High drama at Iraqi Kurdistan parliament as lawmakers meet to approve Barzani's resignation

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Demonstrators gesture as they gather outside the Kurdistan Parliament building in Irbil, Iraq, on Sunday, October 29, 2017. (REUTERS/Azad Lashkari)
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Demonstrators break into the Kurdistan Parliament building in Irbil, Iraq, on Sunday, October 29, 2017. (REUTERS/Azad Lashkari)
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Demonstrators break into the Kurdistan Parliament building in Irbil, Iraq, on Sunday, October 29, 2017. (REUTERS/Azad Lashkari)
Updated 30 October 2017
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High drama at Iraqi Kurdistan parliament as lawmakers meet to approve Barzani's resignation

IRBIL/BAGHDAD: Demonstrators angry at Masoud Barzani’s decision to step down as president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) stormed the regional parliament building in Irbil on Sunday as lawmakers met to act on the veteran leader’s resignation, witnesses said.
Barzani said he would give up his position as president on Nov. 1, after an independence referendum he championed backfired and triggered a regional crisis.
In a televised address, his first since Iraqi forces launched a surprise offensive to recapture Kurdish-held territory on Oct. 16, Barzani confirmed that he would not extend his presidential term after Nov. 1 “under any conditions.”
“I am the same Masoud Barzani, I am a Peshmerga (Kurdish fighter) and will continue to help my people in their struggle for independence,” said Barzani, who has campaigned for Kurdish self-determination for nearly four decades.
The address followed a letter he sent to parliament in which he asked members to take measures to fill the resulting power vacuum.
The region’s parliament met in the Kurdish capital Irbil on Sunday to discuss the letter. A majority of 70 Kurdish MPs voted to accept Barzani’s request and 23 opposed it, Kurdish TV channels Rudaw and Kurdistan 24 said.
Demonstrators, some carrying clubs and guns, stormed the parliament building as the session was in progress.
Gunshots were heard. Some protesters outside the building said they wanted to “punish” MPs who they said had “insulted” Barzani. Some attacked journalists at the scene.
Some MPs were barricaded in their offices on Sunday evening.
A Kurdish official had said on Saturday that Barzani had decided to hand over the presidency without waiting for elections that had been set for Nov. 1 but which have now been delayed by eight months.
The region, which had enjoyed unprecedented autonomy for years, has been in turmoil since the independence referendum a month ago prompted military and economic retaliation from Iraq’s central government in Baghdad.

'Always a peshmerga'
In his address, Barzani vigorously defended his decision to hold the Sept. 25 referendum, the results of which “can never be erased,” he said. The vote was overwhelmingly for independence and triggered the military action by the Baghdad government and threats from neighboring Turkey and Iran.
He added that the Iraqi attack on Kirkuk and other Kurdish held territory vindicated his position that Baghdad no longer believed in federalism and instead wanted to curtail Kurdish rights.
Iraq is using last month’s Kurdish independence referendum “as a pretext to attack Kurdistan,” news agencies quoted Barzani as saying.
The KRG agreed on Sunday to withdraw Kurdish forces from all disputed territories and hand over border crossings to Baghdad, federal and regional officials told Arab News. Baghdad responded to the referendum by launching a military campaign to regain control of disputed territories, including the northern city of Kirkuk and its lucrative oil fields.
The campaign achieved most of its objectives except for a few small areas. Federal forces are no more than a dozen kilometers from Irbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Fierce fighting erupted in several places last week between advancing federal forces and Kurdish troops, with casualties on both sides.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi on Friday announced a 24-hour cease-fire, during which Baghdad’s demands must be met and Kurdish troops must withdraw from disputed territories.
“The Kurds have agreed to everything. Everything is solved,” a senior federal security official involved in the talks told Arab News.
KRG officials confirmed the deal and said it had immediately gone into effect. “An agreement was reached on handing over the disputed areas up to the borders of the region before the fall of (Saddam’s) regime,” Ghaith Al-Suraji, a senior Kurdish leader familiar with the talks, told Arab News.
“Meetings are continuing between the two sides in Mosul in order to agree on the mechanisms of handing over the areas.” The referendum and regional airports were not included in the talks, Al-Suraji said, adding: “The referendum is a political issue and this committee is a military one. Also, there are no airports in the disputed areas, so there were no discussions on that either.”
Ihssan Al-Shimari, an adviser to Al-Abadi, told Arab News: “Baghdad won’t back down or withdraw its request to cancel the result of the referendum.” Barzani, the architect of the referendum, urged Kurdish forces to meet soon to discuss filling “the political vacuum” created by his stepping down.
Barzani said he will “remain as a fighter within the Peshmerga (Kurdish forces),” and will “continue to struggle to win the rights of the Kurdish people and preserve their gains.”

