Russia Supports ‘Comprehensive Talks’ with US on Syria

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey September 16, 2019. Reuters
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey September 16, 2019. Reuters
TT

Russia Supports ‘Comprehensive Talks’ with US on Syria

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey September 16, 2019. Reuters
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands during their meeting in Ankara, Turkey September 16, 2019. Reuters

Moscow confirmed on Wednesday willingness to hold “comprehensive talks” with Washington over the situation in Syria.

During a videoconference of the New York Council on Foreign Relations, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said his country is interested in working with the United States to improve agreements aimed at preventing dangerous military incidents, on the basis of experience gained in Syria.

“We reconfirm our interest to improve bilateral agreement with the US to avoid dangerous military activities and an arrangement on avoidance of dangerous military incidents. To prop on this Syrian experience would be right in this case as well," the Russian official said.

He said Moscow has more contentious and difficult issues “rather than interfaces for our common work with the US on Syria.”

"We will do our utmost to ensure that the US understands properly what we are doing, why we are doing these things or that things there, and we will expand the interfaces of our dialogue with the US if the US reciprocates, if the US wants so. We are ready, on our part,” Ryabkov explained.

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed during a telephone conversation the latest developments in Syria’s Idlib province and the situation in Libya.

They emphasized the importance of bolstering efforts towards compliance with bilateral agreements on a ceasefire in Idlib, the Kremlin press service said.

“An emphasis was put on a need to boost efforts towards the implementation of the Russian-Turkish agreements on the Idlib de-escalation zone, including the Additional Protocol to the Sochi Memorandum of September 17, 2018," it said.

Separately, a pro-Syrian regime demonstration was organized in Suwaida province in rejection and condemnation of US sanctions and the unilateral coercive measures imposed on Syria, Syrian regime media reported.

The demonstration coincided with a protest staged by anti-regime activists who demanded the release of Raed al-Khatib, an activist who was arrested by Syrian regime forces on June 9 during a raid on an office in Engy tower in Suwaida city for taking part in an anti-regime protest.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday it fears that Khatib will be subjected to torture and ultimately classified as forcibly “disappeared” like approximately 85 percent of those detained by the regime.

It noted that about 130,000 Syrian citizens are still held in the Syrian regime’s detention centers, constituting a grave threat to their wellbeing given the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.



Hamas Armed Wing Says Will Abide by Gaza Truce According to 'Enemy's Commitment'

Fighters of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, escort vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Saraya Square in western Gaza City on January 19, 2025. (AFP)
Fighters of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, escort vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Saraya Square in western Gaza City on January 19, 2025. (AFP)
TT

Hamas Armed Wing Says Will Abide by Gaza Truce According to 'Enemy's Commitment'

Fighters of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, escort vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Saraya Square in western Gaza City on January 19, 2025. (AFP)
Fighters of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, escort vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Saraya Square in western Gaza City on January 19, 2025. (AFP)

The armed wing of Palestinian group Hamas said on Sunday it would observe a ceasefire in Gaza as long as Israel does the same, hours after the truce took effect.

"We and the resistance factions declare our full commitment to the ceasefire agreement, while stressing that all of this is contingent on the enemy's commitment," said Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam armed wing, in a video message.

Israel and mediating nation Qatar confirmed on Sunday a long-awaited ceasefire in Gaza had come into effect after an almost three-hour delay as Israel awaited the names of the three hostages Hamas would free initially.

Under the ceasefire plan, a total of 33 hostages taken by fighters during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel will be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day phase.

Obeida also warned that Israel's "continued occupation of our land will affect the entire region and the world".

He added that the international community's involvement in what he called the occupation of Gaza "will be a disaster for the occupation and all its supporters".