Egypt’s president, Belgium’s PM discuss developments in the Gaza Strip

Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Alexander De Croo, Feb. 17, 2022. (Spokesman for the Egyptian Presidency)
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Updated 20 February 2024
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Egypt’s president, Belgium’s PM discuss developments in the Gaza Strip

  • El-Sisi and De Croo said that they looked forward to forging closer joint cooperation in various domains
  • El-Sisi spoke of Egypt’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and secure the exchange of detainees and hostages

CAIRO: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo have discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip during a telephone call.

Presidential spokesman Ahmed Fahmy said the call also touched on bilateral relations as well as Egypt’s ties with the EU in light of Belgium’s assumption of the bloc’s presidency in January.

El-Sisi and De Croo said that they looked forward to forging closer joint cooperation in various domains while further strengthening coordination and consultations on international and regional challenges.

The situation in the Gaza Strip was also part of the discussion. El-Sisi spoke of Egypt’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire and secure the exchange of detainees and hostages, while ensuring the flow of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza in a sustainable and urgent manner.

Fahmy said that El-Sisi appreciated Belgium’s stance in support of restoring calm, and its opposition to any escalation in the conflict.

Fahmy added that the Belgian prime minister affirmed his country’s alignment with Egypt’s vision, and the country’s readiness to support all efforts undertaken by Egypt within its framework, particularly in regard to ways to achieve the two-state solution and establish an independent Palestinian state.

De Croo also stressed his country’s support of further coordination and consultations with Egypt to prevent the expansion of the conflict and restore stability in the region.

El-Sisi last November hosted the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium in tripartite discussions on developments in the Gaza Strip.

El-Sisi last week received a phone call from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and warned of the danger of an escalating situation in Gaza. He stressed the importance of working to stop the expansion of the conflict and the necessity of activating the path to a two-state solution, leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Trudeau spoke of the need to protect civilians and expressed his country’s support for all efforts toward reaching a ceasefire, while warning of the danger of an escalation of the conflict.


Drought-hit Syrian farmers hope sanctions reprieve will restore agriculture

Updated 2 sec ago
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Drought-hit Syrian farmers hope sanctions reprieve will restore agriculture

ALEPPO: Severe drought in Syria this year could lead to the failure of an estimated 75 percent of local wheat crops, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, threatening the food security of millions of people.
Toni Ettel, the FAO’s representative in Syria, told Reuters the agency anticipated a “food shortage of 2.7 million tons of wheat for this year, which is sufficient to feed 16.3 million people over one year.”
Under former President Bashar Assad, Damascus depended on wheat imports from Russia to support a bread subsidy program during past droughts.
Wheat farmers like Asaad Ezzeldin, 45, have seen their crops fail due to the drought. It has further strained Syria’s beleaguered agricultural sector that suffered from fighting and heavy bombardment during 13 years of civil war.
“Agriculture in Aleppo’s northern countryside has been hit because of the lack of irrigation. There is no rainfall,” he said.
Moscow, a staunch ally of Assad, suspended wheat supplies to Syria soon after Islamist rebels toppled him, citing uncertainties about the country’s new authorities.
In a surprise announcement last week, US President Donald Trump said he would order the lifting of all sanctions on Syria. Washington is likely to begin providing some sanctions relief in the coming weeks.
The flow of funds could revive the agriculture sector, providing much-needed technologies for irrigation and infrastructure renewal, Ettel said.
Unable to buy wheat and fuel, Syria’s new government had lobbied for a lifting of the sanctions that for years isolated the Syrian economy and made it dependent on Russia and Iran.
Syria’s agriculture ministry did not reply to a request for comment.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday she hoped ministers would reach an agreement on lifting EU economic sanctions on Syria. The EU has already eased sanctions related to energy, transport and reconstruction, and associated financial transactions, but some argued this was not enough to support its political transition and economic recovery.

UK sanctions Israeli settlers in West Bank

Updated 3 min 2 sec ago
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UK sanctions Israeli settlers in West Bank


Syria FM says sanctions relief shows ‘international will’ to support country

Updated 3 min 52 sec ago
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Syria FM says sanctions relief shows ‘international will’ to support country

  • Lifting sanctions expresses the regional and international will to support Syria, said Al-Shaibani

DAMASCUS: The Syrian Arab Republic’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that the lifting of sanctions on his country shows an “international will” to support his country, after EU countries agreed to end most of its sanctions.

In a press conference in Damascus alongside his Jordanian counterpart, Asaad Al-Shaibani said that “lifting sanctions expresses the regional and international will to support Syria,” adding that “the Syrian people today have a very important and historic opportunity to rebuild their country.”


Syria’s driest winter in nearly 7 decades triggers a severe water crisis in Damascus

Updated 17 min 1 sec ago
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Syria’s driest winter in nearly 7 decades triggers a severe water crisis in Damascus

  • Now, there is only a trickle of water following the driest winter in decades
  • “I have been working at the Ein Al-Fijeh spring for 33 years and this is the first year it is that dry,” Bashi said

BARADA VALLEY, Syria: Inside a mountain above the Syrian Arab Republic's capital, Hassan Bashi walked through tunnels that used to be filled with water from a spring famous for its pure waters.

