US Warned Bassil before Imposing Sanctions, Aoun Demands Evidence of Corruption

Head of Lebanon's FPM MP Gebran Bassil. (AP file photo)
Head of Lebanon's FPM MP Gebran Bassil. (AP file photo)
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US Warned Bassil before Imposing Sanctions, Aoun Demands Evidence of Corruption

Head of Lebanon's FPM MP Gebran Bassil. (AP file photo)
Head of Lebanon's FPM MP Gebran Bassil. (AP file photo)

The allegations offered by the United States in justifying the sanctions it imposed on Lebanon’s Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Gebran Bassil have raised questions that Washington was changing its sanctions policy.

The US had previously cited relations and cooperation with Hezbollah as the basis for slapping sanctions. Now, however, they seem to be focused on corruption.

A State Department official told Asharq Al-Awsat that his country will use all of its authority to sanction Lebanese leaders “who place their interests above those of the Lebanese people.”

Lebanese President Michel Aoun, meanwhile, demanded that American authorities provide evidence of the alleged corruption charges against his son-in-law and former minister, Bassil.

Asharq Al-Awsat learned that American authorities had warned Bassil in advance that he will soon be sanctioned.

The State Department official declined to comment on this.

He strongly denied that the sanctions are related to the stalled government formation process in Lebanon or the US presidential election.

This is about accountability, he stressed. “We are not targeting a certain group, party or sect, but we are focusing on corruption.”

Several Lebanese officials act as if they have the “luxury of time”, but this is not true, he went on to say. Now is the time to act and the Lebanese leaders must respond to the demands of the people and implement necessary reform immediately.

On whether more sanctions will be imposed on figures who are not affiliated with Hezbollah, the diplomat said that Washington does not disclose in advance the names of targeted officials.

Lebanese leaders must realize that they must work for the national interest to protect all segments of society from corruption and terrorism, he stressed. Washington will use all means at its disposal to hold Lebanese officials, who place their interests above those of the people, to account.

Aoun said Saturday that Lebanon would seek evidence and documents from the United States that led Washington to impose sanctions on Bassil on Friday.

He asked the country's caretaker foreign minister to obtain the evidence and documents that should be submitted to Lebanon's judiciary "to take the necessary legal measures,” said a statement.

On Friday, the US Treasury slapped sanctions on Bassil, singling him out for what it said was his role in corruption.

The FPM has a political alliance with Hezbollah and Bassil has defended the group as vital to the defense of Lebanon.

The Treasury Department said Bassil was at the "forefront of corruption in Lebanon" where successive governments have failed to reduce mounting sovereign debt or address failing infrastructure and the loss-making power sector that cost state coffers billions of dollars while power cuts persisted.

On Saturday, Bassil thanked his supporters for showing solidarity with him in wake of the sanctions. “We are used to oppression. We will be victorious and emerge from this stronger,” he vowed.

FPM supporters had held rallies in cars in a show solidarity with the lawmaker, denouncing the sanctions and saying that they were imposed because Bassil refused to “succumb” to issues that “violate his principles, convictions and national choices.”

Hezbollah had also condemned the sanctions, saying they were “politically motivated and blatant interference in Lebanese internal affairs.”



Security Council Divided on Future, Role of UN Mission to Sudan

UN special envoy to Sudan Volker Perthes. (Reuters)
UN special envoy to Sudan Volker Perthes. (Reuters)
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Security Council Divided on Future, Role of UN Mission to Sudan

UN special envoy to Sudan Volker Perthes. (Reuters)
UN special envoy to Sudan Volker Perthes. (Reuters)

Diplomatic efforts have intensified in New York and other capitals on whether to extend the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITMAS) that expires on Saturday.

Fighting broke out between the Sudanese military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Dagalo, in mid-April. The violence has killed at least 866 civilians, according to a Sudanese doctors group, though the actual toll is likely much higher.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: "In my area of responsibility, I reaffirmed to the Council my full confidence in Volker Perthes as Special Representative of the Secretary-General."

"It is up to the Security Council to decide whether the Security Council supports the continuation of the Mission for another period or whether the Security Council decides that it is time to end it," he added.

