DAMASCUS: The foreign ministers of Iran and Syria, two allies of Russia, discussed the war in Ukraine and other developments during a meeting in Damascus on Wednesday. Syria’s top diplomat said Moscow is defending its people.
Faisal Mekdad spoke to reporters in Damascus after his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, held talks with President Bashar Assad, Mekdad and top security official Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk.
Amir-Abdollahian welcomed the reconciliation approach by the United Arab Emirates toward Syria. He added that Tehran is close to reaching an agreement on its nuclear program with world powers.
Iran is a strong ally of Assad and has sent thousands of Iran-backed fighters from around the region to bolster Syrian government forces against opponents in the 11-year Syrian conflict. Russia has also supported Assad militarily, turning the tide of the war in his favor. The Syria war has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.
Speaking about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mekdad said “Russia is defending its right in protecting its people (by pushing) away the NATO presence on its direct border.”
“Russia is defending us all and is defending its sovereignty,” Mekdad added.
State news agency SANA said that during Assad’s meeting with Amir-Abdollahian they discussed the conflict in Ukraine and they both agreed that “international balance should not be subjected to dangerous shocks through which Western countries threaten international peace and security.”
During his visit, Amir-Abdollahian discussed the latest developments in Iran’s negotiations to restore Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. He also discussed Assad’s visit to the United Arab Emirates last week, which marked his first to an Arab country since the Syria war broke out, and meetings of the constitutional committee in Geneva between the Syrian government and opposition.
“We welcome and we are satisfied with what some Arab countries are doing by normalizing relations with Syria,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
Amir-Abdollahian said in Farsi that strategic relations between Iran and Syria are at their best. He later made a rare comment in Arabic, saying: “We are in the same trench, and we support Syria’s leadership, government and people.”
Like Iran, Russia is a strong ally of Syria and joined the war in 2015, which helped Assad’s forces regain control of much of the country. Russia has hundreds of troops deployed in Syria and an air base on the Mediterranean coast.
Nuclear negotiations nearly reached completion earlier this month before Moscow demanded that its trade with Iran be exempted from Western sanctions over Ukraine, throwing the process into disarray. Negotiators have yet to reconvene in the Austrian capital, and it’s unclear exactly what hurdles lie ahead.
The Iranian official said he believes that Tehran is close to reaching an agreement over its nuclear program and put the blame for delays on the American side, which he said should take “a realistic stance.” He did not elaborate.
Amir-Abdollahian’s visit comes two weeks after two members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard were killed in an Israeli strike near the capital Damascus.
Days later Iran claimed responsibility for a missile barrage that struck near a sprawling US consulate complex in northern Iraq, saying it was retaliation for repeated Israeli strikes in Syria. The Revolutionary Guard said it fired off 12 cruise missiles at what it described as a “strategic center” of the Israeli spy agency Mossad, a claim denied by Iraqi officials.
Iran welcomes Syria ties with Arabs, says nuclear deal close
https://arab.news/mnccn
Iran welcomes Syria ties with Arabs, says nuclear deal close
- Amir-Abdollahian welcomed the reconciliation approach by the UAE toward Syria
- “Russia is defending us all and is defending its sovereignty,” Mekdad added
Damascus sectarian killings ‘unacceptable,’ says UN envoy
- Geir Pedersen appeals for calm after clashes involving Druze minority
- Israel threatens further attacks after series of strikes on Syrian capital
NEW YORK CITY: The UN’s special envoy for Syria condemned a spate of sectarian violence in Damascus as well as Israeli strikes on the capital as “unacceptable.”
It follows a week of killings and tensions in the predominantly Druze towns of Ashrafiyat Sahnaya and Jaramana, on the outskirts of Damascus.
Fighting broke out earlier this week in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya when gunmen attacked a security checkpoint.
A second clash occurred a day earlier in Jaramana, with at least 30 people, including civilians, being killed in the two attacks.
“The reports of civilian casualties, and casualties among security personnel, are deeply alarming,” Special Envoy Geir Pedersen said in a statement. “Immediate steps must be taken to protect civilians, de-escalate tensions and prevent any further incitement of communal conflict,” he added.
Syrian security forces intervened in an attempt to quell tensions, closing off roads and sending armed personnel, the interior ministry said.
