PARIS: Western powers are looking to establish contact with Syria’s new rulers, aiming to avoid Iraq- or Libya-style chaos after the fall of the Assad regime to the opposition.
Europe’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas was heading to Damascus on Monday, after a number of countries, including the United States, announced they had made initial approaches.
The situation in Syria, long allied with Iran and Russia, remains volatile and Western nations are wary of the Al-Qaeda roots of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) that seized power in a lightning offensive.
But none wants to pass up the opportunity to forge links, given the risk of fragmentation and resurgence of Daesh, which has never been completely eradicated.
“The first reaction of the West has without a doubt been to say that they don’t meet terrorists,” said Denis Bauchard, from the French Institute of International Relations.
HTS, which has its roots in Al-Qaeda, maintains it has renounced extremism yet remains proscribed as a terrorist group by several Western countries, including the United States.
“But there’s a political reality... and clearly a race to establish contact the fastest,” added Bauchard, a former ambassador.
“The main objective,” he added, is that Syria does not fall into “total chaos.”
As well as Brussels and Washington, Paris plans to send a diplomatic mission to Damascus from Tuesday, to “retake possession” of French real estate and make “initial contact” with the new authorities.
Spain is to appoint a special envoy while the UK has announced that diplomatic contacts have been established with HTS.
“Europeans waited for the American reaction, which encouraged them to take the step,” said Hasni Abidi, director of the Study and Research Center for the Arab and Mediterranean World in Geneva (CERMAM).
The approach was “pragmatic” while the Syrian people welcomed the militants, he added.
“It was necessary to be among the first to show the Europeans’ willingness to help the Syrian people” and to have “a position of choice by offering not legitimacy but a certain respectability to HTS which has de facto authority status.”
Diplomats are not hiding the difficulties, with Syria at risk of fragmentation and from extremists, the outgoing French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in Brussels Monday.
In his first comments since his flight from Damascus, Bashir Assad said on Monday that Syria was now “in the hands of terrorists.”
He also insisted he had not planned to leave when the militants took the capital and that his evacuation from the city was requested by Moscow.
Europe has several levers at its disposal, including financial reconstruction aid and the eventual lifting of sanctions to push Syria’s new authorities toward a political transition acceptable to the West.
Britain’s foreign minister David Lammy on Sunday said London had “diplomatic contact” to ensure that a “representative government” is established and stocks of chemical weapons secured.
Volker Perthes, from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), said this weekend that it was in everyone’s interest to back a “UN-supported but Syrian-owned political process” for inclusive government.
Western powers resume contacts in Syria to prevent chaos
https://arab.news/9zkhb
Western powers resume contacts in Syria to prevent chaos
- As well as Brussels and Washington, Paris plans to send a diplomatic mission to Damascus from Tuesday, to make “initial contact” with the new authorities
Gaza war driving Muslim ‘isolation’ in UK: MWL chief
- Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa: Integration a national security issue for Britain
- Poll finds growing divides between Muslims, non-Muslims nationwide
LONDON: The Gaza war is causing young British Muslims to become disillusioned and isolated, the head of the Muslim World League has said, urging the UK government to consider integration as a national security issue.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa told The Times that division between Muslims and non-Muslims has been “exacerbated” by the conflict, allowing extremism to develop on both sides.
“A political situation outside (the UK) should not interfere with integration inside,” he added, calling on both sides to focus on domestic issues of mutual concern.
Al-Issa previously warned that rising Islamophobia was a threat to peaceful coexistence in the UK.
The MWL is one of the most powerful Islamic organizations in the world, and in 2023 Al-Issa became the first prominent Muslim figure to be received by the UK’s King Charles at Buckingham Palace.
Al-Issa’s warning came amid new polling by the MWL that found stark differences in values and perceptions between Muslims and non-Muslims, especially among young people.
Younger Muslims in Britain are more isolated from mainstream politics and less likely to view integration as an important duty, the poll found, based on a sample size of more than 5,000 people including more than 450 Muslims.
Almost two-thirds of Muslims described their relationship with non-Muslims as “positive” or “mostly positive,” while less than a quarter of non-Muslims felt the same.
Only 5 percent of non-Muslims felt that religion should play a role in politics, compared to almost 20 percent of Muslims.