His remarks came in response to accusations by Burhan last week that Perthes was being "biased" and spreading "disinformation" in the bloody conflict. He demanded that the envoy be replaced. Guterres said he was “shocked” by the request.

Guterres’ latest statements followed a Security Council closed-door session to discuss Sudan that was called for by the UN chief himself, in a rare move.

Asharq Al-Awsat was informed by diplomats who attended the meeting that Guterres tackled the ongoing international and regional effort to resolve the crises, mainly talks in Jeddah that are brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia.

The members gave diverging views on whether a Security Council stance is needed in response to the recent escalation of violence in Sudan.

Gabon, Ghana, and Mozambique, supported by China and Russia, have argued that adopting a stance could create complications at a delicate time.

This reflects the position of Sudan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Al-Harith Idriss al-Harith Mohamed who said last week his country did not want the Security Council involved in his country.

He added that the Council’s involvement may undermine Arican Union efforts to engage positively with the warring parties.

The Council members negotiated a draft resolution to renew the UNITAMS’ mandate, which is due to expire on Saturday.

The UK (the penholder on the file) sought to include in the draft text language that reflects the recent developments in Sudan. However, several other members have apparently opposed adding new language to the text and have been calling for a strict "technical rollover" of UNITAMS’ mandate.

The term "technical rollover" is commonly used by diplomats to describe issuing a concise resolution extending a peace operation’s mandate without altering its core mandate or tasks.

As a result of these divisions, the UK proposed a draft presidential statement addressing the recent updates in Sudan.


Lebanese Opposition Aims to Pressure Berri to Hold Presidential Elections

Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund, attends an interview with Reuters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 2, 2023. (Reuters)
Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund, attends an interview with Reuters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 2, 2023. (Reuters)
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Lebanese Opposition Aims to Pressure Berri to Hold Presidential Elections

Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund, attends an interview with Reuters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 2, 2023. (Reuters)
Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund, attends an interview with Reuters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, May 2, 2023. (Reuters)

The Lebanese opposition appears on the verge of reaching an agreement on the nomination of Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and former minister Jihad Azour as president.

With an agreement in sight, the opposition will then shift its focus on pressuring parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to call the legislature to session to hold the presidential elections as soon as possible.

Berri said months ago that he would only call for an elections session if political parties are in consensus over the names of candidates.

Representatives of the opposition met on Thursday to back Azour’s nomination. The Free Patriotic Movement had expressed its support for his candidacy, in spite of some dissenting voices in the party.

Representatives of the FPM were notably absent from Thursday’s meeting, which included figures from the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb party, Renewal bloc and several Change MPs.

They met to set the “appropriate mechanisms that would yield an agreement on the presidency between them and other blocs” in order to end the vacuum in the country’s top post and save Lebanon from its crisis, read a statement.

The country has been without a president since late October. Eleven elections sessions have been held, but no candidate garnered enough votes to be named winner given the disagreements between the political parties.

Sources from the Lebanese Forces told Asharq Al-Awsat that after the opposition, with the FPM, completes the main phase of agreeing on a candidate, they would shift their focus on pressuring Berri to hold the elections.

“It is now time for Berri to call for an electoral session. The excuses that they have used to impede the polls are no more,” they continued.

“The opposition will put in place a plan to make sure the elections are held, especially since we are convinced that Azour has a high chance of winning against [Marada movement leader] Suleiman Franjieh,” they stated.

Franjieh’s candidacy is backed by the Shiite duo of Hezbollah and Berri’s Amal movement. They have opposed Azour, saying he would be a “defiant candidate.”

In remarks to local radio, LF MP Fadi Karam revealed the opposition “is holding daily meetings to discuss the way to adopt Azour’s nomination.” The announcement, expected within days, is being coordinated with the FPM so that “we would act as one cohesive team in the presidential battle and to pressure Berri.”

“Berri is aware that it is in the country’s interest to call for an electoral session, significantly since there are two candidates and all parties are now ready to hold the polls,” he added.

Azour can secure more than 65 votes, he predicted.

A candidate needs the votes of two-thirds of lawmakers to make it to the second round of the elections. In the second round, he needs 65 votes from the 128-member legislature to be declared the victor.

