Security Forces Injured in Clashes with 'Outlaw Groups' in As-Suwayda Governorate
Ten members of Syria’s Internal Security Forces were injured in clashes with local armed groups in the Suwayda governorate in the south of the country. Syrian state television reported that “the number of injuries among Internal Security Forces personnel reached 10 as a result of attacks by outlaw groups on checkpoints in the Tel Hadid area and the Wlgha axis in western rural Suwayda.” Earlier, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted a security source as saying that “four Internal Security Forces personnel were injured while repelling attacks carried out by outlaw groups in western rural Suwayda.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a draft resolution initiated by Syria, declaring December 19 of each year as the “International Day to Honor Women Searching for the Missing,” in recognition of their efforts. In its resolution, adopted on the evening of the previous day, the General Assembly called on all member states and relevant stakeholders to commemorate this international day appropriately by encouraging events and activities that highlight the efforts of women who have sought to find missing persons and the consequences they have faced as a result. The resolution encourages member states and the United Nations system to take concrete measures to prevent and end all forms of discrimination and violence against women searching for the missing, and to ensure their full enjoyment of human rights. It also urges the inclusion of women searching for the missing in ongoing discussions on the issue and in decision-making processes affecting them.
On this occasion, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Ibrahim Al-Alabi, expressed in a speech before the General Assembly, prior to the adoption of the resolution, his gratitude to all countries that supported the initiative and contributed to what he described as a “historic moment” in which “the international community, through a Syrian initiative, stands alongside the cause of justice, human rights, and human dignity.” Al-Alabi expressed his pride that Syria has moved “from a dark phase in which this pain was denied and the suffering of its victims was absent, to a phase that embraces the light, acknowledges this tragedy, and seeks to address it with full transparency.” He added that Syrian women have faced “the worst missing persons catastrophe in modern history.”