US condemned
Barzani condemned the United States for failing to back the Kurds. “We tried to stop bloodshed but the Iraqi forces and Popular Mobilization Front (Shiite militias) kept advancing, using US weapons,” he said.
“Our people should now question, whether the US was aware of Iraq’s attack and why they did not prevent it.”
Barzani has been criticized by Kurdish opponents for the loss of the city of Kirkuk, oil-rich and considered by many Kurds to be their spiritual home.
His resignation could help facilitate a reconciliation between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraq’s central government, whose retaliatory measures since the referendum have transformed the balance of power in the north.
Barzani has led the KRG since it was established in 2005. His second term expired in 2013 but was extended without elections being held as Daesh militants swept across vast swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
US-backed Iraqi government forces, Iranian-backed paramilitaries and Kurdish fighters fought alongside each other to defeat Islamic State but the alliance has faltered since the militants were largely defeated in the country.
After the Kurdish vote, Iraqi troops were ordered by the country’s prime minister Haider Al-Abadi to take control of areas claimed by both Baghdad and the KRG.
Abadi also wants to take control of the border crossings between the Kurdish region and Turkey, Iran and Syria, including one through which an oil export pipeline crosses into Turkey, carrying Iraqi and Kurdish crude oil.
The fall of Kirkuk — a multi-ethnic city which lies outside the KRG’s official boundaries — to Iraqi forces on Oct. 16 was a major symbolic and financial blow to the Kurds’ independence drive because it halved the region’s oil export revenue.
Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga started a second round of talks on Sunday to resolve a conflict over control of the Kurdistan region’s border crossings, Iraqi state TV said.
A first round was held on Friday and Saturday, with Abadi ordering a 24-hour suspension on Friday of military operations against Kurdish forces.
He demanded on Thursday that the Kurds declare their referendum void, rejecting the KRG offer to suspend its independence push to resolve a crisis through talks, saying in a statement: “We won’t accept anything but its cancelation and the respect of the constitution.”
(With Reuters and AFP)


In Damascus meeting, US drops reward for arrest of Syria’s new leader

Updated 9 sec ago
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In Damascus meeting, US drops reward for arrest of Syria’s new leader

  • The United States agreed on those principles with top Arab and European diplomats as well as Turkiye during a meeting on December 14 in Aqaba, Jordan

DAMASCUS: A senior US diplomat told Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Friday that Washington was scrapping a reward for his arrest, and welcomed “positive messages” from their talks including a promise to fight terrorism.
Barbara Leaf, Washington’s top diplomat for the Middle East, made the comments after her meeting with Sharaa in Damascus — the first formal mission to Syria’s capital by United States diplomats since the early days of Syria’s civil war.
The lightning offensive that toppled president Bashar Assad on December 8 was led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Al-Qaeda’s Syria branch but has sought to moderate its image in recent years.
Leaf’s meeting with HTS chief Sharaa came despite Washington’s designation of his group as a terrorist organization.
“Based on our discussion, I told him we would not be pursuing the Rewards for Justice reward offer that has been in effect for some years,” Leaf told reporters after their talks.
She said “we welcomed positive messages” from Sharaa.
“We will be looking for progress on these principles and actions, not just words,” she said.
“I also communicated the importance of inclusion and broad consultation during this time of transition,” she said.
“We fully support a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process that results in an inclusive and representative government which respects the rights of all Syrians, including women, and Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious communities.”
The United States agreed on those principles with top Arab and European diplomats as well as Turkiye during a meeting on December 14 in Aqaba, Jordan.
A Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, earlier confirmed to AFP that the US delegation had met with Sharaa.
“The meeting took place, and it was positive. And the results will be positive, God willing,” the official said.
The US delegation also included the US pointman on hostages, who has been seeking clues on missing Americans including Austin Tice, a journalist kidnapped in Syria in August 2012.
On Friday, the US embassy added on social media platform X that the US and Syrian sides also discussed “regional events, Syria’s intention to be a good neighbor and the importance of common efforts on terrorism.”

