Arab FMs Approve Postponing Algeria Summit to June

Side of the Arab League Council’s meeting held on Wednesday, March 4, 2020 in Cairo (DPA)
Side of the Arab League Council’s meeting held on Wednesday, March 4, 2020 in Cairo (DPA)
TT

Arab FMs Approve Postponing Algeria Summit to June

Side of the Arab League Council’s meeting held on Wednesday, March 4, 2020 in Cairo (DPA)
Side of the Arab League Council’s meeting held on Wednesday, March 4, 2020 in Cairo (DPA)

Arab foreign ministers have approved Algeria’s proposal to postpone the “Arab Summit’ to June.

They stressed “the importance of resolving the crises in Syria, Yemen and Libya and supporting the Arab League system.”

The decision was issued during the regular meeting of Arab foreign ministers, headed by the Sultanate of Oman. The meeting was held in the Arab League (AL) headquarters in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Wednesday.

AL Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, during the opening session, underscored the importance of the Arab League and its effectiveness amidst the crisis suffered by many Arab countries nowadays.

He slammed the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Syrians in camps that don’t protect them from the winter’s cold, as well as attempts to seek refuge in foreign countries.

Abul Gheit also pointed to the humanitarian tragedy many Syrians are going through, stressing that military solutions “will not resolve these conflicts” and that no party will come out victorious in any civil war.

“The first step towards political solutions is a comprehensive and immediate ceasefire on all Arab fronts,” the official said.

On the Yemeni issue, Aboul Gheit pointed out that “a political solution based on Security Council Resolution 2216 is the mean to achieve an internal settlement that ensures power for all parties.”

Oman's Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs Yusuf bin Alawi, for his part, expressed his country’s keenness to maintain its support for the AL.

Chairman of the AL’s 153rd session at the ministerial level also accentuated Oman’s cooperation with all Arab countries to achieve the League’s goals and attain Arab economic integration that serves Arab people’s interests.

Alawi also stressed that without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, no regional stability will be achieved.

He called for providing the environment necessary for peaceful coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis.



Syria’s New Rulers Declare Crackdown as Tensions Flare in Coastal Area

Syrian opposition forces stop a vehicle as they form a checkpoint after taking control of the port of Tartous in western Syria on December 16, 2024. (AFP)
Syrian opposition forces stop a vehicle as they form a checkpoint after taking control of the port of Tartous in western Syria on December 16, 2024. (AFP)
TT

Syria’s New Rulers Declare Crackdown as Tensions Flare in Coastal Area

Syrian opposition forces stop a vehicle as they form a checkpoint after taking control of the port of Tartous in western Syria on December 16, 2024. (AFP)
Syrian opposition forces stop a vehicle as they form a checkpoint after taking control of the port of Tartous in western Syria on December 16, 2024. (AFP)

Syria's new authorities on Thursday launched a security crackdown in a coastal region where 14 policemen were killed a day before, vowing to pursue "remnants" of the ousted Bashar al-Assad government accused of the attack, state media reported.

The violence in Tartous province, part of the coastal region that is home to many members of Assad's Alawite sect, has marked the deadliest challenge yet to the new authorities which swept him from power on Dec. 8.

The new administration's security forces launched the operation to "control security, stability, and civil peace, and to pursue the remnants of Assad's militias in the woods and hills" in Tartous' rural areas, state news agency SANA reported.

Members of the Alawite minority wielded huge sway in Assad-led Syria, dominating security forces he used against his opponents during the 13-year-long civil war, and to crush dissent during decades of bloody oppression by his police state.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the former al-Qaeda affiliate which led the opposition campaign that toppled Assad, has repeatedly vowed to protect minority religious groups.

SANA reported that Mohammed Othman, the newly appointed governor of the coastal Latakia region that adjoins the Tartous area, met Alawite sheikhs to "encourage community cohesion and civil peace on the Syrian coast".

HOMS PROTEST

The Syrian information ministry declared a ban on what it described as "the circulation or publication of any media content or news with a sectarian tone aimed at spreading division" among Syrians.

The Syrian civil war took on sectarian dimensions as Assad drew on Shiite militias from across the Middle East, mobilized by his ally Iran, to battle the revolt.

Dissent has also surfaced in the city of Homs, 150 km (90 miles) north of Damascus. State media reported that police imposed an overnight curfew on Wednesday night, following unrest linked to demonstrations that residents said were led by members of the Alawite and Shiite religious communities.

Footage posted on social media on Wednesday from Homs showed a crowd of people scattering, and some of them running, as gunfire was heard. Reuters verified the location. It was not clear who was opening fire.

Assad's long-time Shiite regional ally, Iran, has criticized the course of events in Syria in recent days.

On Sunday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called on Syrian youth to "stand with firm determination against those who have orchestrated and brought about this insecurity".

Khamenei forecast "that a strong and honorable group will also emerge in Syria because today Syrian youth have nothing to lose", calling the country unsafe.

Syria's newly appointed foreign minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, said in a social media post on Tuesday that Iran must respect the will of the Syrian people and Syria's sovereignty and security.

"We warn them against spreading chaos in Syria and we hold them accountable for the repercussions of the latest remarks," he said.

Lebanon said on Thursday it was looking forward to having the best neighborly relations with Syria, in its first official message to the new administration in Damascus.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah played a major role propping up Assad during the civil war, before bringing its fighters back to Lebanon over the last year to fight in a bruising war with Israel - a redeployment that weakened Syrian government lines.