AL-ARISH, Egypt: Some of the food supplies waiting to enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt have begun to rot as the Rafah border crossing remains shut to aid deliveries for a third week and people inside the Palestinian enclave face worsening hunger.
Rafah was a main entry point for humanitarian relief as well as some commercial supplies before Israel stepped up its military offensive on the Gazan side of the border on May 6 and took control of the crossing from the Palestinian side.
Egyptian officials and sources say humanitarian operations are at risk from military activity and that Israel needs to hand the crossing back to Palestinians before it starts operating again.
Israel and the United States have called on Egypt, which is also worried about the risk of Palestinians being displaced from Gaza, to allow the border to reopen.
Meanwhile the backlog of aid on the road between the Egyptian side of the crossing and the town of Al-Arish, about 45 km (28 miles) west of Rafah and an arrival point for international aid donations, has been building up.
One truck driver, Mahmoud Hussein, said his goods had been loaded on his vehicle for a month, gradually spoiling in the sun. Some of the foodstuffs are being discarded, others sold of cheap.
“Apples, bananas, chicken and cheese, a lot of things have gone rotten, some stuff has been returned and is being sold for a quarter of its price,” he said, crouching under his truck for shade.
“I’m sorry to say that the onions we’re carrying will at best be eaten by animals because of the worms in them.”
Aid deliveries for Gaza through Rafah began in late October, two weeks after the start of the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The flow of relief has often been slowed by Israeli inspections and military activity inside Gaza and the amount reaching the enclave’s 2.3 million residents has been far below needs, aid officials say.
A global hunger monitor has warned of imminent famine in parts of Gaza.
Rotten eggs
Since May 5, no trucks have crossed through Rafah and very few through the nearby Israeli crossing of Kerem Shalom, according to UN data.
The amount of aid waiting in Egypt’s northern Sinai was now very large, and some had been stuck for more than two months, said Khaled Zayed, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in the area.
“Some aid packages require a certain temperature ... We coordinate on this with specialists who are highly trained in the storage of food and medical supplies,” he said.
“We hope the border will reopen as soon as possible.”
KSrelief, a Saudi-funded charity, has more than 350 trucks carrying items including food and medical supplies waiting to pass through Rafah, but has had to offload flour because of the risk of it rotting, the group’s supervisor general Abdullah Al Rabeeah said.
“We pack and send but also we have to recheck. It is a big burden,” he told Reuters.
Some food has been sold at cut price on the local market in northern Sinai, leading to the confiscation of stocks of rotten eggs, said local officials from Egypt’s ministry of supply.
Inside Gaza, there have also been scares about the quality of delayed food deliveries that made it in before Rafah closed, or through other crossings.
Palestinian medical and police officials that used to check goods coming into Gaza had been unable to do so during Israel’s offensive, said Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office.
“There is a big problem as many of the goods that enter the Gaza Strip are unfit for human use and are unhealthy,” he said.
“Therefore, the health ministry issued the warning statement to raise public awareness that people should examine the goods before eating them or sharing them with their families.” (Reporting by Reuters Cairo bureau, Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Emma Farge Writing by Aidan Lewis Editing by Peter Graff)
Food bound for Gaza rots in the sun as Egypt’s Rafah crossing stays shut
https://arab.news/mmpak
Food bound for Gaza rots in the sun as Egypt’s Rafah crossing stays shut
- Trucks halted since Israel stepped up offensive in Rafah
- Some supplies stuck for more than two months
- Health warning issued for some food inside Gaza
Why Turkiye is so influential in post-Assad Syria
- Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who heads HTS, has said he does not want Syria becoming a platform for the PKK to launch attacks against Turkiye
ANKARA: Turkiye has emerged as one of the most influential power brokers in Syria after rebels toppled Bashar Assad last month, ending his family’s brutal five-decade rule.
NATO member Turkiye is now in a position to influence its neighbor’s future diplomatically, economically and militarily.
Here are details of Turkiye’s connections with Syria and how it hopes to use its influence there.
WHY IS TURKEY IMPORTANT?
Turkiye, which shares a 911 km (566-mile) border with Syria, was the main backer of rebel groups fighting under the banner of the Syrian National Army during the 13-year uprising against Assad. It cut diplomatic ties with Damascus in 2012.
It is the biggest host of Syrians who fled the civil war, taking in some 3 million people, and is the main entry-point for aid.
Since 2016, Turkiye, with its Syrian allies, has mounted several cross-border military campaigns against Kurdish militants based in Syria’s northeast that it sees as a threat to its national security.
