being watched as a test of what, if anything, the UN chief can extract on aid access, refugee returns, detainees and accountability, and whether Syria is being normalized before those disputes are resolved.

The United Nations said Guterres described Syria as a “moment of possibility” and said the country had an opening to build “a future that is more stable, more inclusive and more prosperous for all Syrians.” He framed the visit as one of solidarity at a pivotal moment, a message aimed at a country still wrestling with the legacy of war, economic collapse and political isolation.

The meeting with al-Sharaa carried its own diplomatic weight. The Syrian president had been under UN Security Council sanctions until last year, making the encounter a visible marker of how far Damascus has moved in its efforts to re-engage with international institutions. Syria has also been trying to rebuild ties with Arab neighbors, while governments that once backed different sides of the war continue to insist that accountability and substantive political progress must come before a full return to normal relations.

The trip comes after a sharp political break in Syria. A coalition of armed opposition groups led by Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s government on Dec. 8, 2024, ending more than 50 years of Baath party rule. After that fall, Guterres said there were “signs of hope” in Syria, and the new visit puts the UN chief inside a transition still defined by missing people, detention cases and the search for evidence.

Guterres was expected to address Syria’s new Parliament on July 27 and to visit a UN peacekeeping force, giving the trip a concrete institutional agenda beyond ceremony. Human Rights Watch says accountability efforts require safeguarding evidence from mass graves and government records and archives, a reminder that Syria’s return to the diplomatic stage will be judged not only by meetings in Damascus but by whether it produces access, answers and political movement on the ground.