BRUSSELS: European Union nations on Monday set out conditions for lifting sanctions on Syria and kick-starting aid to the conflict-ravaged country amid uncertainty about its new leaders’ intentions just over a week after they seized power.
At a meeting in Brussels, the EU’s top diplomats said they want guarantees from members of Syria’s interim government that they are preparing for a peaceful political future involving all minority groups, one in which extremism and former allies Russia and Iran have no place.
Since Damascus fell on Dec. 8 and leader Bashar Assad fled to Moscow, Syria’s transition has been surprisingly smooth. Few reports have surfaced of reprisals, revenge killings or sectarian violence. Most looting or destruction has been quickly contained.
But the new leadership has yet to lay out a clear vision of how Syria will be governed. The interim government was set up by former opposition forces led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, a former Al-Qaeda affiliate that the EU and US consider to be a terrorist organization.
The interim government is set to rule until March. Arab foreign ministers have called for UN-supervised elections based on a new constitution. The UN envoy to Syria has pressed for removing sanctions.
To understand more, the EU is sending an envoy to Damascus for talks with those at least temporarily in charge.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc wants a “stable, peaceful and all-comprising government in place,” but that it will probably take weeks, if not months, for Syria’s new path to be clear.
“Syria faces an optimistic, positive, but rather uncertain future, and we have to make sure that this goes to the right direction,” she told reporters at a meeting of EU foreign ministers. “For us, it’s not only the words, but we want to see the deeds.”
In a message aimed at the new leaders, Kallas said: “Russia and Iran are not your friends, are not helping you if you are in trouble. They left Assad’s regime, and that is a very clear message showing that their hands are full elsewhere and they are weakened.”
Syria has been shattered by five decades of Assad family rule. Its economy has been destroyed, poverty is widespread, inflation and unemployment are high and corruption seeps through daily life. Millions of people have fled the country.
Hundreds of thousands of them live in Europe, and while some EU countries have suspended asylum applications from Syrian refugees, only those willing to return will be helped to get home, for now.
In 2011, the EU began imposing asset freezes and travel bans on Syrian officials and organizations in response to Assad’s crackdown on civilian protesters, which turned into civil war. The sanctions have been slapped on some 316 people and 86 entities accused of backing Assad.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that before any sanctions are lifted or EU development aid sent to Syria, “a certain number of conditions must be met.” They include, he said, “a political transition that allows all Syrian minority groups to be represented, the respect of human rights, the rights of women in Syria (and) the rejection of terrorism and extremism.”
His Spanish counterpart, Jose Manuel Albares, said Syria’s new leaders must understand that the EU has some “red lines” which should be respected before support comes.
“We must guarantee the territorial integrity of Syria and we must make sure that there (is) no foreign interference,” he said. “If those questions are correctly addressed by the new authorities, then we can have a second conversation about sanctions.”
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said Europe’s support for Syria’s new leaders should not be “a blank check in advance,” whereby the bloc would be expected to lift all its sanctions and economic restrictions and then start talks.
Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp also told reporters that “regarding the Russian military bases in Syria, we want the Russians out.”
EU seeks assurances from Syria’s new leaders in exchange for dropping sanctions
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EU seeks assurances from Syria’s new leaders in exchange for dropping sanctions
- New leadership has yet to lay out a clear vision of how Syria will be governed
- Arab foreign ministers have called for UN-supervised elections based on a new constitution
Philippine Navy seizes $175 million meth haul at sea
- A pair of naval gunboats intercepted a fishing vessel carrying 1.5 tonnes of methamphetamine hydrochloride off the coast of main island Luzon just before dawn
A pair of naval gunboats intercepted a fishing vessel carrying 1.5 tonnes of methamphetamine hydrochloride off the coast of main island Luzon just before dawn, Commodore Edward de Sagon told a press conference.
Four people, including one foreigner, were arrested in the joint operation with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, according to de Sagon.
