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Impassioned Blinken Demands More Crossings for Syria Aid

Smoke billows from burning trucks and freight vehicles on March 21, 2021 in the aftermath of air strikes at a depot near the Bab al-Hawa, the sole border crossing into Syria. (AFP)
Smoke billows from burning trucks and freight vehicles on March 21, 2021 in the aftermath of air strikes at a depot near the Bab al-Hawa, the sole border crossing into Syria. (AFP)
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Impassioned Blinken Demands More Crossings for Syria Aid

Smoke billows from burning trucks and freight vehicles on March 21, 2021 in the aftermath of air strikes at a depot near the Bab al-Hawa, the sole border crossing into Syria. (AFP)
Smoke billows from burning trucks and freight vehicles on March 21, 2021 in the aftermath of air strikes at a depot near the Bab al-Hawa, the sole border crossing into Syria. (AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged the UN Security Council to reopen border crossings into Syria blocked by Russia, saying world powers should be ashamed by their inaction.

Chairing a virtual Security Council session on Syria, the mild-mannered top US diplomat spoke with clear passion as he voiced outrage at Syrians' continued suffering 10 years into the civil war.

"How is it possible that we can't find in our hearts the common humanity to actually take meaningful action?" said President Joe Biden's top diplomat, recalling his own two children.

"Look into your hearts," he implored. "We have to find a way to do something -- to take action to help people. That is our responsibility. And shame on us if we don't."

Relief supplies into Syria, where most of the population relies on aid, as of July 2020 can enter only one crossing -- Bab al-Hawa on the Turkish border.

Veto-wielding Russia, which is allied with President Bashar al-Assad, successfully opposed other crossings on the grounds that they violate the Damascus government's sovereignty.

"Sovereignty was never intended to ensure the right of any government to starve people, deprive them of life-saving medicine, bomb hospitals or commit any other human rights abuse against citizens," Blinken said.

He pointed to a Russian strike last week near the Bab al-Hawa crossing that disrupted all aid delivery into Syria.

Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Vershinin, in his own remarks to the videoconference voiced outrage that Assad's government was not invited to an aid conference on Syria held in Brussels.

"There is a growing politicization of humanitarian aid," he said.

The proposed cross-border aid "violates the principles of international law" and is only because "the government that is in place does not suit" the West, he said.

'More pathways' to help
Blinken called for the reopening of closed crossings at Bab al-Salam, also on the Turkish border, and Al-Yarubiyah on the Iraqi border, saying that they respectively supplied four million and 1.3 million Syrians.

"Let's give ourselves more pathways, rather than fewer pathways, to deliver food and medicine to the Syrian people," Blinken said.

"And let's not pressure Syrian refugees to return until they feel they can do so in safety and in dignity," said Blinken, the stepson of a refugee who has often spoken of the need to protect people.

The border issue is expected to come to a head again in July when the one remaining crossing comes up for renewal by the Security Council.

Blinken called ultimately for a political solution in Syria based on Security Council Resolution 2254, approved unanimously in 2015.

While Russia has essentially declared Assad the victor of the war, the United States and its European allies are adamant that there must be accountability for crimes over a decade of war that has claimed nearly 400,000 lives, caused millions to flee and saw the rise of the ISIS extremist group.

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Arab World

UN Probe: RSF Actions in Sudan's el-Fasher Point to Genocide

Forces affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces in the city of el-Fasher, Darfur region (AFP)
Forces affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces in the city of el-Fasher, Darfur region (AFP)
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UN Probe: RSF Actions in Sudan's el-Fasher Point to Genocide

Forces affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces in the city of el-Fasher, Darfur region (AFP)
Forces affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces in the city of el-Fasher, Darfur region (AFP)

Mass killings of non-Arab communities when the Rapid Support Forces captured the Sudanese city of el-Fasher bears hallmarks that point to genocide, an independent UN probe said in a new report on Thursday.

At the end of October last year, the RSF took over the city - which had been the last remaining stronghold of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in the Darfur region in the west of the country - with thousands of people killed and raped during three days of horror, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan said.

It followed an 18-month siege where the RSF imposed conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of non-Arab communities, in particular the Zaghawa and the Fur, ‌the report stated.

The ‌UN mission said it found evidence that the RSF carried out a pattern ‌of ⁠coordinated and repeated ⁠targeting of individuals based on ethnicity, gender and perceived political affiliation, including mass killings, rape and torture, as well as inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction - core elements of the crime of genocide under international law.

The final draft of the report was shared with the Government of Sudan but no response was received, while the RSF did not respond to the UN mission's request to meet with its leadership, the report stated. The RSF and SAF did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters for comment.

