ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip said Wednesday that up to three million Syrian refugees could be returned to a “safe zone” it is seeking to establish in northern Syria.
Turkey is home to more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees — the highest number in the world — and there have been signs of a public backlash over their presence after eight long years of war in its neighbor to the south.
Working with the United States, Turkish forces are seeking to clear a swathe of northern Syria, in part to push Kurdish rebels away from its border but also to facilitate the return of refugees.
If successful, “we will be able to house, depending on the depth of the safe zone, between two and three million Syrian refugees that are currently in Turkey and Europe,” Erdogan said in a televised speech.
Erdogan said earlier this week that he envisions the “peace corridor” as stretching right across northern Syria all the way to Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa — which he said would allow even more than three million to return.
He called for “much greater support” from Europe in realizing the plan.
For Turkey, a key priority is curbing the influence of Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which it sees as an off-shoot of the Kurdish separatists in its own territory.
On Wednesday, Erdogan repeated his threat to launch military attacks against the Kurds if they are not pushed back from the Turkish border by the end of the month.
“As we’ve said, if we don’t see results in the next two weeks, we will activate our plan,” he said.
But the YPG is firmly established in northern Syria and has been a crucial ally of the United States in fighting the Daesh group, creating a tricky balancing act for Washington.
Ankara says US promises to push the YPG back from the Turkish border have so far been “cosmetic.”
Turkey has twice launched unilateral operations into Syria against the YPG and Daesh group, in 2016 and 2018.
Erdogan says 3 million refugees could be returned to Syria safe zone
Erdogan says 3 million refugees could be returned to Syria safe zone
- Turkey is home to more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees, the highest number in the world
- Working with the US, Turkish forces are seeking to clear a swathe of northern Syria
UAE sends 35 trucks in 3 convoys to deliver aid to Gaza
- The latest Emirati delivery of essential supplies includes medical equipment such as dialysis machines and ultrasound devices, plus food and shelter materials
- The UAE has dispatched 153 humanitarian convoys to Gaza since November 2023, with 2,391 trucks delivering more than 29,274 tonnes of aid
LONDON: Three convoys of trucks carrying aid from the UAE this week crossed into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt.
A total of 35 trucks carried more than 248.9 tonnes of humanitarian supplies, including more than 100 tonnes of medical supplies, the Emirates News Agency reported.
The deliveries are part of an ongoing Emirati humanitarian campaign to help the Palestinian people during the war between Israel and Hamas. Since the launch of “Operation Chivalrous Knight 3” in November 2023, the UAE has sent 153 convoys into the Gaza Strip, with a total of 2,391 trucks delivering more than 29,274 tonnes of aid.
The essential supplies delivered by the latest convoys included medical equipment such as dialysis machines, ultrasound devices, resuscitation sets, wheelchairs and respiratory masks, the news agency added. Other items included food, tents and sacks of flour.
Fadel Al-Shamsi, a spokesperson for the Emirati aid operation, said care was taken to maintain the highest standards of safety and quality during the storage and transportation of the medical supplies to Gaza.
Palestinian president meets British FM in Ramallah
- Mahmoud Abbas briefed David Lammy on Israeli aggression in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
LONDON: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received British Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Monday at the Palestinian Authority’s headquarters in Ramallah.
Abbas discussed with Lammy the need to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2735, which calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the coastal enclave.
He highlighted the UK’s backing for the efforts to gain international recognition of the State of Palestine and its full membership in the UN, as part of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He briefed Lammy on the latest Israeli aggressions in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, the WAFA news agency reported.
Lebanon president, US general discuss Hezbollah-Israel truce
- Kurilla and Aoun spoke about “the situation in the south and the stages of implementing the Israeli withdrawal from the south,” the presidency said
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s president and a top US general discussed on Monday the implementation of a fragile truce between Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel in the south of the country, the presidency said.
President Joseph Aoun and the head of US Central Command, General Michael Kurilla, met as a January 26 deadline to fully implement the terms of the ceasefire approached.
Kurilla and Aoun spoke about “the situation in the south and the stages of implementing the Israeli withdrawal from the south,” the presidency said.
Under the November 27 ceasefire accord, the Lebanese army has 60 days to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south of Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws.
