Increasing violence in Syria forces U.N. to suspend mission

The United Nations has announced it’s suspending its monitoring mission in Syria on Saturday, a day after the chief observer there warned that increasing bloodshed was hindering the ability of his team to fulfill its obligations. Major General Robert Mood, the chief of the U.N. Supervision Mission in Syria, announced the suspension in a brief statement that cited the “significant risks” to the lives of the monitors posed by the growing violence. Mood said, “In this high risk situation, UNSMIS is suspending its activities. U.N . observers will not be conducting patrols and will stay in their locations until further notice.” He said the suspension would be reviewed on a daily basis, and that the monitors would resume their mission “when we see the situation fit for us to carry out our mandated activities.”

The fall of the U.N. mission in Syria would effectively close the international community’s main window into the Syrian crisis and expose the United Nations to charges of abandoning civilians to slaughter. The termination of the monitoring effort would also increase pressure on the United States, Russia, China, and other key powers to forge a new diplomatic strategy to contain a crisis that threatens to engulf the region. “Violence, over the past 10 days, has been intensifying . . . willingly by the both parties, with losses on both sides and significant risks to our observers,” Mood said. “The escalating violence is now limiting our ability to observe, verify, report as well as assist in local dialogue and stability projects.”