LONDON: The US, UK, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pope Francis condemned Saturday's chemical gas attack on Syria’s Douma, while Russia and the Syrian regime denied claims of chemical weapons use.
Rescue workers said dozens of civilians had been killed in the attack and at least 80 civilians have been killed since Friday after the regime launched fresh air raids on rebel-held areas of Eastern Ghouta, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor.
The head of the United Nations said on Sunday he was “particularly alarmed” by the alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres joined world leaders and global entities in voicing alarm and said in a statement that he was “deeply concerned” about renewed violence in the city of Douma, citing reports that sustained airstrikes and shelling had killed civilians, destroyed infrastructure and damaged health facilities.
“The secretary-general is particularly alarmed by allegations that chemical weapons have been used against civilian populations in Douma,” the statement said.
While noting that the United Nations was not in a position to verify such reports, Guterres said that any confirmed use of chemical weapons would be “abhorrent.”
He called on all parties to cease fighting and to provide “humanitarian access across Syria to all people in need.”
United States
US President Donald Trump said there will be a “big price to pay” after what he called a “mindless CHEMICAL attack” in Syria, allegedly involving chlorine gas.
Trump also called Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad an “animal.”
“President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay,” Trump said in a pair of tweets which began with a discussion of the attack in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta, where rescue workers alleged that regime loyalists had used chlorine gas.
“Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria. Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world,” the president said.
“Open area immediately for medical help and verification,” Trump said. “Another humanitarian disaster for no reason whatsoever. SICK!"
Trump also criticized his predecessor Barack Obama for not striking after warning that the use of chemical weapons in Syria was a “red line.”
“If President Obama had crossed his stated Red Line in The Sand, the Syrian disaster would have ended long ago! Animal Assad would have been history!” Trump said.
Meanwhile, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement, “these reports, if confirmed, are horrifying and demand an immediate response by the international community.”
“The Assad regime and its backers must be held accountable and any further attacks prevented immediately,” she added, noting that “Russia, with its unwavering support for the regime, ultimately bears responsibility for these brutal attacks.”
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom called on the need to open an urgent international investigation into the chemical attack reports.
In a press statement issued by the UK Foreign Ministry, a spokesperson said that the Assad regime and his supporters must end the violence against innocent civilians.
“The reports that showed a large number of victims in the chemical attack in the city of Douma are disturbing and, if proved correct, will be further evidence of the brutality of the Assad regime and the disregard of its supporters of international laws,” the statement read.
France
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said reports of the chemical attack were extremely worrying and called for the United Nations Security Council to meet quickly to examine the situation.
Le Drian said France strongly condemned attacks and bombings by Syrian government forces in the last 24 hours in Douma, adding they were a “gross violation of international humanitarian law.”
France would work with allies to verify reports that chemical weapons were used, Le Drian said.
Referring to President Emmanuel Macron’s warning that France could strike unilaterally if there was a deadly chemical attack, Le Drian said that Paris would assume all its responsibilities in the fight against the proliferation of chemical weapons.
European Union
The European Union said the evidence points to the use of chemical weapons by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces against a besieged rebel-held town in Syria, calling for an international response.
"The evidence points towards yet another chemical attack by the regime," the EU said in a statement. "It is a matter of grave concern that chemical weapons continue to be used, especially on civilians. The European Union condemns in the strongest terms the use of chemical weapons and calls for an immediate response by the international community."
The bloc called on the UN Security Council to re-establish its checks to identify perpetrators of chemical attacks and on Russia and Iran to use their influence with Assad to prevent further attacks.
Turkey
Turkey strongly condemned what it said was a chemical weapons attack in Douma, saying there was a “strong suspicion” the Assad regime was responsible.
“We strongly condemn the attack and we have the strong suspicion it was carried out by the regime, whose record on the use of chemical weapons is known by the international community,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.
Turkey said that the incident showed that past UN Security Council resolutions on the use of chemical weapons in Syria were “once again” being ignored.
The foreign ministry called for an investigation by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and said it expected condemnation from the international community.
The foreign ministry statement did not explicitly refer to Russia and Iran, maintaining Turkey’s caution in not lashing out at its partners.
But it called on “the parties who have influence over the Syrian regime” to ensure that such attacks are halted and punished.
It noted that “in the past no measures have been taken against these attacks.”
Pope Francis
At the end of a Mass in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope said that, “there is no such thing as a good war and a bad war. Nothing, but nothing, can justify the use of such instruments of extermination on defenseless people and populations.”
He urged that “military and political leaders choose another path, that of negotiations, which is the only one that can bring about peace and not death and destruction.”
