LONDON: Syria’s main ports are working normally after days of disruptions, maritime officials said on Monday, and Ukraine said it was in touch with the interim government about delivering staple foods.
President Bashar Assad was ousted on Dec. 8 by militant forces led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham. Since then, Israel has carried out airstrikes around Syria’s main port Latakia, and shipping sources also said ports had been short of workers.
On Monday, port official Hasan Jablawi told Reuters that Latakia was functioning normally and cargo ships that had been waiting for several days were unloading.
The Turkish-flagged Med Urla general cargo vessel was among the first ships to discharge and sail from Latakia on Monday, according to LSEG ship tracking data.
Shipping sources said Syria’s other main port Tartous was also operating, although there was a backlog to clear.
Russian and Syrian sources said on Friday that Russian wheat supplies to Syria had been suspended after two vessels carrying Russian wheat had failed to reach their destinations in Syria.
Russia, the world’s largest wheat exporter, had dominated wheat sales to Syria, according to shipping and trade sources, using complex financial and logistical arrangements to circumvent Western sanctions. Figures on Syria’s needs or stock levels were not readily available, however.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday his government would set up mechanisms to deliver food to Syria together with international organizations and partners.
“We can help Syrians with Ukrainian wheat, flour, and oil,” he added in his daily wartime address on Sunday.
A Ukrainian industry source confirmed there was active communication with the Syrian administration over food shipments.
Syria’s ports working normally as Ukraine looks to supply staple foods
https://arab.news/js8e9
Syria’s ports working normally as Ukraine looks to supply staple foods
- Ukrainian President Zelensky said on Saturday his government would set up mechanisms to deliver food to Syria together with international organizations
How Security Council veto power politics has eroded UN’s credibility
- Structure with five permanent members seen as unsuitable by many in today’s multipolar world order
- The UN’s paralysis over the Syria and Gaza conflicts has renewed debate about need for systemic reforms
LONDON: When the US vetoed another UN Security Council resolution in November calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, it sparked global outrage.
Critics said the US decision, which went against the 14 other Security Council members, would only prolong the suffering of civilians in the territory and exacerbate violence in the Middle East.
But it had another far-reaching impact that may come back to haunt Washington. The veto further undermined the credibility of the Security Council and sparked renewed calls for it to be restructured.
The organization, which is supposed to be the world’s premier body for maintaining international peace and security, has become paralyzed by the interests of its permanent members, hindering its ability to address global crises.
Founded in 1946, soon after the Second World War, the makeup of the Security Council has remained largely unchanged. The five permanent members, the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China, are allowed to use veto power to block resolutions even if they are outnumbered in votes.
It is now widely perceived as an ineffective relic of the post-war global order, that does not represent the interests of the world’s population and, most importantly, fails to help those suffering most amid the world’s conflicts.
INNUMBERS
• 45k+
Lives claimed by Israeli military operations against Palestinian militants in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.
• 26%
Share of world’s current population by five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
• 90%
Proportion of Gaza’s population displaced by the Israel-Hamas conflict.
• 8
UNSC resolutions related to Gaza war that have been vetoed by the US.
• 49
UNSC resolutions related to Israel vetoed by the US since 1970.
“What we’ve seen in Gaza is that the UN has become an increasingly politicized body, paralyzed by geopolitical rivalries,” Simon Mabon, director of the SEPAD Peace and Conflict Research Center at Lancaster University, told Arab News.
“This is not new. It has been a pattern since the UN was established. The UN Security Council’s structure, with veto power, allows its members to view decisions through the lens of their own strategic priorities, rather than a broader commitment to humanitarian ideals.”
The five permanent members with veto power reflect the recognition of the US and Soviet Union as the main victors of the Second World War, alongside the UK.
“The US pushed for China’s inclusion, while the UK advocated for France to create a European counterbalance to potential German or Soviet threats,” said Ephrem Kossaify, UN correspondent at Arab News.
“However, this structure has remained unchanged since then, leading to mounting calls for Security Council reforms to reflect the realities of today’s world order.”
The Security Council can impose binding decisions on all 193 member states to maintain peace. Its five permanent members, along with 10 rotating members elected by the General Assembly, assess security threats.
In recent years, competing interests among members have hindered effective responses to global crises like the war in Syria, COVID-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and, most recently, the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The Security Council struggled with this almost as soon as it was formed. With the world entering the Cold War, the rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union permeated through global hotspots.