On a regional tour prior to the Aqaba talks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had stressed the need to prevent a resurgence of Daesh group (IS) jihadists.
The US military said on Friday its forces had killed an IS leader and another operative in Deir Ezzor province, part of escalated US military action against the group since Assad’s overthrow.
The embassy said Leaf also met with Syria’s White Helmet rescuers, civil society leaders, activists and others “to hear directly from them about their vision for the future of their country and how the United States can help support them.”
Below a photograph of Leaf and others with a memorial wreath, the US embassy said she had also commemorated the tens of thousands of people murdered, tortured, disappeared or detained under Assad.
“The US commitment to hold accountable those responsible for these atrocities is unwavering,” the embassy said.
Leaf denied that her press conference in Damascus had been canceled for security reasons, saying she was delayed by street celebrations.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who backed Assad’s opponents, has stressed reconciliation and restoration of Syria’s territorial integrity and unity.
Turkiye has been putting pressure on Kurdish-led forces in Syria, and Erdogan said Friday it was time to destroy “terrorist” groups operating in the country, specifically IS and Kurdish fighters.
“Daesh, the PKK and their affiliates — which threaten the survival of Syria — must be eradicated,” he told journalists following a summit in Cairo, referring to IS and the Kurdistan Workers Party, respectively.
The autonomous administration in northeastern Syria is protected by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, mostly made up of the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Turkiye accuses the YPG of being a branch of the PKK, which both Washington and Ankara consider a terrorist group.
Kurdish leaders in Syria have welcomed Assad’s ouster and raised the three-star independence-era rebel flag, but many in the region fear continued attacks by Turkiye and allied fighters.
Leaf said Washington was urging a ceasefire between Turkish-backed forces and the SDF around the Kurdish-held Syrian border town of Kobani, also known as Ain Al-Arab.
On a visit to Ankara Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned of the dangers of any “escalation” of the fighting, saying: “Security, especially for Kurds, is essential for a free and secure future for Syria.”
Iran and Russia had long helped to prop up Assad, but on Friday Leaf said she expected Syria would completely end any role for Iran.
Amy Pope, the head of the UN migration agency, on Friday urged “the caretaker government to continue to empower and enable women, because they are going to be absolutely critical to the rebuilding of the country.”
Pope also called for the raft of international sanctions on Syria to be reassessed to help the country regain its footing.
Syria’s civil war killed more than 500,000 people and sparked an exodus of millions of refugees.
Since Assad’s departure, which sparked celebrations at home and abroad, rebels have thrown open prisons where tens of thousands of people were arbitrarily detained and tortured.
They have also located mass graves believed to hold some of the estimated 100,000 people who died or were killed in custody since 2011.

 


Israel army says troops shot Syrian protester in leg

Updated 34 min 50 sec ago
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Israel army says troops shot Syrian protester in leg

  • Israeli forces have been operating in areas beyond the buffer zone in Syrian-controlled territory, the military has confirmed

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said its forces shot a protester during a demonstration against the army’s activities in a village in southern Syria on Friday, injuring him in the leg.
Since Islamist-led rebels toppled Syrian president Bashar Assad on December 8 Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian military facilities in what it says is a bid to prevent them from falling into hostile hands.
In a move widely condemned internationally, Israel also sent troops into a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights, and beyond, calling it a defensive and temporary measure.
“During a protest against IDF’s activities in the area of Maariya in southern Syria, IDF (Israeli military) called on protesters to distance themselves from the troops,” the military told AFP.
The village is just outside the southern point of the UN-patrolled zone.
“After the troops identified a threat, they operated in accordance with standard operating procedures against the threat... The protester was shot in the leg,” the military said.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the Israeli troops were stationed at a barracks in the village.
“During a protest condemning the Israeli incursion, a young man was injured by Israeli forces’ gunfire in the village of Maariya, in the Daraa region,” the Observatory said.
Israeli forced from Al-Jazeera barracks “opened fire directly at the demonstrators,” wounding the man in the leg, it said.