Moscow, Tehran, Damascus deny claims
Russia’s military is rejecting claims that Syrian government forces used chemical weapons in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma.
Maj. Gen. Yuri Yevtushenko was quoted by Russian news agencies on Sunday as saying Russia was prepared to “promptly send Russian specialists in radiation, chemical and biological protection to Douma after its liberation from fighters to gather data that will confirm the fabricated nature of these statements.”
Yevtushenko said “a number of Western countries” are trying to prevent the resumption of an operation to remove Army of Islam fighters from Douma and “to this end they are using the West’s pet theme of the use of chemical weapons by Syrian forces.”
Iran also condemned the allegations as a “conspiracy” against its ally Assad and a pretext for military action.
“Such allegations and accusations by the Americans and certain Western countries signal a new conspiracy against the Syrian government and people, and a pretext for military action,” Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Tehran warned any military intervention would “certainly complicate the situation” in Syria and the wider region.
“With the Syrian army having the upper hand on the ground against the armed terrorists, it would not be rational for it to use chemical weapons,” the statement said.
Syria’s foreign ministry denounced accusations the government had deployed chemical weapons as an “unconvincing broken record.”
“Allegations of chemical use have become an unconvincing broken record, except for some countries that trade with the blood of civilians and support terrorism in Syria,” state news agency SANA quoted a ministry source as saying.
“Every time the Syrian Arab Army advances in the fight against terrorism, allegations of chemical use are used as an excuse to prolong the life of terrorists in Douma,” it said.
Douma is the last rebel-held town in Eastern Ghouta, once the opposition’s main bastion near Damascus but now battered by a seven-week regime assault.
The offensive has recaptured 95 percent of Ghouta, and the government announced on Sunday that it had reached a deal for rebels to be evacuated from their last holdout in Douma.
World condemns Assad regime’s chemical attacks on Douma, Moscow deny allegations
World condemns Assad regime’s chemical attacks on Douma, Moscow deny allegations
- Trump called Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad an 'animal'
- Turkey said there was a 'strong suspicion' the Syrian regime was responsible
Queen Rania of Jordan hosts Ramadan iftar for women leaders in Aqaba
- Attendees congratulated on occasions of Ramadan, International Women’s Day
- Governor of Aqaba welcomes queen, expresses gratitude for her efforts to empower women
LONDON: Queen Rania of Jordan hosted a Ramadan iftar banquet on Thursday at the Prince Rashid Club in Aqaba.
Women leaders and activists from various sectors in Aqaba, a governorate on the Red Sea in southern Jordan, attended the event.
Queen Rania congratulated the attendees on Ramadan and the upcoming International Women’s Day, which will be marked on March 8, the Jordan News Agency reported.
She praised the contributions of Jordanian women in the workforce and the labor market, as well as their roles in caring for their families to provide comfort and reassurance at home.
Khaled Al-Hajjaj, the governor of Aqaba, welcomed the queen to the city and expressed gratitude for her efforts to empower women.
Mahmoud Khalifat, the director general of Aqaba Ports Corporation, and Muhannad Al-Naser, director of Prince Rashid Club, were also present.
Iraq authorities ‘working to find academic kidnapped in Baghdad’
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s national security adviser said that authorities were actively searching for Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli Russian academic kidnapped nearly two years ago in Baghdad.
Tsurkov, a doctoral student at Princeton University and fellow at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, has been missing in Iraq since March 2023.
Israeli authorities said later she had been kidnapped, blaming a pro-Iranian group for her disappearance.
National Security Adviser Qassem Al-Araji said “Iraqi authorities are working under the prime minister’s direction” to solve the issue.
“The security services are mobilized to locate her and find the group that kidnapped her,” he said, adding there had been no claims of responsibility for her abduction or demands for her release.
“We have to operate discreetly and through intermediaries” to locate her, he said.
Tsurkov, who had likely entered Iraq on her Russian passport, had traveled to the country as part of her doctoral studies.
An Iraqi security source told AFP that the last trip was not Tsurkov’s first visit to Iraq.
In November 2023, Iraqi channel Al Rabiaa TV aired the first hostage video of Tsurkov known to the public since her kidnapping.
AFP was unable to independently verify the footage or determine whether her statement was coerced.
In the video, Tsurkov mentioned the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah of holding her, but the armed faction has implied it was not involved in her disappearance.
Charity kitchen brings hope to displaced Palestinians
- Israeli military raid launched in the West Bank weeks ago has uprooted more than 40,000 people
TULKARM: At a makeshift kitchen inside a city office building, volunteers rub paprika, oil and salt on slabs of chicken before arraying them on trays and slipping them into an oven.
