DAMSCUS: Syrian Arab Republic President Ahmed Al-Sharaa emphasized the “strong strategic ties” between his country and Russia during his first telephone call with President Vladimir Putin since taking power, Syria’s presidency said Wednesday.
Militants led by Sharaa’s group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham ousted Moscow’s close ally Bashar Assad in December after a lightning offensive, and questions have remained over the fate of Russia’s two military bases in the war-torn country.
Sharaa emphasized “the strong strategic ties between the two countries and Syria’s openness to all parties” in a way that serves “the interests of the Syrian people and strengthens Syria’s stability and security,” the presidency statement said.
It also said Putin extended “an official invitation to Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani to visit Russia.”
The Kremlin, in a readout of the call, said Putin wished Sharaa “success... in solving the tasks facing the new leadership of the country for the benefit of the Syrian people.”
“The Russian side emphasized its principled position in support of the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian state,” it added.
Moscow helped keep Assad in power when it intervened militarily in Syria’s war in 2015, launching devastating strikes on militant-held areas.
When militants swept into Damascus in December, Russia granted Assad asylum, angering many Syrians including the country’s new rulers.
Russia is seeking to secure the fate of its naval base in Tartus and its air base at Hmeimim — both on Syria’s Mediterranean coast and Moscow’s only military bases outside the former Soviet Union — with the new Syrian authorities.
Both were left vulnerable after Assad was ousted, in a major setback for Russia’s foreign policy.
The Syrian presidency also said the two leaders exchanged “views on the current situation in Syria and the political roadmap for building a new Syria.”
Last month, Syria’s new leadership urged Moscow to “address past mistakes” during talks in Damascus with Russian officials that touched on “the brutal war waged by the Assad regime.”
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said he and his delegation had met for three hours with Sharaa and Shaibani.
Russia’s foreign ministry said that visit came at a “crunch point” in Russia-Syria relations, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling it an “important trip.”
Peskov at the time declined to comment on reports that Syria’s new rulers had requested Assad’s extradition and to be paid compensation by Moscow.
Sharaa in an interview in December with Al-Arabiya TV channel noted the “deep strategic interests between Russia and Syria.”
“All Syria’s arms are of Russian origin, and many power plants are managed by Russian experts... We do not want Russia to leave Syria in the way that some wish,” he said.
Diplomats from Ukraine, where Russia has been waging a full-scale invasion since 2022, visited Syria’s new rulers in December, with Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga urging Sharaa to expel Russia from the country.
Syrian president stresses ‘strong strategic ties’ in call with Russia’s Putin
https://arab.news/6thh4
Syrian president stresses ‘strong strategic ties’ in call with Russia’s Putin
- Sharaa emphasized “the strong strategic ties between the two countries and Syria’s openness to all parties” in a way that serves “the interests of the Syrian people”
Lebanese leaders indirectly urge Hezbollah to stay out of the Israel-Iran conflict
- Lebanese President Joseph Aoun urged all sides in Lebanon to maintain calm and preserve the country’s stability
- The Hezbollah-Israel war left over 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused destruction worth $11 billions. In Israel, 127 people, including 80 soldiers, were killed
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s president and prime minister said Monday that their country must stay out of the conflict between Israel and Iran because any engagement would be detrimental to the small nation engulfed in an economic crisis and struggling to recover from the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.
Their remarks amounted to a message to the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group — an ally of both Iran and the Palestinian militant Hamas group in Gaza — to stay out of the fray.
Hezbollah, which launched its own strikes on Israel a day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, has been hard-hit and suffered significant losses on the battlefield until a US-brokered ceasefire last November ended the 14 months of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.
Earlier this year, Hamas fighters inside Lebanon fired rockets from Lebanese soil, drawing Israeli airstrikes and leading to arrests of Hamas members by Lebanese authorities.
The Hezbollah-Israel war left over 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused destruction worth $11 billions; Hezbollah was pushed away from areas bordering Israel in south Lebanon. In Israel, 127 people, including 80 soldiers, were killed during the war.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam spoke during a Cabinet meeting Monday that also discussed the Iran-Israel conflict and the spike in regional tensions over the past four days.
Information Minister Paul Morkos later told reporters that Aoun urged all sides in Lebanon to maintain calm and preserve the country’s stability. For his part, Salam said Lebanon should not be involved in “any form in the war,” Morkos added.
Hezbollah, funded and armed by Iran, has long been considered Tehran’s most powerful ally in the region but its latest war with Israel also saw much of Hezbollah’s political and military leadership killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Since Israel on Friday launched strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program and top military leaders, drawing Iran’s retaliatory ballistic missiles at Israel, the back-and-forth has raised concerns that the region, already on edge over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, would be plunged into even greater upheaval.
