UN envoy says Syria talks at ‘very critical moment’

Pro-Turkey Syrian fighters (AFP)
Updated 25 January 2018
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UN envoy says Syria talks at ‘very critical moment’

VIENNA: The UN special envoy for Syria said that peace talks due to resume in Vienna on Thursday are taking place at a crucial moment.
“Definitely I am optimistic because it is the only way to be at such moments,” Staffan de Mistura said on Wednesday. “It is a very, very critical moment.”
He said a “full delegation of the opposition and a full delegation of the government” would be in the Austrian capital for the two days of talks.
France’s foreign minister said meanwhile in Paris that the Vienna talks are the “last hope” for reaching a political solution to the seven-year war.
“There is no prospect of a political solution today except, and it’s the last hope, the meeting that opens tomorrow in Vienna led by the United Nations and with all the stakeholders present,” Jean-Yves Le Drian said.
Speaking in parliament, Le Drian also highlighted a “considerable worsening of the humanitarian situation” in Afrin, where Turkish forces are carrying out an offensive against a Kurdish militia, as well as in Idlib and in Eastern Ghouta.
The talks hosted by de Mistura in the Austrian capital come after eight previous rounds in Geneva that failed to get the warring parties even to talk to each other.
The discussions have repeatedly stumbled over the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Representatives from his government have refused to meet the opposition directly until it drops demands that he leave office.

Nasr Al-Hariri from the main opposition group, the Syrian Negotiations Commission (SNC), said late Wednesday in Vienna that the next two days would be “a real test for all the sides.”
They will be “a real test for the opposition for how much they are committed to those international solutions; and also to the regime, how much the regime is going to be engaging; as well as the international community and how serious they are about reaching a political solution,” Hariri told reporters through an interpreter.
The talks come ahead of a peace conference in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi backed by Russia, Iran and Turkey on January 30.
Moscow initially hoped to convene peace talks in Sochi last November but those efforts collapsed following a lack of agreement among co-sponsors.
Syria’s main opposition group has said it would need “full and clear information” before agreeing to take part, but government representatives have said they will attend.
The Sochi summit specifically aims to set up new constitution for post-war Syria — something which the UN’s de Mistura also hopes to make progress on.
Western countries view the Sochi track with skepticism, concerned that Russia and Iran will carve out a settlement that will favor their ally Assad.
Syria’s complex, multi-sided war has claimed more than 340,000 lives, forced millions to flee their homes and left Syria in ruins.
Bolstered by Moscow’s intervention in 2015, Damascus has regained the upper hand militarily, retaking large swathes of rebel-held territory.
Russian-backed Syrian forces have also dealt severe blows to the Daesh group, whose self-proclaimed “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria has largely collapsed.
In December the first Russian troops began returning home after President Vladimir Putin ordered a pullout, saying their mission had been largely completed.
De Mistura has called on Putin to push the Assad regime to hold new elections, saying a military victory alone was not enough to “win the peace.”


Mbappe misses penalty as Liverpool exact revenge on Real Madrid

Updated 8 min 19 sec ago
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Mbappe misses penalty as Liverpool exact revenge on Real Madrid

LIVERPOOL: Kylian Mbappe saw a penalty saved as Liverpool beat Real Madrid 2-0 on Wednesday to inflict a third Champions League defeat in five matches on the holders.
Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo scored the goals in the second half as the Reds maintained their perfect record to return to the top of the table.
Mohamed Salah also fired wide from the spot, but it mattered little as Liverpool secured a 17th win in Arne Slot’s first 19 games in charge.
Slot has already achieved what Jurgen Klopp could not as Liverpool boss by slaying the Spanish giants.
Liverpool had a score to settle with Madrid, who were unbeaten in eight previous meetings between the sides, including Champions League finals against Klopp’s men in 2018 and 2022.
Defeat sends Carlo Ancelotti’s side tumbling down to 24th in the table.
Only the top 24 progress to the knockout stage with the top eight advancing directly to the last 16.
Liverpool are well on course to do just that and the confidence coursing through a side also eight points clear at the top of the Premier League was in evidence throughout in front of a highly-charged Anfield crowd.
Madrid were hamstrung by a lengthy injury list and made the trip to England without Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, Aurelien Tchouameni and David Alaba.
Young center-back Raul Asencio has been pressed into action by those absences and he made a vital goal-line clearance on four minutes.
Darwin Nunez was sent in behind the Madrid defense by Salah and after his shot produced a fine save from Thibaut Courtois, Asencio reacted smartly to prevent the rebound bouncing off him and into his own net.
Courtois was Liverpool’s scourge with a man-of-the-match performance in the final two years ago as Madrid prevailed 1-0 in Paris.
The Belgian was at his best again as he blocked another big Nunez chance from point-blank range as the Liverpool pressure built without reward before the break.
Courtois was in sparkling form again at the start of the second period to parry Conor Bradley’s downward header.
But Liverpool were not to be denied as Bradley was this time the provider for Mac Allister, who manufactured the space for a shot into the far corner on 52 minutes.
The visitors were relying on Mbappe for a moment of magic in the absence of Vinicius, but the Frenchman was well-marshalled by his international team-mate Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk.
His chance to silence his critics arrived on the hour mark when Andy Robertson was harshly adjudged to have tripped Lucas Vazquez inside the area.
Caoimhin Kelleher has excelled in the absence of the injured Alisson Becker and leapt to his left to save Mbappe’s spot-kick.
Salah sparked a furor ahead of the game by declaring his disappointment with Liverpool’s failure to offer him a contract renewal.
The Egyptian has been in sparkling form this season and his pace and trickery fooled Ferland Mendy into a mistimed challenge.
Salah, though, gave Madrid a lifeline by firing his penalty off the outside of the post.
Liverpool had to wait just six more minutes for the cushion of a second goal as substitute Gakpo rose highest from a corner to power a header past Courtois.


