DAMASCUS: Syrians were voting for members of a new parliament in an election Monday that was expected to hold few surprises but could pave the way for a constitutional amendment to extend the term of President Bashar Assad.
The vote is the fourth in Syria since mass anti-government protests and a brutal crackdown by security forces spiraled into an ongoing civil war in 2011.
There are 1,516 government-approved candidates running this year for the 250-seat People’s Assembly.
The number of eligible voters has not been announced. In parliamentary elections, unlike presidential elections, the millions of diaspora Syrians — whose numbers have ballooned since the civil war — are not eligible to vote.
Some 8,151 polling stations were set up in 15 voting districts in government-held areas.
In the Druze-majority southern province of Sweida, where anti-government protests have been taking place regularly for nearly a year, many called for a boycott of the polls. Videos posted online showed protesters seizing ballot boxes off a truck in an attempt to stop them arriving to polling stations.
Elsewhere, campaigning was low key and candidates’ campaigns largely revolved around general slogans such as national unity and prosperity.
Assad’s Baath Party won 166 seats in the 2020 elections, representing nearly two-thirds of its membership, in addition to 17 members from allied parties. Another 67 seats went to independent candidates.
Vladimir Pran, an independent adviser on transitional political and electoral processes, said the competitive part of the Syrian election process comes before voters go to the polls, during the Baath Party primary process, when party members vote on which candidates’ names are sent to the party’s central command to make the final list.
“Elections are really already finished... with the end of the primary process,” he said. Once the Baath party list is completed, “you can check the list and the results, and you will see that literally all of them will be in the Parliament.”
The number of incumbents who made the final list this year was relatively low, suggesting a reshuffling within the Baath party.
Maroun Sfeir, a consultant on transitional electoral and political processes, said the 169 candidates put forward by the Baath party alone is past the margin of 167 MPs needed to propose a constitutional amendment, protect the president from being accused of treason and veto legislation.
Adding to that 16 candidates from Baath-allied parties running on the same list, he said, “you’re only three MPs short of three quarters of the parliament, which is required for (passing) a constitutional amendment.”
While that leaves 65 slots open for independent candidates, Sfeir said they should not be expected to present a real opposition bloc.
“They are all pre-vetted... to ensure that they’re all loyal or without any threat,” he said.
With Assad facing term limits that would end his presidency in 2028, the next parliament is widely expected to try to pass a constitutional amendment to extend his term.
Syrians vote for their next parliament, which may consider allowing Assad to extend his rule
https://arab.news/renb8
Syrians vote for their next parliament, which may consider allowing Assad to extend his rule
- Syrians are voting for members of a new parliament in an election that is expected to hold few surprises
- Syrians who’ve left their country due to the war are not eligible to vote in parliamentary elections
American Airlines suspends flights to Israel until April 2025
- Several international airlines have either halted flights to Tel Aviv or rerouted to avoid airspace affected by Israel's war with Hamas and Hezbollah
LONDON: American Airlines announced the suspension of all flights to and from Israel until April 2025, citing heightened fears of regional instability, according to a report by the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday.
The decision reflected broader concerns over potential escalation in the Middle East, which have led several international airlines to either halt flights to Tel Aviv or reroute to avoid affected airspace.
Among the airlines that have suspended flights are Delta Air Lines, EasyJet, Ryanair, Lufthansa Group, United Airlines, Aegean Airlines, airBaltic, Air India, Air France-KLM, Cathay Pacific, Tarom, Vueling, and ITA Airways.
In contrast, El Al Israel Airlines, which has maintained its operations, reported a nearly 150% increase in profits on Thursday, benefiting from its near-monopoly status as foreign carriers pull out.
The Israeli national airline has faced criticism from customers both domestically and internationally, who accuse it of price-gouging amid the ongoing crisis.
Biden says Gaza ceasefire ‘still possible’
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said Sunday that a Gaza ceasefire remained a possibility, despite Israel and Hamas trading blame as top diplomat Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv to push a deal.
Biden told reporters after spending the weekend at his Camp David retreat that talks were still underway and that “we’re not giving up,” adding that an accord was “still possible.”
