DUBAI: Syria’s President Bashar Assad said on Monday he would only meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan if the two countries could focus on the core issues of Ankara’s support for “terrorism” and the pullout of Turkish forces from Syrian territory.
“The problem is not the meeting, but its content,” a video clip released by the presidency showed Assad telling reporters in Damascus.
Turkiye severed ties with Syria in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, in which it supported rebels looking to oust Assad. The Syrian leader views the rebels as terrorists.
Ankara also established a “safe zone” in northern Syria where Turkish troops are now stationed, and it has carried out several cross-border military operations against militants it says threaten Turkiye’s national security.
Erdogan said earlier in July he would extend an invitation to Assad “any time” for possible talks to restore relations.
“What is the basis for the meeting? Would it be ending the reasons for the problem, which are supporting terrorism and withdrawing from Syrian lands?... This is the core of the problem.”
“If there were no discussion about the core of (the problem), what would such a meeting mean?“
Assad added that he would respond positively to any initiative aimed at improving bilateral ties but that the basis for such talks must be set first.
Syria’s Assad says will only meet Turkiye’s Erdogan if ‘core’ issues addressed
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Syria’s Assad says will only meet Turkiye’s Erdogan if ‘core’ issues addressed
- Erdogan said earlier in July he would extend an invitation to Assad “any time” for possible talks to restore relations
- “What is the basis for the meeting? Would it be ending the reasons for the problem, which are supporting terrorism and withdrawing from Syrian lands?”: Assad
Wait for Iran’s retaliation against Israel ‘could be long’, Revolutionary Guards spokesperson says
The Middle East has been bracing for Iran’s avowed retaliation over the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it was behind the killing.
“Time is in our favor and the waiting period for this response could be long,” Naini said, referring to potential retaliation against Israel.
He said “the enemy” should wait for a calculated and accurate response.
Iranian leaders were weighing the circumstances and the Islamic Republic’s response might not be a repeat of previous operations, he added, according to Iranian state media.
Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of carrying out the strike that killed Haniyeh hours after he attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian.
The United States has asked allies that have ties with Iran to persuade it to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the region to push for progress toward a Gaza ceasefire.
Naini said that Tehran supported any move that led to an end to the war in Gaza and helped its people, but added: “We do not consider the US actions sincere. We consider the US to be a party to the (Gaza) war.”
Gaza rescuers: 12 dead in Israeli strike on school shelter
GAZA STRIP: Gaza’s civil defense agency said an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter killed at least 12 people on Tuesday, while the Israeli military said it struck a Hamas command center.
“Our crews retrieved 12 martyrs from the Mustafa Hafiz school, which was bombed by the Israeli occupation west of Gaza City,” agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
Thousands of displaced Palestinians had sought refuge in the school, he said, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli military said the school was targeted because it housed a command-and-control center.
“Hamas terrorists used the command-and-control center to plan and execute attacks against IDF (Israeli army) troops and the State of Israel,” the military said in a statement.
It said it carried out a “precise strike on terrorists who were operating” inside the school.
Bassal had earlier given a toll of seven dead and 15 wounded in the strike, which he said had hit the second floor of the school building.
The latest death toll figure could not be independently verified.
AFP photos showed the school reduced to rubble, with scores of Palestinian men and women, many holding children, fleeing the site after the strike.
In recent weeks, the Israeli military has struck several schools across Gaza, primarily in Gaza City, accusing them of housing Hamas command centers, which the Islamist group denies.
Earlier this month, the military had struck the Al-Tabieen School in Gaza City, which according to the civil defense agency killed 93 Palestinians, while the military said 31 militants died.
Tens of thousands of displaced people have taken refuge in schools since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7 after Palestinian militants attacked southern Israel.
That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,199 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also seized 251 people, 105 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive against Hamas has killed at least 40,173 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not give a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
Most of the dead in Gaza are women and children, according to the UN human rights office.
Palestinians use clay pots to keep water cool in electricity-short Gaza
GAZA CITY: The need to keep water cool in Gaza, where electricity is in short supply and 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes, has spurred a resurgence in the traditional Palestinian craft of pottery.
“People are now replacing fridges and cold water in refrigerators with clay pots,” said Bahjat Sabri Attallah, the owner of a pottery factory.
He told Reuters that the industry has seen increased demand amid the destruction wrought by the Israeli military offensive.
But the war has also presented hardships for the potters who today turn the wheels using their feet and shape the clay by hand.
They did not always work this way.
“Whereas we previously worked with clay on (electrical) machines, today we shape clay on machines using our feet instead,” Attallah said.
