DJIBOUTI: French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday its military base in Djibouti could assume a greater role, speaking after Paris was forced to pull troops out of several other African countries.
“Our role is changing in Africa because the world is changing in Africa, because public opinion is changing, because governments are changing,” he said.
Macron was addressing French forces stationed at the strategic Horn of Africa nation before sitting down for a Christmas meal with the troops, a regular feature on the presidential calendar.
France had to change its past logic of having too many military bases in Africa, he said.
In recent years, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, all three under military rule, have told France to get its troops out.
They have turned instead to Russia for military support in their fight against the jihadist forces active in the region.
And on Friday, France also began withdrawing ground troops from Chad, after N’Djamena last month abruptly ended military cooperation with the former colonial power.
The central African country was the last Sahel nation to host French troops.
Its decision also came shortly after Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye told AFP in an interview that France should close its military bases there.
Djibouti has in the past been part of France’s Indo-Pacific strategy, contributing to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.
“It is also, and will also have to be reinvented as, a projection point for some of our African missions,” Macron said, without elaborating.
The French base at Djibouti currently hosts 1,500 soldiers.
That makes it France’s largest military contingent abroad and the only one untouched by the military draw-down African nations have imposed on Paris.
In July, Djibouti and France renewed their defense cooperation treaty.
As well as paying rent for the base, France also assumes responsibility for patrolling the airspace over the country.
The small east African state is a relative haven of stability. On the other side of the Red Sea lies Yemen, gripped in a devastating civil war.
Macron sees new role for French military base in Djibouti
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Macron sees new role for French military base in Djibouti
- Macron was speaking after France was forced to pull troops out of several other African countries
UN extends peacekeeping mission between Syria, Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
- Armed forces from Israel and Syria are not allowed in the demilitarized zone — a 400-square-km (155-square-mile) “Area of Separation” — under the ceasefire arrangement
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Security Council on Friday extended a long-running peacekeeping mission between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights for six months and expressed concern that military activities in the area could escalate tensions.
Since a lightning rebel offensive ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad earlier this month, Israeli troops have moved into the demilitarised zone — created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war — that is patrolled by the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
Israeli officials have described the move as a limited and temporary measure to ensure the security of Israel’s borders but have given no indication of when the troops might be withdrawn.
In the resolution adopted on Friday, the Security Council stressed “that both parties must abide by the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement between Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic and scrupulously observe the ceasefire.”
It expressed concern that “the ongoing military activities conducted by any actor in the area of separation continue to have the potential to escalate tensions between Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic, jeopardize the ceasefire between the two countries, and pose a risk to the local civilian population and United Nations personnel on the ground.”
Armed forces from Israel and Syria are not allowed in the demilitarized zone — a 400-square-km (155-square-mile) “Area of Separation” — under the ceasefire arrangement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday: “Let me be clear: There should be no military forces in the area of separation other than UN peacekeepers – period.” He also said Israeli airstrikes on Syria were violations of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and “must stop.”
Israeli airstrikes kill at least 25 Palestinians in Gaza, medics say
- Authorities in Gaza say Israel’s campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians and displaced most of the population of 2.3 million
CAIRO: Israeli airstrikes killed at least 25 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Friday, medics said, including at least eight in an apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp and at least 10, including seven children, in the town of Jabalia.
Mediators have yet to secure a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas after more than a year of conflict.
Sources close to the discussions told Reuters on Thursday that Qatar and Egypt had been able to resolve some differences between the warring parties but sticking points remained.
Israel began its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel says about 100 hostages are still being held, but it is unclear how many are alive.
Authorities in Gaza say Israel’s campaign has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians and displaced most of the population of 2.3 million. Much of the coastal enclave is in ruins.
US says new Syria rulers helping in hunt for reporter Tice
- Tice was working for Agence France-Presse, McClatchy News, The Washington Post, CBS and other media outlets when he was detained at a checkpoint in August 2012
WASHINGTON: US officials said Friday that Syria’s new leaders had assisted in the hunt for missing journalist Austin Tice, with searches underway at sites of interest.
US diplomats, paying the first visit to Damascus since Islamist-led rebels toppled strongman Bashar Assad earlier this month, said they told the new Islamist-led authorities of their priority of finding Tice and other missing Americans.