Once the meat is done, it is divided into portions and tucked into plastic foam containers along with piles of yellow rice scooped from large steel pots.
The unpaid chefs at the Yasser Arafat Charity Kitchen in Tulkarm hope their labors will bring joy to displaced Palestinians trying to mark Ramadan.
An Israeli military raid launched in the West Bank weeks ago has uprooted more than 40,000 people.
Israel says it was meant to stamp out militancy in the occupied region, which has experienced a surge of violence since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
The raid has been deadly and destructive, emptying several urban refugee camps that house descendants of Palestinians who fled wars with Israel decades ago.
The refugees have been told they will not be allowed to return for a year.
In the meantime, many of them have no access to kitchens, are separated from their communities, and are struggling to mark the end of the daily Ramadan fast with what are typically lavish meals.
“The situation is difficult,” said Abdullah Kamil, governor of the Tulkarm area.
He said some are drawing hope from the charity kitchen, which has expanded its usual operations to provide daily meals for up to 700 refugees, an effort to “meet the needs of the people, especially during the month of Ramadan.”
For Mansour Awfa, 60, the meals are a bright spot in a dark time.
He fled from the Tulkarm refugee camp in early February and does not know when he can return. “This is the house where I was raised, where I lived, and where I spent my life,” he said of the camp. “I’m not allowed to go there.”
Awfa, his wife, and four children live in a relative’s city apartment, where they sleep on thin mattresses on the floor.
“Where do we go? Where is there to go?” he asked. “But thanks to God, we await meals and aid from some warmhearted people.”
At least 48 killed in ‘most violent’ Syria unrest since Assad ouster: monitor
- Pro-Assad fighters killed 16 security personnel while 28 fighters “oyal to ousted ruler Bashar Assad and four civilians reported killed
- Huweija, who headed air force intelligence from 1987 to 2002, has long been a suspect in the 1977 murder of Lebanese Druze leader Kamal Bek Jumblatt
DAMASCUS: Fierce fighting between Syrian security forces and gunmen loyal to deposed ruler Bashar Assad killed 48 people on Thursday, a war monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clashes in the coastal town of Jableh and adjacent villages were “the most violent attacks against the new authorities since Assad was toppled” in December.
Pro-Assad fighters killed 16 security personnel while 28 fighters “loyal” to ousted President Bashar Assad and four civilians were also killed, it said.
The fighting struck in the Mediterranean coastal province of Latakia, the heartland of the ousted president’s Alawite minority who were considered bastions of support during his rule.
Mustafa Kneifati, a security official in Latakia, said that in “a well-planned and premeditated attack, several groups of Assad militia remnants attacked our positions and checkpoints, targeting many of our patrols in the Jableh area.”
He added that the attacks resulted in “numerous martyrs and injured among our forces” but did not give a figure.
Kneifati said security forces would “work to eliminate their presence.” “We will restore stability to the region and protect the property of our people,” he declared.
The UK-based observatory said most of the security personnel killed were from the former rebel bastion of Idlib in the northwest.
During the operation, security forces captured and arrested a former head of air force intelligence, one of the Assad family’s most trusted security agencies, state news agency SANA reported.
“Our forces in the city of Jableh managed to arrest the criminal General Ibrahim Huweija,” SANA said.
“He is accused of hundreds of assassinations during the era of the criminal Hafez Assad,” Bashar Assad’s father and predecessor.
Huweija, who headed air force intelligence from 1987 to 2002, has long been a suspect in the 1977 murder of Lebanese Druze leader Kamal Bek Jumblatt.
His son and successor Walid Jumblatt retweeted the news of his arrest with the comment: “Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest).”
The provincial security director said security forces clashed with gunmen loyal to an Assad-era special forces commander in another village in Latakia, after authorities reportedly launched helicopter strikes.
“The armed groups that our security forces were clashing with in the Latakia countryside were affiliated with the war criminal Suhail Al-Hassan,” the security director told SANA.
Nicknamed “The Tiger,” Hassan led the country’s special forces and was frequently described as Assad’s “favorite soldier.” He was responsible for key military advances by the Assad government in 2015.
Alawite leaders call for peaceful protests
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had earlier reported “strikes launched by Syrian helicopters on armed men in the village of Beit Ana and the surrounding forests, coinciding with artillery strikes on a neighboring village.”
SANA reported that militias loyal to the ousted president had opened fire on “members and equipment of the defense ministry” near the village, killing one security force member and wounding two.
Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera reported that its photographer Riad Al-Hussein was wounded in the clashes but that he was doing well.
A defense ministry source later told SANA that large military reinforcements were being deployed to the Jableh area.
Alawite leaders later called in a statement on Facebook for “peaceful protests” in response to the helicopter strikes, which they said had targeted “the homes of civilians.”
The security forces imposed overnight curfews on Alawite-populated areas, including Latakia, the port city of Tartus and third city Homs, SANA reported.
In other cities around the country, crowds gathered “in support of the security forces,” it added.
Tensions erupted after residents of Beit Ana, the birthplace of Suhail Al-Hassan, prevented security forces from arresting a person wanted for trading arms, the Observatory said.
Security forces subsequently launched a campaign in the area, resulting in clashes with gunmen, it added.
Tensions erupted after at least four civilians were killed during a security operation in Latakia, the monitor said on Wednesday.
Security forces launched the campaign in the Daatour neighborhood of the city on Tuesday after an ambush by “members of the remnants of Assad militias” killed two security personnel, state media reported.
Islamist rebels led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham launched a lightning offensive that toppled Assad on December 8.
The country’s new security forces have since carried out extensive campaigns seeking to root out Assad loyalists from his former bastions.
Residents and organizations have reported violations during those campaigns, including the seizing of homes, field executions and kidnappings.
Syria’s new authorities have described the violations as “isolated incidents” and vowed to pursue those responsible.
UN experts condemn Israeli move to reopen ‘gates of hell’ and unilaterally alter ceasefire terms
- Israel’s government said on Sunday it was suspending deliveries of all goods to Gaza, including critical, life-saving aid
- This is ‘a gross violation of international law. As an occupying power, Israel is legally obligated’ to provide food, medicine and other aid, the experts say
NEW YORK CITY: More than 20 UN independent human rights experts have denounced the decision by the Israeli government to block all humanitarian aid to Gaza and resume a total siege of the territory.
They warned that this breaks the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, breaks international law and puts the prospects for peace in jeopardy.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the experts condemned Israel’s decision on Sunday to suspend deliveries of all goods to Gaza, including critical, life-saving aid. It follows an announcement by the Israeli war Cabinet that it was prepared to withdraw from the ceasefire agreement, with some ministers openly calling for reopening the “gates of hell” in the war-battered enclave.
“This action constitutes a gross violation of international law,” the experts said. “As an occupying power, Israel is legally obligated to ensure the provision of sufficient food, medical supplies, and other forms of aid.
“By blocking such essential services, including those vital to sexual and reproductive health and disability support, Israel is weaponizing humanitarian assistance.”
Such actions represent “serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law,” they added, and might amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute.
The independent experts who put their names to the statement included Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Michael Fakhri, the special rapporteur on the right to food. Special rapporteurs are part of what is known as the special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council. They are independent experts who work on a voluntary basis, are not members of UN staff and are not paid for their work.
They also criticized Israel’s general approach to the ceasefire agreement, which initially was hailed as a pathway to peace. Instead of fostering a cessation of hostilities, however, the agreement has been marked by continued violence and destruction.
At least 100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since it took effect on Jan. 19. The total death toll in the territory since the war began in October 2023 now stands at 48,400, as Israeli forces persist with airstrikes and ground assaults.
“The harsh conditions of the ceasefire, marked by limited aid and scarce resources, have only exacerbated the suffering of Gaza’s population,” the experts wrote.
“The decision to reimpose a total siege on Gaza — where 80 percent of farmland and civilian infrastructure has already been destroyed — will undoubtedly worsen the humanitarian crisis.”
While some states and regional organizations have attempted to justify Israel’s actions as a response to alleged ceasefire violations by Hamas, the experts noted that repeated violations of the agreement by Israel have largely gone unreported.
They called for the mediators of the ceasefire deal, Egypt, Qatar and the US, to intervene to help preserve the agreement in accordance with international obligations. They also stressed that Israel’s actions should be viewed within the context of the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, a situation the International Court of Justice has demanded came an end.
The experts concluded by issuing a strong call for global action: “Nations must recall their obligations under international law and act to halt this brutal assault on the Palestinian people. The international community cannot allow lawlessness and injustice to prevail.”
As the world watches the devastating effects of the latest Israeli decision, the experts warned that fragile hopes for peace in the region continue to fade, and the humanitarian disaster in Gaza is far from over.
The initial phase of the ceasefire expired on Sunday without Israel and Hamas reaching an agreement on an extension or a way forward for the deal.