Wood now powers the factory’s kiln, which previously ran on fuel, he added.
However, food shortages mean the need for pots for cooking is no longer so great.
“Today we have no meat or vegetables, therefore there is no demand for these items,” Attallah explained.
Amid the sweltering summer heat, shopkeeper Mahmoud Khidr said he was keeping drinking water cool by storing it in a clay pot like the ones at the factory.
“Now we have gone back to the old days,” he said.
Aside from the difficulties of finding and storing water, Palestinians face a humanitarian crisis with shortages of food and fuel and the spread of diseases like polio.
The war in Gaza started when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies. The death toll of Palestinians killed by the Israeli military campaign has exceeded 40,000, according to Gaza authorities.
Standing in his shop, his clay pot perched atop a refrigerator, Khidr said: “We are suffering from everything.”
Iran shuts down last language institute recognized by German Embassy
- Mizanonline.ir said judicial authorities ordered the closure of the institute’s two posts, located in separate Tehran neighborhoods
TEHRAN: Iranian authorities on Tuesday closed down the last language institute certified by the German Embassy, local media said, in retaliation for the shuttering of Islamic centers in the European country.
A report by Nournews.ir, believed to be close to Iran’s security bodies, published a photo of police forces taking down the sign showcasing the establishment’s name. The Institute For Teaching German Language was established in the capital in 1995, according to the embassy.
Mizanonline.ir, a news website affiliated with the country’s judiciary, said judicial authorities ordered the closure of the institute’s two posts, located in separate Tehran neighborhoods, calling them “illegal centers affiliated with the German government” that “breached Iran’s law, committed various illegal actions and extensive financial violations.” The report also said authorities would investigate possible infractions by other German-affiliated centers, without elaborating.
Its closure came after German authorities shut down The Islamic Center Hamburg, and five sub-organizations, in July, accusing it of being an “outpost” of Iran’s theocracy, promoting the ideology of its leadership and supporting Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.
German police also raided 53 properties around the country. Imam Ali Mosque in Hamburg, the militant group’s most prominent facility, was among the properties raided.
Hezbollah and Israel have been trading near-daily exchanges of fire across the Lebanon-Israel border since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza broke out in October. Iran does not recognize Israel and supports anti-Israeli militant groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
In 1995, Iranian authorities shut down Tehran’s Goethe International Institute, which was part of over 100 sites around the world promoting German culture, language and education.
US flouting Arms Trade Treaty with weapons exports to Israel: Amnesty
- American bombs, missiles leading to ‘devastating loss of life’ in Gaza, NGO warns
- Arms sales continue despite ‘overwhelming evidence of war crimes committed by Israeli forces’
LONDON: The US is continuing to violate a significant arms treaty by selling weapons to Israel, Amnesty International has warned.
The NGO said the flouting of the Arms Trade Treaty is leading to “devastating loss of life” in the Occupied Territories, in particular Gaza.
In 2013, 155 states worldwide adopted the treaty, which established new regulations on the sale of weapons in a bid to prevent “unlawful arms transfers that facilitate grave abuses.”
But despite being a signatory, the US has continued to provide Israel with weapons that have been used in unlawful airstrikes, Amnesty reported.
Last October, American JDAM bombs were launched by Israel on homes in Gaza, killing 43 civilians, including 19 children.
In January, Israel used a US-built GBU-39 guided bomb to target a family home in Rafah, killing 18 civilians, including 10 children.
Patrick Wilcken, the NGO’s researcher on military, security and policing, said: “Amnesty International has long been calling for a comprehensive arms embargo on both Israel and Palestinian armed groups because of longstanding patterns of serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including war crimes, leading to horrific impacts on civilians, including women and children.
“States parties and signatories, including the US — the largest provider of arms to Israel — continue to license arms transfers to Israel in spite of overwhelming evidence of war crimes committed by Israeli forces.”
Amnesty described the continued sale of weapons to Israel by the US as a “stark example of failure … to fully comply” with the treaty.
The NGO is calling for an end to weapons sales to Israel at the 10th Conference of States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty, which began on Monday.
The treaty “is the first of its kind to set global standards to govern the international trade in conventional arms and munitions. The legality of an arms transfer is now explicitly linked to international human rights and humanitarian law rules,” said Wilcken.
“Although progress has been achieved, numerous governments continue to brazenly flout the rules, leading to a huge loss of life in conflict zones.
“It is time for state parties to live up to their legal obligations and fully implement the Arms Trade Treaty, to prohibit the flow of arms to countries when it is known they would be used for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or if it could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international human rights or humanitarian law.”
