Three months following the overthrow of President Bashar Assad, Syria is at a crossroads, the top UN envoy for the country said. Geir Pedersen told the UN Security Council that Syria can return to violence or start an inclusive transition and end decades of conflict. He said the road back to conflict, fragmentation and violations of Syrian sovereignty by external powers "must not come to pass".

The other road, which would restore Syria`s sovereignty and regional security, is "viable" but "requires the right Syrian decisions" and international support, Pedersen said. Syria`s civil war had gone on for 13 years when a lightning insurgency led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, overthrew Assad in December, ending his family`s more than 50-year rule.