Syria’s new administration, led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, is friendly toward Ankara.
WHAT DOES TURKEY WANT?
With its strong ties to Syria’s new leadership, Turkiye stands to benefit from intensified trade and cooperation in areas including reconstruction, energy and defense.
Assad’s fall has presented Ankara with a window of opportunity to try to end the presence of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) along its borders.
Ankara views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and is deemed a terrorist group by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union.
The YPG militia spearheads the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, which is the United States’ main local partner in the fight against Daesh and controls swathes of territory in the northeast.
Washington’s longtime support of the Kurdish factions has been a source of tension with Ankara, but Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said he believes incoming US president Donald Trump will take a different approach.
Trump has not said publicly what his plans might be but has said that he thinks “Turkiye is going to hold the key to Syria.”
Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who heads HTS, has said he does not want Syria becoming a platform for the PKK to launch attacks against Turkiye.
As rebels led by Sharaa took control of Damascus last month, fighting flared between Turkish-backed and Kurdish-led forces in the northeast.
The SDF has shown flexibility regarding some of Turkiye’s demands, telling Reuters last month that its foreign fighters, including PKK members, would leave Syria if Ankara agrees to a ceasefire.
Intensive talks are underway to try to resolve the conflict in the region.
WHAT HAS TURKEY SAID AND DONE?
Turkiye’s intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, was in Damascus days after Assad was ousted, and its top diplomat, Fidan, was the first foreign minister to visit. Turkiye was also the first nation to reopen its embassy.
Fidan has said that Turkiye is proud to have been “on the right side of history” in Syria but has no desire to “dominate” it.
Turkiye has promised to support Syria’s reconstruction, offering to help rebuild infrastructure, draft a new constitution, supply electricity and resume flights.
It hopes Syrians it is hosting will start returning home but has said it will not force them to leave.
Turkiye has also called repeatedly for the YPG to be disbanded, while warning of a new military offensive if authorities in Damascus do not address the issue. Its officials have met repeatedly with US and Syrian counterparts about the issue.
The SDF has said it would be willing to integrate with Syria’s defense ministry, but only as “a military bloc.”
Kuwaiti charity dispatches 10 relief shipments to Syria
- The aid relief convoy departed on Sunday from Turkiye
LONDON: The Kuwaiti Al-Khair humanitarian society is sending 250 tons of aid relief to Syria as part of a campaign launched by the country's Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Social Affairs.
Al-Khair's chief Abdulrahman Al-Jerman said that 10 relief shipments departed on Sunday from Turkiye to Syria carrying foodstuff, aid, mattresses, and covers to support the Syrian people.
He urged everyone interested in donating to visit the society's headquarters or website, the Kuwait News Agency reported.
Four Moroccan truck drivers disappear on Burkina-Niger border
- The Moroccan diplomatic source said the embassy was working together with Burkina Faso authorities to find the drivers
- El Hachmi urged more protection in areas of high risk as the number of Moroccan trucks crossing the Sahel continues to rise
RABAT: Four Moroccan truck drivers went missing on Saturday as they crossed the restive border area between Burkina Faso and Niger, according to a source from the Moroccan embassy in Burkina Faso and a Moroccan transport union.
Three trucks, one carrying a spare driver, disappeared as they drove without an escort from Dori in Burkina Faso to Tera in Niger, an area known for terrorists threats, the diplomatic source said.
Junta-led Burkina Faso and Niger are battling militant groups linked to Al-Qaeda and Daesh, whose insurgencies have destabilized Sahel states in West Africa over the past decade.
The Moroccan diplomatic source said the embassy was working together with Burkina Faso authorities to find the drivers.
Authorities in Burkina Faso have been organizing security convoys to escort trucks in the border area to protect against militant attacks, the source said.
The trucks set off after waiting for a week without getting an escort, Echarki El Hachmi, Secretary General of Morocco’s transporters’ union, told Reuters.
The trucks, loaded with infrastructure equipment, departed weeks ago from Casablanca heading to Niger, he said.
El Hachmi urged more protection in areas of high risk as the number of Moroccan trucks crossing the Sahel continues to rise.
Earlier this month, a convoy of Moroccan trucks was attacked on the Malian border with Mauritania, although there were no casualties, El Hachmi said.
President of Iraq’s Kurdistan government meets Jordanian king, UAE president
- Masrour Barzani visited Amman and Abu Dhabi to discuss developments in the Middle East
LONDON: King Abdullah II of Jordan received Masrour Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, at Basman Palace in Amman on Sunday.
