NEW YORK: Syria’s former permanent representative to the UN, Bashar Jaafari, drew on his nation’s literary heritage during a meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
He addressed the council as its members discussed the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons against its own people, and its failure to comply with a Security Council resolution ordering the destruction of such weapons.
Jaafari, who left his UN post in November when he was appointed deputy minister of foreign affairs, noted that Syrian literature “has reached the whole world.” He highlighted “One Thousand and One Nights,” better known in English as the “Arabian Nights,” and in particular its tale of “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.”
He said: “Despite the victory of the good in ‘Ali Baba,’ the 40 thieves are still running around in Western capitals, looting resources and livelihoods and tarnishing our reputation by replacing our ‘One Thousand and One Nights’ with 1,001 lies.
“Lies without borders. Doctors without borders. Reporters without borders — everything is ‘without borders’ these days.”
As he turned his attention to “Waiting for Godot” to present further analogies, his comments were in stark contrast with the seriousness of the matter under discussion by the council.
During its first session of the new year the council was briefed by Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN’s under-secretary-general high representative for disarmament affairs, on the implementation of Resolution 2118. It was unanimously adopted in September 2013 following a UN investigation that confirmed the use of chemical weapons against civilians in a Damascus suburb the previous month. Images of people, including children, suffocating after breathing in the nerve agent caused outrage worldwide.
The resolution called on the Syrian regime to destroy its chemical weapons by mid-2014, and in the event of non-compliance, the introduction of punitive measures. It banned Syria from using, developing, producing, acquiring, stockpiling or retaining chemical weapons, or transferring them to other states or non-state actors.
In October 2013, Syria submitted to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) a formal initial declaration covering its chemical-weapons program, including a plan for the destruction of its chemical weapons.
Nakamitsu told the Security Council that, more than seven years later, the declaration “cannot be considered accurate and complete in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).”
“Gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies” have been identified that cast doubt on the true extent of the elimination of chemical weapons during the Syrian Civil War, she added.
While “some progress” has been made, resulting in the closure of three issues related to the initial declaration, Nakamitsu said 19 issues remain outstanding as investigations continue into allegations of the use of chemical weapons in a “variety of incidents.”
One such issue concerns a facility the Syrian authorities said had never been used for the production of chemical weapons. However information and evidence gathered by the OPCW since 2014 indicates that the production or weaponization of chemical warfare nerve agents took place there, Nakamitsu said. The OPCW has ordered the Syrian government to reveal the types and quantities of chemical agents produced or weaponized at the site. It has yet to respond.
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN, defended the Syrian regime and criticized what he described as the OPCW’s “unconvincing evidence and biased witnesses from (Syrian) anti-government opposition or the infamous white helmets.”
He said the report contains “inconsistencies” and accused the OPCW and western delegations of “artificially” creating a frenzy over the issue of chemical weapons in Syria, and of “blatantly applying double standards” by forgiving some countries their “minor errors” while being implacable with the Syrian regime.
China’s permanent representative, Zhang Jun, dismissed the report as lacking “conclusive evidence.” Describing it as an “incomplete chain of evidence with loose ends,” he urged the international community to consider claims by the Syrian ambassador that “terrorists” are to blame for the use of chemical weapons. “Terrorist” is a blanket term used by the Syrian regime to describe any opposition.
Ambassador Richard Mills, the US deputy permanent representative to the UN, accused Russia of campaigning to discredit the OPCW.
“Neither this council nor the world is fooled,” he added. “One can say a thing loudly and repeatedly but that does not make it true.
“What is true is that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons against the Syrian people. The OPCW has demonstrated this credibly and objectively, corroborating the findings of thousands of Syrian and international groups.
“Assad’s use of chemical weapons is not in dispute. It is not a matter of opinion — it is a matter of fact confirmed by the OPCW.”
Mills urged Russia and “the Assad regime’s other defenders” to encourage it to “come clean about its chemical weapons and its stockpiles.”