As a result, very little got done. The Soviet Union applied 120 vetoes — far more than any other member — up until its dissolution in 1991. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, just 18 peacekeeping missions were authorized between 1948 and 1989.
Since 1991, by contrast, 48 peacekeeping missions have been approved by the Security Council.
From 1970 onward, when it first used its veto power, the US became the primary permanent member to block Security Council votes, deploying the tactic at least 85 times. More than half of those vetoes were to stop resolutions related to Israel.
In recent years, Russia has also used its veto regularly, particularly with regard to the Syrian civil war, where it defended President Bashar Assad, and the Ukraine conflict.
Vetoes are a potent tool that often reflect national interests, alliances, and geopolitical strategies. For the US and Russia, the veto has been a key instrument to protect its strategic partners and advance its broader foreign policy goals.
Another big argument for reform of the Security Council is that the world’s demographics have changed since 1946. At the time of its founding, the five permanent members accounted for more than half of the world’s population. Now they represent just 26 percent.
The body is therefore heavily skewed toward Europe and the West, discounting the growing populations, wealth, and influence of the emerging economies of Asia, Africa, and South America.
“The use of vetoes by the five permanent members on the Security Council is a relic of the end of the Second World War,” Michael Lynk, the former UN human rights special rapporteur on Palestine, told Arab News.
There is a global majority in support of Palestine.
Michael Lynk, Former UN human rights special rapporteur on Palestine
“It doesn’t reflect today’s power distribution or the extraordinary, large voice that the Global South has in the General Assembly.”
This imbalance has been laid bare by the Gaza conflict, which Lynk said has highlighted the deep global divide.
“The Israeli war on Gaza exposes an extraordinary fault line between the Global North and the Global South,” he said. “Overwhelmingly, the Global South supports Palestine in UN votes, while the Global North abstains or opposes.
“There is a global majority in support of Palestine, but the power dynamics of the Global North, led by the US alliance with Israel, override that majority.”
In the case of Gaza, the US vetoed the ceasefire resolution on Nov. 20 in support of Israel, its key ally in the Middle East. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, it marked the 49th time the US has vetoed a Security Council resolution related to Israel.
Beyond diplomatic backing, the US provides Israel with approximately $3 billion annually in military aid.
But the veto risks alienating other key US allies in the Middle East and damaging Washington’s diplomatic standing, particularly with the Gulf Cooperation Council, which recently called for an end to Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
The resolution called for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the unconditional release of all hostages seized during the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, and unrestricted humanitarian aid.
It aimed to address the humanitarian crisis by ensuring access to essential services like food, water and medical care. It would have forced Israel to stop restricting aid access to the territory, which has been pulverized by 14 months of military operations that have killed almost 45,000 Palestinians, including combatants.
In vetoing the resolution, the US argued that a ceasefire without preconditions could enable Hamas to regroup and continue to attack Israel. Robert Wood, the US deputy ambassador to the UN, criticized the resolution’s failure to explicitly link the ceasefire to the release of Israeli hostages.
“That is false,” said Lynk. The resolution, he added, did in fact link the ceasefire to the release of hostages, and even did so in the same paragraph. After using its veto, the US was accused of enabling Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Since the conflict began, the Security Council has voted on 12 resolutions. Of these, eight were vetoed — six by the US — and on four occasions America was the only permanent member to vote against.
“The pattern highlights the US’s role as a diplomatic shield for Israel,” said Lynk. “In practice, the US blocks resolutions critical of Israel or allows them to pass without ensuring their implementation.”
In the Gulf, Saudi Arabia and Qatar said the veto showed the need for reform of the Security Council.
The body’s failure to take decisive action on Gaza reflects the broader issues plaguing global governance. Even UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres accepts this assessment.
In September he told Arab News: “We have no real power, let’s be honest. The body of the UN that has some power is the Security Council, and you know, the Security Council is paralyzed.”
Kossaify warned that such paralysis erodes public confidence in the UN.
“When the person in the street sees the Security Council unable to act in the most pressing situations that are threatening peace and security due to one member’s use of the prerogative, they lose faith in the entire organization,” he said.
Mabon of Lancaster University said the inability of the Security Council to press for a ceasefire showed that “strategic decisions are trumping humanitarian needs and interests, which I think is emblematic of the nature of global politics right now.
“This is a colossal failure of the global project, a colossal failure of world nations, and a stain on humanity.”
The international community’s response to Gaza highlights the growing consensus that reforms are needed in multilateral institutions like the UN.
In the years ahead, the effectiveness and legitimacy of the UN will continue to be debated, as the role of major powers in shaping global diplomacy is increasingly scrutinized.
