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.



Britain 'Taking Forward' Gaza Food Airdrop Plan, Says PM Starmer's Office

A volunteer distributes rations of red lentil soup to displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 18, 2024. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)
A volunteer distributes rations of red lentil soup to displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 18, 2024. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)
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Britain 'Taking Forward' Gaza Food Airdrop Plan, Says PM Starmer's Office

A volunteer distributes rations of red lentil soup to displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 18, 2024. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)
A volunteer distributes rations of red lentil soup to displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 18, 2024. (Photo by SAID KHATIB / AFP)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday spoke to his French and German counterparts and outlined UK plans to get aid to people in Gaza and evacuate sick and injured children, his office said.

"The prime minister set out how the UK will also be taking forward plans to work with partners such as Jordan to airdrop aid and evacuate children requiring medical assistance," a statement said, AFP reported.

In a phone conversation, Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza "which they agreed is appalling".

"They all agreed it would be vital to ensure robust plans are in place to turn an urgently needed ceasefire into lasting peace," according to a readout released by Downing Street.

"They discussed their intention to work closely together on a plan.... which would pave the way to a long-term solution and security in the region. They agreed that once this plan was worked up, they would seek to bring in other key partners, including in the region, to advance it," it added.

The discussion comes a day after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip, calling it a "moral crisis that challenges the global conscience".

Aid groups have warned of surging cases of starvation, particularly among children, in war-ravaged Gaza, which Israel placed under an aid blockade in March amid its ongoing war with Hamas. That blockade was partially eased two months later.

The trickle of aid since then has been controlled by the Israeli- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.