UN chief: It’s time to start discussing ‘end game’ in Syria

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the Turkish offensive and current cessation of fighting in northeast Syria show it’s time to start seriously discussing an “end game” to the eight-year war in Syria.

The U.N. chief told reporters Friday the political process is “more important than ever.”

Guterres said the U.N.’s “total commitment now” is to make sure the committee to draft a new constitution for Syria, which is scheduled to meet for the first time next week in Geneva, starts its work “as a first step for a political solution.”

Hopefully, he said, it “will lead to the end of this tragic chapter in the life of the Syrian people.”

Turkey launched an offensive against Syrian Kurdish fighters after President Donald Trump withdrew U.S. forces, their longtime allies.