Erdogan wants to meet with Syria’s Assad over ties

Turkiye and Syria severed diplomatic relations in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian war. (File/AFP)
Turkiye and Syria severed diplomatic relations in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian war. (File/AFP)
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Updated 21 September 2024
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Erdogan wants to meet with Syria’s Assad over ties

Turkiye and Syria severed diplomatic relations in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian war. (File/AFP)
  • Turkiye and Syria severed diplomatic relations in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian war — but Erdogan has sought rapprochement with Damascus in recent months

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday he had asked to meet Syria’s Bashar Assad on the sidelines of UN talks in New York next week to normalize ties.
Turkiye and Syria severed diplomatic relations in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian war — but Erdogan, who then supported rebel efforts to topple all-powerful president Assad, has sought rapprochement with Damascus in recent months.
“We are now waiting for the other party’s response,” Erdogan told reporters before flying out to the United Nations General Assembly where he is due to speak on Monday.
The conflict in Gaza has exacerbated Turkiye’s fears that fighting might escalate to the broader region.
Erdogan said “Gaza would be at the center” of his talks in New York, vowing that “Turkiye wants to play a role in putting an end to the atrocities committed in Gaza.”
Israeli air strikes on Lebanon have followed sabotage attacks on pagers and two-way radios used by Lebanese, Iran-backed Hezbollah earlier this week, which killed 39 people. Hezbollah blamed Israel, which has not commented.
“The recent attacks led by Israel against Lebanon have justified Turkiye’s concerns about the risks of an extended conflict,” Erdogan said, adding that Turkiye would do what it could “against the storm of deaths that global Zionism is unleashing in the Middle East.”
Erdogan also called on Western nations and the international community to “stop watching the murders committed by Israel and take deterrent measures,” without specifying further.
Turkish forces and Turkiye-backed rebel factions control swathes of northern Syria and Turkiye has taken in 3.2 million refugees from the war-torn country, according to UN data.
The Syrian conflict, which began after the repression of anti-government protests in 2011, has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.


Paramilitary attack in North Darfur kills 3: activists

Paramilitary attack in North Darfur kills 3: activists
Updated 15 December 2024
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Paramilitary attack in North Darfur kills 3: activists

Paramilitary attack in North Darfur kills 3: activists

PORT SUDAN: Three civilians have been killed and 20 wounded in a drone attack by paramilitaries in the western Sudanese town of El-Fasher in North Darfur, activists said on Sunday.
The local resistance committee, one of hundreds of volunteer groups coordinating aid across Sudan, said in a statement the attack took place on Saturday night.
It said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been battling the regular army since mid-April 2023, targeted “Awlad Al-Reef neighborhood in the center of the city with four high-explosive missiles, killing three civilians and injuring more than 20 others with serious wounds.”
El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, has been under paramilitary siege since May.
The city has seen fierce clashes as both sides fight to secure a last foothold in the Darfur region.
Nearly all of Darfur is now controlled by the RSF, which has also taken over swathes of the southern Kordofan region and central Sudan, while the army holds the north and east.
Both are battling for full control of the war-torn capital Khartoum, 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) east of El-Fasher.
The army-aligned health ministry said another drone attack on Friday killed nine people and wounded 20 at the main hospital in El-Fasher, forcing it to halt operations.
The RSF targeted the facility known as the Saudi Hospital with “four drone-guided missiles,” a health ministry statement said.
It said the attack “struck areas where patients’ companions were gathered as well as key locations of the hospital.”
In a post on X Saturday, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described continued attacks on health care facilities across Sudan as “deplorable.”
“We urge for the protection of all patients and health professionals, and for all attacks on and around health facilities to stop,” he added.
The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 11 million, creating what the United Nations calls one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory.
Both the army and the RSF have been accused of indiscriminately targeting civilians and medical facilities, as well as deliberately bombing residential areas.
Sudan’s army launched one of its deadliest air strikes last week on a market in North Darfur, killing more than 100 people, according to a pro-democracy lawyers’ group.