They discussed current regional developments, particularly in the Gaza Strip and Syria, and the prospects for cooperation between Jordan and the Kurdistan Region to develop their ties.
Barzani acknowledged King Abdullah’s leadership in Jordan’s efforts for peace and stability in the Middle East, the Petra agency reported.
On Sunday, the Kurdish leader met with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan at Qasr Al-Shati in Abu Dhabi to discuss ways to enhance cooperation between the two nations, according to the Emirates News Agency.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, deputy chairman of the Presidential Court for Special Affairs, and Sheikh Khalifa bin Tahnoon bin Mohammed Al-Nahyan, chairman of the Abu Dhabi crown prince’s court, attended the meeting along with several other sheikhs, ministers, and senior officials.
Negotiators zero in on potential deal to disarm Syria’s last battleground
- In Ankara on Wednesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani said the extensive US-backed SDF presence was no longer justified, and the new administration would not allow Syrian land to be a source of threats to Turkiye
ISTANBUL/DAMASCUS: Negotiators are zeroing in on a potential deal to resolve one of the most explosive questions looming over Syria’s future: the fate of Kurdish forces that the US considers key allies against Daesh but neighboring Turkiye regards as a national security threat.
Diplomatic and military negotiators from the United States, Turkiye, Syria and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are showing more flexibility and patience than their public statements suggest, a dozen sources told Reuters, including five directly involved in the intensive web of discussions in recent weeks.
This could set the stage for an accord in the coming months that would see some Kurdish fighters leave Syria’s restive northeast and others brought under the authority of the new defense ministry, six of the sources said.
However, many thorny issues need to be resolved, they said. These include how to integrate the SDF alliance’s well-armed and trained fighters into Syria’s security framework and administer territory under their control, which includes key oil and wheat fields.
In an interview with Saudi Arabia’s Asharq News channel on Tuesday, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said the alliance’s “basic demand” is for decentralized administration — a potential challenge to Syria’s new leadership, which wants to bring all of the country back under the government’s authority after ousting Bashar Assad last month.
Abdi indicated that the SDF has no intention of dissolving, saying it was open to linking with the defense ministry and operating according to its rules, but as “a military bloc.”
Syria’s new defense minister, Murhaf Abu Qasra, rejected that approach in an interview with Reuters on Sunday, saying the suggestion that the SDF remain one bloc “is not right.”
The former rebels now in power in Damascus have said they want all armed groups to integrate into Syria’s official forces, under a unified command. The SDF, when asked for comment, referred Reuters to its commander’s interview.
How much autonomy Kurdish factions retain likely hinges on whether incoming US president Donald Trump continues Washington’s longtime support of its Kurdish allies, according to diplomats and officials on all sides.
Trump has not spoken publicly about his intentions, including his plans for some 2,000 US troops stationed in Syria. A Trump representative did not comment.
Any deal also depends on whether Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan holds off on a threatened military offensive against the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the Kurdish militia that spearheads the SDF alliance.
Ankara views them as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 and is deemed a terrorist group by both Turkiye and the US
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said this month that Syria’s new authorities “should be given an opportunity to ... end the occupation and terror the YPG created,” but he did not say how long Ankara would wait for it to disarm before launching an incursion.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry source said disarming armed groups and the departure of “foreign terrorist fighters” were essential for Syria’s stability and territorial integrity, so the sooner this happens the better.
“We are voicing this expectation of ours in the strongest terms during our contacts with both the United States and the new administration in Damascus,” the source said.
INTENSIVE TALKS
US and Turkish officials have been holding “very intensive” discussions since rebels led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, launched a lightning offensive from their northwestern stronghold that deposed Assad on Dec. 8, a senior US diplomat told Reuters.
The two countries share a “common view of where things should end up,” including a belief that all foreign fighters should exit Syrian territory, the diplomat said, noting Turkish negotiators “have a very high sense of urgency” to settle things.
However, the diplomat, who like some other sources requested anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, said the talks were “hugely complex” and would take time.
Parallel talks are taking place between the US and both the SDF and HTS, Turkiye and HTS, and the SDF and HTS, officials from all sides say.
Part of a stateless ethnic group straddling Iraq, Iran, Turkiye, Armenia and Syria, Kurds had been among the few winners of the Syrian conflict, gaining control over Arab-majority areas as the US partnered with them in the campaign against Daesh. They now hold nearly a quarter of the country.
