Syria activists outraged after UN chief photo op with Asma Al-Assad

Syrian activists reacted in outrage after a leading UN official met President Bashar Al-Assad's wife, Asma Al-Assad, 12 years into a war fuelled by the "murderous regime".

Rola Dashti, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (UNESCWA), was "welcomed" by Asma Al-Assad in Damascus as the pair discussed developing Syrian entrepreneurship.

Dashti was pictured next to the London-born al-Assad, in what some described as an "intimate" photograph.

The UNESCWA account stated that Dashti and the "First Lady" discussed how the UN agency could "enhance entrepreneurship opportunities for Syrian youth", despite the hundreds of thousands of young Syrians - including entrepreneurs - killed or disappeared by the Assad regime.

This outrageously intimate unethically UN-published photo of “the First Lady” of the genocidal regime not only traumatizes Assad’s countless victims but brazenly depicts @UNESCWA's closeness to criminal liability by knowingly assisting the perpetrators. UN donors should NOT be… pic.twitter.com/TLL8kjkmh7

— Mansour Omari (@MansourOmari) April 3, 2023

"This outrageously intimate unethically UN-published photo of 'the First Lady' of the genocidal regime not only traumatizes Assad’s countless victims but brazenly depicts @UNESCWA's closeness to criminal liability by knowingly assisting the perpetrators," activist Mansour Omari tweeted.

"UN donors should NOT be complicit, instead, scrutinize @UN work in Syria!" he added.

السيدة الأولى! ماهذا الترويج لمجرمة حرب معروفة! ومن الأمم المتحدة! هل هناك من يحاسبكم ؟

— fathi bayoud (@fathibayoud) April 4, 2023

"What is this promotion of a known war criminal! It is the United Nations! Is someone holding you accountable?," activist Fathi Bayoud wrote.

Others labelled the post "disgusting".

Utterly disgraceful. More and more evidence of how corrupt the #UN system is and how accommodating it is to bloody murderous regimes like the one of #Assad regime

— M Bakr Ghbeis (@BGhbeis) April 3, 2023

"Utterly disgraceful. More and more evidence of how corrupt the #UN system is and how accommodating it is to bloody murderous regimes like the one of #Assad regime," activist M Bakr Ghbeis said.

Some accused the agency of "undermining people’s faith in the UN", after previous criticism of the body for their handling of an earthquake in Syria.

You’re so cynically adamant on undermining people’s faith in the UN. More and more evidence of corruption and disregard for human rights and basic decency every day. You clearly are in the business of money and power and have absolutely no shame.

— Mohammed Alaa Ghanem (@MhdAGhanem) April 3, 2023

"You’re so cynically adamant on undermining people’s faith in the UN. More and more evidence of corruption and disregard for human rights and basic decency every day. You clearly are in the business of money and power and have absolutely no shame," Mohammed Alaa Ghanem wrote.

Over 500,000 people have died during the Syrian conflict, which broke out in 2011, the majority at the hands of the Syrian regime and its ally Russia.

The conflict also displaced over half of the country's pre-war population, either internally or externally.

The New Arab approached the UN for comment but received no response.