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Moroccan Senate President Delays Trip to Israel Due to Illness

Morocco's senate president Enaam Mayara. Asharq Al-Awsat
Morocco's senate president Enaam Mayara. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Moroccan Senate President Delays Trip to Israel Due to Illness

Morocco's senate president Enaam Mayara. Asharq Al-Awsat
Morocco's senate president Enaam Mayara. Asharq Al-Awsat

Morocco's senate president has postponed a visit to Israel due to a medical emergency, the Israeli parliament announced Wednesday.

The announcement came just a day before Enaam Mayara was scheduled to visit Israel's Knesset, or parliament, on a trip aimed at cementing relations between the two countries.

The Knesset issued a statement late Wednesday saying that Mayara had been hospitalized during a stop in neighboring Jordan. He was forced to reschedule his Israel trip and call off a visit earlier in the day to the Palestinian government in the West Bank, the statement said.

“I am sorry that because of a medical emergency, I am unable to come to the Knesset,” the statement quoted Mayara as saying. It gave no details on the nature of his illness but said he would return to Morocco.

“The connection between the kingdom of Morocco and the state of Israel is a shared interest of the two countries, and together we will deepen it,” he added.

Israel's Knesset speaker Amir Ohana, who visited Morocco earlier this year, said Mayara's visit was supposed to be a highlight of the new relations. He said Israel wished Mayara “a speedy and full recovery.”

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Türkiye, Russia Resume Joint Patrols in Northern Syria as Ankara Seeks to Mend Ties with Assad

Turkish soldiers stand on top of a tank in the border town of Akcakale in Sanliurfa province, Türkiye, Oct. 11, 2019. (Reuters)
Turkish soldiers stand on top of a tank in the border town of Akcakale in Sanliurfa province, Türkiye, Oct. 11, 2019. (Reuters)
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Türkiye, Russia Resume Joint Patrols in Northern Syria as Ankara Seeks to Mend Ties with Assad

Turkish soldiers stand on top of a tank in the border town of Akcakale in Sanliurfa province, Türkiye, Oct. 11, 2019. (Reuters)
Turkish soldiers stand on top of a tank in the border town of Akcakale in Sanliurfa province, Türkiye, Oct. 11, 2019. (Reuters)

Türkiye and Russia have resumed joint military patrols in northern Syria after nearly a year's break, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced Saturday.

Combined patrols began in the Operation Peace Spring area, the statement said, referring to a 30-kilometer (19-mile) -deep strip of land on the Syrian side of the Türkiye-Syria border between Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn. The territory was captured from Kurdish fighters by Turkish and allied Syrian forces in 2019.

The renewed Turkish-Russian patrols come as Ankara is trying to repair its relations with Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose regime draws support from Moscow.

Assad has said he will only meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syria and an end to Ankara’s support for Syrian fighters that Damascus considers terrorists.

Turkish and Russian soldiers first began joint operations in the area in November 2019, conducting 344 patrols until October last year, when they were suspended, the ministry said.

Some 24 Turkish personnel in four vehicles took part in the first resumed patrol on Thursday at the eastern end of the Operation Peace Spring area.

“It is planned to continue the United Land Patrol ... to ensure the security of our country’s borders and the civilian population in the region (and) to establish stability in northern Syria,” the ministry said in its statement.

The operation would also identify “checkpoints, headquarters and military structures” of Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Türkiye considers the YPG a terrorist organization due to its links to the PKK, which has fought a 40-year insurgency against Ankara, leading to tens of thousands of deaths.

The United States, however, partnered with the YPG in 2014 to fight the ISIS group in Syria and continues to support the Kurdish fighters under the umbrella of the Syrian Democratic Forces. The relationship has led to tensions between NATO allies Türkiye and the US.