UN Relief Chief says Syria could be the "success story" the world needs now

Remarks at Daily Press Briefing by Tom Fletcher, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian and Emergency Relief Coordinator 

New York, 2, April 2026

As [United Nations Development Programme Administrator] Alexander [De Croo] says, we’re visiting the region under the cloud of the escalating regional conflict.

I started the week in Lebanon and saw the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the House, also made site visits to spend time with Syrian and Lebanese refugees, but also with humanitarian workers who come under such attack in Lebanon – the number and the scale of those attacks is devastating.

And you may have heard me brief the Security Council from Beirut about the importance of respect for international humanitarian law, the importance of protecting humanitarians, especially, well, all humanitarians, but notably, at the moment, medics and paramedics who are coming under such attack.

And, of course, the importance of de-escalation, and that means an end, as you’ve heard from the Secretary-General earlier today, of Hezbollah’s rocket fire indiscriminately into Israel and Israel’s devastating military action in Lebanon – one in five people in Lebanon is displaced right now.

I saw for myself enormous destruction - the impact of coercive displacement, and came away with two real concerns, which I’ve shared with the Security Council.

One, that we may be facing the prospect, and from the sound of the statements being made by some Israeli ministers, it’s a real danger of a fresh occupation, of a fresh occupied territory in southern Lebanon.

But also, I came away with a real concern about national cohesion and the importance of all Lebanese parties pulling together in this moment of real fragility and concern, as so many people are on the move.

And then here to Syria to join Alexander, I hope this is a living demonstration of UN80 in action. The Secretary-General has called for agencies to work together much more closely, and here we are, I hope, demonstrating that UN80 is about looking at more common premises, more common supply chains, more common procurement, but also more common planning and strategising.

And we’ve arrived, as Alexander says, at the moment of actual, of genuine hope for Syria. We were able to discuss that with the President earlier today. I think we’re all conscious of the need to keep Syria out of that wider regional crisis.

But there’s potential now for Syria to move from being an importer of problems from the region to an exporter of genuine solutions and stability, although the humanitarian needs are still very high – almost 16 million people need humanitarian support right now. We have to clear the mines, as Alexander has mentioned.

There has been real progress in the last 15 months since I was here in December 2024 – progress that has defied a lot of predictions and many expectations, and we have to build on that progress now, which means we accelerate the humanitarian work that we’re doing, including that vital mine clearance, and we launched today our 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan.

But it also means, very importantly, as Alexander has described, this transition, this recalibration, as we phase down the humanitarian response and phase up the development, resilience, long-term recovery response.

And as part of that today, has really driven home to us the way in which we can work in partnership with the Government, and that can give us much more confidence as we move through the gears and into that recovery phase of this work.

While the humanitarians are here, we’re, of course, working aligned with our humanitarian principles, neutrality and independence.

We’re prioritising hard as part of the Humanitarian Reset.

We’re ensuring that more resources go to local actors.

We’re building up our local in-country leadership.

We’re delivering more efficiently, getting rid of the bureaucracy and the inefficiency, the duplication in the system.

And we’re, of course, ensuring that everything we do supports an inclusive political process.

This has been a key message from both of us in meetings today.

And, of course, ensuring that the vital role of women and girls at the center of Syria’s recovery is supported.

As Alexander says, the world needs a success story right now, and I think we’ve both seen today and both feel growing confidence that Syria can continue to be that success story, even amid such a bleak, dark moment for the region.