Lynk suggests reforms that would allow the UN General Assembly to override a Security Council veto through a supermajority vote would introduce “democratic oversight to counter the P5’s stranglehold.”
The problem, of course, would be getting the permanent five members to consent to reforms that erode or remove their veto powers. “But reforms like this are worth fighting for,” said Lynk.
What is clear is that in today’s geopolitical landscape, the failure of the Security Council to protect lives in Gaza is likely to hasten moves towards overhauling the body that is meant to maintain international peace.
‘We’re all Syrians’: Soldiers hand in weapons, hope for quiet lives
LATAKIA: When Syria’s new government put out a call on social media for soldiers and police to lay down their arms and register with the authorities, Kamal Merhej was happy to oblige.
“I don’t like the army, I want to get back on track with my life without anyone to give me orders,” the 28-year-old told AFP.
He spent nine years in the army, posted to the capital Damascus, and said he was now happy to be back in his home city of Latakia on the Mediterranean coast.
Latakia is located in the heartland of former president Bashar Assad’s Alawite sect, and Merhej was among several hundred servicemen waiting to register with the country’s new rulers.
Assad was ousted after a lightning offensive spearheaded by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) that wrested from his control city after city until the rebels reached Damascus.
After the army fled the offensive, Syria’s new rulers announced an amnesty for conscripts while vowing to bring people who had committed serious crimes to justice.
Now, the interim government is registering former conscripts and soldiers and asking them to hand over their weapons.
After starting the process in the central city of Homs on Saturday, they set up offices in Latakia on Sunday.
Some 400 men showed up on the first day, according to 26-year-old Mohammed Mustafa, a fighter from the opposition stronghold of Idlib who was overseeing the operation.
“But there will be more today (Monday), we have drafted in more staff to speed up operations,” he said.
The men entered one by one, their identity cards in hand, and each took a number.
They stood next to the wall, had their photos quickly snapped on smartphones, before being directed to a bank of desks where they gave more details.
By mid-morning, the number was already at 671.
“In total, we are expecting at least 10,000 people, maybe more... we are in the region of the Assads,” said Mustafa, dressed in fatigues, a black cap and face mask.
He said the operation was running smoothly.
“We issue them a three-month permit for their protection and to give us time to investigate their past,” he said.
“If we find serious crimes they will be transferred to the judicial authorities.”
Soldiers, police and a few civilians came to surrender their weapons and in return they were given receipts.
A white-haired man approached the window and unpacked a veritable arsenal from plastic bags before leaving with his receipt.
Pistols, automatic rifles, ammunition, grenades and even a grenade launcher packed into a garbage bag piled up at the back of the room.
Like others in the queue, police officer Mohammed Fayoub said he wanted to get registered as soon as possible.
Clutching the receipt for the pistol he handed in, the 37-year-old, originally from Latakia, said he hoped to return to his job in Hama in central Syria.
“They behave well, they try to be polite. I want to be ready when they call me,” he said of the new administration.
“We’re all humans, all Syrians.”
There were nods of agreement from others waiting in the queue.
“We are tired of the war. We want to live in a peaceful, civilized country,” said a young man.
He lowered his voice to say he belonged to the Alawite minority, the same group as the Assad family.
“We need security, only security,” he said.
Hassun Nebras, 37, a mechanic in the army in Homs, said all he wanted was to restart civilian life and be with his children.
“We did what we were asked,” he said of his previous job. “We didn’t want to, but we had no choice.”
UN experts call for halt to sanctions on Syria to prevent further harm to poor and vulnerable
- With relief efforts overwhelmed by scale of displacement crisis, Commission of Inquiry on Syria also urges international community to step up humanitarian aid
- As fighting continues across the north and east of the country, more than a million people have been displaced by the escalating conflict since late November
NEW YORK CITY: The UN’s Commission of Inquiry on Syria on Monday called for urgent action to suspend international sanctions on the country, to ensure they do not impede the delivery of aid to more than 17 million Syrians in dire need of help.
It also urged the international community to step up humanitarian assistance to the war-ravaged country, where relief efforts are being overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the displacement crisis.
“Sanctions cause disproportionate harm to the poor and most vulnerable, and now is the time to give Syrians the chance to rebuild their own country,” said Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who chairs the commission.
Following the start of the Syrian civil war in April 2011, key nations and international organizations, including the US and the EU, imposed a range of economic sanctions on the country. The main aim was to put pressure on President Bashar Assad and his regime over their actions during the conflict, including human rights abuses, war crimes and the use of chemical weapons.