But Assad’s fall has left Syrian Kurdish factions on the back foot, with Turkiye-backed armed groups gaining ground in the northeast and the country’s new rulers in Damascus friendly with Ankara.
Turkiye, which provided direct support to some rebel groups against Assad, has emerged as one of the most influential power brokers in Syria since his fall. Like the US, it has designated HTS a terrorist group because of its Al-Qaeda past, but Ankara is believed to have significant sway over the group.
Officials on all sides worry that failure to reach a ceasefire and longer-term political accord in the northeast could destabilize Syria as it seeks to recover from a 13-year civil war that killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions and drew in countries including Russia, Iran and Israel.
Dozens of people in northern Syria have been reported killed since December in clashes between the Kurdish-led SDF and Turkiye’s allies, and in cross-border Turkish airstrikes.
Failure to resolve the fate of Kurdish factions in Syria could also undermine nascent efforts to end the PKK’s insurgency in Turkiye.
The United Nations has warned of “dramatic consequences” for Syria and the region if a political solution is not found in the northeast.
POTENTIAL TRADE-OFFS
US support for the SDF has been a source of tension with its NATO ally, Turkiye.
Washington views the SDF as a key partner in countering Daesh, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned will try to use this period to re-establish capabilities in Syria. The SDF is still guarding tens of thousands of detainees linked to the group.
Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkiye has the power to “crush” all terrorists in Syria, including Daesh and Kurdish militants.
Turkiye wants the management of camps and prisons where Daesh detainees are being held transferred to Syria’s new rulers and has offered to help them. It has also demanded that the SDF expel all foreign fighters and senior PKK members from its territory and disarm the remaining members in a way it can verify.
Abdi, the SDF commander, has shown flexibility regarding some Turkish demands, telling Reuters last month that its foreign fighters, including PKK members, would leave Syria if Turkiye agrees to a ceasefire.
The PKK said in a statement to Reuters on Thursday that it would agree to leave if the SDF maintains control of the northeast or a significant role in joint leadership.
Such assurances are unlikely to satisfy Ankara at a time when the SDF is “trying to stay alive and autonomous” in Syria, Omer Onhon, Turkiye’s last ambassador to Damascus, told Reuters.
In Ankara on Wednesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani said the extensive US-backed SDF presence was no longer justified, and the new administration would not allow Syrian land to be a source of threats to Turkiye. Standing next to him, his Turkish counterpart, Fidan, said it was time to put anti-terror pledges into practice.
Abdi told Asharq News that he has met with Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, and the two sides agreed to set up a joint military committee to decide how the SDF would integrate with the defense ministry. He described the meeting with Sharaa, who heads HTS, as positive.
Abu Qasra, the defense minister, accused SDF leaders on Sunday of “procrastinating” on the issue, saying “consolidation of all areas under the new administration ... is a right of the Syrian state.”
The new leadership believes that allowing SDF fighters to continue operating as a bloc would “risk destabilization, including a coup,” a ministry official told Reuters.
Abdi argued that a decentralized administration would not threaten Syria’s unity, saying the SDF is not demanding the kind of federalism introduced in Iraq, where Kurds have their own regional government.
Some Syrian officials and diplomats say the SDF will likely need to relinquish control of significant territory and oil revenues, gained during the war, as part of any political settlement.
In return, Kurdish factions could be granted protections for their language and culture within a decentralized political structure, said Bassam Al-Kuwatli, president of the small Syrian Liberal Party, which supports minority rights but is not involved in the talks.
A senior Syrian Kurdish source acknowledged that some such trade-offs would likely be needed but did not elaborate.
Abdi told Asharq News that the SDF was open to handing over responsibility for oil resources to the new administration, provided the wealth was distributed fairly to all provinces.
Washington has called for a “managed transition” of the SDF’s role.
The US diplomat said Assad’s ouster opens the door for Washington to eventually consider withdrawing its troops from Syria, though much depends on whether trusted forces like its Kurdish allies remain engaged in efforts to counter any Daesh resurgence.
Trump’s return to the White House on Monday has raised hopes in Turkiye of a favorable deal, given the rapport he established with Erdogan during his first term.
Trump has spoken approvingly about Erdogan’s role in Syria, calling him a “very smart guy,” and said Turkiye would “hold the key” to what happens there.
“The Americans won’t abandon (the SDF),” said Onhon, Turkiye’s former ambassador. “But the arrival of someone as unpredictable as Trump must worry them in a way too.”