Thousands protest in Israel for Gaza hostage deal

Thousands protest in Israel for Gaza hostage deal
Updated 15 December 2024
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Thousands protest in Israel for Gaza hostage deal

Thousands protest in Israel for Gaza hostage deal
  • Hamas abducted 251 hostages during its October 2023 attack on Israel, 96 of whom remain in Gaza
  • Qatar, a key mediator in the negotiations, said last week there was new “momentum” for hostage talks 

JERUSALEM: Thousands of Israelis demonstrated Saturday for a deal to release the remaining hostages still held in Gaza after more than 14 months of war against Hamas in the Palestinian territory.
“We all can agree that we have failed until now and that we can reach an agreement now,” Lior Ashkenazi, a prominent Israeli actor, told a crowd gathered in the commercial hub of Tel Aviv.
Itzik Horn, whose sons Eitan and Iair are still being held captive in Gaza, said: “End the war, the time has arrived for action and the time has arrived to bring everyone home.”
There has been guarded optimism in recent days that a ceasefire and hostage release deal for Gaza might finally be within reach after months of abortive mediation efforts.
Palestinian militants abducted 251 hostages during Hamas’s October 2023 attack, 96 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Qatar, a key mediator in the negotiations, said last week there was new “momentum” for talks.
US Security of State Antony Blinken said during a visit to Jordan on Saturday: “This is the moment to finally conclude that agreement.”
In Egypt, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met on Saturday with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Middle East envoy Brett McGurk.
“The meeting addressed efforts to reach an agreement for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange in Gaza,” El-Sisi’s office said.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s attack last year that resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,930 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.


UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall

UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall
Updated 15 December 2024
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UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall

UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall
  • The Syrian government has been under strict sanctions by the US, EU and others for years
  • ‘We can hopefully see a quick end to the sanctions so that we can see really a rallying around building of Syria’

DAMASCUS: The United Nations special envoy for Syria on Sunday called for a quick end to Western sanctions after the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
The Syrian government has been under strict sanctions by the United States, European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and later spiraled into a civil war.
The conflict has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. Rebuilding has been stymied to a large degree by sanctions that aimed to prevent rebuilding of damaged infrastructure and property in government-held areas in the absence of a political solution.
“We can hopefully see a quick end to the sanctions so that we can see really a rallying around building of Syria,” UN envoy Geir Pedersen told reporters during a visit to Damascus.
Pedersen came to the Syrian capital to meet with officials with the new interim government set up by the former opposition forces who toppled Assad, led by the Islamic militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS.
HTS is designated a terrorist group by the US, which could also complicate reconstruction efforts, but officials in Washington have indicated that the Biden administration is considering removing the designation.
The interim government is set to govern until March, but it has not yet made clear the process under which a new permanent administration would replace it.
“We need to get the political process underway that is inclusive of all Syrians,” Pedersen said. “That process obviously needs to be led by the Syrians themselves.”
He called for “justice and accountability for crimes” committed during the war and for the international community to step up humanitarian aid.


Syrian authorities reopen schools, a week after upheaval that overthrew Assad

Syrian authorities reopen schools, a week after upheaval that overthrew Assad
Updated 15 December 2024
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Syrian authorities reopen schools, a week after upheaval that overthrew Assad

Syrian authorities reopen schools, a week after upheaval that overthrew Assad
  • Officials said most schools were opening around the country on Sunday, which is the first day of the working week in most Arab countries
  • However some parents were not sending their children to class due to uncertainty over the situation

DAMASCUS: Students returned to classrooms in Syria on Sunday after the country’s new rulers ordered schools reopened in a potent sign of some normalcy a week after militants swept into the capital in the dramatic overthrow of President Bashar Assad.
The country’s new de facto leader, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, faces a massive challenge to rebuild Syria after 13 years of civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Cities were bombed to ruins, the economy was gutted by international sanctions and millions of refugees still live in camps outside Syria.
Officials said most schools were opening around the country on Sunday, which is the first day of the working week in most Arab countries. However some parents were not sending their children to class due to uncertainty over the situation.
Pupils waited cheerfully in the courtyard of a boys’ high school in Damascus on Sunday morning and applauded as the school secretary, Raed Nasser, hung the flag adopted by the new authorities.
“Everything is good. We are fully equipped. We worked two, three days in order to equip the school with the needed services for the students’ safe return to school,” Nasser said, adding the Jawdat Al-Hashemi school had not been damaged.
In one classroom, a student pasted the new flag on a wall.
“I am optimistic and very happy,” said student Salah Al-Din Diab. “I used to walk in the street scared that I would get drafted to military service. I used to be afraid when I reach a checkpoint.”
As Syria starts trying to rebuild, its neighbors and other foreign powers are still working out a new stance on the country, a week after the collapse of the Assad government that was backed by Iran and Russia.
Sharaa — better known by his militant nom de guerre Abu Mohammed Al-Golani — leads the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that swept Assad from power last week. HTS is a group formerly allied with Al-Qaeda that is designated a terrorist organization by many governments, and is also under United Nations sanctions.
UN Syria envoy Geir Pedersen said on Sunday he hoped for a swift end to the sanctions to help facilitate economic recovery.
“We will hopefully see a quick end to sanctions so that we can see really rallying around building up Syria,” Pedersen said as he arrived in Damascus to meet Syria’s caretaker government and other officials.
Top diplomats from the United States, Turkiye, the European Union and Arab nations met in Jordan on Saturday and agreed that a new government in Syria should respect minority rights, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.