At the same time, Hezbollah is required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in the country’s south.
A committee composed of Israeli, Lebanese, French and US delegates, alongside a representative from the UN peacekeeping force, has been tasked with monitoring the implementation of the deal.
Former army chief Aoun was elected head of state on Thursday by lawmakers — a vote that followed the weakening of Hamas in the war — ending a more than two-year deadlock during which the position was vacant.
Aoun and Kurilla also discussed “ways to activate cooperation between the Lebanese and American armies,” the presidency said.
The United States has been a key financial backer of the Lebanese armed forces, especially since the country’s economy collapsed in 2019.
Meanwhile, Israel carried out air strikes in east and south Lebanon on Sunday, with the Israeli military saying it struck Hezbollah targets including smuggling routes along the border with Syria.
Israeli strikes in south Lebanon on Friday killed five people, according to the Lebanese health ministry, with the Israeli military saying it targeted a Hezbollah weapons truck.
Angry hostage families harangue Israeli hard-liner Smotrich
- Smotrich described the deal taking shape as “a catastrophe” for Israel’s security
- He said Israel should keep up its campaign in Gaza until the complete surrender of Hamas
JERUSALEM: Angry members of some of the families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza harangued Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday over his opposition to a deal being negotiated in Qatar to halt the fighting and bring their relatives home.
Smotrich described the deal taking shape as “a catastrophe” for Israel’s security and said Israel should keep up its campaign in Gaza until the complete surrender of Hamas, the militant group that ran the enclave before the war.
Dozens of members of the hostage families, many carrying photographs of the missing, squeezed into a committee room in the Israeli parliament where a meeting of the finance committee was held to examine the 2025 budget.
Some furious, some crying and pleading, they attacked Smotrich in an emotionally charged encounter that lasted for more than an hour, accusing him of abandoning the 98 Israeli and foreign hostages still left in Gaza.
“These kidnapped people can be returned,” Ofir Angrest, whose brother Matan was taken hostage during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“The conditions are ripe, it’s time for a deal, the Prime Minister said it. How can you, the Minister of Finance, oppose the return of all these abductees?“
Smotrich, leader of one of the hard-line nationalist religious parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition, has been among the loudest opponents of a deal which he described as a “surrender” to Hamas.
Qatar, which is brokering the talks alongside Egypt and the United States, said it had given a draft agreement to both Israel and Hamas following a “breakthrough” overnight.
Yechiel Yehud, whose daughter Arbel was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz and whose son Dolev was killed, reminded Smotrich that he had visited their home in the kibbutz.
“I know your heart is in the right place, but you are required to do more than that,” he said.
Power outages in Sudan after drone attack on major dam
PORT SUDAN: The seat of Sudan’s army-aligned government was without power on Monday, AFP correspondents said, after a drone attack blamed on paramilitaries hit a major hydroelectric dam in the war-torn country’s north.
The Sudanese army, at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, said in a statement that the attack on Merowe Dam was part of a “systematic campaign” against military sites but also targeting “vital” infrastructure.
AFP journalists in Port Sudan on the Red Sea, where the army-aligned government and the United Nations have been based since the war’s early days, said widespread power outages have persisted since early Monday.
The army said that Merowe Dam and its power station, located about 350 kilometers (220 miles) north of the capital Khartoum and serving Port Sudan and other areas, were hit by “a number of suicide drones.”
“Some losses were incurred, which will be repaired,” the army statement said.
Online footage, which AFP could not independently verify, showed fires engulfing the dam’s electrical infrastructure.
The RSF did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.
Since the early morning attack, local media said that the army-controlled cities of Atbara, Dongola and Omdurman — across the Nile from Khartoum — have also been hit by power outages.
In November last year, the army accused the RSF of targeting Merowe with 16 drones, though no casualties or significant damage were reported at the time.
The dam is one of Sudan’s biggest sources of hydroelectric power.
Merowe city, in Sudan’s Northern State, is also home to a major military airport.
The latest attack came two days after the army recaptured Wad Madani, the capital of the central state of Al-Jazira, after more than a year of paramilitary control.
In addition to decimating Sudan’s already fragile infrastructure, the war has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, uprooted more than 12 million and pushed many Sudanese to the brink of famine.
