UNITED NATIONS: Concrete movement on an inclusive political transition in Syria will be key in ensuring the country gets the economic support it needs, United Nations special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Tuesday.
“There is a clear international willingness to engage. The needs are immense and could only be addressed with broad support, including a smooth end to sanctions, appropriate action on designations too, and full reconstruction,” he said.
Pedersen and UN aid chief Tom Fletcher briefed the 15-member council from Damascus, where they met with the country’s new leaders after President Bashar Assad was ousted by insurgent forces led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS).
The United States, Britain, the European Union and others imposed tough sanctions on Syria after a crackdown by Assad on pro-democracy protests in 2011 spiraled into civil war. But the new reality in Syria has been further complicated by sanctions on HTS for its days as an Al-Qaeda affiliate.
Formerly known as Nusra Front, HTS was Al-Qaeda’s official wing in Syria until breaking ties in 2016. Along with unilateral measures, the group has also been on the UN Security Council Al-Qaeda and Daesh sanctions list for more than a decade, subjected to a global assets freeze and arms embargo.
Fletcher appealed to all states to ensure “sanctions and counter-terrorism measures do not impede humanitarian operations” in Syria.
“Syria was already one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, with 17 million people – more than 70 percent of the population – in need of support,” he told the council.
There is a humanitarian exemption for UN sanctions on HTS that allows “the provision, processing or payment of funds, other financial assets, or economic resources, or the provision of goods and services necessary to ensure the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance or to support other activities that support basic human needs.”
Many diplomats acknowledge that the removal of sanctions could be used as leverage to ensure Syria’s new authorities fulfill their commitments. Diplomats and UN officials are also keen to avoid a repeat of the difficulties faced in Afghanistan. After the hard-line Taliban took over in August 2021 as US-led forces withdrew after two decades of war, banks were wary of testing UN and US sanctions, leaving the UN and aid groups struggling to deliver enough cash to run operations. The US had to issue sanctions exemptions.
Smooth end to Syria sanctions would help address immense needs, says UN envoy
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Smooth end to Syria sanctions would help address immense needs, says UN envoy
- Pedersen called for “broad support” for Syria and an end to sanctions to allow for reconstruction of the war-ravaged country
Hamas says Gaza truce talks in Doha ‘serious and positive’
- Reaching an agreement for a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange is possible if the occupation ceases to impose new conditions, Hamas said
DOHA: Hamas said talks in Qatar on Tuesday aimed at a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange in Gaza were “serious and positive,” a day after an Israeli delegation arrived in Doha to meet with mediators.
“Hamas affirms that, in light of the serious and positive discussions taking place today in Doha under the auspices of our Qatari and Egyptian brothers, reaching an agreement for a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange is possible if the occupation ceases to impose new conditions,” the Palestinian group said in a statement.
Israeli officials arrived in Doha on Monday for talks aimed at bridging gaps between the two parties, a source with knowledge of the discussions told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity due to their sensitivity.
The meetings follow a trip by David Barnea, who heads Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, to the Qatari capital on Wednesday, the source said.
Qatar, along with the United States and Egypt, has been involved in months of behind-the-scenes negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release.
But apart from a one-week pause in fighting late last year, during which scores of Hamas-held hostages were released in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, successive negotiations have failed to halt the war.
On Monday, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz indicated Israeli negotiators have “not been this close to an agreement” for the release of hostages in Gaza since the November 2023 truce.
A senior Hamas official based in Doha also said on Monday that negotiations for a deal were “closer than ever before” but warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could still “disrupt the agreement as he has done every time before.”
Syrians rebuild Maaret Al-Numan, symbol of war’s devastation
- Once home 100,000 people, Maaret Al-Numan was devastated by years of war
- Residents fear returning due to mines and unexploded ordinances
MAARET AL-NUMAN, Syria: Vegetation grows between crumbled walls and torn asphalt, and not a single street remains intact in Syria’s Maaret Al-Numan, a key war battleground town being brought back to life by returnees.
Bilal Al-Rihani reopened his pastry shop in the western town this week with his wife and 14-year-old son.
The 45-year-old baker couldn’t stay away after years of exile, even amid the devastation surrounding him.
Working without water or electricity, the shop bustles with customers as they prepare cinnamon pastries — a family speciality for 150 years.
Cars weave through the ruins, honking to announce their arrival. Like Rihani, his customers are former residents displaced by war, eager to rebuild their homes and lives.
“I’m doing better business here than in the (displacement) camp!” Rihani said, pointing to the cracked road outside. “This street was the town’s busiest, day and night.”
Once home to nearly 100,000 people, Maaret Al-Numan was devastated by years of war, turning it into a ghost town and a symbol of Syria’s destruction.
The town’s location on the strategic M5 highway, linking second city Aleppo to the capital Damascus, made it a key battleground from the outbreak of fighting in 2012.
Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the group now in power after ousting long-time president Bashar Assad over a week ago, seized it in 2017.
But in 2020, Assad’s forces backed by Russian air strikes retook the town after intense fighting, forcing the last remaining residents to flee to displacement camps in Idlib.
The war left Maaret Al-Numan littered with mines and unexploded ordinances, deterring large-scale returns.