The commission also called for all involved in the conflict to uphold their obligations relating to the protection of civilians, the humane treatment of those who lay down their weapons and surrender, and the safeguarding of evidence that could be used to hold those guilty of war crimes accountable for their actions.
As the conflict intensifies in northern Syria and the new government in Damascus consolidates its control, the commission stressed that all factions must comply with international human rights and humanitarian laws.
“The caretaker government in Damascus, as well as other parties in the Syrian conflict, should ensure that their forces are abiding by their stated commitments to prevent violence and protect civilians, in particular the most vulnerable communities,” said Pinheiro.
The commission also highlighted concerns about human rights abuses in detention facilities. It has documented widespread violations that have taken place since 2011, including enforced disappearances, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence. The country’s former government is accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes in detention centers that are notorious for their brutality.
The commission stressed the importance of preserving the sites of mass graves and other evidence of war crimes to facilitate forensic investigations and efforts to ensure those responsible face justice. The new authorities in Damascus, it added, must ensure that arrest and detention records remain intact and protected “in a manner that ensures their utility in future accountability processes, and that no evidence is destroyed or tampered with.”
Commissioner Lynn Welchman said: “The relief felt by Syrians when prisoners are freed from the former government’s abominable detention facilities cannot be overstated.”
However, she added: “For all those Syrians who do not find their loved ones among the freed, this evidence may be their best hope to uncover the truth about their missing relatives, alongside the testimonies of their fellow detainees who survived the most dreadful suffering and who have just been released.
“They have a right to the truth and the evidence must not be destroyed or tampered with.”
The commission stated that any future trials for war crimes and crimes against humanity must be conducted in public, with full transparency and in full accordance with the standards required to ensure trials are fair.
Commissioner Hanny Megally said: “Syrians deserve justice after near 14 years of brutal war, where almost every crime listed in the Rome Statute has been committed.
“Perpetrators should be brought to justice, especially those most responsible, and Syrians must be in the lead in shaping the justice and accountability response. The international community must be ready to support them.
“Full justice for victims and survivors will undoubtedly need to be broader than trials, and they should be allowed to pursue their demands for truth, reparations and legal and institutional reforms.”
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation remains dire as fighting continues across northern, eastern and northeastern Syria. Since late November, more than a million people have been displaced by the escalating conflict, with continuing airstrikes by Israel, the US and Turkey further complicating the crisis.
Israel reportedly has carried out more than 500 airstrikes in Syria, in violation of a 1974 disengagement agreement between the countries. US forces have carried out dozens of airstrikes against Daesh targets, while Turkish forces have stepped up strikes against Kurdish groups in northeastern Syria, including US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described such military action as “extensive violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Against this volatile backdrop, the commission renewed its call for an immediate ceasefire among all warring parties.
Guernsey adviser funneled Assad money through her personal bank account
- Rifaat Assad, known as the ‘Butcher of Hama’ for overseeing the violent suppression of a rebellion in the 1980s, used an adviser in Guernsey to secretly manage his wealth
- Ginette Louise Blondel, in one instance, used her personal bank account to distribute €1 million to third parties on her client’s behalf
LONDON: A financial adviser on the Channel Island of Guernsey funneled the ill-gotten gains of an uncle of Bashar Assad through her personal bank account.
Rifaat Assad, known as the “Butcher of Hama” for overseeing the violent suppression of a rebellion in the 1980s, used an adviser in Guernsey to secretly manage his wealth, which included a vast European property empire worth hundreds of millions of euros that prosecutors claim was acquired with funds looted from the war-torn state.
Rifaat Assad has been accused of war crimes by Swiss prosecutors and was convicted by a French court, in 2020, of embezzling Syrian state funds and pouring the money into luxury properties, with the French state seizing assets worth €90 million ($94.5 million).
In a joint investigation, The Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism have now identified him as a client of a Guernsey consultant who was fined by regulators earlier this year. Ginette Louise Blondel, 40, was banned from working as a director for nine years and fined £210,000 ($266,000) by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission in March.
Originally employed as a personal assistant for the son of her client, then as a consultant, Blondel went on to manage a complex trust structure on the family’s behalf, according to a notice published by the regulator. In one instance, her personal bank account was used to distribute €1 million to third parties on her client’s behalf.
The notice does not name Blondel’s employer, simply referring to them as “Client 1.” However, details of the case, and evidence gathered by international prosecutors, indicate that Client 1 was Rifaat Assad.
