DAMASCUS: The Syrian government on Wednesday denied holding American nationals captive, including journalist Austin Tice who was abducted a decade ago in Damascus.
It issued a statement in response to US President Jo Biden saying last week that he knows “with certainty” that Tice “has been held by the Syrian regime,” and calling on Damascus to help bring him home.
The foreign ministry denied the accusation in a statement carried by the official SANA news agency.
“The Syrian Arab Republic denies that it has kidnapped or forcibly disappeared any American citizen who entered its territory or resided in areas under its authority,” the statement said.
It said it would only accept “official dialogue or communication with the American administration if the talks are public and premised on a respect for Syria’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.”
Tice was a freelance photojournalist working for Agence France-Presse, McClatchy News, The Washington Post, CBS and other news organizations when he disappeared after being detained at a checkpoint near Damascus on August 14, 2012.
Thirty-one years old at the time he went missing, Tice appeared blindfolded in the custody of an unidentified group of armed men in a video a month later, but there has been little news of him since.
Biden’s statement came on the tenth anniversary of Tice’s disappearance.
“There is no higher priority in my administration than the recovery and return of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad,” Biden said.
The previous administration under Donald Trump sent a White House official on a rare mission to Damascus in 2020, aiming to seek Tice’s freedom.
But that mission yielded no visible results.
In 2018, US authorities announced a $1 million reward for information that would lead to the journalist’s recovery.
Syria denies holding US journalist Tice captive
https://arab.news/4393j
Syria denies holding US journalist Tice captive
- US is certain Tice is being held by the government of President Bashar Assad
Israeli offensive on Rafah is bad idea, French foreign minister tells PM Netanyahu
JERUSALEM: An Israeli offensive in Rafah is a bad idea and would not resolve anything in the country’s fight against Hamas, France’s foreign minister told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, according to a French diplomatic source.
“It is a bad idea to do it. There are too many uncertainties over the humanitarian issues,” Stephane Sejourne told Netanyahu during a meeting at the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, the source with direct knowledge of the conversation said.
EU’s von der Leyen to unveil aid for Lebanon to stop refugee flows, says Cyprus
- Discussions would focus on challenges Lebanon presently faces and stability reforms it needs
- Nicosia has lobbied the bloc for months to extend aid to Lebanon similar to deals the EU has with Turkiye, Tunisia, and more recently, Egypt
NICOSIA: The European Union will offer economic aid for Lebanon when the head of the bloc’s executive and the Cypriot president jointly visit Beirut on Thursday, a Cypriot official said on Tuesday.
EU member Cyprus has grown increasingly concerned at a sharp increase in the number of Syrian refugees making their way to the Mediterranean island. Lebanon, a mere 100 miles (185 km) away from Cyprus, hosts hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.
“The President of the European Commission will present an economic aid package for Lebanon,” Cypriot government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said in a statement.
President Ursula von der Leyen, due in Cyprus on Wednesday, would jointly travel to Beirut with the Cypriot President, Nikos Christodoulides on Thursday morning.
Discussions would focus on challenges Lebanon presently faces and stability reforms it needs, Letymbiotis said.
Nicosia has lobbied the bloc for months to extend aid to Lebanon similar to deals the EU has with Turkiye, Tunisia, and more recently, Egypt.
“The implementation of this (package) was at the initiative of President Christodoulides and the Republic of Cyprus and is practical proof of the active role the EU can play in our region,” Letymbiotis said.
Lebanon, in the throes of an economic meltdown since 2019, has not enacted most of the reforms required by the International Monetary Fund to get access to its funding, but has asked friendly countries to continue backing it.
Some Lebanese officials have used the growing presence of migrants and refugees in the country as a bargaining chip, threatening to stop intercepting migrant boats destined for Europe unless Lebanon received more economic support.
Cyprus took in more than 2,000 Syrians who arrived by sea in the first quarter of this year, compared to just 78 in the same period of last year. Earlier this month, it took the unprecedented step of dispatching patrol vessels to international waters off Lebanon to discourage crossings and said it was suspending the processing of asylum applications from Syrians.
Major Developers unveils $272 million luxury residential project
- Manta Bay will mark the company’s first project in Ras Al Khaimah
DUBAI: UAE-based real estate company Major Developers has announced an AED1 billion ($272 million) luxury residential project in Ras Al-Khaimah, Emirates News Agency reported on Tuesday.
Manta Bay will mark the company’s first project in the emirate and represents a major investment in the region’s luxury market.
The company says the development, on the shores of Al-Marjan Island, is inspired by Manta Bay in Indonesia and will be the epitome of exclusivity. It is set to break ground by mid-2024.
“We anticipate that Ras Al-Khaimah will capture a substantial portion of the UAE’s real estate market, supported by its strategic location, extensive infrastructure enhancements and increasing demand,” said Naren Vish, Major Developers’ chief marketing officer, during a press conference at the JW Marriott Hotel Marina in Dubai.
Egyptian FM repeats call for two-state solution
- Sameh Shoukry took part in a ministerial coordination meeting involving Arab and European countries
- Meeting, which discussed recognition of a Palestinian state, was held on the sidelines of the two-day WEF special meeting in Riyadh
CAIRO: Egypt’s foreign minister has repeated his call for a two-state solution to the Palestinian issue.
Sameh Shoukry on Monday took part in a ministerial coordination meeting involving Arab and European countries.
The meeting, which discussed recognition of a Palestinian state, was held on the sidelines of the two-day World Economic Forum special meeting in Riyadh.
Shoukry called on the international community to pressure Israel into ending its occupation of the Palestinian territories, and to support the legitimate and inalienable rights of Palestinians, said Ahmed Abu Zeid, the ministry’s spokesman.
Given the violence in Gaza and tensions in the West Bank, international parties must “assume their legal and human responsibilities to find a serious political horizon to establish a two-state solution and bring just and comprehensive peace to the region,” Shoukry added.
The foreign minister described the two-state solution as the “only path” toward peace between Palestinians and Israelis, as well as stability and coexistence among the peoples of the region.
IAEA chief Grossi to visit Iran May 6-8, Mehr says
- Grossi will meet Iranian officials in Tehran before participating in the International Conference of Nuclear Sciences and Technologies held in Isfahan
- Enrichment to 60 percent brings uranium close to weapons grade
DUBAI: International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi is scheduled to visit Iran to take part in a nuclear conference from May 6-8 and meet Iranian officials, Iran’s Mehr news agency said on Tuesday.
“Grossi will meet Iranian officials in Tehran before participating in the International Conference of Nuclear Sciences and Technologies held in Isfahan,” the agency reported.
The IAEA chief said in February that he was planning a visit to Tehran to tackle a “drifting apart” in relations between the agency and the Islamic Republic.
Grossi said the same month that while the pace of uranium enrichment by Iran had slowed slightly since the end of last year, Iran was still enriching at an elevated rate of around 7 kg of uranium per month to 60 percent purity.
Enrichment to 60 percent brings uranium close to weapons grade, and is not necessary for commercial use in nuclear power production. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons but no other state has enriched to that level without producing them.
Under a defunct 2015 agreement with world powers, Iran can enrich uranium only to 3.67 percent. After then-President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of that deal in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions, Iran moved well beyond the deal’s nuclear restrictions.
The IAEA said the 2015 nuclear deal was “all but disintegrated.”
