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UN Mulls to Reopen Iraq Crossing to Assist Syria

FILE PHOTO: Members of the United Nations Security Council gather during a meeting about the situation in Venezuela, in New York, US, February 26, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
FILE PHOTO: Members of the United Nations Security Council gather during a meeting about the situation in Venezuela, in New York, US, February 26, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
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UN Mulls to Reopen Iraq Crossing to Assist Syria

FILE PHOTO: Members of the United Nations Security Council gather during a meeting about the situation in Venezuela, in New York, US, February 26, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
FILE PHOTO: Members of the United Nations Security Council gather during a meeting about the situation in Venezuela, in New York, US, February 26, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

The United Nations Security Council is considering a proposal to reopen a border crossing from Iraq into Syria for six months to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to help millions of Syrian civilians combat the coronavirus pandemic.

The 15-member council in January allowed a six-year-long cross-border aid operation to continue from two places in Turkey until July 10, but dropped crossing points from Iraq and Jordan due to opposition by Syrian ally Russia and China.

Germany and Belgium gave the council a draft resolution on Wednesday that would extend approval for the Turkish border crossings for one year and reopen the Iraq crossing for six months, Reuters reported.

The draft text also gives the council an option to extend the approval for the Iraq crossing for another six months based on an evaluation of the impact of the coronavirus in Syria by UN chief Antonio Guterres later in the year, it said.

In December Russia and China vetoed a draft resolution that would have authorized all three crossing points for one year. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, France or Britain to pass.

Western diplomats have said the closure of the Iraq crossing cuts off 40 percent of medical aid to northeastern Syria.

"Failure to renew cross-border aid will cause unnecessary suffering and deaths, and COVID-19 could spread like wildfire.

"Surely Russia can't want that," said Louis Charbonneau, UN director for Human Rights Watch.

Last month US Ambassador Kelly Craft pushed the council to reauthorize aid deliveries from Iraq. However, Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said: "Do not waste your time on efforts to reopen the closed cross-border points."

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Arab World

Libya Oil Pipeline Reopens after Being Blocked by Armed Group

Sharara oil field (Libyan News Agency)
Sharara oil field (Libyan News Agency)
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Libya Oil Pipeline Reopens after Being Blocked by Armed Group

Sharara oil field (Libyan News Agency)
Sharara oil field (Libyan News Agency)

Libya's national oil firm announced Saturday that an oil pipeline blocked for several days by an armed group had reopened, ending a disruption it said had cost $95 million.

The pipeline links the Al-Sharara oilfield in southwest Libya to the Zawiya export terminal on the Mediterranean coast, said AFP.

The National Oil Corporation (NOC) said in a statement that valve number seven had been reopened, allowing crude pumping through the pipeline to resume.

The pipeline is operated by Akakus, a joint venture between the NOC, Spain's Repsol, France's TotalEnergies, Austria's OMV and Norway's Equinor.

An armed group shut the valve on Monday, causing a sharp drop in production, according to the NOC. It gave no details about those responsible or their demands.

Blockades of oil and gas facilities have been common in Libya in recent years, driven by social grievances, security threats or political disputes.

Arab World

Egyptian Source Denies Cairo Involvement in Ethiopia Unrest

Gunmen in Tigray hand over light weapons to Ethiopian defense forces earlier (Ethiopian News Agency)
Gunmen in Tigray hand over light weapons to Ethiopian defense forces earlier (Ethiopian News Agency)
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Egyptian Source Denies Cairo Involvement in Ethiopia Unrest

Gunmen in Tigray hand over light weapons to Ethiopian defense forces earlier (Ethiopian News Agency)
Gunmen in Tigray hand over light weapons to Ethiopian defense forces earlier (Ethiopian News Agency)

An informed Egyptian source on Saturday rejected allegations linking Cairo to renewed unrest in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region where fighting resumed between Tigrayan forces and the federal government, nearly four years after a peace deal ended a two-year war.

Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, chief of general staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, accused foreign powers of supporting a newly formed armed alliance seeking to destabilize Ethiopia.

“The Tigray front and the alliance cannot achieve anything on their own unless they are pushed, supported and supplied by Sudan, Egypt and other forces,” Jula said in remarks carried by Ethiopian media Friday.

He also accused Eritrea of acting as an intermediary between foreign powers and armed groups inside Ethiopia.