“We feel it’s our duty as the US government to press on until we know with certainty what happened to him, where he is and to bring him home,” said Roger Carstens, the US pointman on hostages.
He said that he worked Friday with the new Syrian leadership to search a location where Tice could have been held.
“There are other locations that need to be searched in the coming days, weeks and months, and we’ll be working with the interim authorities,” Carstens told reporters after the trip.
Tice was working for Agence France-Presse, McClatchy News, The Washington Post, CBS and other media outlets when he was detained at a checkpoint in August 2012.
Carstens said that US teams were not yet authorized to operate in Syria but that he has reached out to non-governmental groups as well as journalists for assistance.
“The bottom line is that over 12 years, we’ve been able to pinpoint about six facilities that we believe have a high possibility of having had Austin Tice at one point or another,” he said.
Carstens said up to three more sites of interests have been added recently and that he hoped for thorough searches of all of them.
Tice’s mother Debra said earlier this month that she had information that her son was alive.
Carstens said that the United States was also seeking information about other Americans including Majd Kamalmaz, a Syrian-American psychotherapist believed to have died after being detained under the Assad government in 2017.
In Damascus meeting, US drops reward for arrest of Syria’s new leader
- The United States agreed on those principles with top Arab and European diplomats as well as Turkiye during a meeting on December 14 in Aqaba, Jordan
DAMASCUS: A senior US diplomat told Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Friday that Washington was scrapping a reward for his arrest, and welcomed “positive messages” from their talks including a promise to fight terrorism.
Barbara Leaf, Washington’s top diplomat for the Middle East, made the comments after her meeting with Sharaa in Damascus — the first formal mission to Syria’s capital by United States diplomats since the early days of Syria’s civil war.
The lightning offensive that toppled president Bashar Assad on December 8 was led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Al-Qaeda’s Syria branch but has sought to moderate its image in recent years.
Leaf’s meeting with HTS chief Sharaa came despite Washington’s designation of his group as a terrorist organization.
“Based on our discussion, I told him we would not be pursuing the Rewards for Justice reward offer that has been in effect for some years,” Leaf told reporters after their talks.
She said “we welcomed positive messages” from Sharaa.
“We will be looking for progress on these principles and actions, not just words,” she said.
“I also communicated the importance of inclusion and broad consultation during this time of transition,” she said.
“We fully support a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process that results in an inclusive and representative government which respects the rights of all Syrians, including women, and Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious communities.”
The United States agreed on those principles with top Arab and European diplomats as well as Turkiye during a meeting on December 14 in Aqaba, Jordan.
A Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, earlier confirmed to AFP that the US delegation had met with Sharaa.
“The meeting took place, and it was positive. And the results will be positive, God willing,” the official said.
The US delegation also included the US pointman on hostages, who has been seeking clues on missing Americans including Austin Tice, a journalist kidnapped in Syria in August 2012.
On Friday, the US embassy added on social media platform X that the US and Syrian sides also discussed “regional events, Syria’s intention to be a good neighbor and the importance of common efforts on terrorism.”
On a regional tour prior to the Aqaba talks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had stressed the need to prevent a resurgence of Daesh group (IS) jihadists.
The US military said on Friday its forces had killed an IS leader and another operative in Deir Ezzor province, part of escalated US military action against the group since Assad’s overthrow.
The embassy said Leaf also met with Syria’s White Helmet rescuers, civil society leaders, activists and others “to hear directly from them about their vision for the future of their country and how the United States can help support them.”
Below a photograph of Leaf and others with a memorial wreath, the US embassy said she had also commemorated the tens of thousands of people murdered, tortured, disappeared or detained under Assad.
“The US commitment to hold accountable those responsible for these atrocities is unwavering,” the embassy said.
Leaf denied that her press conference in Damascus had been canceled for security reasons, saying she was delayed by street celebrations.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who backed Assad’s opponents, has stressed reconciliation and restoration of Syria’s territorial integrity and unity.
Turkiye has been putting pressure on Kurdish-led forces in Syria, and Erdogan said Friday it was time to destroy “terrorist” groups operating in the country, specifically IS and Kurdish fighters.