A villager from Maariya told AFP that Israeli soldiers had been entering his village and other nearby villages in recent days.
“When the Israelis entered ... they sowed fear and horror among the people, the children, the women,” Ali Al-Khalaf, 52, told AFP.
“So much so that some people fled to other nearby villages. They (Israeli troops) entered the villages of Maariya, Aabdyn and Jamlah,” he added.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security briefing atop a strategic Syrian mountain inside the UN-patrolled zone.
During the visit Netanyahu reviewed the army’s deployment in the area, his office said.
Hours after Assad was overthrown, Netanyahu had ordered Israeli troops to seize the buffer zone.
Israel has framed the move as temporary and defensive, with Netanyahu saying it was in response to a “vacuum on Israel’s border and in the buffer zone.”
Israeli forces have also been operating in areas beyond the buffer zone in Syrian-controlled territory, the military has confirmed.
Netanyahu said his country has “no interest in confronting Syria. Israel’s policy toward Syria will be determined by the evolving reality on the ground.”
Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa accused Israel of “a new unjustified escalation in the region” by entering the buffer zone but said “the general exhaustion in Syria after years of war” prevents it from entering new conflicts.
Israel conquered around two-thirds of the Golan during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and later annexed it. The United States, during Donald Trump’s first term as president, is the only country that has recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Golan.
 

 


All foreign forces must withdraw from Syria now, 50 UN experts say

Updated 20 December 2024
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All foreign forces must withdraw from Syria now, 50 UN experts say

  • Rehabilitation of the country should pay specific attention to the human rights of minorities, the marginalised and all who face discrimination
  • Justice for the victims of war crimes must be pursued through a credible judicial system focusing on accountability, reparations and reconciliation, not revenge

NEW YORK CITY: A group of 50 independent UN human rights experts have called on the international community to support Syria’s efforts to rebuild but stressed that the country must be free of foreign interference and aggression.

They emphasized the challenges posed by ongoing foreign military interventions, warning that such actions undermine the nation’s sovereignty and hinder the reconstruction process.

In particular they highlighted Israeli airstrikes and incursions into Syrian territory, particularly in the Golan Heights and northeast of the country, as significant obstacles to peace and stability.

“Syria has endured major foreign interventions, transforming the country into a battleground for proxy wars involving multiple actors, including private forces,” the experts said.

“The continuing military interventions, such as Israel’s unprovoked, illegal attacks and its occupation of more Syrian territory in the Golan Heights, and other air attacks and incursions into northeast and central Syria, put grave obstacles to the rehabilitation process and destabilize the region.”

The experts reiterated the call for all foreign occupying forces to immediately withdraw from Syria.

“While international support for Syria’s rebuilding is essential, the rehabilitation process must remain free of foreign interference or aggression,” they said. “All territorial incursions and attacks must cease without delay.”

The experts, who included the UN’s special rapporteurs on torture, arbitrary executions, freedom of opinion, trafficking in persons, and the protection of fundamental freedoms, also stressed the need for a Syrian-led political transition. They said this process must be inclusive, non-sectarian and take account of the interests of all elements of Syrian society.

Syrian insurgents seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing President Bashar Assad to flee the country after more than 13 years of civil war, ending his family’s 54-year rule. The rebels’ rapid advance, which took less than two weeks and met with minimal resistance, raised questions about the ability to ensure an orderly political transition in the aftermath.

“This is a watershed moment in the region’s history,” the experts said, pointing to the opportunity it offers for lasting peace, justice and the restoration of Syrian sovereignty. They called for full respect for the territorial integrity of the country, and stressed that ongoing

lawlessness, violence and persistent violations of international law, especially human rights and humanitarian law, must cease.

They urged the international community to collaborate on the rehabilitation of Syria based on democratic principles that respect the human rights of all Syrians, with a particular focus on minorities, marginalized groups, women, people who are vulnerable due to sexual orientation or gender identity, persons with disabilities, children, internally displaced persons, and returning refugees.

The experts also highlighted the urgent need to address widespread violations of human rights, including torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, unlawful killings and human trafficking. They emphasized the “paramount” need to pursue justice for all victims of such atrocities and called for the release of all individuals who were arbitrarily detained. Preserving evidence of gross violations of rights is also critical to help ensure accountability, they added.

“Justice must be pursued for all crimes, regardless of the perpetrator, through a credible judicial system focused on accountability, reparations and reconciliation, not revenge,” the experts said.

In line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which was adopted in 2015 and calls for a Syrian-led political transition and the establishment of a representative government, the experts stressed the importance of adopting a transparent, inclusive process to help establish peace and rebuild the country.

They also noted the severe environmental and infrastructural damage caused by the conflict, including the widespread destruction of housing that might potentially amount to domicide, the deliberate and systematic destruction of homes and living environments.

