ANKARA: Tensions between Washington and Ankara have flared over a presidential phone call that threatens to derail an offer to create a Syrian safe zone along the Turkish border.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday that the US had agreed to a 30-km deep safe zone after meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
The offer was one of several gestures from the Americans to calm tensions after Turkey launched an offensive into Syria that targeted Kurdish militias supported by the US.
But the lack of trust was again displayed when Turkey disputed the White House version of a phone call between Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday.
Ankara rejected that Trump shared “concerns about escalating violence” in the Turkish offensive on the north-western Syrian city Afrin.
According to Turkish sources, Trump told Erdogan that the US no longer supplied the YPG with weapon, but this detail was missing from the White House version.
Cavusoglu even accused Trump officials of drafting their version of the call before the discussion took place.
The call came after a series of meetings between Turkish and US officials this week over the “Olive Branch” operation into Syria’s Kurdish-held city of Afrin.
Turkey wants to clear the city of militants from the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). But the US has been supporting training, advising and equipping the YPG with weapons for several years as part of their strategy to combat Daesh.
The YPG, and its political wing the Democratic Union Party (PYD) are considered terror groups by Ankara due to their deep ties with the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, that has fought an insurgency against the Turkish state for more than three decades.
One of the objectives of the Afrin operation is to create a conflict-free area inside Syria’s borders to eventually resettle civilians living in Turkey who wish to return to their homes.
Turkey has pushed the idea of establishing safe zones in northern Syria for years but have failed to secure Western backing, particularly from Barack Obama.
But Donald Trump has offered his support to the buffer zone idea in Syria for refugees fleeing the violence.
The proposal made by Tillerson at a meeting in Paris on Tuesday would to provide a shield to Turkey’s southern border towns against attacks from Syria.
On Wednesday night, two rockets fired by the YPG from the Afrin region hit a mosque and a house in Kilis, killing at least one and injuring 12 people.
But Cavusoglu reacted coolly to the offer, saying on Thursday that Washington and Ankara needed to repair broken trust before discussing a security zone.
Experts remain skeptical about the feasibility of a safe zone, which could only take place once the US has broken ties with Syrian Kurdish militia.
Nihat Ali Ozcan, a retired major now serving as a security analyst at the Ankara-based think tank TEPAV, told Arab News there is a disagreement between Turkey and the US over threat perception.
“Turkey sees the ongoing challenges in Syria as a survival problem from a strategic perspective, while the US degrade it into a tactical case by offering an option to block the missiles that are fired to Turkey’s border towns from Syrian neighboring lands.”
He said the two had to decide whether a safe zone deal will aim to resettle Syrian refugees, or provide a safe haven for Ankara-backed rebel fighters.
Enes Ayasli, a research assistant at Sakarya University in Turkey, said a safe zone could let the US administration create a “win-win” situation by meeting the needs of both the Turks and the Kurdish groups.
“It is a strategic move guaranteeing the existence of PYD ‘terrorists’ in northern Syria and a tactical one fulfilling a duty as a leading NATO member,” Ayasli added.
US offer of Syria safe zone receives cool reaction from Turkey
US offer of Syria safe zone receives cool reaction from Turkey
Israel’s attorney general tells Netanyahu to reexamine extremist security minister’s role
- National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized for interfering in police matters
JERUSALEM, Nov 14 : Israel’s Attorney General told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reevaluate the tenure of his far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, citing his apparent interference in police matters, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Thursday.
The news channel published a copy of a letter written by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara in which she described instances of “illegitimate interventions” in which Ben-Gvir, who is tasked with setting general policy, gave operational instructions that threaten the police’s apolitical status.
“The concern is that the government’s silence will be interpreted as support for the minister’s behavior,” the letter said.
Officials at the Justice Ministry could not be reached for comment and there was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office.
Ben-Gvir, who heads a small ultra-nationalist party in Netanyahu’s coalition, wrote on social media after the letter was published: “The attempted coup by (the Attorney General) has begun. The only dismissal that needs to happen is that of the Attorney General.”
Israeli forces demolish Palestinian Al-Bustan community center in Jerusalem
- Al-Bustan Association functioned as a primary community center in which Silwan’s youth and families ran cultural and social activities
LONDON: Israeli forces demolished the office of the Palestinian Al-Bustan Association in occupied East Jerusalem’s neighborhood of Silwan, whose residents are under threat of Israeli eviction orders.
The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Culture condemned on Thursday the demolition of Al-Bustan by Israeli bulldozers and a military police force.
The ministry said that “(Israeli) occupation’s arrogant practices against cultural and community institutions in Palestine, and specifically in Jerusalem, are targeting the Palestinian identity, in an attempt to obliterate it.”
