Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has suggested in a report to the Security Council that the UN scale back its observer mission in Syria and shift its focus to political engagement.
A draft of the report provided to The Associated Press includes several options for the force of about 300 UN observers, who were sent to Syria to monitor the violence as part of international envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan. One is temporarily reducing the number of military observers and focusing on political engagement until fighting subsides.
The observers have been confined to their hotels since June 15 after being fired on repeatedly.
The council received the report on Saturday. It is expected to meet Wednesday to review the mission’s mandate, which expires July 20. Annan is expected to attend.