LF MP George Okais said Azour was not a “defiant” candidate. The Shiite duo “needs to define what they perceive as defiant,” he added.

The National Moderation bloc, Progressive Socialist Party and several independent MPs have yet to announce their position from Azour’s nomination.


Palestinian Toddler Critically Wounded in West Bank, Israeli Military Says Shooting Unintentional

Israeli soldiers search in the West Bank village of Qafin for the suspected gunmen who shot and killed an Israeli civilian near the entrance to a Jewish settlement of Hermesh, Tuesday, May 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Israeli soldiers search in the West Bank village of Qafin for the suspected gunmen who shot and killed an Israeli civilian near the entrance to a Jewish settlement of Hermesh, Tuesday, May 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
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Palestinian Toddler Critically Wounded in West Bank, Israeli Military Says Shooting Unintentional

Israeli soldiers search in the West Bank village of Qafin for the suspected gunmen who shot and killed an Israeli civilian near the entrance to a Jewish settlement of Hermesh, Tuesday, May 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Israeli soldiers search in the West Bank village of Qafin for the suspected gunmen who shot and killed an Israeli civilian near the entrance to a Jewish settlement of Hermesh, Tuesday, May 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

A 3-year-old Palestinian boy was in critical condition at an Israeli hospital Friday morning after being shot by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank. The army opened an investigation into what it said was an unintentional shooting.In a statement, the military said that gunmen opened fire late Thursday toward the West Bank settlement of Neve Tzuf. It said soldiers at a guard post returned fire.Moments later, Israeli medics received reports that a Palestinian man and the child had been badly wounded. The man was rushed to a Palestinian hospital, while the baby, after being resuscitated by Israeli medics, was airlifted to Israel's Sheba Hospital. The hospital said the boy was in critical condition.The military released a grainy video showing what it said were the gunmen firing toward the settlement and said that it was searching for them.But it said the incident was being reviewed, saying “it regrets harm to noncombatants” and that it does “everything in its power to prevent such incidents.”The shooting was the latest bloodshed in a more than yearlong surge of violence in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. That fighting has picked up since Israel's new far-right government took office in late December.Nearly 120 Palestinians have been killed in the two areas this year, with nearly half of them members of armed groups, according to an Associated Press tally. The military says the number of militants is much higher. But stone-throwing youths and people uninvolved in violence have also been killed.Meanwhile, Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis in those areas have killed at least 21 people.Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem, along with the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek these territories for a future state.Some 700,000 Israelis now live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Most of the international community considers these settlements illegal or obstacles to peace.


Lebanon's Berri Says Would Call for Parliament Session Only If there are 'Serious Candidates'

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met Army Commander Joseph Aoun Thursday (Lebanese Parliament)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met Army Commander Joseph Aoun Thursday (Lebanese Parliament)
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Lebanon's Berri Says Would Call for Parliament Session Only If there are 'Serious Candidates'

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met Army Commander Joseph Aoun Thursday (Lebanese Parliament)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri met Army Commander Joseph Aoun Thursday (Lebanese Parliament)

Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Thursday that he would call for a parliament session to elect a new president only if there were two or more “serious candidates” for the post.

“The doors of the parliament have never and will never be closed in the face of a session to elect a new president if serious candidates come forward for the presidency position”, said Berri.

Pressure from local and foreign sides has been mounting on the Speaker urging him to invite Lebanon’s MPs for a session to elect a head of state, and fill the post vacant since the end of the term of Michel Aoun in October 2022.

Berri added that he does not function under threats. “Threats will bring no benefit mainly with the Speaker”, he said, arguing that rival parties were not serious in presenting their candidates.

The pressure aggravated recently with the opposition and Christian parties choosing the former minister Jihad Azour as their candidate, to face the candidate of the Shiite duo (Amal Movement and Hezbollah) leader of the Marada Movement Sleiman Franjieh.

“Based on the Speaker’s argument, we expect him to immediately call for a session now that the opposition has officially named its candidate. Let the nominee who gets the majority of votes win”, opposition sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity.

