New conflict in northeast Syria could bring ‘dramatic consequences’, UN envoy says

Geir Pedersen, UN Special envoy to Syria, talks to media before departing Damascus, Syria December 18, 2024. (REUTERS)
Geir Pedersen, UN Special envoy to Syria, talks to media before departing Damascus, Syria December 18, 2024. (REUTERS)
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New conflict in northeast Syria could bring ‘dramatic consequences’, UN envoy says

Geir Pedersen, UN Special envoy to Syria, talks to media before departing Damascus, Syria December 18, 2024. (REUTERS)
  • Turkiye regards the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought an insurgency against the Turkish state and are deemed terrorists by Ankara, Washington and the European Union

BEIRUT: Tensions in northeast Syria between Kurdish-led authorities and Turkish-backed groups should be resolved politically or risk “dramatic consequences” for all of Syria, the United Nations envoy for the country Geir Pedersen told Reuters on Monday. Hostilities have escalated between Syrian rebels backed by Ankara and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in the northeast since Bashar Assad was toppled on Dec. 8.
Syrian armed groups seized the city of Manbij from the SDF on Dec. 9 and could be preparing to attack the key city of Kobani, or Ayn Al-Arab, on the northern border with Turkiye.
“If the situation in the northeast is not handled correctly, it could be a very bad omen for the whole of Syria,” Pedersen said by phone, adding that “if we fail here, it would have dramatic consequences when it comes to new displacement.” The SDF — which is spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG — has proposed to withdraw its forces from the area in exchange for a complete truce. But Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking alongside Syria’s de facto new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Sunday in Damascus, said the YPG should disband totally.
Turkiye regards the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought an insurgency against the Turkish state and are deemed terrorists by Ankara, Washington and the European Union.
Pedersen said a political solution “would require serious, serious compromises” and should be part of the “transitional phase” led by Syria’s new authorities in Damascus. Fidan said he had discussed the YPG presence with the new Syrian administration and believed Damascus would take steps to ensure Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday the country will remain in close dialogue with Sharaa. Kurdish groups have had autonomy across much of the northeast since Syria’s war began in 2011, but now fear it could be wiped out by the country’s new Islamist rule. Thousands of women rallied on Monday in a northeast city to condemn Turkiye and demand their rights be respected.
Pedersen said Sharaa had told him in meetings in Damascus last week that they were committed to “transitional arrangements that will be inclusive of all.”
But he said resolving tensions in the northeast would be a test for a new Syria after more than a half-century of Assad family rule.
“The whole question of creating a new, free Syria would be off to a very, extremely ... to put it diplomatically, difficult start,” he said.

 


Rights groups say evidence of Assad abuses must be protected

Rights groups say evidence of Assad abuses must be protected
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Rights groups say evidence of Assad abuses must be protected

Rights groups say evidence of Assad abuses must be protected
  • The Saydnaya complex, the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, epitomised the atrocities committed against Assad’s opponents

BEIRUT, Lebanon: Three rights group on Monday appealed to Syria’s new rulers to urgently preserve evidence of atrocities committed under former president Bashar Assad.
Such evidence — including government and intelligence documents as well as mass graves — will be essential for establishing the fate of tens of thousands of people forcibly disappeared, and for prosecuting those responsible for crimes under international law, the groups said.
“The transitional Syrian authorities should urgently take steps to secure and preserve evidence of atrocities committed under the government of former president Bashar Assad,” said Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Association of Detainees and Missing Persons in Sednaya Prison (ADMSP).
The Saydnaya complex, the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, epitomised the atrocities committed against Assad’s opponents.
“Every additional minute of inaction heightens the risk that a family may never discover the fate of their missing loved one, and an official responsible for horrific crimes may never be brought to justice,” Shadi Haroun, ADMSP program manager, said in a statement issued by Amnesty.
The statement said investigators from the three organizations visited detention facilities, mass graves and the military court after Islamist-led rebels toppled Assad on December 8.
“In all of the detention facilities visited, researchers observed that official documents were often left unprotected, with significant portions looted or destroyed,” the groups said.
They said they gathered testimony that security and intelligence personnel burned some material before they fled, but in other cases the armed groups who took control of the facilities, or newly-freed prisoners, also burned and looted material.
The researchers said they themselves saw ordinary people and some journalists “take some documents.”
“These documents may contain vital information,” the watchdogs said, calling on the new authorities to coordinate with fact-finding bodies created by the United Nations, “after urgently securing these locations and ensuring that the remaining evidence is not tampered with.”
The rights groups said they also underscored to Syria’s new authorities “the importance of securing the sites of the mass graves across the country,” having seen “local residents and families of the disappeared try to dig up some of the remains.”
They said officials from Syria’s new administration had promised the visiting researchers that they would “strengthen security around key facilities.”
On Sunday Robert Petit, the visiting head of a UN investigative body for Syria, said it was possible to find “more than enough” evidence to convict people of crimes under international law, but there was an immediate need to secure and preserve it.
 