In the past, the RSF has ⁠denied such abuses - saying the accounts have been manufactured by its enemies and ‌making counter-accusations against them.

"The scale, coordination, and public endorsement of the operation ‌by senior RSF leadership demonstrate that the crimes committed in and around el-Fasher were not random excesses of war" said Mohamad ‌Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan.

"They formed part of a planned and organized operation ‌that bears the defining characteristics of genocide," he added.

Before its takeover el-Fasher's population mainly consisted of the Zaghawa, a non-Arab community, while displacement camps around the area were comprised of the Fur community, as well as Berti, Masalit and Tama, the report said.

"Survivors describe explicit threats to 'clean' the city," the report stated. Alongside attacking displacement camps, communal kitchens and medical centers ‌with drones and heavy weapons, the RSF also carried out killings, looting, beatings and sexual violence in el-Fasher, the report stated.

The RSF's "exterminatory rhetoric" and other violations indicated ⁠its intent to destroy ⁠the Zaghawa and Fur communities in whole or in part, the report said.

"Witnesses heard the Rapid Support Forces saying, 'Is there anyone Zaghawa among you? If we find Zaghawa, we will kill them all'," the report said.

Survivors recounted point-blank executions of civilians, as well as bodies of men, women and children filling roads, the report stated.

Women and girls aged 7 to 70 years old from non-Arab communities, particularly the Zaghawa were raped and subject to other acts of sexual violence, including whipping and forced nudity, the report stated.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the international response to the report and the situation in Sudan had to be emphatic and urged for a ceasefire.

"The findings of this UN report are truly horrific - atrocities including systematic starvation, torture, killings, rape and deliberate ethnic targeting used on the most horrendous scale during the Rapid Support Forces siege of el-Fasher," she said in a statement.

The UN mission was mandated by members of the Human Rights Council, following backing from countries that included Britain, to urgently investigate violations and abuses under international law in and around el-Fasher.

Arab World

Sudanese Political, Civil Groups Propose Ramadan Truce

The war in Sudan, ongoing since mid-April 2023, has caused extensive destruction across the country (AFP)
The war in Sudan, ongoing since mid-April 2023, has caused extensive destruction across the country (AFP)
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Sudanese Political, Civil Groups Propose Ramadan Truce

The war in Sudan, ongoing since mid-April 2023, has caused extensive destruction across the country (AFP)
The war in Sudan, ongoing since mid-April 2023, has caused extensive destruction across the country (AFP)

A broad coalition of Sudanese political and civil forces has made an urgent appeal to the leadership of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), calling for a “comprehensive humanitarian truce” during the holy month of Ramadan.

The initiative calls for a temporary cessation of hostilities, guarantees for the protection of civilians, and unhindered humanitarian aid delivery, amid increasingly dire humanitarian conditions as Sudanese citizens observe their fourth consecutive Ramadan under gunfire and shelling.

More than ten Sudanese political parties made the appeal, some of which are part of the Civil Democratic Alliance of the Forces of the Revolution (“Sumoud”), led by former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Prominent signatories include the National Umma Party, the Federal Gathering, and the Sudanese Congress Party.

The document was also endorsed by parties outside the “Sumoud” alliance, most notably the Arab Baath Socialist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party, alongside various civil and trade union groups.

The appeal urges both warring parties — the army and the RSF — to announce a humanitarian truce beginning on the first day of Ramadan. The proposal includes a ceasefire, the safeguarding of civilian facilities, the opening of safe corridors for relief organizations, the immediate release of civilian detainees, and the initiation of prisoner exchange arrangements under international supervision to ensure compliance with humanitarian law.

It also calls for clear monitoring and implementation mechanisms to prevent either side from exploiting the truce for military gains.

The signatories stressed that the initiative comes in response to the worsening humanitarian crisis, particularly among vulnerable groups such as women, children, and the elderly, and to the mounting threats to the lives of millions, which they say require urgent intervention.

This marks the second initiative put forward by political and civil forces to halt the war since its outbreak in 2023. The first resulted in the signing of what became known as the “Addis Ababa Declaration” between the Civil Democratic Forces Alliance (Taqaddum) and the RSF. The declaration was addressed to the army leadership, which neither rejected nor signed it.

Since the fall of the cities of El-Fasher and Babanusa, as well as the town of Heglig in West Kordofan State, clashes between the army and the RSF intensified in South and North Kordofan before subsiding in recent weeks and shifting into more “technical” warfare.

