UN Security Council bickers as Syrians continue to suffer

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen announced Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, that the next round of talks toward revising the war-battered country's constitution will start in Geneva on Jan. 25 and urged the parties to move to actual drafting. (AP/File)
Short Url
Updated 21 January 2021
Follow

UN Security Council bickers as Syrians continue to suffer

  • UN officials urge the international community not to turn its back on the plight of the nation’s people
  • A combination of crises has created ‘a slow tsunami that is crashing across Syria,’ says envoy

NEW YORK: Emotions ran high during a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday, as permanent members traded jabs and accusations.
It came as Geir Pedersen, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, and Mark Lowcock,  under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, delivered the latest sobering warnings about the plight of the Syrian people, after a decade of death and destruction caused by the Civil War.
They urged the international community not to turn its back on Syrians and the humanitarian crisis they face.
Bashar Jaafari, the former Syrian representative to the UN and the country’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, blamed the situation on Western nations. He accused them of “pillaging Syria’s wealth” and launching “unfounded accusations” against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and said the West promotes violence and hate and perpetuates the spread of “terrorism without borders.”
He also accused Western countries of employing double standards, and suggested that if the Jan. 6 attack by a right-wing mob on the American Capitol had happened in a non-Western country, it would have been labeled a “Spring,” an “Orange Revolution” or an expression of freedom. But “because (it) happened in a Western capital (it was) condemned by the world,” he said.
Jaafari also directed allegations of “terrorism” by Turkey toward his counterpart from the country, who refused to respond on the grounds that “he (Jaafari) is not a legitimate representative of the Syrian people.”
The meeting was convened at the request of Tarek Ladeb, the permanent representative to the UN of Tunisia, which holds the presidency of the Security Council this month. It took place as the Syrian Constitutional Committee prepares to gather for a fifth round of talks in Geneva next week under the auspices of Pedersen.
The committee is a part of a UN-facilitated process seeking a reconciliation between the Assad regime and the opposition through changes to the existing constitution or the drafting of a new one. 
Almost 10 years of war have left millions of Syrians “with deep trauma, grinding poverty, personal insecurity and lack of hope for the future,” Pedersen told the Security Council. “For many, the daily struggle just to survive crowds out most other issues.”
He said the COVID-19 pandemic, the spillover from the crisis in Lebanon, and internal factors such as war economies, corruption and mismanagement have combined to create “a slow tsunami that is crashing across Syria.”
He stressed the need to ensure that any additional sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime must avoid escalating the plight of the Syrian people.
While he said it is true that the past 10 months have been the calmest since the beginning of the conflict, Pedersen added that military escalations in the northeast continue to disrupt this relative peace, along with Israeli assaults, continuous Daesh attacks, mutual shelling and airstrikes in Idlib and unrest in the southwest.
Attacks continue to cost lives, he said, and Syrians face a host of other threats including abduction, arbitrary detention, increased criminal activity and the intensification of terrorist attacks. 
“This is a fragile calm (that) could break down at any moment,” said Pedersen.
He acknowledged that the political process has not resulted in any tangible changes as yet, nor any real vision of the future for Syrians, but stressed the need to persist with confidence-building measures such as unhindered access for humanitarian aid groups, an enduring nationwide ceasefire, and access to detainees.