 


Women rally for equal rights in Syria after Assad’s fall to Islamists

Women rally for equal rights in Syria after Assad’s fall to Islamists
Updated 10 min 33 sec ago
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Women rally for equal rights in Syria after Assad’s fall to Islamists

Women rally for equal rights in Syria after Assad’s fall to Islamists
  • Hostilities between the SDF and a Turkiye-backed Syrian force known as the Syrian National Army have escalated since Assad was ousted, with the SDF driven out of the northern city of Manbij

QAMISHLI, Syria: Thousands of women rallied in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli on Monday to demand the new Islamist rulers in Damascus respect women’s rights and to condemn Turkish-backed military campaigns in Kurdish-led regions of the north.
Many of the protesters waved the green flag of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), an affiliate of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units militia (YPG) that Turkiye deems a national security threat and wants disbanded immediately.
“We are demanding women’s rights from the new state ... and women must not be excluded from rights in this system,” said Sawsan Hussein, a women’s rights activist.
“We are (also) condemning the attacks of the Turkish occupation against the city of Kobani.”
Kurdish groups have enjoyed autonomy across much of the north since Syria’s civil war began in 2011. The Kurdish YPG militia, which leads the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) armed group, is a major force in the area.
But Syria’s power balance has shifted away from these groups since the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham group (HTS) swept into Damascus and toppled Bashar Assad two weeks ago, establishing a new administration friendly to Ankara.
Syria’s dominant Kurdish groups embrace an ideology emphasising socialism and feminism — in contrast to the conservative Sunni Islamist views of HTS, a former Al-Qaeda affiliate.
Turkiye views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and is deemed a terrorist group by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union.
Hostilities between the SDF and a Turkiye-backed Syrian force known as the Syrian National Army have escalated since Assad was ousted, with the SDF driven out of the northern city of Manbij.
Syrian Kurdish leaders have warned that Turkish forces are mobilizing for an offensive on the SDF-controlled city of Kobani at the Turkish border, also known as Ayn Al-Arab.
There is widespread apprehension among Syrians that the new Damascus administration will gravitate toward hard-line Islamist rule, marginalizing minorities and women from public life.
Obaida Arnout, a spokesperson for the Syrian transitional government, said last week that women’s “biological and physiological nature” rendered them unfit for certain governmental jobs.
Hemrin Ali, an official in the Kurdish-led administration of northeastern Syria, told Reuters at Monday’s rally: “Yes to supporting the YPJ. Yes to preserving the rights and gains of the women’s revolution in northern and eastern Syria.”

 


Egypt troops to join African Union Somalia mission: Foreign minister

Egypt troops to join African Union Somalia mission: Foreign minister
Updated 33 min 8 sec ago
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Egypt troops to join African Union Somalia mission: Foreign minister

Egypt troops to join African Union Somalia mission: Foreign minister
  • Egypt and Somalia have grown closer amid tensions with Ethiopia over recognition of Somaliland

CAIRO: Egypt will contribute troops to an African Union Somalia peacekeeping mission, its foreign minister said on Monday, as ties between the two countries grow closer amid tensions with Ethiopia over recognition of Somaliland.
“Egypt has decided to participate in the mission based on the Somali government’s request and welcoming of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council,” said Badr Abdelatty during a press conference in Cairo to mark a visit by the Somali foreign minister.
The African Union stabilization and support mission, known as AUSSOM, will replace an anti-terror mission ending this year.
A dispute between Ethiopia and Somalia broke out this year over Addis Ababa’s plan to build a port in the breakaway region of Somaliland, which had drawn in regional powers and threatened to further destabilize the Horn of Africa.
After talks mediated by Turkiye, Somalia and Ethiopia said they would work together to resolve the issue.
“We spoke about the situation in Somalia and Egypt’s support of Somalia imposing its authority and sovereignty on all Somali national land and the refusal of any directives or unilateral moves that touch the unity, sovereignty and security of Somalia,” Abdelatty added.
The spat has drawn Somalia closer to Egypt, which criticized the Somaliland deal and has been at odds with Ethiopia for years over Addis Ababa’s construction of a hydro dam on the river Nile.
Following the signing of a joint security pact, Egypt has delivered weapons and ammunition, including anti-aircraft guns and artillery, to Somalia.