Moreover, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf has said earlier this week that the US was considering the possibility of imposing sanctions on some Lebanese officials over the failure to elect a new president.

During a Senate committee hearing on the Middle East, the top US diplomat for the region expressed the Biden Administration’s “enormous frustration” over the current situation in Lebanon.

“The elected representatives of the Lebanese people have failed to do their jobs. The Speaker of the Parliament has failed to hold a session since January to allow members to put candidates forward for the presidency, to vote on them up or down, and to get a choice to elect a president,” according to Leaf.

Opposition MP Mark Daou said in a tweet that “the Parliament Speaker is deliberately obstructing the election of a president by refraining from calling the MPs to a session, building his judgments on unconstitutional “fatwas” only to serve his own interests and to impose the candidate of the duo”.

 


Report: Iran Plans to Escalate Attacks Against US in Syria

Al-Tanf base in Syria. Reuters file photo
Al-Tanf base in Syria. Reuters file photo
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Report: Iran Plans to Escalate Attacks Against US in Syria

Al-Tanf base in Syria. Reuters file photo
Al-Tanf base in Syria. Reuters file photo

Iran is arming militants in Syria for a new phase of lethal attacks against US troops in the country, while also working with Russia on a broader strategy to drive Americans from the region, intelligence officials and leaked classified documents say.

Iran and its allies are building and training forces to use more powerful armor-piercing roadside bombs intended specifically to target US military vehicles and kill US personnel, according to classified intelligence reports obtained by The Washington Post. Such attacks would constitute an escalation of Iran’s long-running campaign of using proxy militias to launch rocket and drone strikes on US forces in Syria.

Drone attacks have wounded six US service members and killed a Defense Department contractor, and the new explosive devices could add to the toll of US casualties, risking a wider military confrontation with Iran, current and former intelligence analysts and weapons experts say. The same type of weapon, called an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, was used by pro-Iranian insurgents in lethal attacks against American military convoys during the US occupation of Iraq.

Officials with Iran’s elite Quds Force unit directed and oversaw testing of one of the explosives, which reportedly sliced through a tank’s armored plating in a trial run conducted in late January in Dumayr, east of Damascus, the Syrian capital, according to one of the intelligence reports. The document, part of the trove of classified materials leaked on the messaging platform Discord, appears to be based on intercepted communications by Syrian and Lebanese militants allied to Iran. One apparent attempt to use such devices against US forces was apparently thwarted in late February when three bombs were seized by US-allied Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria, a second document states.

“There has been a sea change in their risk-acceptance in killing Americans in Syria,” said Michael Knights, an expert on Iranian-backed militia groups and a founder of the website Militia Spotlight. Noting the devastating toll exacted by EFP bombs during the Iraq War, he added: “This will definitely kill people. And they’re thinking very hard about how to do it.”

Another document in the trove describes a new and broader effort by Moscow, Damascus and Tehran to oust the United States from Syria, a long-sought goal that could allow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to reclaim eastern provinces now controlled by US-backed Kurdish forces. The past three US administrations have maintained a small contingent of US troops in Syria — about 900 at any given time, augmented by hundreds more contractors — to prevent a resurgence by ISIS militants in the country, thwart Iranian and Russian ambitions, and provide leverage for other strategic objectives.


Lebanon Military Judge Charges 5 Hezbollah Members for Peacekeeper's Death

FILE - Lebanese soldiers stand behind a damaged vehicle after a UN peacekeepers convoy came under fire in the Al-Aqbiya village, south Lebanon, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)
FILE - Lebanese soldiers stand behind a damaged vehicle after a UN peacekeepers convoy came under fire in the Al-Aqbiya village, south Lebanon, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)
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Lebanon Military Judge Charges 5 Hezbollah Members for Peacekeeper's Death

FILE - Lebanese soldiers stand behind a damaged vehicle after a UN peacekeepers convoy came under fire in the Al-Aqbiya village, south Lebanon, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)
FILE - Lebanese soldiers stand behind a damaged vehicle after a UN peacekeepers convoy came under fire in the Al-Aqbiya village, south Lebanon, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)

Lebanon's military tribunal on Thursday charged five men with the killing of an Irish UN peacekeeper in December, a senior judicial official said. The official alleged all five are linked with Hezbollah.

