By Michelle Nichols and Maya Gebeily

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen announced on Thursday that he would step down “in the near future” after more than six years in the role and as Syria undergoes a historic transition following the ouster of former leader Bashar al-Assad last year.

He told the U.N. Security Council that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had accepted his resignation.

“It has been my intention for quite some time to move on for personal reasons after a long period of service,” Pedersen told the 15-member council. “My experience in Syria has affirmed an enduring truth – that sometimes it’s darkest before the dawn. For so long, progress seemed absolutely impossible, until suddenly it came.”

Assad was ousted by a rebel of

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