The majority of council members accepted the OPCW’s findings as being highly credible, with all claims supported by clear evidence.
French envoy Nicolas de Rivière could not conceal his incredulity as he asked: “How do we explain that 19 questions still remain open seven years after the adoption of resolution 2118. Above all, how do we explain that new questions continue to add to the old ones?
“Contrary to what some claim, it is incumbent upon the Syrian regime to resolve these issues. Simple gestures could be made: the first is to shed light on the new undeclared production sites that have been evidenced by the OPCW.”
British ambassador Barbara Woodward described the unresolved issues relating to Syria’s declaration as “serious and substantive.” She added: “They include the unaccounted-for whereabouts of thousands of munitions and hundreds of tons of chemical agents.”
She said there is growing concern about Syria’s “ongoing failure to comply with its obligations under the CWC and the consequent threat to international peace and security.” Since the regime “allegedly” destroyed all of its chemical stockpiles in 2014, it has used chemical weapons on at least 6 occasions, Woodward added.
“These are not hypothetical issues for the thousands of Syrian civilians who have suffered the horrifying effects on the body of nerve agents and chlorine,” she said. She vowed that the OPCW’s Conference of the States Parties (COSP) will consider taking action over the Syrian regime’s failure to comply.
Mills also called on the COSP to take appropriate action when it reconvenes in the spring, “to send a strong message to Assad regime that the use of chemical weapons and direct contravention of CWC obligations has consequences.”
The US and 45 cosponsor countries have submitted a draft resolution to the COSP “in response to Syria’s brazen and repeated violations of its obligations under the CWC.”
“We support all efforts toward accountability,” said Mills. “These are essential to render overdue justice to the victims of the Assad regime, who need and deserve the international community’s support.”
UN Security Council calls on Syrian regime to come clean about its chemical weapons
https://arab.news/98jk7
UN Security Council calls on Syrian regime to come clean about its chemical weapons
- OPCW chief tells council that a declaration made by the regime seven years ago was not accurate or complete
- Accountability is essential to ensure justice for the victims of Assad’s chemical attacks, says US deputy envoy
Between bomb craters: Taxis stuck on war-hit Lebanon-Syria border
MASNAA, Lebanon: Stuck in no man’s land on the war-hit Lebanon-Syria border, cab driver Fadi Slika now scrapes a living ferrying passengers between two deep craters left by Israeli air strikes.
The journey is just 2 km, but Slika has no other choice — his taxi is his only source of income.
“My car is stuck between craters: I can’t reach Lebanon or return to Syria. Meanwhile, we’re under threat of (Israeli) bombardment,” said the 56-year-old.
“I work and sleep here between the two holes,” he said.
A dual Lebanese-Syrian national, Slika has been living in his car, refusing to abandon it when it broke down until a mechanic brought a new engine.
His taxi is one of the few that has been operating between the two craters since Israeli strikes in October effectively blocked traffic on the Masnaa crossing.
The bombed area has become a boon for drivers of tuk-tuks, who can navigate the craters easily.
A makeshift stall, the Al-Joura (pit in Arabic) rest house, and a shop are set up nearby.
Slika went for 12 days without work while waiting for his taxi to be fixed. The car has become his home. A warm blanket covers its rear seats against eastern Lebanon’s cold winters, and a big bag of pita bread sits on the passenger side.
Before being stranded, Slika made about $100 for trips from Beirut to Damascus.
Now, an average fare between the craters is just $5.50 each way, though he said he charged more.
On Sept. 23, Israel intensified its aerial bombing of Lebanon and later sent in ground troops, nearly a year after Hezbollah initiated limited exchanges of fire in support of Hamas amid the Gaza war.
Since then, Israel has bombed several land crossings with Syria out of service.
It accuses Hezbollah of using what are key routes for people fleeing the war in Lebanon to transfer weapons from Syria.
Amid the hardship of the conflict, more than 610,000 people have fled from Lebanon to Syria, mostly Syrians, according to Lebanese authorities.
