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Sudan Forum Affirms Strong Arab-Chinese Relations

Saudi and Chinese flags ahead of the China-Arab summit in Riyadh (Reuters)
Saudi and Chinese flags ahead of the China-Arab summit in Riyadh (Reuters)
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Sudan Forum Affirms Strong Arab-Chinese Relations

Saudi and Chinese flags ahead of the China-Arab summit in Riyadh (Reuters)
Saudi and Chinese flags ahead of the China-Arab summit in Riyadh (Reuters)

Ambassadors of Arab countries in Khartoum called for deepening Arab-Chinese relations, stressing the mutual strategic interests between Arab countries and Beijing and the importance of pushing them to the highest level of comprehensive cooperation.

Khartoum hosted on Wednesday a forum on the "Arab-Chinese Summit: Current Challenges and Future Prospects" ahead of the three summits in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia will host the Saudi-Chinese, GCC-Chinese, and Arab-Chinese summits with the participation of 30 leaders of countries and international organizations.

The Moroccan ambassador to Sudan, Mohamed Maa el-Enein, said that the Arab countries view China as an attractive and active economic hub, expecting a qualitative shift in relations and an increase in trade exchange during the next two decades.

Maa el-Enein asserted that Arab countries must boost relations with emerging powers.

The ambassador said that trade exchange between the Arab countries and China amounted to about $320 billion during 2021, describing it as an encouraging indicator for developing these ties.

The Secretary-General of the Association of Arab-Chinese Friendship Societies, Ali Yousif, said that Riyadh would be hosting the Arab-Chinese summit amid historical and exceptional circumstances, namely the Russian-Ukrainian war, which poses a threat to global security and safety.

He reiterated the summit's importance, calling on Arab and Chinese leaders to put the Arab and Chinese peoples at the forefront of their discussions.

For his part, the head of the Asian Department of the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Mohamed Abdullah, said that Arab countries developed a shared vision from a strategic perspective with China.

Abdullah noted that the Arab states want to develop ties to higher levels of comprehensive multi-dimensional and multi-level cooperation.

He called for boosting mutual strategic trust and maintaining common interests based on declared principles of mutual benefit.

Arab countries are cooperating with China to maintain standard security and sustainable collaboration, said the official, adding that they are pushing for the implementation of the global security initiative and reaching just solutions to the issues of the Arab region.

The meeting included the Chinese ambassador, Ma Xinmin, the ambassadors of Morocco, Yemen, Palestine, and Oman, the Qatari charge d'affaires, officials of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, representatives of diplomatic missions, and members of the diplomatic corps of Arab countries.

The meeting addressed regional and international developments, economic cooperation, and investments between Arab countries and China.

They also discussed the Belt and Road Initiative launched by China to improve interdependence and cooperation on a large scale that extends across continents and its role in developing Arab and Chinese relations.

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Arab World

Residents of Syria's Quneitra are Frustrated by Lack of Action to Halt Israeli Advance

Israeli military vehicles in the Syrian city of Quneitra, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 13 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli military vehicles in the Syrian city of Quneitra, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 13 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Residents of Syria's Quneitra are Frustrated by Lack of Action to Halt Israeli Advance

Israeli military vehicles in the Syrian city of Quneitra, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 13 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli military vehicles in the Syrian city of Quneitra, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 13 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

A main road in the provincial capital of Quneitra in southern Syria was blocked with mounds of dirt, fallen palm trees and a metal pole that appeared to have once been a traffic light. On the other side of the barriers, an Israeli tank could be seen maneuvering in the middle of the street.
Israeli forces entered the area — which lies in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights that was established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel — soon after the fall of President Bashar Assad last month in the country's 13-year civil war.
The Israeli military has also made incursions into Syrian territory outside of the buffer zone, sparking protests by local residents. They said the Israeli forces had demolished homes and prevented farmers from going to their fields in some areas. On at least two occasions, Israeli troops reportedly opened fire on protesters who approached them.
Residents of Quneitra, a seemingly serene bucolic expanse of small villages and olive groves, said they are frustrated, both by the Israeli advances and by the lack of action from Syria’s new authorities and the international community.
Rinata Fastas said that Israeli forces had raided the local government buildings but had not so far entered residential neighborhoods. Her house lies just inside of the newly blocked-off area in the provincial capital formerly called Baath City, after Assad's former ruling party, and now renamed Salam City.
She said she is afraid Israeli troops may advance farther or try to permanently occupy the area they have already taken. Israel still controls the Golan Heights that it captured from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed. The international community, with the exception of the US, regards it as occupied.
Fastas said she understands that Syria, which is now trying to build its national institutions and army from scratch, is no position to militarily confront Israel.
“But why is no one in the new Syrian state coming out and talking about the violations that are happening in Quneitra province and against the rights of its people?” she asked.
The United Nations has accused Israel of violating the 1974 ceasefire agreement by entering the buffer zone.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said troops will stay on "until another arrangement is found that will ensure Israel’s security.” He was speaking from the snowy peak of Mount Hermon, Syria’s tallest mountain known as Jabal al Sheikh in Arabic, which has now been captured by Israeli forces.
An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter, said the military will remain in the area it has taken until it is satisfied that the new Syrian authorities do not pose a danger to Israel.
The new Syrian government has lodged a complaint with the UN Security Council about Israeli airstrikes and advances into Syrian territory.
The country’s new de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has also publicly said Syria is not seeking a military conflict with Israel and will not pose a threat to its neighbors or to the West.
In the meantime, residents of Quneitra have largely been left to fend for themselves.
In the village of Rafid, inside the buffer zone, locals said the Israeli military had demolished two civilian houses and a grove of trees as well as a former Syrian army outpost.
Mayor Omar Mahmoud Ismail said when the Israeli forces entered the village, an Israeli officer greeted him and told him, “I am your friend.”
“I told him, ‘You are not my friend, and if you were, you wouldn’t enter like this,’" Ismail said.
Locals who organized a protest were met with Israeli fire
In Dawaya, a village outside the buffer zone, 18-year-old Abdelrahman Khaled al-Aqqa was lying on a mattress in his family home Sunday, still recovering after being shot in both legs. Al-Aqqa said he joined about 100 people from the area on Dec. 25 in protest against the Israeli incursion, chanting “Syria is free, Israel get out!”
“We didn’t have any weapons, we were just there in the clothes we were wearing,” he said. “But when we got close to them, they started shooting at us.”
Six protesters were wounded, according to residents and media reports. Another man was injured on Dec. 20 in a similar incident in the village of Maariyah. The Israeli army said at the time that it had fired because the man was quickly approaching and ignored calls to stop.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Dec. 25 incident.
Adel Subhi al-Ali, a local Sunni religious official, sat with his 21-year-old son, Moutasem, who was recovering after being shot in the stomach in the Dec. 25 protest. He was driven first to a local hospital that did not have the capacity to treat him, and then to Damascus where he underwent surgery.
When he saw the Israeli tanks moving in, “We felt that an occupation is occupying our land. So we had to defend it, even though we didn’t have weapons, ... It is impossible for them to settle here,” al-Ali said.
Since the day of the protest, the Israeli army has not returned to the area, he said.
Al-Ali called for the international community to “pressure Israel to return to what was agreed upon with the former regime,” referring to the 1974 ceasefire agreement, and to return the Golan Heights to Syria.
But he acknowledged that Syria has little leverage.
“We are starting from zero, we need to build a state,” al-Ali said, echoing Syria's new leaders. “We are not ready as a country now to open wars with another country."