United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Syria on Saturday on the first visit by a chief of the global body since before the country's civil war erupted, state media reported. Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani received Guterres "and his accompanying delegation at Damascus international airport", state news agency SANA reported. He is the first UN chief to visit Syria since Ban Ki-moon in 2009, two years before the start of Syria's civil war which went on to kill more than half a million people before Assad's overthrow in December 2024. Israeli officials have said they intend to keep forces in a "security zone" in southern Syria, where they seek a broader demilitarised zone. Several senior UN officials have visited Syria since Assad's fall, including rights chief Volker Turk and UN nuclear watchdog head Rafael Grossi, while a UN Security Council delegation of ambassadors made its first-ever visit to Syria late last year.