Russia says US-led coalition’s jet came “dangerously” close to its plane in Syria
- “The Russian crew, demonstrating high professionalism, promptly took the necessary measures to prevent a collision”
MOSCOW: A fighter-bomber jet of the US-led coalition in Syria came “dangerously” close to a Russian surveillance aircraft over Homs province on Sunday, Russia’s TASS state news agency reported, citing a Russian military official in the Middle Eastern country.
The US has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in neighboring Iraq on a mission to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Daesh, which in 2014 seized large swaths of both countries but was later pushed back.
“A coalition F/A-18 fighter-bomber came into dangerous contact with an An-30 aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which was carrying out a scheduled flight in Syrian airspace,” TASS quoted Captain Oleg Ignasyuk, deputy head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, as saying.
“The Russian crew, demonstrating high professionalism, promptly took the necessary measures to prevent a collision.”
The incident took place over the Al-Tanf region of Homs, TASS said.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the report.
The US Department of Defense has not immediately responded to Reuters’ request for comment.
The United States has a military base in Syria’s Al-Tanf region across the border from Jordan.
US Centcom says it destroyed one Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicle in Yemen
CAIRO: US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Sunday its forces successfully destroyed one Houthi uncrewed aerial vehicle in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen.
The Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched repeated drone and missile strikes on ships they perceive as bound to or related to Israel or the United States since November to show their support for the Palestinians in the Gaza war.
From paradise to hell: Aegean village stunned after Turkiye fire
- At least 43 buildings were damaged in Izmir, while 26 people were hospitalized with injuries related to the blaze
SANCAKLI, Turkiye: A picturesque village perched high on the slopes of hills offered a stunning sea panorama on Turkiye’s western coast — until the engulfing flames turned the scene from paradise to a nightmare.
Fires have ripped through forests and steep valleys around Turkiye’s third most-populous city Izmir in recent days.
Abdullah Ozata was desperate to see the scale of the damage when he returned to his nearby village of Sancakli, one of the areas where residents were evacuated to avoid the rushing flames.
“Twelve of my sheep and 50 chickens have perished in the blaze” that roared across the landscape, he told AFP, while showing the remains of burnt animals, turned into ash.
“I lost all my livestock,” the 43-year-old lamented as he walked among the debris. “I neither have another job nor another source of income.”
Two officials from the finance ministry photographed the damage and recorded Ozata’s loss for the compensation claim.
“The gendarmerie evacuated us against the human loss but I lost my animals,” he said.
“Our village was pretty, it was like a paradise, but it has turned into a hell.”
After four days of raging flames spread by strong winds, the fire has largely been brought under control, authorities said Sunday.
But the fire — the biggest Turkiye has seen yet this summer — has left huge areas of charred and blackened land, destroying olive trees, gardens and beehives.
At least 43 buildings were damaged in Izmir, while 26 people were hospitalized with injuries related to the blaze.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said that efforts to douse hotspots were continuing but that the flames were now largely controlled in one place.
Gokhan Cekmez was evacuated during the fire, but defied official orders to slip back into the village through a river in an effort to battle the flames.
“I played hide-and-seek with the gendarmerie, and without me and other villagers, the scale of the damage would have been much more serious,” the 35-year-old said.
“The outside help was not enough. We tried hard to put out the fire with pots and plates.”
In Sancakli the water was just beginning to run again on Sunday, after pipes were burned by the blaze, and authorities were still repairing the electricity cables damaged by the fire.
Local administrator Ilhan Kaya said agriculture and animal breeding were the only source of income for the 200-strong village.
“The villagers have to survive with the help of the state for at least six months, we will wait for the burned areas to turn green,” Kaya said.
Gulhan Arasa, wearing a flowered headscarf on the terrace of her three-story house, was still haunted by the nightmare of the fire.
“I wish authorities would let me (help), even though I am a woman, I would take a hose and work to extinguish the fire,” she said.
“We were panicked when we were besieged by the flames that literally spread in seconds,” she said.
Arasa and her family, who rely on animal husbandry for their income, managed to keep around 100 sheep and goats in their shelter during the fire.
“Thank God, they’re all alive. We didn’t let them out because we were circled by the flames,” she said.
But other than that, she said, “everything has turned to ashes.”
“We expect the state to cover our losses. We want new saplings to be planted instead of our burnt saplings, we want trees to be planted instead of our burning trees.”
“God will help, the soil will renew itself, but when? I don’t know.”