This phase has seen the increased use of combat drones, jamming devices, guided artillery, and aerial munitions, leading to a rise in civilian casualties and injuries.

Arab World

Anger in Iraq Over Use of ‘Greatest Arab Poet’ in Ramadan Ad

The late Iraqi poet Muhammad Mahdi al-Jawahiri serves tea to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, as portrayed in a Ramadan advertisement
The late Iraqi poet Muhammad Mahdi al-Jawahiri serves tea to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, as portrayed in a Ramadan advertisement
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Anger in Iraq Over Use of ‘Greatest Arab Poet’ in Ramadan Ad

The late Iraqi poet Muhammad Mahdi al-Jawahiri serves tea to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, as portrayed in a Ramadan advertisement
The late Iraqi poet Muhammad Mahdi al-Jawahiri serves tea to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, as portrayed in a Ramadan advertisement

Baghdad - A promotional video produced by a local platform and sponsored by several companies has sparked widespread criticism in Iraq over content described as “irresponsible,” according to the Iraqi Writers and Authors Union, for allegedly insulting the “Greatest Arab Poet,” Muhammad Mahdi al-Jawahiri (1899–1997), as well as former royal-era prime minister Nuri al-Said (1888–1958).

Although the production company branded the advertisement “Unified Iraq,” it depicted al-Jawahiri in an AI-generated image serving tea to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani inside his office. In a similar scene, Nuri al-Said was shown serving tea to former parliament speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, triggering a wave of public outrage.

Alongside the controversy over the AI-generated portrayals of al-Jawahiri and al-Said, another debate erupted after the video showed US Chargé d’Affaires Joshua Harris, British Ambassador Irfan Siddiq, French Ambassador Patrick Durel, and German Ambassador Daniel Krebber at a banquet, appearing to be hosted by Farhad Alaaldin, the Iraqi prime minister’s adviser for foreign affairs.

The advertisement also briefly featured the late Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, holding an umbrella while walking through the streets of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, raising further questions about its purpose.

While the video included a song about “a unified Iraq as a homeland of peace,” critics said its central narrative — built around a homeless young beggar — was confusing and poorly defined. Sources close to the production team told Asharq Al-Awsat that the creators had “their own artistic methods” of expressing the idea.

Government Distances Itself

Amid the mounting backlash, the prime minister’s office expressed rejection of “the virtual video in which al-Jawahiri appeared in a manner inconsistent with the prime minister’s respect and appreciation for his literary and national stature.”

Al-Sudani instructed the Communications and Media Commission to launch an urgent investigation into the entities that produced, promoted, or published the advertisement, citing its alleged offense to cultural icons and state institutions, as well as what he described as the irresponsible and unprofessional use of artificial intelligence technologies.

He also signaled the possibility of legal action against the party responsible for producing what he called “the offensive video against Iraq and its national symbols.”

In contrast, the production company asserted that the PM’s office had prior knowledge of the project, and that the same applied to al-Halbousi. However, sources denied being aware of the inclusion of al-Jawahiri and Nuri al-Said in the work.

The sources also suggested that a government official may have been involved in facilitating the production in cooperation with Al-Bayan University, whose building and offices appeared in the advertisement.

“Deliberate Insult”

The Iraqi Writers and Authors Union condemned what it called an “insult to the immortal al-Jawahiri” after the video showed him serving tea to the prime minister.

In a statement, the union said the act reflected “a deliberate offense to a poet distinguished by his immense cultural and moral value, and his well-known national and humanitarian positions.”

It urged relevant authorities to take a firm and deterrent stance against “irresponsible acts aimed at distorting facts and undermining Iraq’s national symbols.”

The union added that al-Jawahiri remained a national symbol “we proudly present to the world and refuse to see insulted by any party.”

The union was founded in al-Jawahiri’s home in 1959 and he became Iraq’s first journalists’ syndicate head the same year.

Claims of Prior Approvals

Facing intense criticism, the advertisement’s author and head of the production company said all participating political figures had approved the details of the project and filming inside their offices.

She stated that the scenes featuring al-Sudani and al-Halbousi were real, with only the figures of al-Jawahiri and Nuri al-Said later added using artificial intelligence.

In a statement on Instagram, al-Jumaili said the project took two months to complete and was reviewed by several international parties before being shown in Iraq, adding that “no step was taken without official approvals.” She did not specify the nature of those entities or whether the political figures were aware of the AI portrayals alongside them.

She argued that the backlash was politically driven and overlooked the advertisement’s positive messages, later explaining that the tea-serving scenes symbolized a “national identity” passed from past intellectual and political leaders to a new generation of leaders.