Watchdog refers 40 UK charities to police over Israel-Hamas war

Charities in the UK have been under scrutiny for hate speech related to the war in Gaza. (AFP)
Updated 23 min 7 sec ago
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Watchdog refers 40 UK charities to police over Israel-Hamas war

  • Charity Commission opens further 200 regulatory cases related to the conflict in Gaza
  • Head of the organization says it is cracking down on antisemitism and hate speech

LONDON: Regulators in the UK investigating breaches of rules by charitable organizations during their activities linked to the war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza have referred 40 cases to the police since the Oct. 7 attacks last year.

The Charity Commission also opened 200 regulatory cases related to the conflict during the same period, the watchdog’s chairperson, Orlando Fraser, said.

The figures offer further evidence of the extent to which the fighting in the Middle East has led to polarization and hateful rhetoric in Europe and the US. In the UK’s charity sector, where many of the organizations have religious affiliations, the conflict has resulted in hundreds of cases the Charity Commission has felt the need to investigate.

The watchdog has moved robustly to take action against “perpetrators of concerning activities linked to the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza, including antisemitic and hate speech,” Fraser said during a speech at the commission’s annual general meeting on Tuesday.

The 200 regulatory cases related to the war it has looked into involved charities “with different views on the conflict,” he added. The 40 referrals to the police were made in cases where the commission considered criminal offenses might have been committed.

“We are clear that charities must never become vehicles for hate and we have robustly enforced that position,” Fraser said.


Palestinian leader Abbas lays ground for succession

Updated 37 min 52 sec ago
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Palestinian leader Abbas lays ground for succession

  • Abbas, 89, still rules despite his term as head of the Palestinian Authority ending in 2009, and has resisted pressure to appoint a successor or a vice president

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday announced who would replace him in an interim period when the post becomes vacant, effectively removing the Islamist movement Hamas from any involvement in a future transition.
Abbas, 89, still rules despite his term as head of the Palestinian Authority ending in 2009, and has resisted pressure to appoint a successor or a vice president.
Under current Palestinian law, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) takes over the Palestinian Authority in the event of a power vacuum.
But the PLC, where Hamas had a majority, no longer exists since Abbas officially dissolved it in 2018 after more than a decade of tensions between his secular party, Fatah, and Hamas, which ousted the Palestinian Authority from power in the Gaza Strip in 2007.
In a decree, Abbas said the Palestinian National Council chairman, Rawhi Fattuh, would be his temporary replacement should the position should become vacant.
“If the position of the president of the national authority becomes vacant in the absence of the legislative council, the Palestinian National Council president shall assume the duties... temporarily,” it said.
The decree added that following the transition period, elections must be held within 90 days. This deadline can be extended in the event of a “force majeure,” it said.
The PNC is the parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which has over 700 members from the Palestinian territories and abroad.
Hamas, which does not belong to the PLO, has no representation on the council. The PNC deputies are not elected, but appointed.
The decree refers to the “delicate stage in the history of the homeland and the Palestinian cause” as war rages in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, after the latter’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel in October last year.
There are also persistent divisions between Hamas and Fatah.
The decree comes on the same day that a ceasefire entered into force in Lebanon after an agreement between Israel and Hamas’s ally, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The Palestinian Authority appears weaker than ever, unable to pay its civil servants and threatened by Israeli far-right ministers’ calls to annex all or part of the occupied West Bank, an ambition increasingly less hidden by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.


UK counter terrorism police arrest seven over ‘PKK activity’

Updated 27 November 2024
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UK counter terrorism police arrest seven over ‘PKK activity’

  • British police said they were carrying out searches at eight premises across London, including the Kurdish Community Center in the north of the capital

LONDON: British police said they had arrested seven people and were searching a Kurdish community center in London as part of a counter terrorism investigation into suspected activity linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK.
Those arrested were five men and two women, aged between 23 and 62, police said, adding there was no imminent threat to the public.
“This activity has come about following a significant investigation and operation into activity we believe is linked to the terrorist group PKK,” said Acting Commander Helen Flanagan.
“These are targeted arrests of those we suspect of being involved in terrorist activity linked to the group.”
The PKK, a militant group founded in southeast Turkiye in 1978 with the aim of creating an independent Kurdish state, was banned in Britain in 2001. The group has been involved in a 40-year conflict, leading to more than 40,000 deaths.
British police said they were carrying out searches at eight premises across London, including the Kurdish Community Center in the north of the capital, which is likely to be closed to the public for up to two weeks.
Flanagan said later on Wednesday that the police understood the arrests had caused concern among some local communities, especially those in the Kurdish community.
“I want to reassure the community that our activity is being carried out to keep everyone safe from potential harm, including those within the Kurdish community itself,” Flanagan said.


Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egypt

Updated 27 November 2024
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Israeli military says it downed drone smuggling weapons from Egypt

CAIRO: The Israeli military said on Wednesday it shot down a drone that was carrying weapons and crossed from Egypt to Israel.
When asked about the latest drone incident, Egyptian security sources said they had no knowledge of such an incident.
In two separate incidents in October, Israel also said it downed two drones smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory.
Israeli officials have said during the war in Gaza that Palestinian militant group Hamas used tunnels running under the border into Egypt’s Sinai region to smuggle arms.
However, Egypt says it destroyed tunnel networks leading to Gaza years ago and created a buffer zone and border fortifications that prevent smuggling.