by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Jeddah : The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has welcomed the UN Security Council resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria.
In a press statement on Sunday, OIC Secretary-General Yousef bin Ahmed Al-Othaimeen, expressed hopes the UNSC resolution would be a “significant development towards a permanent ceasefire and a peaceful solution to the seven-year civil conflict”.
The UNSC adopted the resolution on Saturday, calling for the ceasefire in Syria to allow for humanitarian aid deliveries.
Al-Othaimeen stressed the need for full commitment to the provisions of the resolution to end the suffering of the Syrian people especially in the Eastern Ghouta district in Damascus, which had been heavily bombarded during the past days.
Meanwhile, Syrian government forces continued their airstrikes and shelling of Eastern Ghouta, defying the new ceasefire resolution.
A week of intense attacks on Eastern Ghouta killed at least 510 people, including 127 minors, according to latest figures.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
All the 15 United Nations Security Council members raise their hands to vote on Feb. 24, 2018, for a resolution demanding a ceasefire in Syria.
By Arul Louis,
United Nations : The ten elected non-permanent members (E10) of the UN Security Council pushed the five permanent members (P5) to reach a compromise and got an unanimous vote on a resolution ordering a ceasefire “without delay” in Syria to allow humanitarian aid to reach areas under siege.
After two days of delays and several postponements, Russia and the three western permanent members — Britain, France and the United States — agreed on Saturday, on the final version negotiated by Kuwait and Sweden with the backing of the P10.
Kuwait’s Permanent Representative Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi, who is the Council President for the month, said after the resolution passed that the unanimous vote was a “sign that the Security Council is united” and this could pave the way for finding a lasting political solution to the seven-year conflict.
Hoping to shame the permanent members locked in a standoff and push them to a compromise, all the the E10 representatives lined up together and held a news conference on Friday while the negotiations were on. “We want to show you the solidarity of the E10,” Al-Otaibi declared: “We are all united, we want the resolution to be adopted.”
The unrelenting push by Al-Otaibi and Sweden’s Permanent Representative Olof Skoog won praise from every one of the Council members. It was a rare instance of the E10 bending the P5, instead of the other way around.
Besides the nation-wide ceasefire, the resolution calls for the lifting of all sieges, facilitation of medical evacuations, and permitting convoys of the UN and its partners carrying humanitarian supplies free access.
However, the resolution made one notable exception to the ceasefire: It allowed continued action against the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda, A1-Nusra Front and other terrorist organisations.
The key point of contention that held up the resolution since it was formally introduced by Kuwait and Sweden on Wednesday was the timing of when the ceasefire should start. The US demanded it should be immediate, while Russia wanted lag before it went into effect and the threat of a Moscow veto hung over it.
The resolution now says it will come into force “without delay,” leaving an element of ambiguity subject to interpretations.
Speaking to reporters after the vote, Al-Otaibi said they debated about the timing during the negotiations all of Friday and into Saturday morning. “Without delay means” immediately, he said.
Russia’s Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia was non-commital about. He told reporters that the reason his country held out on the wording of the timing was that it was logistical issue and a “painful process on the ground.”
He added that another concern of Moscow was that resolution was not used as a pretext to launch an invasion of Syria.
With the drawn-out negotiations, Syria got three days to prepare for it.
Speaking in the Council after the vote, United States Permanent Representative Nikki Haley lashed out at Russia saying that during the time it held up the resolution to change a “few words and some commas,” mothers lost their children to bombing and shelling.
“The Syrian people should not have to die waiting for Russia to organise their instructions from Moscow, or to discuss it with the Syrians,” she added.
The action on the ceasefire was precipitated situation in East Ghouta, which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called “hell on Earth”. One of the few rebel-held territories, the Damascus suburb has been under a siege and bombed from the air by the Syrian government forces.
East Ghouta was specifically mentioned, along with several other areas, but the Kurdish city of Afrin was not. Intense fighting has been underway in the area between Turkey’s military and Kurdish militias backed by Syrian government forces.
Asked about it by reporters, Al-Otaiby said the ceasefire applied to all of Syria and to all forces operating there.