“We still don’t have the details of where (the drugs originated),” he said, saying they believed the haul had been transferred from a larger vessel to the fishing ship.
“That was when it was intercepted. There was information and (maneuvers) that made us suspicious,” de Sagon said.
Meth, known locally as shabu, is the most prevalent illegal drug in the Philippines.
“This is one of the largest illegal drug apprehensions in the history of the Philippine Navy,” navy spokesman John Percie Alcos said in a statement.
Earlier this month, a large volume of drugs was found adrift just north of the area where Wednesday’s arrests were made.
The Philippines’ biggest-ever drug seizure came in April last year when more than two tonnes of meth was seized at a police checkpoint on a road in Batangas province south of the capital, according to the presidential palace.
Rwanda arrests opposition leader, says investigative body
Ingabire was freed in 2018 after serving six years of a 15-year jail sentence handed to her in 2012 following her conviction on charges related to conspiring to form an armed group and seeking to minimize the 1994 genocide.
She is now accused of “playing a role in creating a criminal organization and engaging in acts that incite public disorder,” the Rwanda Investigations Bureau said in a statement late on Thursday.
It did not say when she would be charged in court.
Ingabire, who heads unregistered opposition party DALFA–Umurinzi, returned from exile in the Netherlands to contest a presidential election in 2010, but was barred from standing after being accused of genocide denial.
Last year President Paul Kagame, in power for a quarter of a century, won re-election after securing 99.18 percent of the vote, according to the electoral body.
Kagame is lauded for transforming Rwanda from the ruins of the 1994 genocide to a thriving economy but his reputation has also been tainted by longstanding accusations of rights abuses and supporting rebels in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
He denies the allegations.
Taiwan detects 50 Chinese military aircraft around island
- China insists democratic, self-ruled Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the island under its control
- Beijing has ramped up the deployment of fighter jets and naval vessels around Taiwan in recent years to press its claim of sovereignty
TAIPEI: Taiwan detected 50 Chinese military aircraft around the island, the defense ministry said Friday, days after a British naval vessel sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait.
China insists democratic, self-ruled Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the island under its control.
Beijing has ramped up the deployment of fighter jets and naval vessels around Taiwan in recent years to press its claim of sovereignty, which Taipei rejects.
Taiwan also accuses China of using espionage, cyberattacks and disinformation to weaken its defenses.
Along with the 50 aircraft, six Chinese naval vessels were also detected in the 24 hours to 6:00 a.m. (2200 GMT Thursday), the defense ministry said.
It said in a separate statement that an additional 24 Chinese aircraft including fighters and drones were spotted since 08:50 am Friday.
Among them, 15 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait in conducting air-sea joint training with Chinese naval vessels, the ministry said, adding it “monitored the situation and responded accordingly.”
The latest incursion came after British Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Spey sailed through the Taiwan Strait on June 18, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Thursday.
The United States and other countries view the 180-kilometer Taiwan Strait as international waters that should be open to all vessels.
The last time a British Navy ship transited the Taiwan Strait was in 2021, when the HMS Richmond, a frigate deployed with Britain’s aircraft carrier strike group, sailed through from Japan to Vietnam.
China strongly condemned Britain at the time and deployed its military to follow the vessel.
In April, Taiwan detected 76 Chinese aircraft and 15 naval vessels around the island, when Beijing conducted live-fire exercises that included simulated strikes aimed at the island’s key ports and energy sites.
The highest number of Chinese aircraft recorded was 153 on October 15, after China staged large-scale military drills in response to Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te’s National Day speech days earlier.
North Korea flag disrupts South Korea church livestream in ‘hacking incident’
- The incident occurred early Wednesday morning, when the livestream of the service by the Onnuri Church was abruptly filled with the North Korean flag, accompanied by what appeared to be Pyongyang’s propaganda music
SEOUL: One of South Korea’s largest megachurches said Friday its YouTube worship service was briefly hacked during a live broadcast to display the North Korean flag, with a government agency saying it was checking the details.