Undeterred by attacks, travelers still trickle through Masnaa, traversing the two craters that measure about 10 meters deep and 30 meters wide.
On the other side of the road, Khaled Khatib, 46, was fixing his taxi, its tires splattered with mud and hood coated in dust.
“After the first strike, I drove from Syria and parked my car before the crater. When the second strike hit, I got stuck between the two holes,” he said, sweat beading as he looked under the hood.
“We used to drive people from Damascus to Beirut. Now, we take them from one crater to another.”
Khatib doesn’t charge passengers facing tough times, he said, adding he had been displaced from southern Beirut, hammered by Israeli raids since September. He moved back to his hometown near the Masnaa crossing.
Despite harsh times, a sense of camaraderie reigns.
The drivers “became like brothers. We eat together at the small stall every day ... and we help each other fix our cars,” he said.
Mohamed Yassin moved his coffee stall from the Masnaa crossing closer to the pit after the strike, offering breakfast, lunch, and coffee. “We try to help people as much as possible,” he said.
Farther from the Lebanese border, travelers crossed the largest of the two crevasses, wearing plastic coverings on their shoes to avoid slipping in the mud.
A cab driver on a mound called out, “Taxi to Damascus!” while tuk-tuks and trucks ferried passengers, bags, and mattresses across.
Nearby, Aida Awda Mubarak, a Syrian mother of six, haggled with a tuk-tuk driver over the $1 fare.
The 52-year-old said she was out of work and needed to see her son after the east Lebanon town where he lives was hit by Israeli strikes.
“Sometimes we just can’t afford to pay for a tuk-tuk or a cab,” she said.
Netanyahu says ICC warrant won’t stop Israel defending itself
- “No outrageous anti-Israel decision will prevent us — and it will not prevent me — from continuing to defend our country in every way,” Netanyahu said
- The premier is accused alongside his former defense minister Yoav Gallant of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity“
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court over his conduct of the Gaza war would not stop him defending Israel.
“No outrageous anti-Israel decision will prevent us — and it will not prevent me — from continuing to defend our country in every way,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “We will not yield to pressure,” he vowed.
The premier is accused alongside his former defense minister Yoav Gallant of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” for Israel’s actions in Gaza.
He described Thursday’s decision as a “dark day in the history of nations.”
“The International Criminal Court in The Hague, which was established to protect humanity, has today become the enemy of humanity,” he said, adding that the accusations were “utterly baseless.”
Israel has been fighting in Gaza since October 2023, when a cross-border attack by Hamas militants resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Its retaliatory campaign has led to the deaths of 44,056 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.
UN agencies have warned of a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including possible famine, due to a lack of food and medicines.
The court said it had found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.
Netanyahu said the court was accusing Israel of “fictitious crimes,” while ignoring “the real war crimes, horrific war crimes being committed against us and against many others around the world.”
In addition to Netanyahu and Gallant, the court also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military wing chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel said was killed in an air strike last July.
Hamas has never confirmed his death.
Netanyahu mocked the court’s decision to issue a warrant for “the body of Mohammed Deif.”
Italy says would have to arrest Netanyahu after ICC warrant
- Crosetto believed the ICC was “wrong” to put Netanyahu and Gallant on the same level as Hamas
- It was not a political choice but Italy was bound as a member of the ICC to act on the court’s warrants
ROME: Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said Thursday his country would be obliged to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visited, after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant.
The ICC earlier also issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu’s former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif.
Crosetto — whose country holds the G7 rotating presidency this year — told RAI television’s Porta a Porta program that he believed the ICC was “wrong” to put Netanyahu and Gallant on the same level as Hamas.
But he said that if Netanyahu or Gallant “were to come to Italy, we would have to arrest them.”
It was not a political choice but Italy was bound as a member of the ICC to act on the court’s warrants, Crosetto said.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had earlier been more cautious, saying: “We support the ICC, while always remembering that the court must play a legal role and not a political role.
“We will evaluate together with our allies what to do and how to interpret this decision.”