(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
United Nations : The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nikolay Mladenov, on Tuesday warned that tensions in the Middle East are taking “an increasingly perilous turn.”
“Fighting in Syria is increasing, endangering de-escalation arrangements and regional stability, as well as undermining efforts for a political solution.
“Despite the positive news from Iraq and the defeat of the Islamic State terrorist group, much of the Middle East continues to be in the grips of an ongoing human tragedy of immense proportions,” Xinhua quoted Mladenov as saying to the Security Council.
Against this backdrop and after over a century of hostilities including 50 years of continued military occupation, Israelis and Palestinians are still no closer to peace. Many have lost hope that they will see it in their lifetimes, he said.
“The enemies of peace are growing more confident by the day. They see every failure of the forces of moderation as a win for the forces of radicalisation. They believe the political odds are turning in their favor. Day after day they are emboldened.”
Hindering peace are also those who push facts on the ground, who promote unilateral moves blocking the pathway back to the negotiating table, warned Mladenov.
“None of this will bring us closer to resolving the conflict. None of it will respond to the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to statehood or the Israeli longing for security. It will only drive us further down the road of confrontation, suffering and a one-state reality of perpetual occupation.”
The security situation on the Golan Hights is also a matter of growing concern, said Mladenov.
A worrying escalation occurred on Feb 10, when Israeli Defence Forces destroyed what they identified as an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle which had reportedly entered its airspace from Syria.
Shortly thereafter, Israeli aircraft targeted a Syrian airbase. During the attack, one Israeli jet was hit, injuring two pilots, which further prompted Israel to attack what it described as “12 military objectives” inside Syria.
“I urge all sides to work toward easing tensions in this highly volatile area,” he said.
Heightened rhetoric was exchanged between Israel and Lebanon over disputed maritime areas, he said. The UN continues to call on the sides to act responsibly, avoid security risks and explore with the support of the United Nations ways to resolve the issue, he said.
Preparations continue for May parliamentary elections in Lebanon and for the upcoming Rome II and Cedre conferences to support the security sector and economy, respectively due on March 15 and April 5, said the UN envoy.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
By Yusuf Ozcan,
Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday he would order a military strike if any evidence emerges that the Bashar al-Assad regime used chemical weapons against civilians in Syria.
Speaking to reporters at Elysee Palace, Macron said the use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria is France’s “red line”.
He said French security forces have so far not obtained any evidence on the use of chemical weapons against the civilian population, adding they are “seriously following” the matter.
Macron spoke by phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday and urged him to call on the Assad regime to “put an end to the unsustainable deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Eastern Ghouta and Idlib”.
Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since March 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity. While UN officials say hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, Syrian regime officials say the death toll is closer to 10,000.
—AA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Vladimir Putin
Moscow : The recent attempted attacks by drones on Russian military bases in Syria was a provocation aimed at destroying previous agreements and damaging relations between Russia, Turkey and Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
“We know who they are, who paid who for this provocation and what the actual sum was…This kind of incidents… are provocations aimed at destroying previous agreements,” Putin said on Thursday at a meeting with heads of Russian print media and news agencies, Xinhua reported.
On Saturday, terrorists attempted to attack Russia’s Hmeymim and Tartus military bases in Syria with 13 drones, which were either captured or destroyed by Russian servicemen.
The drone attack was also conducted with the purpose of undermining Russia’s relations with Turkey and Iran, which are all guarantor states of the Syrian ceasefire regime, Putin said.
He stressed that the Turks, who control the Syrian province of Idlib where the drones had been sent, were not involved in the attack.
According to the President, the drones were disguised as improvised devices while in fact involving high-tech elements.
“As for these attacks, they were undoubtedly well prepared. We know when and where these aerial vehicles were handed over (to the terrorists) and how many of them there were. These aerial vehicles were made to look like homemade. But it is absolutely obvious that some high-tech equipment was used,” Putin said.
Moscow has taken additional measures to ensure the security of its military facilities in Syria, Putin added.
Earlier in the day, the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces released the results of the assessment of the captured drones in the attack, saying the development and use of the drones required assembly schemes and necessary components previously tested for numerous times and involved “specialists who have received special training in countries producing and using systems with unmanned aerial vehicles.”
—IANS