While free and fair elections, based on the provisions of Security Council Resolution 2254, still “seem far into the future,” Pedersen said that “more serious and cooperative international diplomacy “could unlock genuine progress and could chart a safe and secure path out of this crisis for all Syrians.”
Lowcock painted a grim picture of the humanitarian crisis in Syria. He told the council that Syrians are dealing with severe levels of food insecurity, along with fuel shortages and power cuts during a harsh winter, and a growing dependency on child labor.
Bad weather is forcing people to “spend entire nights standing up in their tents due to rising flood waters,” Lowcock added, and he warned that a new wave of COVID-19 infections could also be imminent. 
He highlighted the desperate conditions in the notorious Al-Hol refugee camp, which is home to thousands of wives and children of former Daesh militants. There has been a surge in violent incidents there in recent months, but he said security measures must be employed without endangering the residents, violating their rights or restricting humanitarian access. Most of the 62,000 people living in the camp are below the age of 12, he said, and “growing up in unacceptable conditions.”
Lowcock reiterated the UN’s commitment to providing humanitarian assistance but said it requires “adequate funding, improved access and an end to the violence that has tormented Syrians for nearly a decade.”
In her final statement to the council, Kelly Craft, the departing US ambassador to the UN, choked back tears as she shared tragic stories from Syrian refugee camps she visited in Turkey, and pleaded for the world not to abandon the people of Syria.
“Wake up to the horrors of this conflict” and take action to restore peace, she said.
“Bombed, starved, displaced and tormented by the Assad regime and its supporters, (these) are the people, the majority of whom are women and children, who have entrusted us in this council to keep them safe — to keep them alive,” she added.
Craft condemned the “political dynamics that afflict this council and continue to deny the Syrian people a path toward peace, stability, and hope. This council is failing millions of civilians of Syria, not just today but for more than a decade. It is appalling.”
She accused the Assad regime of deliberately stalling the progress of the constitutional committee to distract the attention of the international community from the thousands of civilians killed or injured by the regime “and its craven allies’ barbaric attacks,” as it gears up for “a sham presidential election this year.”
She added: “Any such election would be illegitimate (and) the US will not recognize (it.)”
Craft said any election must ensure the participation of Syrians who are refugees, internally displaced or part of the diaspora, and reiterated that the US will withhold reconstruction funding until the UN’s political process in Syria is complete.
She berated her Russian colleagues who, she said, “tell a very different story (about Syria) to this body — a story breathtaking in its dishonesty and cynicism.”
After wishing Craft well for the future, Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, said: “I will now turn to the Russian story on Syria.”
He criticized the UN for “keeping its mouth shut” while the proceeds from Syria’s natural resources “are not flowing into Syria’s coffers.” He also defended the Assad regime, saying that “Damascus is doing everything it can to keep the economy afloat” while international sanctions cause it to collapse.
UK Ambassador James Paul Roscoe rejected this suggestion and said the true cause of the tragedy in Syria is the regime’s “nepotism, corruption and brutal attacks against its people.” He called for the regime to be held accountable for its crimes.
Pedersen reiterated that the UN’s resolution on Syria stipulates that the political process in the country “must be Syrian-owned and led, but the conflict is highly internationalized, with five foreign armies active in Syria.”
The world cannot, therefore, “pretend that the solutions are only in the hands of the Syrians, or that the UN can do it alone,” he added as he called for “a more serious and cooperative international diplomacy.”