Israeli strikes kill 47 people in eastern Lebanon, official says
- Bachir Khodr, governor of Lebanon’s Baalbek-Hermel province, said at least 47 were killed and 22 wounded in Israeli strikes in the Baalbek region
- In Israel, a 30-year-old man was killed when shrapnel from a rocket struck a playground in the northern town of Nahariya
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM: Israeli strikes killed at least 47 people in eastern Lebanon on Thursday, a Lebanese official said, pressing the campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group as a US mediator sought to advance ceasefire talks in Israel.
US mediator Amos Hochstein, who said a ceasefire was “within our grasp” during a visit to Lebanon on Tuesday, met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz. There were no immediate statements.
Indicating there were still gaps to close, a senior Lebanese official told Reuters that Beirut had sought changes to the US ceasefire proposal, to include ensuring a speedier withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon.
The diplomacy marks the most serious attempt yet to end the conflict between Israel and the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah, part of the regional spillover of the Gaza war that erupted more than a year ago.
Bachir Khodr, governor of Lebanon’s Baalbek-Hermel province, said at least 47 were killed and 22 wounded in Israeli strikes in the Baalbek region. Posting on X, he said rescue operations were underway. The region bordering Syria is an area of Lebanon where Shiite Islamist Hezbollah holds sway.
Beirut shook as Israeli airstrikes hit the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs about a dozen times, sending up clouds of debris, in some of the most intense airstrikes yet.
Residents have largely fled the area since Israel went on the offensive against Hezbollah in September.
The Israeli army said its strikes were against Hezbollah infrastructure and that it had mitigated civilian harm through advance warnings and other steps.
In Israel, a 30-year-old man was killed when shrapnel from a rocket struck a playground in the northern town of Nahariya, Israel’s MDA medical service said.
“The Israeli government is not safeguarding my security, my residents or the residents of the north (of Israel). It is not possible to live in such a situation like this,” Nahariya Mayor Ronen Marelly told public broadcaster Kansas
The Israeli military said about 10 rockets were launched from Lebanon toward Nahariya. “Most of the projectiles were intercepted and fallen projectiles were identified,” the military said in a statement.
Channel 12 said three rockets hit the coastal town.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station, citing its correspondent, confirmed rocket fire toward Nahariya and the surrounding area.
White House envoy Hochstein left for Israel after declaring progress in two days of talks in Lebanon with officials including Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, endorsed to negotiate by Hezbollah. Speaking before he left Beirut, Hochstein said he was going to Israel to try to close an agreement if possible.
BATTLE OF KHIYAM
The diplomacy aims to end a conflict that has inflicted massive devastation in Lebanon since Israel began its offensive, mounting airstrikes across wide parts of the country and sending troops into the south.
Footage broadcast by Al Jazeera showed thick smoke rising from the town of Khiyam in southern Lebanon, some 6 km (4 miles) from the border, a focal point of ground battles between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops.
Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from its north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which opened fire in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Hezbollah, which has suffered major blows since Israel began its offensive in September, has kept up rocket fire into Israel, attacking Tel Aviv this week. Its fighters are battling Israeli troops on the ground in the south.
The casualty toll since Oct. 2023 stands at 3,583 people killed in Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry says, most of them killed during the Israeli offensive since September. The figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The ministry said 25 fatalities were reported on Wednesday.
Hezbollah strikes have killed more than 100 people in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. They include more than 70 soldiers killed in strikes in northern Israel and the Golan Heights and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israel.
Amid Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon, airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs
- Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported three raids “within the third round of strikes on the southern suburbs today“
- AFPTV footage showed columns of smoke rising from the area, usually a densely populated residential district but now largely emptied
BEIRUT: Fierce battles between the Israeli army and Hezbollah erupted in the town of Khiam and on the outskirts of the town of Biyyadah in Lebanon on Thursday.
Israeli resumed intense airstrikes in the morning on Beirut’s southern suburbs and villages in the Baalbek-Hermel governorate, following a pause that coincided with US envoy Amos Hochstein’s 48-hour visit to Beirut before heading to Tel Aviv.