A brother of Hafez Assad, who seized power in Syria in a 1971 coup, Rifaat was the head of the Defense Brigades. His elite forces allegedly oversaw the massacre of an estimated 20,000 people in the town of Hama in 1982.
The Assad regime collapsed this month as rebel groups seized control of the capital, Damascus, after more than a decade of civil war. Assad family members have been granted asylum in Moscow. It is unclear whether Rifaat, now 86, is among them. His European wealth remains in limbo, with freezing orders imposed in the UK, Spain and France, meaning properties cannot be sold without permission from the authorities.
The regulator’s case against Blondel is a window into the role played by tax havens such as Guernsey in enabling ultra-wealthy individuals — even those suspected of the most serious atrocities — to shelter and grow their wealth in Europe.
“Rifaat Assad’s crimes, particularly the 1982 Hama massacre, are among the gravest atrocities of our time,” said Philip Grant, the executive director of Trial International, which filed the criminal complaint against him in Switzerland.
Chanez Mensous, a lawyer at the nongovernmental organization Sherpa, which initiated the French criminal complaint against Rifaat, called on European governments to repatriate money raised from asset seizures to vulnerable Syrians. “Restitution is essential,” she said.
In 2013, two years into the Syrian civil war, Swiss prosecutors began investigating Rifaat’s alleged role in the Hama case. He was uniquely vulnerable to prosecution, having been expelled from Syria in 1984 after staging a failed coup against his brother.
In exile he set up home in France while developing an €800 million real estate portfolio with offices, villas, mansions and apartments in London, Paris and Marbella. A 2019 judgment from one of the cases against him disclosed that more than 500 properties belonging to Rifaat were under asset freezes.
According to Spanish prosecutors, the properties were owned by companies whose directors included Rifaat’s frontpeople or numerous family members — he was reported to have had four wives and 16 children — but rarely by the man himself.
His property empire has included:
- The Witanhurst Estate in Highgate, north London — the second-largest private residence in the capital after Buckingham Palace. Rifaat sold it for £32 million to developers in 2007 after leaving it in disrepair.
- A £50 million mansion in South Street, Mayfair. Owned through a shell company in the British Virgin Islands, it was frozen by British proceeds-of-crime prosecutors in 2017.
- A seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom estate in Leatherhead, Surrey, with a gym, tennis court and indoor swimming pool. It was sold for £4 million in 2016 before prosecutors could impose an asset freeze.
- A seven-story mansion on Avenue Foch, which leads to the Arc de Triomphe in the most expensive arrondissement of Paris. Art and furnishings from the property were auctioned but the property itself is frozen.
- Thirty-two apartments in Avenue du President Kennedy, Paris, which runs along the bank of the Seine next to the Eiffel Tower.
- La Maquina, a €60 million estate occupying almost a third of the entire Marbella resort town of Benahavis. La Maquina’s footprint is so expansive that the Assads were reported to have considered transforming it into an enclave exclusively for wealthy Syrians.
Spanish prosecutors alleged that the source of the funds used to buy those properties was a combination of $200 million stolen from the Syrian state and disguised as expenses, and a $100 million loan from Libya. Rifaat and his associates were accused of profiting from “huge illicit resources from multiple criminal activities: extortion, threats, smuggling, plundering of archaeological wealth, usurpation of real estate, [and] drug trafficking.”
Rifaat left France for Syria in 2021, shortly before the French court of appeal upheld his June 2020 conviction for money laundering and aggravated tax fraud, for which he was sentenced to four years in prison. In March this year, Swiss prosecutors charged him with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israeli army says sirens sound after missile launch from Yemen
- “One missile launched from Yemen was intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement
- Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said it had not received any calls about any casualties from the missile interception
TEL AVIV: The Israeli military said sirens sounded across central Israel on Monday as it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen.
“One missile launched from Yemen was intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement.
An AFP journalist reported that sirens sounded in Tel Aviv, the main commercial hub.
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said it had not received any calls about any casualties from the missile interception.
Earlier on Monday, an Israeli navy missile boat intercepted a drone in the Mediterranean after it was launched from Yemen, the military said.
The Iran-backed Houthis have launched several attacks against Israel from Yemen since the war in Gaza began more than a year ago.
The Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.
On December 9, a drone claimed by Houthis exploded on the top floor of a residential building in the central Israel city of Yavne, causing no casualties.
In July, a Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian, prompting retaliatory strikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.
The Houthis, who control most of Yemen’s population centers, have also frequently targeted ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
