Syrian President Arrives in China on First Visit since the Beginning of War in Syria

FILE - In this photo released on Nov. 9, 2019 by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks in Damascus, Syria. (SANA via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo released on Nov. 9, 2019 by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks in Damascus, Syria. (SANA via AP, File)
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Syrian President Arrives in China on First Visit since the Beginning of War in Syria

FILE - In this photo released on Nov. 9, 2019 by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks in Damascus, Syria. (SANA via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo released on Nov. 9, 2019 by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks in Damascus, Syria. (SANA via AP, File)

Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in China on Thursday on his first visit to the country since the start of Syria's 12-year conflict during which Beijing has been one of his main backers.
China’s foreign ministry said Assad would attend the opening ceremony of the Asian Games, an international sports event beginning Saturday in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.
China has been expanding its reach in the Middle East after mediating a deal in March between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and it continues to support Assad in the Syrian conflict, which has killed half a million people and left large parts of the nation in ruins, The Associated Press said.
China could play a major role in the future in Syria’s reconstruction, which is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars. Syria last year joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative in which Beijing expands its influence in developing regions through infrastructure projects.
Assad’s office said earlier that the Syrian leader was invited by Chinese President Xi Jinping and would bring with him a high-ranking Syrian delegation.
Syria’s worsening economic crisis has led to protests in government-held parts of the country. Syria blames the crisis on Western sanctions and US-backed Kurdish-led fighters who control the country’s largest oil fields in the east near the border with Iraq.
Diplomatic contacts between Syria and other Arab countries have intensified following the Feb. 6 earthquake that hit Türkiye and Syria killing more than 50,000 people, including over 6,000 in Syria. Assad flew to Saudi Arabia in May where he attended the Arab League summit days after Syria’s membership was reinstated in the 22-member league.
Since Syria’s conflict began in March 2011 with pro-democracy protests and later turned into a civil war, Iran and Russia have helped Assad regain control of much of the country.
China has used its veto power at the UN eight times to stop resolutions against Assad’s government, the latest in July 2020.
Assad’s last and only visit to China was in 2004, a year after the US-led invasion of neighboring Iraq and at a time when Washington was putting pressure on Syria.



UN Says Can Only Deliver as Much Aid to Gaza as Conditions Allow

 Palestinians walk among the rubble of houses destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid ceasefire negotiations with Israel, in Gaza City, January 15, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk among the rubble of houses destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid ceasefire negotiations with Israel, in Gaza City, January 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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UN Says Can Only Deliver as Much Aid to Gaza as Conditions Allow

 Palestinians walk among the rubble of houses destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid ceasefire negotiations with Israel, in Gaza City, January 15, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk among the rubble of houses destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, amid ceasefire negotiations with Israel, in Gaza City, January 15, 2025. (Reuters)

A short-term surge of aid deliveries into Gaza after a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group will be difficult if the deal does not cover security arrangements in the enclave, a senior UN official said on Wednesday.

Negotiators reached a deal on Wednesday for a ceasefire, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters, after 15 months of conflict. It would include a significant increase of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, but it was unclear if any agreement would cover security arrangements.

"Security is not (the responsibility of) the humanitarians. And it's a very chaotic environment. The risk is that with a vacuum it gets even more chaotic," a senior UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. "Short of any arrangement, it will be very difficult to surge deliveries in the short term."

The United Nations has long described its humanitarian operation as opportunistic - facing problems with Israel's military operation, access restrictions by Israel into and throughout Gaza and more recently looting by armed gangs.

"The UN is committed to delivering humanitarian assistance during the ceasefire, just as we were during the period of active hostilities," said Eri Kaneko, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"The removal of the various impediments the UN has been facing during the last year – which include restrictions on the entry of goods; the lack of safety and security; the breakdown of law and order; and the lack of fuel – is a must," she said.

The UN has been working with partners to develop a coordinated plan to scale up operations, Kaneko said.

600 TRUCKS A DAY

The ceasefire deal - according to the official briefed on talks - requires 600 truckloads of aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the initial six-week ceasefire, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of the 600 aid trucks would be delivered to Gaza's north, where experts have warned famine is imminent.

"We are well-prepared, and you can count on us to continue to be ambitious and creative," said the UN official, speaking shortly before the deal was agreed. "But the issue is and will be the operating environment inside Gaza."

For more than a year, the UN has warned that famine looms over Gaza. Israel says there is no aid shortage - citing more than a million tons of deliveries. It accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which Hamas denies, instead blaming Israel for shortages.

"If the deal doesn't provide any agreement on security arrangements, it will be very difficult to surge assistance," said the official, adding that there would also be a risk that law and order would further deteriorate in the short term.

The United Nations said in June that it was Israel's responsibility - as the occupying power in the Gaza Strip - to restore public order and safety in the Palestinian territory so aid can be delivered.

Hamas came to power in Gaza in 2006 after Israeli soldiers and settlers withdrew in 2005, but the enclave is still deemed as Israeli-occupied territory by the United Nations. Israel controls access to Gaza.

The current war was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed, Israel has laid much of Gaza to waste and the enclave's prewar population of 2.3 million people has been displaced multiple times, aid agencies say.