Turkiye ready to offer military training to Syria if new administration requests, minister says

Turkiye ready to offer military training to Syria if new administration requests, minister says
Updated 15 December 2024
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Turkiye ready to offer military training to Syria if new administration requests, minister says

Turkiye ready to offer military training to Syria if new administration requests, minister says
  • Turkiye can offer military help to Syria if asked, says minister
  • Guler says new administration must be given chance to rule
  • Sees no sign of Daesh expanding in Syria post-Assad

ANKARA: The new administration in Syria should be given a chance to govern following their constructive messages, and Turkiye stands ready to provide military training if such help is requested, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler said.
NATO member Turkiye backed the Syrian militants who toppled President Bashar Assad last weekend, ending a 13-year civil war. Turkiye reopened its embassy in Damascus on Saturday, two days after its intelligence chief visited the Syrian capital.
“In their first statement, the new administration that toppled Assad announced that it would respect all government institutions, the United Nations and other international organizations,” Guler told reporters in Ankara in comments authorized for publication on Sunday.
“We think that we need to see what the new administration will do and to give them a chance.”
When asked whether Turkiye was considering military cooperation with the new Syrian government, Guler said Ankara already had military cooperation and training agreements with many countries.
“(Turkiye) is ready to provide the necessary support if the new administration requests it,” he added.
Since 2016, Turkiye has mounted four military operations across growing swathes of northern Syria, citing threats to its national security.
Turkiye is estimated to maintain a few thousand troops in towns including Afrin, Azez and Jarablus in northwestern Syria and Ras al Ain and Tel Abyad in the northeast.
Ankara may discuss and reevaluate the issue of Turkiye’s military presence in Syria with the new Syrian administration “when necessary conditions arise,” Guler said.

ELIMINATING ‘TERRORISTS’
Turkiye’s priority remains the elimination of the Kurdish YPG militia, part of a US-backed Syrian opposition group, and it has made this clear to Washington, Guler said.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls some of Syria’s largest oil fields, is the main ally in the US coalition against Daesh militants. It is spearheaded by the YPG, a group that Ankara sees as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose militant fighters have battled the Turkish state for 40 years.
“In the new period, the PKK/YPG terrorist organization in Syria will be eliminated sooner or later,” Guler said.
“Members of the organization coming from outside Syria will leave Syria. Those who are Syrian will lay down their weapons.”
Guler said Turkiye saw no sign of a resurgence of Daesh in Syria, contrary to the US view.
“Has anyone heard of any attacks by DAESH terrorists in Syria in the last three years? We don’t see or hear anything about DAESH at the moment,” he said.
Turkiye has in the past told the US that Ankara could deploy three commando brigades in Syria to fight Daesh, and to run Al-Hol, the detention camp for Daesh families, Guler said, adding that Washington had rejected both offers.
“Instead, they cooperated with the PKK/YPG terrorist organization under the banner of fighting DAESH. But you can’t fight one terrorist organization with another terrorist organization.”
Asked about the future involvement in Syria of Russia, a longstanding ally of Assad which last weekend granted him asylum, Guler said he saw no sign of a complete Russian withdrawal.
Russia, he said, is moving its military assets from different parts of Syria to its two bases in the country — the Hmeimim air base at Latakia and a naval base in Tartous.
“I don’t think the Russians are going to leave (Syria). They’ll do everything they can to stay,” he said.