Fourth, ensuring accountability for serious crimes. Last month, a resolution that aimed to refer the conflict to the International Criminal Court failed to pass the Security Council. I ask those member states that say no to the ICC, but say they support accountability in Syria, to come forward with credible alternatives. The Syrian people have a right to justice and action against impunity.

Fifth, finishing the destruction of chemical weapons in Syria. The UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have worked together to destroy or remove from the country all of the declared materials in a once large arsenal. Many UN member states have provided critical resources and support for this challenging task, which was undertaken in an active war zone, and which will now be completed at various destruction facilities outside Syria. While almost all of the killings in Syria are carried out with conventional weapons, it has been essential to reinforce the global norm banishing the production and use of chemical weapons.

Sixth, addressing the regional dimensions of the conflict, including the extremist threat. Foreign fighters are in action on both sides, increasing the level of violence and exacerbating sectarian hatred. While we should not blindly accept the Syrian government's demonization of all the opposition as terrorists, neither should we be blind to the real threat of terrorists in Syria. The world must come together to eliminate funding and other support for Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. The ISIS is also a threat to all communities in Iraq; it is crucial for the region's leaders - political and religious - to call for restraint and avoid a spiral of attack and reprisal.

For the moment, the greatest obstacle to ending the Syria war is the notion that it can be won militarily. I reject the current narrative that the government of Syria is "winning". Conquering territory through aerial bombardments of densely populated civilian neighbourhoods is not a victory. Starving besieged communities into surrendering is not a victory. Even if one side were to prevail in the short term, the devastating toll will have sown the seeds of future conflict.

Dangerous sectarian tensions, massive movements of refugees, daily atrocities and spreading instability make the civil war in Syria a global threat. All the values for which we stand, and all the reasons for which the UN exists, are at stake across the devastated landscape that is Syria today. The time is long past for the international community, in particular the Security Council, to uphold its responsibilities.

The author is secretary-general of the United Nations.

(China Daily 07/07/2014 page9)