“Daesh, the PKK and their affiliates — which threaten the survival of Syria — must be eradicated,” he told journalists following a summit in Cairo, referring to IS and the Kurdistan Workers Party, respectively.
The autonomous administration in northeastern Syria is protected by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, mostly made up of the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Turkiye accuses the YPG of being a branch of the PKK, which both Washington and Ankara consider a terrorist group.
Kurdish leaders in Syria have welcomed Assad’s ouster and raised the three-star independence-era rebel flag, but many in the region fear continued attacks by Turkiye and allied fighters.
Leaf said Washington was urging a ceasefire between Turkish-backed forces and the SDF around the Kurdish-held Syrian border town of Kobani, also known as Ain Al-Arab.
On a visit to Ankara Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned of the dangers of any “escalation” of the fighting, saying: “Security, especially for Kurds, is essential for a free and secure future for Syria.”
Iran and Russia had long helped to prop up Assad, but on Friday Leaf said she expected Syria would completely end any role for Iran.
Amy Pope, the head of the UN migration agency, on Friday urged “the caretaker government to continue to empower and enable women, because they are going to be absolutely critical to the rebuilding of the country.”
Pope also called for the raft of international sanctions on Syria to be reassessed to help the country regain its footing.
Syria’s civil war killed more than 500,000 people and sparked an exodus of millions of refugees.
Since Assad’s departure, which sparked celebrations at home and abroad, rebels have thrown open prisons where tens of thousands of people were arbitrarily detained and tortured.
They have also located mass graves believed to hold some of the estimated 100,000 people who died or were killed in custody since 2011.
Israel army says troops shot Syrian protester in leg
- Israeli forces have been operating in areas beyond the buffer zone in Syrian-controlled territory, the military has confirmed
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said its forces shot a protester during a demonstration against the army’s activities in a village in southern Syria on Friday, injuring him in the leg.
Since Islamist-led rebels toppled Syrian president Bashar Assad on December 8 Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian military facilities in what it says is a bid to prevent them from falling into hostile hands.
In a move widely condemned internationally, Israel also sent troops into a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights, and beyond, calling it a defensive and temporary measure.
“During a protest against IDF’s activities in the area of Maariya in southern Syria, IDF (Israeli military) called on protesters to distance themselves from the troops,” the military told AFP.
The village is just outside the southern point of the UN-patrolled zone.
“After the troops identified a threat, they operated in accordance with standard operating procedures against the threat... The protester was shot in the leg,” the military said.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the Israeli troops were stationed at a barracks in the village.
“During a protest condemning the Israeli incursion, a young man was injured by Israeli forces’ gunfire in the village of Maariya, in the Daraa region,” the Observatory said.
Israeli forced from Al-Jazeera barracks “opened fire directly at the demonstrators,” wounding the man in the leg, it said.
A villager from Maariya told AFP that Israeli soldiers had been entering his village and other nearby villages in recent days.
“When the Israelis entered ... they sowed fear and horror among the people, the children, the women,” Ali Al-Khalaf, 52, told AFP.
“So much so that some people fled to other nearby villages. They (Israeli troops) entered the villages of Maariya, Aabdyn and Jamlah,” he added.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a security briefing atop a strategic Syrian mountain inside the UN-patrolled zone.
During the visit Netanyahu reviewed the army’s deployment in the area, his office said.
Hours after Assad was overthrown, Netanyahu had ordered Israeli troops to seize the buffer zone.
Israel has framed the move as temporary and defensive, with Netanyahu saying it was in response to a “vacuum on Israel’s border and in the buffer zone.”
Israeli forces have also been operating in areas beyond the buffer zone in Syrian-controlled territory, the military has confirmed.
Netanyahu said his country has “no interest in confronting Syria. Israel’s policy toward Syria will be determined by the evolving reality on the ground.”
Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa accused Israel of “a new unjustified escalation in the region” by entering the buffer zone but said “the general exhaustion in Syria after years of war” prevents it from entering new conflicts.
Israel conquered around two-thirds of the Golan during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and later annexed it. The United States, during Donald Trump’s first term as president, is the only country that has recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Golan.