Hezbollah continued its attacks on northern Israel, with rockets reaching Nahariya. According to medics and doctors with Magen David Adom, these attacks “killed a 30-year-old man due to rocket fire.”
Lebanon has been hit by large-scale Israeli attacks since Sept. 23.
Israel has been targeting Hezbollah headquarters, civilian homes in southern villages, pursuing displaced persons to their new locations, and destroying entire neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the southern border region, towns deep in the south, and villages in Baalbek-Hermel.
The attacks have also struck Beirut multiple times. The total death toll since the start of the confrontations has surpassed 3,520, with 14,940 injured.
The clashes in the south have been concentrated between the town of Chamaa and the coastal town of Biyyadah, following the capture of Chamaa.
Hezbollah said that its members “repelled a new Israeli force’s advance attempt at the southern outskirts of Chamaa toward Biyyadah.”
A fierce battle also raged in Khiam, amid reports on Wednesday night suggesting that the town had fallen to the Israeli army. However, Hezbollah reported “ongoing battles on four fronts, employing all types of weapons.”
Security reports indicated that the Israeli army “is conducting large-scale demolitions in Khiam, blowing up houses and residential buildings during its incursion into the town.”
Controlling Khiam is significant, as it is a strategic city located on top of the Al-Hamames Hill, 500 meters above sea level. Khiam is also one of the biggest cities in southern Lebanon in area, which allows the Israeli army to oversee northern Israel on one side and the Golan Heights on the other.
An Israeli raid on the Khardali road, which connects Nabatieh to Marjaayoun and is considered a Hezbollah supply road, blocked it completely.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes carried out destructive aerial strikes in stages against Beirut’s southern suburbs on Thursday morning.
The strikes were preceded by a series of evacuation warnings issued to the residents of Ghobeiri, Hadath, Haret Hreik, Bir Abed and Kafaat.
The raids destroyed a significant number of residential buildings and commercial shops. They also reached a building adjacent to a special needs school in Kafaat.
The Israeli army claimed that it “targeted Hezbollah command headquarters and infrastructure in Beirut’s southern suburbs.”
Raids on Younin, northern Bekaa, killed at least four people after they targeted an inhabited house without prior warning.
The Israeli raids included Brital, Makneh, Nahleh, Chaat in the Anti-Lebanon mountains, and Bouday in the western mountain range.
Dozens of citizens received mysterious calls on Wednesday night instructing them to evacuate their homes in Beirut’s neighborhoods and Mount Lebanon, including Mazraat Yachouh in Metn, where there is no Hezbollah presence.
The calls caused confusion, as residents of entire neighborhoods waited on the streets for officials confirmations. The calls were seen as “part of a psychological warfare.”
On the eve of Lebanon’s 81st Independence Day, army chief Joseph Aoun said that “Lebanon will always revolt against its enemies and those who mess with its safety and sovereignty, notably the Israeli enemy.”
Aoun said that the anniversary came amid a destructive and brutal war waged by the Israeli enemy for more than a year, resulting in thousands being wounded, and the displacement of people from their villages and towns in the south, the Bekaa and Beirut.
“As the enemy persists in its daily violations and aggressions, efforts are intensifying to reach a ceasefire that would bring calm to our country, paving the way for the return of our people in the south to their land and the rest of the displaced to their homes.”
Aoun said that the army was “still deployed in the south, where soldiers make sacrifices and give their lives for Lebanon. We will not abandon it because it is an integral part of national sovereignty, and it operates in coordination with UNIFIL under the framework of Resolution 1701. The army also stands by its people and citizens, fulfilling its national duty and continuing its missions despite challenges and dangers.”
He said that “there is no turning back, and there is no fear for the army, which will remain steadfast by the side of the Lebanese despite all circumstances, protecting Lebanon and defending its security, stability and sovereignty. The army will continue to embrace all Lebanese from different backgrounds, standing equally by each one of them.”