More than 70 percent of Muslims labeled increased diversity as “positive,” compared to about 40 percent of non-Muslims.
Less than 10 percent of Muslims aged 18-24 viewed the UK as a tolerant country, and said British concerns over Islam were illegitimate or based on sensationalist media reporting.
About half of the UK’s Muslim population is younger than 25, Al-Issa said, highlighting the importance of the poll and the effect of British foreign policy in the Middle East.
The MWL “believes that this distance creates divides and extremists — both Muslim and non-Muslim — flourish where there are divides,” he added, warning that both sides are “living separate lives.”
Al-Issa said: “Without integration there is isolation, fear of the other. That can cause a vacuum that the evildoers will try to fill.”
The MWL announced a £100,000 ($128,000) donation to develop a social fund that will build bridges between Muslims and non-Muslims in Britain.
Integration must be at the heart of UK government policy or national security will be threatened, Al-Issa said.
“The problem of integration has been exacerbated by the conflict in Gaza and the politics in the Middle East,” he added.
The MWL “calls on Muslims and non-Muslims in the UK instead to focus on domestic issues where there are shared concerns, such as policy areas that unite rather than divide.”
Russia reduces prison sentence for US soldier convicted of theft
- Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, flew to the Pacific port city of Vladivostok to see his girlfriend and was arrested in May 2024 after she accused him of stealing from her
- Russia has jailed a number of Americans in recent years as tensions between Moscow and the West grew
MOSCOW: An appellate court in Russia’s far east on Monday reduced the prison sentence for an American soldier convicted of stealing and making threats of murder, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, flew to the Pacific port city of Vladivostok to see his girlfriend and was arrested in May 2024 after she accused him of stealing from her, according to US officials and Russian authorities. A month later, a court in Vladivostok convicted him and sentenced him to three years and nine months in prison. Black was also ordered to pay 10,000 rubles ($115 at the time) in damages.
Black lost one appeal in a regional court that upheld his sentence, but the judge in the 9th Court of Cassation on Monday agreed to reduce his sentence to three years and two months in prison. Black’s defense had asked the court to acquit him of making threats of murder and reduce the punishment for theft, a request the judge partially sustained, according to the RIA report.
Russia has jailed a number of Americans in recent years as tensions between Moscow and the West grew. Some, like corporate security executive Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and teacher Marc Fogel, were designated by the US government as wrongfully detained and released in prisoner swaps.
A few others remain jailed in Russia on drug or assault convictions. They include Robert Gilman, 72, who was handed a 3 1/2-year sentence after being found guilty of assaulting a police officer following a drunken disturbance on a train, and Travis Leake, a musician who was convicted on drug charges and sentenced to 13 years in prison in July 2024.
Black was on leave and in the process of returning to his home base at Fort Cavazos, Texas, from South Korea, where he had been stationed at Camp Humphreys with the Eighth Army.
The US Army said Black signed out for his move back home and, “instead of returning to the continental United States, Black flew from Incheon, Republic of Korea, through China to Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons.”
Under Pentagon policy, service members must get clearance for any international travel from a security manager or commander.
The US Army said last month that Black hadn’t sought such travel clearance and it wasn’t authorized by the Defense Department. Given the hostilities in Ukraine and threats to the US and its military, it is extremely unlikely he would have been granted approval.
Black’s girlfriend, Alexandra Vashchuk, told reporters last year that “it was a simple domestic dispute,” during which Black “became aggressive and attacked” her, stealing money from her wallet. She described Black as “violent and unable to control himself.”
US officials have said that Black, who is married, met Vashchuk in South Korea.
According to US officials, she had lived in South Korea, and last fall she and Black got into some type of domestic dispute or altercation. After that, she left South Korea. It isn’t clear if she was forced to leave or what, if any, role South Korean authorities had in the matter.
Philippines, US launch joint drills aimed at ‘deterrence’
- The drills follow months of confrontations between Beijing and Manila over disputed areas of the South China Sea
- Military ties between the Philippines and US have deepened since the 2022 election of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
MANILA: The Philippine and US air forces kicked off joint exercises Monday aimed at boosting operational coordination and enhancing “strategic deterrence,” Manila’s military said.
The drills follow months of confrontations between Beijing and Manila over disputed areas of the South China Sea, with significantly larger US-Philippine air, land and sea exercises set for late April.
