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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has marked the fourth anniversary of Syria’s conflict with a jeremiad that the international community is “divided and incapable of taking collective action” to end the fighting, suffering, and mass death.

Ban was careful to criticize both the regime and rebellion, but implicitly put most of the responsibility on the former:

It is…incumbent upon the Syrian parties themselves, including especially President Bashar al-Assad, to take decisive steps to end the bloodshed and to start a political process.

Governments or movements that aspire to legitimacy do not massacre their own people.

Ban’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, softened the challenge to individual UN members, including Assad’s ally Russia and backers of the opposition, by saying that the UN chief was not so much assigning blame but underscoring “our collective responsibility”.

Saying “each day brings reports of fresh horrors”, Ban with the claim — despite his earlier reference to incapability — of past UN action:

We have an obligation to the Syrian people to help ensure that serious crimes committed over the past four years do not go unpunished. The Security Council has in the past shown its ability to act against the use of chemical weapons in Syria and to compel the delivery of humanitarian assistance to vulnerable Syrians. I call upon the Security Council to take determined measures to resolve this crisis and on the way forward.

Let us work together now to build a better future for the people of Syria and the region.

Information Minister: “We Are Ready to Work with Kurds”

Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said on Friday that the government is ready to negotiate with Syria’s Kurds as a “major partner” in the fight against the Islamic State.

“Kurds are part of the Syrian nation. We are ready to negotiate with the Kurds as a part of the local administrative body inside Syria’s borders,” Zoubi said in an interview on State TV.

The Minister indicated that Damascus, as part of the partnership, would consider Kurdish demands for autonomy:

Kurds are a major partner in the fight against ISIS, a threat we are facing together

We are ready to negotiate with Kurds under the Syrian national law and regulations.

The comments coincided with municipal elections for the autonomous government in Syrian Kurdistan in the three cantons of Jazeera, Afrin, and Kobani.

Oil Minister: Losses in Oil Sector Reach $27 Billion

Oil Minister Suleiman al-Abbas has acknowledged losses of $27 billion — almost 40% of Syria’s pre-conflict GDP — in the oil sector since 2011.

Al-Abbas blamed the losses not only on “terrorists” but on the European Union, which had allowed them “to market the oil” that they had seized and “export it to the neighboring countries, mainly Turkey”.

Despite the Syrian military’s recent recapture of some oil and gas fields in central Syria, most of the country’s production is still in the hands of the Islamic State.

Al-Abbas admitted, “The suffering of this sector increased in 2013 when the oil pumping completely stopped and the terrorist organizations seized some of those regions.”

The loss of production has led to serious shortages of fuel, even in regime-held areas, and to dependence on a $3.6 billion Iranian line of credit for supplies.