Security Council extends critical stabilisation force in Syria

The 15-member Security Council unanimously adopted a draft resolution on Thursday renewing the mandate of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) for six months.

Resolution 2824 (2026) extends until 31 December 2026 the mandate of UNDOF, one of the UN’s longest-standing peacekeeping missions.

The Security Council established the mission following the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement between Israel and Syria, which ended the Yom Kippur War.

Its mandate is to maintain the ceasefire between the parties and supervise the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces as well as the areas of separation and limitation in the Golan.

“Syria today is among the most stable countries in the region,” Ambassador Ibrahim Olabi of Syria told the Council.

His country is engaged in reconstruction, strengthening relations with Council members and cooperating with partners on issues including chemical weapons, terrorism and regional security, he said.

“The change in Syria that Israel appears to have feared is precisely this: the disappearance of a regime that practiced torture and deployed chemical weapons against its own people,” he stated.

The Security Council had heard briefings on Monday, apprising members of the situation on the ground amid fragile security in restive southern Syria as Damascus tackles inflation and efforts to advance its Peoples Assembly following elections last year.

“Syria’s political transition is at a critical phase, with opportunity and fragility existing side-by-side,” the UN Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, Claudio Cordone, said in his briefing.

“The scale of the challenges facing this transitional parliament cannot be overstated,” he said. “New laws need to be debated and adopted, executive actions need to be reviewed, diverse voices must be heard and progress made on the transition.”