Founded in 2004, the Al-Bustan Association functioned as a primary community center in which Silwan’s youth and families ran cultural and social activities alongside hosting meetings for diplomatic delegations and Western journalists who came to learn about controversial Israeli policies in the area.
Al-Bustan said in a statement that it served 1,500 people in Silwan, most of them children, who enrolled in educational, cultural and artistic workshops. In addition to the Al-Bustan office, Israeli forces also demolished a home in the neighborhood belonging to the Al-Qadi family.
Located less than a mile from Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem’s southern ancient wall, Silwan has a population of 65,000 Palestinians, some of them under threat of Israeli eviction orders.
In past years, Israeli authorities have been carrying out archaeological digging under Palestinian homes in Silwan, resulting in damage to these buildings, in search of the three-millennial “City of David.”
Israeli strike kills 12 after hitting civil defense center in Lebanon’s Baalbek, governor tells Reuters
- Eight others, including five women, were also killed and 27 wounded in another Israeli attack
CAIRO: An Israeli strike killed 12 people after it hit a civil defense center in Lebanon’s city of Baalbek on Thursday, the regional governor told Reuters adding that rescue operations were ongoing.
Eight others, including five women, were also killed and 27 wounded in another Israeli attack on the Lebanese city, health ministry reported on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Lebanese civil defense official Samir Chakia said: “The Civil Defense Center in Baalbek has been targeted, five Civil Defense rescuers were killed.”
Bachir Khodr the regional governor said more than 20 rescuers had been at the facility at the time of the strike.
‘A symbol of resilience’ — workers in Iraq complete reconstruction of famous Mosul minaret
- Workers complete reconstruction of 12th-century minaret of Al-Nuri Mosque
- Tower and mosque were blown by Daesh extremists in 2017
High above the narrow streets and low-rise buildings of Mosul’s old city, beaming workers hoist an Iraqi flag into the sky atop one of the nation’s most famous symbols of resilience.
Perched precariously on scaffolding in high-vis jackets and hard hats, the workers celebrate a milestone in Iraq’s recovery from the traumatic destruction and bloodshed that once engulfed the city.
On Wednesday, the workers placed the last brick that marked the completed reconstruction of the 12th-century minaret of Al-Nuri Mosque. The landmark was destroyed by Daesh in June 2017 shortly before Iraqi forces drove the extremist group from the city.
Known as Al-Hadba, or “the hunchback,” the 45-meter-tall minaret, which famously leant to one side, dominated the Mosul skyline for centuries. The tower has been painstakingly rebuilt as part of a UNESCO project, matching the traditional stone and brick masonry and incorporating the famous lean.
“Today UNESCO celebrates a landmark achievement,” the UN cultural agency’s Iraq office said. “The completion of the shaft of the Al-Hadba Minaret marks a new milestone in the revival of the city, with and for the people of Mosul.
“UNESCO is grateful for the incredible teamwork that made this vision a reality. Together, we’ve created a powerful symbol of resilience, a true testament to international cooperation. Thank you to everyone involved in this journey.”
The restoration of the mosque is part of UNESCO’s Revive the Spirit of Mosul project, which includes the rebuilding of two churches and other historic sites. The UAE donated $50 million to the project and UNESCO said that the overall Al-Nuri Mosque complex restoration will be finished by the end of the year.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay celebrated the completion of the minaret by posting “We did it!” on social media site X.
She thanked donors, national and local authorities in Iraq and the experts and professionals, “many of whom are Moslawis,” who worked to rebuild the minaret.
“Can’t wait to return to Mosul to celebrate the full completion of our work,” she said.
The Al-Nuri mosque was built in the second half of the 12th century by the Seljuk ruler Nur Al-Din.
After Daesh seized control of large parts of Iraq in 2014, the group’s leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, declared the establishment of its so-called caliphate from inside the mosque.
Three years later, the extremists detonated explosives to destroy the mosque and minaret as Iraqi forces battled to expel them from the city. Thousands of civilians were killed in the fighting and much of Mosul was left in ruins.
US hands Lebanon draft truce proposal -two political sources
- The US has sought to broker a ceasefire that would end hostilities between its ally Israel and Hezbollah
BEIRUT: The US ambassador to Lebanon submitted a draft truce proposal to Lebanon’s speaker of parliament Nabih Berri on Thursday to halt fighting between armed group Hezbollah and Israel, two political sources told Reuters, without revealing details.
The US has sought to broker a ceasefire that would end hostilities between its ally Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, but efforts have yet to yield a result. Israel launched a stepped-up air and ground campaign in late September after cross-border clashes in parallel with the Gaza war.