Authorities have yet to encourage people to return, but the White Helmets, a volunteer rescue group active in rebel areas, were working to clear debris and recover bodies.
At one site, they placed four bodies in mortuary bags.
“Soldiers from Assad’s army, killed by his own people,” one White Helmet member said, declining to elaborate.
The Syrian civil war, which began in 2011 with the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests, resulted in more than half a million deaths and displaced millions of people.
At another intersection, a bulldozer clears collapsed stone walls from the streets.
“This neighborhood is cleaned up, and we’re here to protect the people and their belongings,” said Jihad Shahin, a 50-year-old police officer.
“Activity is returning to the city, and we’ll rebuild better than before.”
But it is an uphill battle, according to local official Kifah Jaafer.
“There are no schools, no basic services. We’re doing what we can to help, but the city lacks everything,” he said.
Jaafer, who previously managed an Idlib displacement camp, is now focused on addressing residents’ needs as they trickle back.
At the town’s edge, Ihab Al-Sayid, 30, and his brothers are clearing the collapsed roof of their family home.
In 2017, a Russian air strike left Sayid with severe brain injuries requiring multiple operations.
Now he’s back, brewing coffee on a stove while his four-year-old son plays nearby.
“People here are simple,” he said. “All we need is security. We came back five days ago to rebuild and start fresh.”
The bitter cold settles as the sun sets, but Sayid remains optimistic.
“We’ve gotten rid of Assad — that gives us courage.”
UN says one million Syrians may return in first half of 2025
- Pointing to “immense challenges,” Imseis called on countries that have been hosting the millions of Syrian refugees to refrain from hastily sending them back
GENEVA: The United Nations said Tuesday it expects around one million people to return to Syria in the first half of 2025, following the collapse of president Bashar Assad’s rule.
Assad fled Syria just over a week ago, as his forces abandoned tanks and other equipment in the face of a lightning offensive spearheaded by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), ending five decades of repressive rule by Assad’s family.
The rule was marked by the mass jailing and killing of suspected dissidents, and nearly 14 years of civil war that left more than 500,000 people and forced half of the population to flee their homes.
The ousting of Assad sparked celebrations around Syria and beyond, and has prompted many to begin returning to their war-ravaged country.
“We have forecasted that we hope to see somewhere in the order of one million Syrians returning between January and June of next year,” Rema Jamous Imseis, the Middle East and North Africa director for the UN refugee agency UNHCR, told reporters in Geneva.
She said the recent developments had brought “a tremendous amount of hope... for the largest displacement crisis we have on planet Earth to finally be resolved.”
But she stressed that “we also have to recognize that a change in the regime doesn’t mean that there is an end to the humanitarian crisis already there.”
Pointing to “immense challenges,” she called on countries that have been hosting the millions of Syrian refugees to refrain from hastily sending them back.
“No one should be forcibly returned to Syria and that the right of Syrians to maintain access to asylum must be preserved,” Imseis said.
Almost immediately after Assad’s fall, a number of European countries said they would freeze pending asylum requests from Syrians, while far-right parties have been pressing for the deportation of refugees back to Syria.
“What we’re saying to governments that have suspended asylum proceedings is... please continue to respect the right to access territory, to lodge an asylum claim,” Jamous Imseis said.
“People simply cannot after 14 years of displacement, pack a bag overnight and return to a country that has been devastated by conflict,” she said.
“Give us and Syrian refugees time to assess whether it’s safe to go back... It’s simply too early to see how safe it’s going to be.”
At the same time as many people are returning to Syria, Jamous Imseis pointed out that more than a million people had become newly displaced in Syria in the past three weeks, “mostly women and children.”
She highlighted that there was also a need to reevaluate who was at risk in the radically-changed Syria.
“Risk profiles which existed prior to December 8 may no longer need that same level of protection, or do not have that same threat or fear of violations against their rights, whereas now with this regime change, we have other vulnerable groups that have emerged in that process,” she said.
Turkiye’s Erdogan says ‘inclusive’ administration needed in Syria
- “We have seen that we agree on the establishment of an inclusive administration in Syria,” Erdogan said
- “We expect the European Union to support returns to Syria,” he added
ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that an inclusive administration is needed in Syria and called on the European Union to support the return of Syrians who fled during the country’s 13-year civil war.
“We have seen that we agree on the establishment of an inclusive administration in Syria,” Erdogan said at a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Ankara.
Western states are gradually opening channels to the new authorities in Damascus led by the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) group, though they continue to designate it as a terrorist group.
Erdogan said there was no place for terrorist organizations in the region, referring specifically to Daesh and Kurdish militant groups. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has previously highlighted the importance of an inclusive transition process in Syria.
Erdogan also called on the European Union to support the return home of Syrians who fled the war, millions of them to Turkiye.
“We expect the European Union to support returns to Syria,” he said.
Syria’s caretaker PM Bashir: Syria has very low foreign currency reserves
Current and former Syrian officials have told Reuters that the dollar reserves have been nearly depleted because Bashar Assad’s government increasingly used them to fund food, fuel and its war effort.
The central bank’s foreign exchange reserves amount to just around $200 million in cash, one of the sources told Reuters, while another said the US dollar reserves were “in the hundreds of millions.”
