US Official to Asharq Al-Awsat: Normalization with Assad Linked to Behavior Change

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem (C) and his Abkhazian counterpart Daur Vadimovich Kove (R) attend the opening of the Abkhazian embassy in Damascus, Syria, 06 October 2020. EPA/YOUSSEF BADAWI
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem (C) and his Abkhazian counterpart Daur Vadimovich Kove (R) attend the opening of the Abkhazian embassy in Damascus, Syria, 06 October 2020. EPA/YOUSSEF BADAWI
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US Official to Asharq Al-Awsat: Normalization with Assad Linked to Behavior Change

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem (C) and his Abkhazian counterpart Daur Vadimovich Kove (R) attend the opening of the Abkhazian embassy in Damascus, Syria, 06 October 2020. EPA/YOUSSEF BADAWI
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem (C) and his Abkhazian counterpart Daur Vadimovich Kove (R) attend the opening of the Abkhazian embassy in Damascus, Syria, 06 October 2020. EPA/YOUSSEF BADAWI

Washington urged states not to establish diplomatic relations or economic cooperation with Syrian President Bashar Assad before addressing the atrocities committed by his regime against the Syrian people, a spokesperson for the US Department of State told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday.

The official said Assad’s regime was responsible for countless horrors, in addition to repeatedly using chemical weapons against his people.

The regime also invited Iranian and Russian forces to fight on its territories, therefore, threatening neighboring countries and the entire region, the US spokesperson explained.

“Any attempt to reestablish or improve diplomatic relations, without addressing the atrocities committed by the regime against the Syrian people, shall damage efforts to enhance accountability and to move towards a sustainable, peaceful and political solution of the Syrian conflict, in line with UNSC Resolution 2254,” he said.

Assad and his regime should take irreversible steps to end all types of violence against the Syrian people and to implement UNSC Resolution 2254 or face continued diplomatic and economic isolation, the official added.

The statement came a few days after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem received a copy of the credentials of Turki Mahmood al-Busaidi, the extraordinary and plenipotentiary Ambassador of Oman to Syria.

Abkhazia opened its embassy in Damascus on Tuesday and raised its flag during a ceremony attended by Moallem and a high-ranking Abkhazian delegation that is paying a visit to Syria, including head of presidential administration Alkhas Kvitsinia, Foreign Minister Daur Vadimovich Kove.

Abkhazia and Damascus agreed on enhancing bilateral relations and on mutual exemption of visas for the citizens in both countries for bearers of diplomatic and official and private passports.

“The embassy will be the cornerstone in the bilateral relations and it may be a step to encourage others who closed their embassies in Damascus to reopen them,” the Syrian FM said, expressing readiness to provide all support and assistance to enable the Abkhazian ambassador perform his duties successfully.

Kvitsinia reviewed the history of relations between Abkhazia and Syria, starting with mutual recognition in May 2018, the signature of a treaty of friendship and cooperation, two agreements on the establishment of a joint committee for cooperation in various fields and facilitating and developing trade and economic cooperation between the two countries besides the establishment of diplomatic relations at the level of embassies.

Syria recognized Georgia’s two Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent states back in 2018, a step which was condemned by the international community.



UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)

UN officials on Monday asked for $6 billion for Sudan this year from donors to help ease what they called the world's worst ever hunger catastrophe and the mass displacement of people brought on by civil war.

The UN appeal represents a rise of more than 40% from last year's for Sudan at a time when aid budgets around the world are under strain, partly due to a pause in funding announced by US President Donald Trump last month that has affected life-saving programs across the globe.

The UN says the funds are necessary because the impact of the 22-month war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - that has already displaced a fifth of its population and stoked severe hunger among around half its population - looks set to worsen.

World Food Program chief Cindy McCain, speaking via video to a room full of diplomats in Geneva, said: "Sudan is now the epicenter of the world's largest and most severe hunger crisis ever."

She did not provide figures, but Sudan's total population currently stands at about 48 million people. Among previous world famines, the Bengal Famine of 1943 claimed between 2 million and 3 million lives, according to several estimates, while millions are believed to have died in the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-61.

Famine conditions have been reported in at least five locations in Sudan, including displacement camps in Darfur, a UN statement said, and this was set to worsen with continued fighting and the collapse of basic services.

"This is a humanitarian crisis that is truly unprecedented in its scale and its gravity and it demands a response unprecedented in scale and intent," UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said.

One of the famine-stricken camps was attacked by the RSF last week as the group tries to tighten its grip on its Darfur stronghold.

While some aid agencies say they have received waivers from Washington to provide aid in Sudan, uncertainty remains on the extent of coverage for providing famine relief.

The UN plan aims to reach nearly 21 million people within the country, making it the most ambitious humanitarian response so far for 2025, and requires $4.2 billion - the rest being for those displaced by the conflict.