Washington: We Will Not Allow Tehran to Hijack Syria’s Future

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to members of the media at UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 10, 2018.

New York: Ali Barada
Moscow: Raed Jabr

07:50-12 September 2018 AD ـ 02 Muharram 1440 AH

07:28-12 September 2018 AD ـ 02 Muharram 1440 AH

New York: Ali Barada
Moscow: Raed Jabr

07:50-12 September 2018 AD ـ 02 Muharram 1440 AH

07:28-12 September 2018 AD ـ 02 Muharram 1440 AH

Washington: We Will Not Allow Tehran to Hijack Syria’s Future

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks to members of the media at UN headquarters in New York, Sept. 10, 2018.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Tuesday that Washington would not allow Iran to hijack the future of the Syrian people, while Moscow accused the west of preparing a fake footage of a chemical attack in the north of Syria to implicate the regime.

During a UN Security Council session Tuesday, Haley said: “No matter what type of weapons or methods are used, the United States strongly opposes any escalation of violence in Idlib.”

Haley reiterated her warning that Washington "would not allow Iran ... to hijack the future of the Syrian people.”

She also warned that the US would not allow the Syrian regime or any party to use chemical weapons.

One year ago, Russia, Iran and Turkey, known as the Astana guarantors, oversaw the creation of four de-escalation zones in Syria, supposed to be safer for civilians.

Haley said her country would respond to the use of chemical weapons. “We stand by this warning.”

For its part, Moscow fiercely criticized Washington’s possible use of “force” as a response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Russia said a fake footage of "chemical attacks” in Jisr al-Shugur has been designed to facilitate the implication of Syrian regime forces in the use of chemical weapons.

"According to the information received from inhabitants of Idlib province, militants are now filming a staged provocation in the city of Jisr al-Shugur, where chemical weapons are depicted as being used by the Syrian army against civilians,” the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation reported.

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned that a Syrian government offensive on Idlib could scatter thousands of foreign terrorists abroad, posing a security threat to the West.

“There are in all likelihood dozens of French fighters from both Al-Qaeda and ISIS” in Idlib, Le Drian said.

He warned there were “also many terrorists from other nations who could scatter” in the event of a joint Syrian-Russian offensive, posing “risks for our security.”

Le Drian estimated at “between 10,000 and 15,000” the number of terrorists left in Idlib.

At the battlefield, Turkey continued to send military reinforcements to its border with Syria and inside the province of Idlib.

The Turkish Army also asked factions from the Free Syrian Army to join its Operation Euphrates Shield and Operation Olive Branch.

UN Warns US Aid Cuts Threaten Millions of Afghans with Famine

(FILES) Afghan men stand in a queue as they wait to receive food being distributed as an aid by the World Food Program (WFP) organization at Nawabad Kako Sahib area in Baraki Barak district of Logar Province on January 7, 2024. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)

Asharq Al Awsat

10:51-12 April 2025 AD ـ 14 Shawwal 1446 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

10:51-12 April 2025 AD ـ 14 Shawwal 1446 AH

UN Warns US Aid Cuts Threaten Millions of Afghans with Famine

Fresh US cuts to food assistance risk worsening already widespread hunger in Afghanistan, according to the World Food Program, which warned it can support just half the people in need -- and only with half rations.
In an interview with AFP, WFP's acting country director Mutinta Chimuka urged donors to step up to support Afghanistan, which faces the world's second-largest humanitarian crisis, AFP said.

A third of the population of around 45 million people needs food assistance, with 3.1 million people on the brink of famine, the UN says.

"With what resources we have now barely eight million people will get assistance across the year and that's only if we get everything else that we are expecting from other donors," Chimuka said.

The agency already has been "giving a half ration to stretch the resources that we have", she added.

In the coming months, WFP usually would be assisting two million people "to prevent famine, so that's already a huge number that we're really worried about", Chimuka said.

Already grappling with a 40 percent drop in funding for this year globally, and seeing a decline in funding for Afghanistan in recent years, WFP has had to split the standard ration -- designed to meet the daily minimum recommended 2,100 kilocalories per person.

"It's a basic package, but it's really life-saving," said Chimuka. "And we should, as a global community, be able to provide that."
WFP, like other aid agencies, has been caught in the crosshairs of funding cuts by US President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order freezing all foreign aid for three months shortly after his inauguration in January.

Emergency food aid was meant to be exempt, but this week WFP said the United States had announced it was cutting emergency food aid for 14 countries, including Afghanistan, amounting to "a death sentence for millions of people" if implemented.

Washington quickly backtracked on the cuts for six countries, but Afghanistan -- run by Taliban authorities who fought US-led troops for decades -- was not one of them.

If additional funding doesn't come through, "Then there's the possibility that we may have to go to communities and tell them we're not able to support them. And how do they survive?"

She highlighted the high levels of unemployment and poverty in the country, one of the world's poorest where thousands of Afghans are currently being repatriated from Pakistan, many without most of their belongings or homes to go to.

'Vicious cycle'
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, this week urged international donors to keep supporting Afghanistan, saying 22.9 million needed assistance this year.

"If we want to help the Afghan people escape the vicious cycle of poverty and suffering, we must continue to have the means to address urgent needs while simultaneously laying the groundwork for long-term resilience and stability," said Indrika Ratwatte, the UN's resident and humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, in a statement.

The statement warned that lack of international aid in Afghanistan could lead to increased migration and strain on the broader region.

The call for funding comes as other countries including Germany and Britain have also made large cuts to overseas aid.

But the Trump administration cut has been the deepest. The United States was traditionally the world's largest donor, with the biggest portion in Afghanistan -- $280 million -- going to WFP last fiscal year, according to US State Department figures.

But other UN agencies, as well as local and international NGOs are being squeezed or having to shut down completely, straining the network of organisations providing aid in Afghanistan.

The Trump administration also ended two programs -- one in Afghanistan -- with the UN Population Fund, an agency dedicated to promoting sexual and reproductive health, the agency said Monday.

And other organisations working on agriculture -- on which some 80 percent of Afghans depend to survive -- and malnutrition are impacted.

"We all need to work together," said Chimuka. "And if all of us are cut at the knees... it doesn't work."

Washington: We Will Not Allow Tehran to Hijack Syria’s Future

Washington: We Will Not Allow Tehran to Hijack Syria’s Future

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UN Warns US Aid Cuts Threaten Millions of Afghans with Famine

UN Warns US Aid Cuts Threaten Millions of Afghans with Famine

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