Tensions were compounded by Israel’s intervention with a series of strikes on the outskirts of Damascus.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces had launched attacks on an “extremist group that was preparing to attack the Druze population south of Damascus.”
A second Israeli strike in the Damascus countryside killed a Syrian security officer.
Maj. Gen Eyal Zamir, Israel’s chief of staff, threatened to carry out strikes on Syrian government sites “if the violence against the Druze does not stop.”
Pedersen condemned the Israeli attacks and said that “Syria’s sovereignty must be fully respected.”
He called on Syrian parties to engage in “genuine inclusion, trust-building and meaningful dialogue” in a bid to reduce tensions.
The condemnation came a week after Pedersen’s appearance before the UN Security Council alongside Asaad Al-Shaibani, Syria’s foreign minister.
There, Pedersen hailed the “opening of a new chapter in Syria’s history” and praised the Syrian people, “who, amidst continued suffering, and many uncertainties and dangers, show overwhelmingly that they want this political transition to succeed.”
The events in Damascus follow months of sectarian violence around Latakia and the Syrian coast, involving clashes between members of the Alawite minority and other groups.
“The people of Syria have suffered too much for too long,” Pedersen said. “They deserve peace, dignity, and a future built on dialogue, not destruction.”
PKK claims Iraq attacks on Kurdish security forces
- The post would close a road between two regions “in an attempt to destroy and besiege our forces,” the PKK said
- It is one of many posts that the peshmerga have started building in an area considered “strategic” to the group
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq: The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) claimed on Thursday two attacks in northern Iraq that wounded five Kurdish security personnel earlier this week.
The attacks occurred on Monday and Tuesday, targeting peshmerga bases in Dohuk province in the northern autonomous Kurdistan region, which has seen repeated clashes between Turkish forces and the PKK.
The regional authorities, who have close ties with Ankara, said on Tuesday that two separate drone attacks targeted its security forces, blaming them on a “terrorist group.”
The PKK said in a statement that it launched “minor” attacks to avoid casualties in response to the Kurdistan security forces — the peshmerga — building a new post in the area.
The post would close a road between two regions “in an attempt to destroy and besiege our forces,” the PKK said.
It is one of many posts that the peshmerga have started building in an area considered “strategic” to the group, the PKK added.
Kamran Othman of the US-based Community Peacemakers Teams, which monitors Turkish operations in Iraqi Kurdistan, told AFP Tuesday that the peshmerga were establishing a new post in a “sensitive area” long marked by tensions between the PKK and Turkish forces.
Blacklisted as a “terrorist group” by Ankara, the European Union and the United States, the PKK has fought the Turkish state for most of the past four decades.
The group maintains rear bases in the mountains of northern Iraq, where Turkish forces have also long operated bases.
The drone attacks came weeks after the PKK announced a ceasefire with Turkiye in response to their jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan’s historic call to the group to dissolve and disarm.
Despite the ceasefire, skirmishes between the foes continue in several areas of northern Iraq.
The regional authorities said the attacks aimed to “obstruct the peace process and the stability of the region.”
The PKK said in their statement that they “don’t want to enter a war with any side.”
Police arrest 400 in Istanbul: lawyers group
- “The number of arrests that have been reported to us exceeds 400,” the Istanbul branch of the CHD lawyers group wrote on X
- There was no immediate comment on the detentions from city authorities
ISTNABUL: Police arrested more than 400 people in Istanbul on Thursday, with parts of Turkiye’s biggest city paralyzed in a bid to prevent May Day demonstrations, a lawyers group said.
On Wednesday city authorities closed metro, bus and ferry services in the metropolis and arrested 100 people who were allegedly planning to protest in the city’s central Taksim Square, where demonstrations have been banned since 2013.
This year’s May Day comes as the government is embroiled in a showdown with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CPH), following the detention of its presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoglu.
Imamoglu, who is Istanbul’s mayor, is the biggest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“The number of arrests that have been reported to us exceeds 400,” the Istanbul branch of the CHD lawyers group wrote on X on Thursday.
There was no immediate comment on the detentions from city authorities.
AFP journalists witnessed several dozen people arrested in neighborhoods on the European side of the city.
Several thousand people assembled in sanctioned protests called by labor unions on the Asian side of the city, according to local media and an AFP journalist.