First European commercial plane lands in Damascus airport in over a decade
- Dan Air’s plane was carrying 138 passengers, including Syrians and foreign nationals
- It announced flights from Damascus to Bucharest, the German cities of Frankfurt and Berlin, and the Swedish capital, Stockholm
LONDON: Damascus International Airport in the Syrian Arab Republic welcomed its first European commercial flight this week since the civil war began in 2011.
A European airline, Dan Air, landed in Damascus on Sunday after flying from Bucharest, the capital of Romania, the SANA news agency reported.
Mohammad Nidal Al-Shaar, the minister of economy and industry in Syria’s interim government, was on the plane that was received in Damascus by Radu Gimpostan, who led the Romanian Embassy’s delegation.
Dan Air’s plane carried 138 passengers, including Syrians and foreign nationals, and the return flight from Damascus to Bucharest would carry 125 passengers. The airline has announced flights from Damascus to Bucharest, the German cities of Frankfurt and Berlin, and the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
Syrian officials said that the flights would facilitate the mobility of travelers between Syria and Europe following more than a decade of interrupted aviation services.
Israeli forces evict Jenin families, convert homes into military outposts
- Houses belonging to the Yaseen family were seized after about 50 people evicted
- Soldiers ‘roaming the streets, firing live ammunition and tear gas, shutting down businesses and harassing residents,’ says Rummana council head
LONDON: Israeli forces in Jenin have evicted many Palestinian families and converted their homes into military outposts across several villages.
The Israeli activity took place across the occupied West Bank city over the past week.
Mohammad Issa, head of the Aneen village council in the west of Jenin, told Wafa news agency on Monday that Israeli troops stormed two homes belonging to the Yaseen family last Friday and forcibly evicted five families of about 50 people.
The homes were later utilized as military outposts while Israeli forces continued to raid Aneen village daily, deploying armored vehicles, erecting roadblocks and stopping-and-searching residents, Wafa added.
“The presence of soldiers inside residential homes has created a climate of fear and insecurity,” said Issa. “Commercial activity has slowed dramatically as a result.”
Hassan Sbeihat, head of the Rummana village council, told Wafa that Israeli forces had converted 11 homes in the elevated western part of the village into military positions over the last four days.
“Israeli infantry patrols are roaming the streets, firing live ammunition and tear gas, shutting down businesses and harassing residents,” Sbeihat said.
He added that families were forcibly displaced and sought shelter with relatives, with no clear sign of when they might return to their homes.
Aziz Zaid, head of the Nazlat al-Sheikh village council, said that Israeli forces evicted residents Wajdi Fadl Saeed Zaid and Omar Hassan Al-Bari from their homes, which were converted into outposts.
He added that the Israeli military continues to conduct house-to-house searches and physically assault residents, Wafa reported.
Zaid said that Israeli forces closed the village’s western entrance, blocked the main road and closed a pharmacy as well as grocery store.
Sultan of Oman, Iranian president discuss Israeli strikes, diplomatic solutions
- President Masoud Pezeshkian says while Iran faces Israeli aggression, it supports diplomatic solutions
- Sultan Haitham bin Tarik condemns damage caused by Israeli strikes on Iranian infrastructure and facilities
LONDON: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq of Oman held a phone call on Monday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to offer condolences for the Iranian victims of Israeli airstrikes and discuss the latest developments.
Sultan Haitham condemned the damage caused by Israeli strikes to infrastructure and facilities, wishing a speedy recovery to the injured Iranian citizens. He stressed the need for de-escalation from both sides and called for negotiations and dialogue to prevent the ongoing conflict from deteriorating, the Oman News Agency reported.
He reaffirmed the Omani government’s commitment to activate diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis, prevent its escalation, and establish fair and just settlements that restore normalcy.
Pezeshkian said that while his country is facing Israeli aggression, it supports diplomatic solutions through dialogue and negotiation, emphasizing the importance of adhering to international law and respecting Iran’s sovereignty, the ONA added.
38 Palestinians killed in new shootings near food distribution centers, medics say
KHAN YOUNIS: Gaza’s Health Ministry says 38 Palestinians have been killed in new shootings in areas of food distribution centers in the south of the territory.
The toll Monday was the deadliest yet in the near-daily shootings that have taken place as thousands of Palestinians move through Israeli military-controlled areas to reach the food centers. Witnesses say Israeli troops open fire in an attempt to control the crowds.
There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military on Monday’s deaths. It has said in previous instances that troops fired warning shots at what it calls suspects approaching their positions.
