Oct 22, 2014

Staffan de Mistura, special envoy of the UN secretary-general to resolve the Syrian conflict, visited Naim Qassem, deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, Oct. 16 in Beirut. It is not the first time a Western or UN official has met with leading members of the Shiite organization despite the European Union designating the military wing a terrorist organization in July 2013. It is the first time, however, that a UN official directly involved with the Syrian crisis had requested and obtained a meeting with a prominent Hezbollah member to discuss developments in Syria, the causes behind the conflict and prospective outcomes.

De Mistura’s visit is unprecedented in that neither of his predecessors — Kofi Annan and Lakhdar Brahimi — made such a visit, even though Brahimi has known a number of Hezbollah members for more than two decades. In fact, Brahimi had served as a mediator between warring Lebanese parties in 1989. These acquaintances and friendships, however, did not lead Brahimi to go the extra mile to visit Hezbollah officials.

Hezbollah-affiliated details secured the transportation of the UN official to Qassem’s office, an unidentified address in one of Beirut’s southern suburbs. Sources close to Hezbollah confirmed this to Al-Monitor, perhaps signaling the trust and cooperation between both parties. It was noted that Wafik Safa, head of Hezbollah’s Central Liaison and Coordination Committee and coordinator of security-related communications between the party and the Lebanese authority, was also present to receive de Mistura, who was accompanied by Derek Plumbly, the UN secretary-general's special coordinator in Lebanon.

In regard to the meeting's content, the visit could be considered normal, given the continuous and fruitful cooperation between the two parties that began when de Mistura was the UN secretary-general's special coordinator in south Lebanon, between 2001 and 2004.

Some view the gesture of the visit as necessary. A statement by US Secretary of State John Kerry, during a quick visit to Beirut on June 4, paved the way for it. Kerry called on the parties supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, namely, Russia and Hezbollah, to work together to bring an end to the war. The appointment of de Mistura as special envoy was announced July 10, five weeks after Kerry’s speech.