Tigrayan forces seized three airports in the region and launched attacks in neighboring Afar and Amhara in recent days, marking the most serious escalation since the devastating 2020-2022 war.

The Egyptian source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Ethiopia’s insinuations were “allegations that do not merit a response,” adding that Cairo “has nothing to do with such polemics.”

The source urged Ethiopian authorities to “address their own internal crises and problems instead of trying to blame their domestic failures on external parties.”

The Tigray crisis was a longstanding internal issue, the source added, stressing that Egypt maintains “a consistent and strict policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.”

Egyptian strategic and military expert Samir Ragheb similarly told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Ethiopian military chief’s remarks amounted to assumptions intended to shift responsibility for Addis Ababa’s internal problems onto outside actors.

Ragheb argued that Ethiopia’s reference to outside support was based largely on geography, given Tigray’s northern borders with Sudan and Eritrea.

“If Egypt had sought to intervene in Ethiopia to exert pressure over other issues, it would have done so during the 2020 fighting, when the conflict was at its height and before construction phases of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam had been completed,” he said.

Ragheb described the fighting as a longstanding domestic struggle over power and resources, stemming from disputes over governance and efforts to weaken Ethiopia’s federal system.

He also urged that the Tigray conflict be kept separate from the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, saying there was no operational or strategic link between fighting in Tigray and the dam.

Ragheb argued that Addis Ababa’s accusations were intended to deflect attention from what he described as failures to fulfill commitments under the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement. He stressed that Cairo does not support armed factions or movements against African states.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front dominated Ethiopia’s ruling coalition from 1991 until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018 and marginalized the group, contributing to tensions that erupted into war in 2020.

The Pretoria agreement ended that conflict in 2022, but tensions and intermittent clashes subsequently returned before escalating sharply this month.

Arab World

Syria Detains 16 Former Air Force Pilots in Less Than a Month

Syrian security forces personnel (AFP/File) 
Syrian security forces personnel (AFP/File) 
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Syria Detains 16 Former Air Force Pilots in Less Than a Month

Syrian security forces personnel (AFP/File) 
Syrian security forces personnel (AFP/File) 

Syrian security authorities have detained 16 former air force officers, including senior commanders, in less than a month as part of a widening campaign targeting personnel accused of involvement in airstrikes on populated areas during the country’s war.

The arrests were carried out mainly in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous, as well as in Aleppo province in northern Syria.

State-run Alikhbariah TV reported that the Counterterrorism Directorate arrested former pilot Khaldoun Hussein Mubarak in the countryside of Jableh in Latakia province. Local media reported that he was detained Friday at his home in the village of Ain Qaita.

Mubarak survived the downing of his aircraft near Saraqeb in Idlib province in 2020. State media under the former government reported at the time that his plane had been hit by Turkish aircraft. Activists have since recirculated an interview in which Mubarak vowed after surviving the incident to continue flying military missions even if he were targeted again.

His detention brought to 16 the number of former air force pilots and officers arrested in less than a month.

On Sept. 18, Tartous Internal Security chief Col. Abdul Aal Mohammed Abdul Aal announced the arrest of five senior former air force officers in operations conducted with the Counterterrorism Directorate.

Abdul Aal said the five were suspected of involvement, according to their respective positions and responsibilities, in planning, directing and carrying out airstrikes on populated areas during the war. Investigations were continuing to determine their alleged criminal responsibility before referring them to the judiciary, he added.

Latakia security authorities had announced on Sept. 10 the detention of nine former pilots and officers, who were accused of participating in attacks and violations in several Syrian provinces through their roles in fixed-wing and helicopter aviation.

A Syrian Interior Ministry source said the nine had logged more than 3,200 flight hours and sorties during the uprising and war, including missions over Eastern Ghouta, Aleppo and its countryside, Deir Ezzor and its countryside, and rural Hama, according to state news agency SANA.

Earlier, on Sept. 5, security forces in Aleppo detained Brig. Gen. pilot Hamidi Ali Murad, a former senior air force commander who had overseen several military air bases, including Mezzeh in Damascus, T4 in eastern Homs province and Kuweires east of Aleppo, and had also headed the air force academy.

Syrian authorities accuse the detained officers, according to their respective roles, of helping plan, direct or carry out air operations that struck populated areas, causing deaths, destruction and displacement. The allegations remain under investigation ahead of possible referral to the courts.