‘Strong likelihood’ famine imminent in north Gaza, say food security experts

Updated 54 min 51 sec ago
Follow

‘Strong likelihood’ famine imminent in north Gaza, say food security experts

  • The warning comes just days ahead of a US deadline for Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza

LONDON: There is a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas” of the northern Gaza Strip, a committee of global food security experts warned on Friday, as Israel pursues a military offensive against Palestinian militants Hamas in the area.
“Immediate action, within days not weeks, is required from all actors who are directly taking part in the conflict, or have influence on its conduct, to avert and alleviate this catastrophic situation,” the independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) said in a rare alert.
The warning comes just days ahead of a US deadline for Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid.


Israeli army discovers ‘Hezbollah training center’ near UNIFIL outpost as raids continue in Lebanon

Updated 08 November 2024
Follow

Israeli army discovers ‘Hezbollah training center’ near UNIFIL outpost as raids continue in Lebanon

  • Several videos showed residential houses and tourist, social and religious facilities being set with explosives and blown up remotely
  • Adraee also accused Hezbollah of “using ambulances to transport saboteurs and arms” and called on “medical personnel to avoid dealing and cooperating with Hezbollah members”

BEIRUT: The Israeli army on Friday continued to destroy houses in Lebanon’s southern border villages to establish a buffer zone. The latest bombing targeted the areas of Yaroun, Aitaroun and Maroun Al-Ras in Bint Jbeil.
Several videos showed residential houses and tourist, social and religious facilities being set with explosives and blown up remotely.
In parallel with the deliberate destruction, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued “a new urgent warning to the residents of southern Lebanon,” instructing them “to refrain from returning to the south, or to their houses or olive fields,” describing the region as “a dangerous combat zone.”
Adraee also accused Hezbollah of “using ambulances to transport saboteurs and arms” and called on “medical personnel to avoid dealing and cooperating with Hezbollah members.”
The army will take the “necessary measures against any vehicle transporting armed members regardless of its type,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army claimed that “surveillance cameras of the Oded Brigade reservists captured a Hezbollah training center just 200 meters from a UNIFIL outpost.”
The army claimed that “the forces discovered the training facility, which was used by Hezbollah for training, studying, and storing large quantities of weapons.”
It said that “the facility contained missile launchers used for firing at Israeli settlements, as well as documents and instructional books detailing Hezbollah’s operational methods, maps of Israel, explanations of the Israeli army’s equipment, and additional weapons.” The army said “the weapons were confiscated and the compound was dismantled.”
The Israeli army resumed raids on the Baalbek-Hermel area, killing and injuring people and causing further destruction.
The Ministerial Emergency Committee estimated that, as of Thursday evening, Israel had conducted 121 raids, including 56 on Nabatieh, 24 on Baalbek and 23 in the south.
The committee said the number of people killed so far in Israeli attacks on Lebanon exceed 3,100, while 14,000 people have been injured.
More than 1.2 million people have been displaced, with close to 200,000 staying in shelters, it added.
Lebanese observers believe this transitional phase, from now until US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, is the most dangerous period for Lebanon.
Raids on Kfar Tebnit killed two people after a building comprising residential apartments and commercial shops was destroyed.
A raid on Zebdine in Nabatieh killed Mohammed Fayez Mokaddam and his sons, Fayez and Hadi Mokaddem, after their building was destroyed.
Zaher Ibrahim Ataya, a medic with Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Committee from the southern town of Tair Harfa, was killed when Israeli forces struck a newly established medical center.
The strike was part of a broader Israeli aerial campaign that targeted more than 50 towns across the Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts in the past 48 hours.
The Lebanese Red Cross chief Georges Kettaneh announced that rescue teams have returned to Wata Al-Khiyam to complete the recovery of victims from an incident on Oct. 27.
Working alongside UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese Army, teams recovered four bodies and remains, with efforts continuing to ensure the mission’s completion.
Earlier the Red Cross retrieved 17 bodies from the site where civilians, who had been tending to livestock, sought shelter in a building during an Israeli incursion.
The Israeli military initially stalled permission for the Lebanese Red Cross to recover the victims, eventually granting only a four-hour window for the operation.
The Israeli air campaign extended to Lebanon’s Bekaa region, with strikes hitting Hrabta town west of Baalbek and Hosh Al-Sayyed Ali near the Syrian border north of Hermel.
Sirens sounded across northern Israel, including Haifa, Nazareth, Kiryat Shmona and surrounding areas, as well as the Ramat Trump settlement in the Golan Heights and Israeli media reported approximately 30 rockets launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel and Haifa’s suburbs.
The Israeli military confirmed detecting about 20 rockets, with some being intercepted, and reported drone incursions in northern airspace, including one near Caesarea.
The Israeli military announced the death of a soldier from Battalion 8207, Alon Brigade (228), who succumbed to wounds sustained in southern Lebanon on Oct. 26, while Israeli army radio detailed a fierce battle in the border village of Aitaroun that claimed the lives of six Israeli soldiers.
Hezbollah said on Friday it had launched “dozens of rockets reaching as far as Haifa and south of Nazareth.”
The group claimed strikes on several targets, including the Stella Maris naval base and Ramat David air base, northwest and southeast of Haifa, respectively, Kiryat Shmona settlement, and military gatherings in Misgav Am and Margaliot settlements.
In response to Israeli infiltration attempts, Hezbollah reported targeting Israeli forces south of Adaisseh with artillery fire. The group also claimed to have destroyed a military bulldozer and inflicting casualties on accompanying infantry forces trying to advance northwest of Kfarkila.


Buried for 14 hours after Israeli strike, Lebanese toddler makes recovery

Updated 08 November 2024
Follow

Buried for 14 hours after Israeli strike, Lebanese toddler makes recovery

  • Two-year-old Ali Khalifeh is the only survivor of his family after Israel blew up the apartment block where they lived
  • The toddler’s parents, sister and two grandmothers all perished in the strike that killed 15