The incident occurred early Wednesday morning, when the livestream of the service by the Onnuri Church was abruptly filled with the North Korean flag, accompanied by what appeared to be Pyongyang’s propaganda music.
The flag was displayed for about 20 seconds, a church official told AFP, adding that the incident had been reported to the police.
“During the early morning worship service on June 18, an unexpected video was broadcast due to a hacking incident,” the church said in a separate statement.
“We are currently conducting an urgent investigation into the cause of the incident and will take appropriate measures as soon as the situation is clarified.”
South Korea’s state-run Korea Internet & Security Agency told AFP it was “looking into the case.”
Another Protestant church in Seoul, the Naesoo-Dong Church, told AFP it also experienced a similar hacking incident shortly before its YouTube worship service early Wednesday morning.
An “inappropriate” video was displayed for about 50 seconds due to an “external hacking” attack, Pastor Oh Shin-young told AFP, adding that the footage had no apparent connection to North Korea.
South Korea, widely recognized as among the most wired countries in the world, has long been a target of cyberhacking by North Korea, which has been blamed for several major attacks in the past.
Police announced last year that North Korean hackers were behind the theft of sensitive data from a South Korean court computer network — including individuals’ financial records — over a two-year period.
The stolen data amounted to more than one gigabyte.
Also last year, Seoul’s spy agency said North Korean spies were using LinkedIn to pose as recruiters and entice South Koreans working at defense companies so the spies could access information on the firms’ technology.
Armenian prime minister set for ‘historic’ Turkiye visit
- Armenia and Turkiye have never established formal diplomatic ties, and their shared border has been closed since the 1990s
- Relations are strained over the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire — atrocities Yerevan says amount to genocide
ISTANBUL: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is set to make a rare visit to arch-foe Turkiye on Friday, in what Yerevan has described as a “historic” step toward regional peace.
Armenia and Turkiye have never established formal diplomatic ties, and their shared border has been closed since the 1990s.
Relations are strained over the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire — atrocities Yerevan says amount to genocide. Turkiye rejects the label.
Ankara has also backed its close ally, Turkic-speaking Azerbaijan, in its long-running conflict with Armenia.
Pashinyan is visiting Turkiye at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Armenian parliament speaker Alen Simonyan told reporters.
“This is a historic visit, as it will be the first time a head of the Republic of Armenia visits Turkiye at this level. All regional issues will be discussed,” he said.
“The risks of war (with Azerbaijan) are currently minimal, and we must work to neutralize them. Pashinyan’s visit to Turkiye is a step in that direction.”
An Armenian foreign ministry official told AFP the two leaders will discuss efforts to sign a comprehensive peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the regional fallout from the Iran-Israel conflict.
On Thursday — a day before Pashinyan’s visit — Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev traveled to Turkiye for talks with Erdogan and praised Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance as “a significant factor not only regionally but also globally.”
Erdogan repeated his backing for “the establishment of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.”
Baku and Yerevan agreed on the text of a peace deal in March, but Baku has since outlined a host of demands — including changes to Armenia’s constitution — before it will sign the document.
Pashinyan has actively sought to normalize relations with both Baku and Ankara.
Earlier this year, he announced Armenia would halt its campaign for international recognition of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide — a major concession to Turkiye that sparked widespread criticism at home.
Pashinyan has visited Turkiye only once before, for Erdogan’s inauguration in 2023. At the time he was one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate the Turkish president on his re-election.
Ankara and Yerevan appointed special envoys in late 2021 to lead a normalization process, a year after Armenia’s defeat in a war with Azerbaijan over then-disputed Karabakh region.
In 2022, Turkiye and Armenia resumed commercial flights after a two-year pause.
A previous attempt to normalize relations — a 2009 accord to open the border — was never ratified by Armenia and was abandoned in 2018.
