Canada must ensure ‘darker forces’ don’t take over Syria: special envoy

A surge of deadly violence in Syria highlights the need to ensure 'darker forces' don't take over the struggling country and worsen conditions, Canada's new special envoy says.

A surge of deadly violence in Syria highlights the need to ensure “darker forces” don’t take over the struggling country and worsen conditions inside it, Canada’s new special envoy there says.

Omar Alghabra, named Special Envoy for Syria last month, made the remarks during an appearance on The West Block with host Mercedes Stevenson.

Alghabra is the Liberal member of Parliament for Mississauga Centre. As a special envoy for Syria, he reports to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly.

Alghabra said the retreat of Russian and Iranian-backed militants after the Assad regime fell, and clashes between the competing interests since then highlights precisely why the world must monitor events in Syria closely.

“This weekend we saw tremendous violence, that had that many civilians pay the price for,” he said

“This is exactly the reason why the world needs to engage to ensure that darker forces do not take over Syria and inflict damage on the Syrian people and on the region,” Alghabra said.

Over the past several days, clashes between Syrian government security forces and loyalists of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and revenge killings that followed have left more than 1,000 people dead, including 750 civilians, inside Syria.

Other dead included 125 Syrian government security force members and 148 militants with armed groups affiliated with the former dictator Assad.  Families have been displaced from several villages, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the Associated Press.