The spring rises inside the ruins of a Roman temple in the Barada Valley and flows toward Damascus, which it has been supplying with drinking water for thousands of years. Normally, during the winter flood season, water fills all the tunnels and washes over much of the temple.

Now, there is only a trickle of water following the driest winter in decades.

Bashi, who is a guard but also knows how to operate the pumping and water filtration machines in the absence of the engineer in charge, displayed an old video on his cell phone of high waters inside the ruins.

“I have been working at the Ein Al-Fijeh spring for 33 years and this is the first year it is that dry,” Bashi said.

The spring is the main source of water for 5 million people, supplying Damascus and its suburbs with 70 percent of their water.

As the city suffers its worst water shortages in years, many people now rely on buying water from private tanker trucks that fill from wells.

Government officials are warning that the situation could get worse in the summer and are urging residents to use water sparingly while showering, cleaning or washing dishes.

“The Ein Al-Fijeh spring is working now at its lowest level,” said Ahmad Darwish, head of the Damascus City Water Supply Authority, adding that the current year witnessed the lowest rainfall since 1956.

The channels that have been there since the day of the Romans two millennia ago were improved in 1920 and then again in 1980, he said.

Darwish said the springwater water comes mainly from rainfall and melted snow off the mountains along the border with Lebanon, but because of this year’s below-average rainfall, “it has given us amounts that are much less than normal.”

There are 1.1 million homes that get water from the spring, and in order to get through the year, people will have to cut down their consumption, he said.

The spring also feeds the Barada River that cuts through the capital. It is mostly dry this year.

In Damascus’s eastern area of Abbasids, Bassam Jbara is feeling the shortage. His neighborhood only gets water for about 90 minutes a day, compared with previous years when water was always running when they turned on the taps.

Persistent electricity cuts are making the problem worse, he said, as they sometimes have water but no power to pump it to the tankers on the roof of the building. Jbara once had to buy five barrels of undrinkable water from a tanker truck that cost him and his neighbors $15, a large amount of money in a country where many people make less than $100 a month.

“From what we are seeing, we are heading toward difficult conditions regarding water,” he said, fearing that supplies will drop to once or twice a week over the summer. He is already economizing.

“The people of Damascus are used to having water every day and to drinking tap water coming from the Ein Al-Fijeh spring, but unfortunately the spring is now weak,” Jbara said.

During Syria’s 14-year conflict, Ein Al-Fijeh was subjected to shelling on several occasions, changing between forces of then- President Bashar Assad and insurgents over the years.

In early 2017, government forces captured the area from insurgents and held it until December when the five-decade Assad dynasty collapsed in a stunning offensive by fighters led by the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham group, or HTS, of current President Ahmad Al-Sharaa.

Tarek Abdul-Wahed returned to his home near the spring in December nearly eight years after he was forced to leave with his family and is now working on rebuilding the restaurant he owned. It was blown up by Assad’s forces after he left the area.

Abdul-Wahed looked at the dry area that used to be filled with tourists and Syrians who would come in the summer to enjoy the cool weather.

“The Ein Al-Fijeh spring is the only artery to Damascus,” Abdul-Wahed said as reconstruction work was ongoing in the restaurant that helped 15 families living nearby make a living in addition to the employees who came from other parts of Syria.

“Now it looks like a desert. There is no one,” he said. “We hope that the good old days return with people coming here.”


Vance denies axing Israel visit over Gaza onslaught fears

Updated 24 min 3 sec ago
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Vance denies axing Israel visit over Gaza onslaught fears

  • US vice president: ‘Logistically, it was just a little bit too hard’
  • Advisers reportedly raised concerns after launch of new offensive

LONDON: US Vice President JD Vance has denied an Axios report that he skipped a planned visit to Israel amid concerns over its new military offensive in Gaza.

Vance, according to a senior US official, was reportedly hesitant to signal Washington’s support for the renewed onslaught, which was launched on Sunday.

The vice president labeled the Axios report as an “overstatement,” saying: “We thought about going to Israel, we also thought about going to a couple of other countries that the president would like me to visit some time in the next few months.

“Logistically, it was just a little bit too hard on basic things like, who the hell is going to take care of our kids if we take another couple of days overseas?”

He also highlighted “more serious” considerations relating to the proposed visit, “like how do we provide security, how do we make sure that we get over all the assets that we need in order to do the right official delegation?”

The US government is believed to have informed Israel on Saturday that Vance was considering a trip to the country after attending Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration at the Vatican.

Axios was told by a top Israeli official that Vance had believed a hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas was imminent.

Israeli media reported that he was likely to visit the country this week. But the launching of the new offensive was viewed as having disrupted those plans.

He reportedly canceled the trip when advisers raised concerns that his presence in Israel might be perceived in the Middle East as giving support to the Gaza offensive.

A White House official denied reports that Vance had planned to fly from Rome to Tel Aviv. His Secret Service protection had “engaged in contingency planning for the addition of several potential countries” to travel to, the official said, but “no additional visits were at any point decided upon, and logistical constraints have precluded an extension of his travel.”

Vance on Monday said he would visit Israel “some time in the future.”