“Enhancing combat readiness and elevating joint mission effectiveness” would be central to the Cope Thunder exercise, Philippine Air Force commander Arthur Cordura said Monday at a ceremony to launch the drills.
Military ties between the Philippines and United States have deepened since the 2022 election of President Ferdinand Marcos, with Manila pushing back on sweeping Chinese claims in the South China Sea that an international tribunal has ruled are without merit.
The US State Department last week approved a long-mooted sale of F-16 fighter jets to the Philippines, though Manila said the deal was “still in the negotiation phase.”
Speaking at Monday’s ceremony, US Major General Christopher Sheppard said that “the pace of our alliance is accelerating.”
Cope Thunder, which will continue through April 18, aims to enhance “asymmetric warfare capabilities,” operational coordination and strategic deterrence, according to the Philippine Air Force.
“Further down the road, we look forward to the seamless transition to exercise Balikatan, which will continue to push the boundaries of our interoperability,” Cordura added.
Like the majority of Balikatan’s planned activities, Cope Thunder will be conducted on northern Luzon island, the area of the Philippines closest to Taiwan.
As China encircled Taiwan with planes and ships in a simulated blockade last week, Philippine military chief Romeo Brawner warned troops that their country would “inevitably” be involved should the self-ruled island be invaded.
Beijing insists Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to forcefully bring under its control.
While Manila later said Brawner’s comments were primarily referencing efforts to retrieve Filipino workers in Taiwan, the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with Washington gives US forces access to nine bases in the country.
One is a naval facility at Cagayan’s Santa Ana about 400 kilometers from Taiwan.
During a recent visit to Manila, US Defense Chief Pete Hegseth said Washington was “doubling down” on its alliance with the archipelago nation.
“Deterrence is necessary around the world, but specifically in this region, in your country – considering the threats from the Communist Chinese,” he said on March 28.
Dominican Republic steps up forces on Haiti border
- President Luis Abinader also approved construction of a new section of a wall between the two countries
- The Haiti-Dominican Republic border stretches for more than 300 kilometers roughly north to south
SANTO DOMINGO: The Dominican Republic’s President Luis Abinader said Sunday he was deploying more troops to the country’s border with Haiti, which is suffering a grave security crisis.
Abinader added that he had approved construction of a new section of a wall between the two countries, which share the second-largest island in the Caribbean after Cuba.
Abinader, who was first elected in 2020 and secured a second term last year, has made battling immigration a top issue for his administration, conducting mass expulsions of undocumented Haitians.
Around 86,400 were expelled between January and March, after 276,000 were expelled in 2024, according to official data.
“We will step up surveillance of the borders with 1,500 additional troops, on top of 9,500 already deployed,” the president said in a speech on migration.
The Haiti-Dominican Republic border stretches for more than 300 kilometers roughly north to south across the island of Hispaniola.
Abinader said his government would “speed up construction of the border wall,” adding a further 13 kilometers to the 54 already installed.
Around 500,000 Haitian immigrants live in the Dominican Republic, out of a total 10.5 million inhabitants, according to official data.
Three dead in Japan after medical helicopter crash
- A total of six passengers were on board the helicopter heading to a hospital in Fukuoka city from Tsushima Island
- A few hours after losing communication, the six passengers were found by a patrol ship along with the helicopter
TOKYO: Three people died after a medical helicopter crashed into the sea off southwestern Japan, the coast guard said Monday.
A total of six passengers were on board the helicopter heading to a hospital in Fukuoka city from Tsushima Island in the Nagasaki region on Sunday afternoon.
Ryuji Tominaga, the hospital’s head, told reporters that the accident was “utterly heartbreaking.”
A few hours after losing communication, the six passengers were found by a patrol ship along with the helicopter.
The 86-year-old patient, her 68-year-old family member and a 34-year-old doctor were unresponsive and later confirmed dead, the Japan’s coast guard said.
The other three people, found holding on to the helicopter, were conscious, it added.
An official from the helicopter operator said Monday that the pilot and mechanic on board were both experienced and that the weather did not appear to be a problem for the flight.
The national Maritime Safety Committee will carry out investigations, he added.
According to the Asahi Shimbun daily, a helicopter operated by the same company crashed into farmland in the Fukuoka region, killing two people on board, in July last year.