SIDON, Lebanon: Rescuers did not expect to find two-year-old Ali Khalifeh alive after an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon killed his entire family and left him trapped under the rubble for 14 hours.
Amputated, bandaged and hooked to a respirator in a hospital bed that was way too big for him, “Ali is the sole survivor of his family,” said Hussein Khalifeh, his father’s uncle.
The toddler’s parents, sister and two grandmothers all perished in the strike on September 29, days after Israel intensified its attacks on Hezbollah militants.
The strike on Sarafand, some 15 kilometers (nine miles) south of the coastal city of Sidon, flattened an apartment complex and killed 15 people, many of them relatives, according to residents.
“Rescue workers had almost lost hope of finding anyone alive under the rubble,” 45-year-old Khalifeh told AFP from the hospital in Sidon where his two-year-old relative was being treated.
But then “Ali appeared among debris in the shovel of the bulldozer, after we all thought he had died,” he said.
“He emerged from the rubble, barely breathing, after 14 hours.”
Israel has been at war with Hezbollah since late September, when it broadened its war focus from fighting Hamas militants in Gaza to securing its northern border with Lebanon.
An escalating Israeli air campaign, after nearly a year of low intensity cross-border fire, has killed more than 2,600 people across Lebanon since September 23, according to health ministry figures.
Signs of the violence were apparent even at the hospital in Sidon where Ali was rushed to following the strike on Sarafand.
The toddler, under a medically induced coma after doctors amputated his right hand, has since been transferred to a medical facility in the capital Beirut where he is due to undergo pre-prosthetic surgery.
“Ali was sleeping on the couch at home when the strike hit. He is still asleep today... were are waiting to complete his surgeries before waking him up,” said the relative Hussein Khalifeh.
Other family members were also fighting to stay alive after the Sarafand strike.
One of Khalifeh’s nieces, 32-year-old Zainab, was trapped under the rubble for two hours before being rescued and transferred to the nearest hospital, said the man.
It was there that she was later informed that her parents, her husband and three children, aged between three and seven, had all been killed.
The strike left her with only one, severely injured eye.
Zainab said she “did not hear the sounds of the missiles that rained down on her family’s home,” according to Khalifeh.
“She only saw darkness and heard deafening screams,” he said.
Ali Alaa El-Din, a doctor treating her, said that “the psychological scars that Zainab suffered are much greater than her physical injury.”
He has also tended Zainab’s sister Fatima, 30, who was wounded in the same strike.
Both had injuries “throughout their bodies, with fractures in the feet and damage to the lungs,” said the doctor.
Medically, he added, “Zainab and Fatima’s cases are not among the most difficult cases we have faced during the war, but they are the most severe from a psychological and human perspective.”


UN accuses Israel of ‘deliberate’ attack on peacekeeping position in Lebanon

Updated 08 November 2024
Follow

UN accuses Israel of ‘deliberate’ attack on peacekeeping position in Lebanon

  • UN Interim Force in Lebanon cites ‘seven other similar incidents’
  • Accuses Israel of ‘flagrant violation of international law and resolution 1701’

NEW YORK: The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon on Friday said two Israeli excavators and a bulldozer destroyed part of a fence and a concrete structure in one of its positions in Ras Naqoura in southern Lebanon.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon added that in response to its “urgent protest,” the Israel Defense Forces denied any activity was taking place inside its position.

UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel, an area that has seen more than a year of fighting that turned into fierce clashes since last month between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah fighters.

Israel claims that UN forces provide cover for Hezbollah, and has told UNIFIL to evacuate peacekeepers from southern Lebanon for their own safety.

But UNIFIL said the incident, which took place on Thursday, “like seven other similar incidents, is not a matter of peacekeepers getting caught in the crossfire, but of deliberate and direct actions by the IDF.”

UNIFIL issued a statement warning that “the IDF’s deliberate and direct destruction of clearly identifiable UNIFIL property is a flagrant violation of international law and resolution 1701.”

It called on the IDF and all other actors to honor “their obligation to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and respect the inviolability of UN premises at all times.”

UNIFIL also expressed concern over the destruction and removal this week of two of the blue barrels that mark the UN-delineated line of withdrawal between Lebanon and Israel (the Blue Line). Peacekeepers said they directly observed the IDF removing one of them.

“Despite the unacceptable pressures being exerted on the mission through various channels, peacekeepers will continue to undertake our mandated monitoring and reporting tasks under resolution 1701,” UNIFIL said.


Netanyahu appoints Yechiel Leiter as new ambassador to US

Updated 08 November 2024
Follow

Netanyahu appoints Yechiel Leiter as new ambassador to US

  • His son was killed last year in Gaza war against Hamas
  • Leiter’s appointment came three days after Trump’s election to second term as US president

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed US-born Yechiel Leiter, an official who previously served as chief of staff in the finance ministry, as the next Israeli ambassador to the United States.
“Yechiel Leiter is a highly capable diplomat, an eloquent speaker, and possesses a deep understanding of American culture and politics,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
His appointment was also welcomed by Yisrael Ganz, the head of the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization representing councils of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, a territory Palestinians want as part of a future state.
Ganz said Leiter, who lives in the Gush Etzion settlement area, as “a key partner in English-language advocacy for Judea and Samaria,” a name used by many Israelis for the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
Leiter’s appointment came three days after Donald Trump’s election to a second term as US president, celebrated by many Israelis because of his strong support for Israel.
As well as serving in the finance ministry, Leiter also held positions as deputy director general in the Education Ministry and acting chairman of the Israel Ports Company.
His son was killed last year in the Gaza war against Palestinian militant group Hamas while serving with the Israeli military.