The indictment of Judge Fadi Sawan followed a half-year probe after an attack on a UN peacekeeping convoy near the town of Al-Aqbiya in southern Lebanon. The shooting resulted in the death of Pvt. Seán Rooney, 24, of Newtown Cunningham, Ireland, and seriously wounded Pvt. Shane Kearney, 22. The wounded peacekeeper was medically evacuated to Ireland. Two other Irish soldiers sustained light injuries.

The 30-page indictment includes evidence from bystanders’ testimonies, as well as audio recordings and video footage from surveillance cameras, the Lebanese official said. In some of the recordings of the confrontation, the gunmen reportedly could be heard telling the peacekeepers that they are from Hezbollah and were using walkie-talkies to communicate.

Hezbollah has denied any role in the killing.

One of five indicted, Mohamad Ayyad, is currently in custody of Lebanese authorities. The four others facing charges - Ali Khalifeh, Ali Salman, Hussein Salman, and Mustafa Salman - are at large.

On the fatal night, Rooney and several other Irish soldiers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), were on their way from their base in the south to the Beirut airport. Two UN vehicles apparently took a detour through Al-Aqbiya, which is not part of the area under the peacekeepers’ mandate.

Initial reports said angry residents confronted the peacekeepers, but the indictment concludes that the shooting was a targeted attack. The UN peacekeeper vehicle reportedly took a wrong turn and was surrounded by vehicles and armed men as they tried to make their way back to the main road.

UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said the indictment was an “important step towards justice”.

“Attacks on men and women serving the cause of peace are serious crimes and can never be tolerated,” Tenenti told the AP. “We look forward to justice for Private Rooney, his injured colleagues, and their families.”


US Imposes Sanctions Against Those Perpetuating Violence in Sudan

Bullet holes riddle the wall of a building at the Souk Sitta (Market Six) in the south of Khartoum on June 1, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
Bullet holes riddle the wall of a building at the Souk Sitta (Market Six) in the south of Khartoum on June 1, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
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US Imposes Sanctions Against Those Perpetuating Violence in Sudan

Bullet holes riddle the wall of a building at the Souk Sitta (Market Six) in the south of Khartoum on June 1, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
Bullet holes riddle the wall of a building at the Souk Sitta (Market Six) in the south of Khartoum on June 1, 2023. (Photo by AFP)

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on companies it accused of fueling the conflict in Sudan.

The US Treasury Department said in a statement it targeted two companies affiliated with Sudan's army and two companies affiliated with the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), accusing them of generating revenue from the conflict and contributing to the fighting.

“Through sanctions, we are cutting off key financial flows to both the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, depriving them of resources needed to pay soldiers, rearm, resupply, and wage war in Sudan,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in the statement.

“The United States stands on the side of civilians against those who perpetuate violence towards the people of Sudan.”

Saudi Arabia and the United States have been leading efforts to try to secure an effective ceasefire in Sudan.

Thursday's action marks the first punitive measures imposed under an executive order signed by US President Joe Biden in May that paved the way for new Sudan-related sanctions amid the fighting.

The conflict, which broke out on April 15, has killed hundreds, displaced more than 1.2 million people inside Sudan and driven 400,000 others across borders to neighboring states, the United Nations says.

Washington targeted Algunade, which it said is a Sudanese holding company controlled by RSF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and his brother; Tradive General Trading L.L.C., a front company controlled by RSF Major Algoney Hamdan Dagalo, another brother; Sudan's largest defense enterprise Defense Industries System; and arms company Sudan Master Technology.

Washington also issued an updated business advisory to highlight growing risks to US business and individuals exacerbated by the conflict, including trade in gold from a conflict-affected area, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a separate statement.

He added that visa restrictions were imposed on individuals in Sudan, including officials from both the army and RSF and leaders from the former Omar al-Bashir government.

"The ongoing fighting in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces is a tragedy that has already stolen far too many lives - it must end," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Thursday.

"These measures are intended to hold accountable those responsible for undermining the peace, security, and stability of Sudan."