Palestinian victims of Gaza conflict file case against British oil giant BP

Palestinian victims of Gaza conflict file case against British oil giant BP
Updated 23 December 2024
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Palestinian victims of Gaza conflict file case against British oil giant BP

Palestinian victims of Gaza conflict file case against British oil giant BP
  • Claimants accuse company of violating human rights laws, fueling Israeli war machine
  • Legal notice also accuses BP of complicity in alleged war crimes

LONDON: Palestinians affected by the ongoing conflict in Gaza have initiated legal action against British oil giant BP, alleging its involvement in supplying crude oil to Israel facilitates human rights abuses.

The claimants submitted a legal notice accusing the company of violating international human rights laws and its own corporate policies, The Guardian reported on Monday.

At the heart of the dispute is the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, operated by BP, which carries oil from Azerbaijan through Georgia and Turkey to Israel. It reportedly supplies 28 percent of Israel’s crude oil, a critical resource for its military operations.

According to the claim, oil refined from the pipeline is being used to fuel jets, tanks and bulldozers.

“Israel relies heavily on crude oil and refined petroleum imports to run its large fleet of fighter jets, tanks and other military vehicles and operations, as well as the bulldozers implicated in clearing Palestinian homes and olive groves to make way for unlawful Israeli settlements,” the notice said.

“Some fuel from refineries goes directly to the armed forces, while much of the rest appears to go to ordinary gas stations where military personnel can refuel their vehicles under a government contract.”

The claimants want to take the case to a British court, citing BP’s UK headquarters and the claimants’ British ties.

The legal action argues that BP’s operations breach the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which require companies to avoid contributing to human rights violations.

It also accuses BP of complicity in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, drawing attention to findings by a UN commission that Israel has committed war crimes during the conflict in Gaza.

The lead claimants include Palestinians who have suffered devastating personal losses during the war, including a British citizen who has lost 16 family members in airstrikes. Others face dire humanitarian conditions, displacement and lack of access to essential medical care.

The legal team stressed the physical and psychological harm endured by the claimants, including amputations and loss of loved ones and said they hoped the case would set a precedent for corporate accountability in conflict zones.

BP has not issued a public response to the claims or responded to media requests for comment.


Oxfam raises alarm over worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza

Oxfam raises alarm over worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza
Updated 23 December 2024
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Oxfam raises alarm over worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza

Oxfam raises alarm over worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza
  • Only 12 trucks delivered food in North Gaza since October, says aid group

UNITED NATIONS: Just 12 trucks distributed food and water in northern Gaza in two-and-a-half months, aid group Oxfam said on Sunday, raising the alarm over the worsening humanitarian situation in the besieged Palestinian territory.

“Of the meager 34 trucks of food and water given permission to enter the North Gaza governorate over the last 2.5 months, deliberate delays and systematic obstructions by the Israeli military meant that just twelve managed to distribute aid to starving Palestinian civilians,” Oxfam said in a statement, in a count that included deliveries through Saturday.

“For three of these, once the food and water had been delivered to the school where people were sheltering, it was then cleared and shelled within hours,” Oxfam added.

Israel, which has tightly controlled aid entering the Hamas-ruled territory since the outbreak of the war, often blames what it says is the inability of relief organizations to handle and distribute large quantities of aid.

In a report focused on water, New York-based Human Rights Watch on Thursday detailed what it called deliberate efforts by Israeli authorities “of a systematic nature” to deprive Gazans of water, which had “likely caused thousands of deaths ... and will likely continue to cause deaths.”

They were the latest in a series of accusations leveled against Israel — and denied by the country — during its 14-month war against Palestinian Hamas militants.

Oxfam said that it and other international aid groups had been “continually prevented from delivering lifesaving aid” in northern Gaza since Oct. 6 this year, when Israel intensified its bombardment of the area.

“Thousands of people are estimated to still be cut off, but with humanitarian access blocked it’s impossible to know exact numbers,” Oxfam said.

“At the beginning of December, humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza were receiving calls from vulnerable people trapped in homes and shelters that had completely run out of food and water.”

Oxfam highlighted one instance of an aid delivery in November being disrupted by Israeli authorities.

“A convoy of 11 trucks last month was initially held up at the holding point by the Israeli military at Jabalia, where some food was taken by starving civilians,” it said.

“After the green light to proceed to the destination was received, the trucks were then stopped further on at a military checkpoint. Soldiers forced the drivers to offload the aid in a militarized zone, which desperate civilians had no access to.”

The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Thursday asking the International Court of Justice to assess Israel’s obligations to assist Palestinians.