On Wednesday, rights group Amnesty International urged Turkiye to lift the ban on demonstrations in Taksim.
“The restrictions on May Day celebrations in Taksim Square are based on entirely spurious security and public order grounds and... must be urgently lifted,” said Dinushika Dissanayake, an Amnesty’s specialist on Europe.
As happens every year, the square has been sealed off with metal barriers for several days, with a heavy police presence.
Turkiye stresses opposition to decentralization in Syria
- Ankara sees decentralization demands by Syria’s Kurds as a threat because of what it says are their cross-border links to Kurdish militants in Türkiye
- “Turkiye does not accept any initiative that targets Syria’s territorial integrity,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said
ANKARA: Türkiye rejects any plans that undermine the central government in Syrian Arab Republic or threaten its sovereignty and territorial integrity, Turkish sources said, responding to demands from Kurds for Syria to adopt a decentralized system of government.
Türkiye backed rebels against former President Bashar Assad for years and is seen as the closest foreign ally of Syria’s new Islamist leaders, vowing to help them rebuild and stabilize a country devastated by 14 years of war.
Ankara sees decentralization demands by Syria’s Kurds as a threat because of what it says are their cross-border links to Kurdish militants in Türkiye, while it looks to end a decades-old conflict with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia.
Rival Syrian Kurdish parties, including the dominant Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northeast, agreed at a meeting on Saturday on a common political vision for the country’s Kurdish minority and decentralization, a call rejected by Syria’s leadership.
Turkish sources elaborated on comments by President Tayyip Erdogan, who said on Wednesday that decentralization demands in Syria were “nothing more than a raw dream.”
“Turkiye does not accept any initiative that targets Syria’s territorial integrity, that will damage its sovereignty, or that allows weapons to be carried by others not in the Syrian central authority,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said.
Türkiye, a NATO member, views the US-backed SDF as a terrorist organization.
Ankara welcomed a March deal between the SDF and Damascus to merge Kurdish-led governing bodies and security forces with the central government, but said it must also ensure the dismantling of the YPG militia spearheading the SDF, and of the SDF’s chain of command.
PROVIDING ‘SPACE’
The source said Türkiye had provided “the necessary space” for Damascus to address Türkiye’s concerns over Kurdish militants in Syria. Ankara has previously warned of military action if its concerns are not alleviated.
A Turkish defense ministry source said on Wednesday that demands for autonomy could harm Syria’s sovereignty and regional stability.
“We cannot consent to the disintegration of Syria’s territorial integrity and the deterioration of its unitary structure under any guise,” the source told a briefing in Ankara.
“We are against autonomous region and/or decentralized rhetoric or activities, just as is the new Syrian administration.”
Late on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Oncu Keceli said all regional countries must contribute to Syria’s security and stability, calling on Israel to halt “its air strikes that harm the unity and integrity of Syria.”
Israel has been mounting air strikes inside Syria, which Türkiye has called an unacceptable provocation to harm Syria’s unity in the post-Assad era. Ankara has been a fierce critic of Israel since it launched the Gaza war.
Ankara also wants all Western sanctions imposed on Syria to be fully lifted and for US troops stationed in the northeast to withdraw.
Paramilitary shelling hits Sudan’s presidential palace: army source
- RSF used “long-range artillery” launched from their holdout position in Al-Salha
- They targeted the army’s General Command headquarters in central Khartoum
KHARTOUM: Sudan’s presidential palace in central Khartoum was shelled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on Thursday, a military source said, the second such attack on the capital in a week.
The RSF, at war with the army for two years, used “long-range artillery” launched from their holdout position in Al-Salha, located south of Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, the source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
On Saturday, the RSF targeted the army’s General Command headquarters in central Khartoum, also using long-range artillery fire, according to a military source.
The attacks come weeks after the army pushed the RSF out of central Khartoum, which the paramilitary had swept through early in the war.
In a major military offensive in March, army forces regained control of the presidential palace, the airport and other strategic areas in the capital.
But the RSF still clings to its last pockets of control in southern and western Omdurman.
Since April 2023, the war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands, uprooted 13 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
The conflict has effectively divided the country in two with the army holding the center, east and north while the RSF controls nearly all of Darfur and parts of the south.
