HTS so far 'sending good messages' to Syrians: UN envoy

The armed groups which forced Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to flee must transform their "good messages" to Syrians into actions on the ground, the UN envoy for Syria said Tuesday.

After more than 13 years of civil war, Assad's downfall came in a lightning rebel offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its chief Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.

The fact that HTS's precursor Al-Nusra Front, which was linked to Al-Qaeda, was nine years ago listed by the UN Security Council as a terrorist organisation "is obviously a complicating factor" in efforts to find a way forward, UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told reporters in Geneva.

But he stressed that it was important to view HTS, which broke with Al Nusra in 2016 and has sought to soften its image, through the events of the civil war.

"The reality so far is that the HTS and also the other armed groups have been sending good messages to the Syrian people," he said.

"They have been sending messages of unity, of inclusiveness," he said, adding that in Aleppo and Hama, "we have also seen... reassuring things on the ground".

But "what we need not to see is of course that the good statements and what we are seeing on the ground at the beginning, that this is not followed up in practice in the days and the weeks ahead of us."

Pedersen, the UN envoy for Syria since 2018, said "the most important test will be how the transitional arrangements in Damascus is organised and implemented".

"If they are really inclusive of all the different groups and all the communities in Syria,... then there is a possibility for a new beginning."

"And then I do believe that the international community will look at the (terrorist) listing of HTS again," the Norwegian diplomat said.

And if the international community lends its support to the Syrian transition, "we could start to look at lifting sanctions".

Assad fled Syria as the opposition alliance poured into the capital Damascus on Sunday to end five decades of brutal rule by his family.

Assad oversaw a crackdown on a democracy movement in 2011, sparking a war that killed 500,000 people and forced half the country to flee their homes, millions of them finding refuge abroad.

Since the opposition campaign began sweeping through Syria in late November, more than one million people have been displaced, the UN humanitarian agency said Tuesday, adding though that some had begun returning home.

"Humanitarian needs are growing," spokesman Jens Laerke told reporters, warning that a $4 billion UN appeal for Syria aid this year was less than a third funded.

Just days after Assad's fall, Pedersen said that "things have not settled. There is a real opportunity for change, but this opportunity needs to be grasped by the Syrians themselves and supported by the UN and the international community."

Syria, he said, was now controlled by "a patchwork of groups who are coordinating well for now, but they are not fully or formally united".

"It's important that we don't see conflict between these groups."

Pedersen also highlighted the need to de-escalate the conflict in northeastern Syria, demanding in particular a halt to "Israeli attacks" inside the war-torn country.

The Syrian Observatory said Tuesday that Israel had conducted 300 strikes on Syria since Assad's fall, adding that the raids had "destroyed the most important military sites" in the country.

"We are continuing to see Israeli movements and bombardments into Syrian territory," Pedersen said. "This needs to stop. This is extremely important."