The experts called for the international community to provide substantial resources in support of humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts, focusing in particular on mitigating the environmental impacts of the war, including the safe removal of the toxic remnants of the conflict.

“Reconstruction must be carried out in a manner that respects human rights and ensures the safe, dignified return of refugees and displaced persons who wish to go home,” they said.

But they reiterated that no one, whether Syrian nationals or Palestinian refugees, should be forcibly returned to the country.

Furthermore, the experts called for women to have leadership roles in the peace-building and transitional process, and emphasized the need for gender equality and full protection of women’s rights.

They urged all states to repatriate their nationals from Syria and to provide effective protection for women and children who have been arbitrarily detained in northeastern Syria since the fall of Daesh in 2019. They called for the immediate lifting of international sanctions on Syria and urged all parties to prioritize the humanitarian needs of the Syrian population.

The experts expressed strong support for the Syrian people in their pursuit of a democratic and peaceful future, and stressed the importance of ensuring justice, inclusivity and respect for human rights in the country’s transition.


Macron sees new role for French military base in Djibouti

Updated 20 December 2024
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Macron sees new role for French military base in Djibouti

  • Macron was speaking after France was forced to pull troops out of several other African countries

DJIBOUTI: French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday its military base in Djibouti could assume a greater role, speaking after Paris was forced to pull troops out of several other African countries.
“Our role is changing in Africa because the world is changing in Africa, because public opinion is changing, because governments are changing,” he said.
Macron was addressing French forces stationed at the strategic Horn of Africa nation before sitting down for a Christmas meal with the troops, a regular feature on the presidential calendar.
France had to change its past logic of having too many military bases in Africa, he said.
In recent years, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, all three under military rule, have told France to get its troops out.
They have turned instead to Russia for military support in their fight against the jihadist forces active in the region.
And on Friday, France also began withdrawing ground troops from Chad, after N’Djamena last month abruptly ended military cooperation with the former colonial power.
The central African country was the last Sahel nation to host French troops.
Its decision also came shortly after Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye told AFP in an interview that France should close its military bases there.
Djibouti has in the past been part of France’s Indo-Pacific strategy, contributing to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.
“It is also, and will also have to be reinvented as, a projection point for some of our African missions,” Macron said, without elaborating.
The French base at Djibouti currently hosts 1,500 soldiers.
That makes it France’s largest military contingent abroad and the only one untouched by the military draw-down African nations have imposed on Paris.
In July, Djibouti and France renewed their defense cooperation treaty.
As well as paying rent for the base, France also assumes responsibility for patrolling the airspace over the country.
The small east African state is a relative haven of stability. On the other side of the Red Sea lies Yemen, gripped in a devastating civil war.


American strike kills Daesh leader in Syria

Updated 20 December 2024
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American strike kills Daesh leader in Syria

  • The announcement of the latest strike came a day after the US said it had this year doubled the number of troops it has in Syria as part of the anti-IS fight

WASHINGTON: American forces killed a Daesh leader and another of the group’s members in a strike in Syria, the US military said on Friday.
Washington has stepped up military action against the extremist group since the fall of Bashar Assad’s government earlier this month, hitting areas that were shielded by Syrian and Russian air defenses before a lightning offensive by rebels who now control the country.
The strike took place on Thursday in Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria, killing Daesh leader “Abu Yusif” and another operative, the US Central Command, or CENTCOM, said on social media, without providing further details on the two terrorists. “This airstrike is part of CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks,” CENTCOM said.
The strike “was conducted in an area formerly controlled by the Syrian regime and Russians,” it added.
The US has for years carried out periodic strikes and raids to help prevent a resurgence of Daesh but has launched dozens of strikes since Assad’s fall.
On Dec. 8 — the day militants took the capital Damascus — Washington announced strikes on more than 75 Daesh targets that CENTCOM said were aimed at ensuring it “does not seek to take advantage of the current situation to reconstitute in central Syria.”
And on Monday, CENTCOM said US forces killed 12 extremists from the group in strikes it said were carried out “in former regime and Russian-controlled areas.”
The announcement of the latest strike came a day after the US said it had this year doubled the number of troops it has in Syria as part of the anti-IS fight.
The US had for years said it has some 900 military personnel in the country as part of international efforts against the extremist group, which seized swathes of territory there and in neighboring Iraq before being defeated by local forces backed by a US-led air campaign.
But there are now “approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria” and have been for at least a few months, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists, saying he had just received the updated figure.