I want to inform the UN Security Council that I have informed the Secretary-General (António Guterres) that I want to leave my post, said Pedersen at a council meeting on the situation in Syria.
Guterres accepted Pedersen's request.
The 69-year-old Pedersen has had an active international role in Syria, in connection with the prolonged civil war that devastated the country and the sudden revolt that overthrew the feared dictator Bashir al-Assad and his regime in December 2024.
Instability and uncertainty about the future prevail in the country since the Islamist movement Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by the former militant leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, took power.
Damascus and the Islamist transitional government want to try to show the world that a new era awaits Syria – but conflicts and outbreaks of violence continue to shake the country.