Sudan's army suspended talks with the rival paramilitary force on Wednesday over a ceasefire and aid access, raising fears the six-week-old conflict will push Africa's third largest nation deeper into a humanitarian crisis.


UNHCR: More Than 100,000 Flee to Chad from Sudan Conflict

A Sudanese refugee woman, who fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region and newly arrived, walks as she jokes with her relatives, in a yard of a Chadian's family house where she takes refuge, near the border between Sudan and Chad in Koufroun, Chad May 14, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
A Sudanese refugee woman, who fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region and newly arrived, walks as she jokes with her relatives, in a yard of a Chadian's family house where she takes refuge, near the border between Sudan and Chad in Koufroun, Chad May 14, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
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UNHCR: More Than 100,000 Flee to Chad from Sudan Conflict

A Sudanese refugee woman, who fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region and newly arrived, walks as she jokes with her relatives, in a yard of a Chadian's family house where she takes refuge, near the border between Sudan and Chad in Koufroun, Chad May 14, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
A Sudanese refugee woman, who fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region and newly arrived, walks as she jokes with her relatives, in a yard of a Chadian's family house where she takes refuge, near the border between Sudan and Chad in Koufroun, Chad May 14, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

More than 100,000 people have fled violence in Sudan to neighboring Chad and the numbers could double in the next three months, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday.

The near seven-week conflict has pushed Sudan into a humanitarian crisis and turned one of Africa's greatest cities - the three-part capital of Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri on the confluence on the Blue and White Niles - into a war zone.

"As the rainy season is coming within the next few weeks, we require massive logistics to move refugees from border areas... We need to establish immediately new camps and extension of existing camps," UNHCR Chad representative Laura Lo Castro said.

One of the poorest countries in the world, Chad was already hosting close to 600,000 refugees before conflict broke out in Sudan in April.

UNHCR said it needs $214.1 million to provide vital services to displaced people, in the country, which is currently 16% funded.


Syrian FM to Visit Iraq on Saturday

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Mokdad (AFP)
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Mokdad (AFP)
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Syrian FM to Visit Iraq on Saturday

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Mokdad (AFP)
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Mokdad (AFP)

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Mokdad is set to visit the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Saturday, Syria’s Al-Watan newspaper said on Thursday.

Quoting unnamed sources, the paper said that during his visit the Minister will meet with Iraqi officials including Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, Prime Minister Mohamed Al-Sudani, his counterpart Fouad Hussein and Parliament Speaker Mohamed Halbusi.

Discussions will reportedly focus on promoting bilateral relations between the two countries, and the latest developments in the region.

Mokdad’s visit to Iraq comes amid “positive” developments in the region following the Arab League summit in Jeddah.

The Arab League member states agreed to welcome Syria back into the Arab fold earlier in May after a 12-year suspension.

Syrian President Bashar Assad attended the summit.

 


Hussam Edin Aala Appointed as Syria’s Ambassador to AL

Ambassador Hussam Edin Aala. (SANA) 
Ambassador Hussam Edin Aala. (SANA) 
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Hussam Edin Aala Appointed as Syria’s Ambassador to AL

Ambassador Hussam Edin Aala. (SANA) 
Ambassador Hussam Edin Aala. (SANA) 

Syria has appointed Hussam Edin Aala as its representative to the Arab League.

A presidential decree was issued few months back to appoint Aala as Assistant Foreign Minister for European Affairs and International Organizations.

Syrian state media reported on Wednesday that Aala would succeed Youssef al-Ahmad. who was the Syrian ambassador to the Arab League 11 years ago before suspending Syria’s membership.

Syria retook its seat in the AL at the beginning of May after the Arab states foreign ministers approved this step during an exceptional meeting in Cairo.

On May 19, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attended the Arab summit that was held in Jeddah, Saud Arabia.

Aala, 56, was Syria's permanent representative to the UN in Geneva for eight years. Before that, he was Syria’s ambassador was appointed as Syria’s ambassador to Spain.

He further worked at the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations between 1996-2001 and was later appointed as the director of the office of the foreign minister assistant in Damascus.