Russia Mediates Syrian-Turkish Security Meeting in Moscow

Russian military police take part in a joint Turkish-Russian army patrol near the town of Darbasiyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, along the Syria-Turkey border, November 11, 2019. (AFP)
Russian military police take part in a joint Turkish-Russian army patrol near the town of Darbasiyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, along the Syria-Turkey border, November 11, 2019. (AFP)
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Russia Mediates Syrian-Turkish Security Meeting in Moscow

Russian military police take part in a joint Turkish-Russian army patrol near the town of Darbasiyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, along the Syria-Turkey border, November 11, 2019. (AFP)
Russian military police take part in a joint Turkish-Russian army patrol near the town of Darbasiyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakeh province, along the Syria-Turkey border, November 11, 2019. (AFP)

Government sources in Damascus said that Moscow hosted on Monday a trilateral security meeting for the heads of Turkish, Russian and Syrian intelligence.

Ali Mamluk, special security adviser to Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad met with Turkey's intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, Russian and Syrian news agencies reported on Monday.

Russia Today reported that during the meeting, the Syrians called on Ankara to fully respect the sovereignty of Syria, its independence and territorial integrity and ensure the immediate and full withdrawal of foreign forces from the whole Syrian territory.

The news agency added that the Syrians also allegedly demanded Ankara to honor the Sochi Agreement, signed on September 2018, which would entail “the freeing of Idlib from terrorists and heavy arms” as well as “unblocking the Aleppo-Latakia (M4) and Aleppo-Hama (M5) highways.”

Reuters reported that the two heads of intelligence met for the first time in years despite Ankara’s long-standing hostility to Assad.

US officials are meanwhile, seeking to convince European officials to replicate the Iranian scenario in Syria by following the policy of “maximum pressure” with Damascus.

This policy would use political, military and economic measures to push Moscow to exert pressure on the Syrian regime, which in return should present “substantial political concessions.”

Western diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday that Washington already proposed 10 military, economic and political pressure tools to implement this policy.

Those tools include keeping the US military presence in northeast Syria and preventing Damascus from controlling oil and strategic resources.

The US is also advising Arab countries against any political or diplomatic normalization of ties with Syria and to refrain from investing in economic projects in the country, said the sources.

Washington is also trying to persuade several European countries to link any contribution in Syria’s reconstruction to making progress in the political process. It also advised them against reopening their embassies in Damascus.

The US should also impose sanctions on Damascus by quickly starting to implement the Caesar Act, which was recently approved by Congress and signed by US President Donald Trump.

The legislation sanctions the Syrian regime, including Assad, for war crimes against the Syrian population.



US and Iran-Backed Houthis in Yemen Both Vow Escalation after Wave of US Airstrikes

This handout image released by US Central Command (CENTCOM) via X (formerly Twitter) on March 15, 2025 shows CENTCOM forces launching an operation against Houthi targets across Yemen. (US Central Command / AFP)
This handout image released by US Central Command (CENTCOM) via X (formerly Twitter) on March 15, 2025 shows CENTCOM forces launching an operation against Houthi targets across Yemen. (US Central Command / AFP)
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US and Iran-Backed Houthis in Yemen Both Vow Escalation after Wave of US Airstrikes

This handout image released by US Central Command (CENTCOM) via X (formerly Twitter) on March 15, 2025 shows CENTCOM forces launching an operation against Houthi targets across Yemen. (US Central Command / AFP)
This handout image released by US Central Command (CENTCOM) via X (formerly Twitter) on March 15, 2025 shows CENTCOM forces launching an operation against Houthi targets across Yemen. (US Central Command / AFP)

The United States and Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen are both vowing escalation after the US launched airstrikes to deter the militants from attacking military and commercial vessels on one of the world's busiest shipping corridors.

“We’re not going to have these people controlling which ships can go through and which ones cannot. And so your question is, how long will this go on? It will go on until they no longer have the capability to do that," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday. He said these are not the one-off retaliation strikes the Biden administration carried out after Houthi attacks.

President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthis cease their attacks, and warned that Tehran would be held “fully accountable” for their actions.

The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the overnight strikes killed at least 31 people, including women and children, and wounded over 100 in the capital of Sanaa and the northern province of Saada, the militias’ stronghold.

Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Waltz, on Sunday told ABC that the strikes “actually targeted multiple Houthi leaders and took them out.” He didn't identify them or give evidence. Rubio said some Houthi facilities had been destroyed.

The Houthis’ political bureau has said the militias will respond to the US strikes and “meet escalation with escalation.”

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted international shipping in the Red Sea and launched missiles and drones at Israel in what the militants have called acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has been at war with Hamas, another Iranian ally. They sank two merchant vessels.

Rubio said that over the past 18 months, the Houthis had attacked the US Navy “directly” 174 times and attacked commercial shipping 145 times with “guided precision anti-ship weaponry.”

The attacks sparked the most serious combat the US Navy had seen since World War II.

The overnight US airstrikes were one of the most extensive attacks against the Houthis since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.

The Houthi attacks stopped when a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire took hold in Gaza in January, but last week the militants said they would renew attacks against Israeli vessels sailing off Yemen after Israel cut off the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza this month.

There have been no Houthi attacks reported since then.

On Sunday, Iran responded to Trump's warning and denied aiding the Houthis.

The head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, denied his country was involved in the Houthis' attacks, saying it “plays no role in setting the national or operational policies” of the militant groups it is allied with across the region, according to state-run TV.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing on X, urged the US to halt its airstrikes and said Washington cannot dictate Iran's foreign policy.

The US and others have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the militias. The US Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry it said were bound for the Houthis.

The United States, Israel and Britain previously hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen, but the new operation was conducted solely by the US It was the first strike on the Houthis under the second Trump administration.

The USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, which includes the carrier, three Navy destroyers and one cruiser, are in the Red Sea and were part of the mission. The USS Georgia cruise missile submarine has also been operating in the region.