EU Reiterates Refusal to Normalize Ties with Syrian Regime

Syrians are seen at a refugee camp near Afrin in the Aleppo countryside on Saturday. (dpa)
Syrians are seen at a refugee camp near Afrin in the Aleppo countryside on Saturday. (dpa)
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EU Reiterates Refusal to Normalize Ties with Syrian Regime

Syrians are seen at a refugee camp near Afrin in the Aleppo countryside on Saturday. (dpa)
Syrians are seen at a refugee camp near Afrin in the Aleppo countryside on Saturday. (dpa)

The European Union reiterated on Friday its rejection of any rapprochement with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Head of the EU mission to Syria, Dan Stoenescu held talks with head of the Syrian opposition Negotiations Commission Bader Jamous in Istanbul.

In a tweet, Stoenescu said: “We talked about the need of stepping up efforts to revive the Constitutional Committee and the political process in Geneva.”

“I assured him of the continuous commitment of the EU to the full implementation of United Nations Secuity Council resolution 2254,” he added.

He stressed that the EU rejects any normalization with the regime, the lifting of sanctions or embarking on Syria’s reconstruction before Damascus engages in the political transition process and commits fully to resolution 2254.

For his part, Jamous tweeted that the solution in Syria does not lie in humanitarian aid, but rather through a political solution that meets the aspirations of its people.

Any delay in reaching the solution will only deepen the suffering of Syrians inside Syria and abroad, he added.

Moreover, he urged the need to increase aid to the Syrian refugees in neighboring Lebanon and the internally displaced in northern Syria.

A delegation from the Negotiations Commission had also recently met with the EU’s Managing Director for the Middle East and North Africa (EEAS) Helene Le Gal in Brussels.

The delegation had underscored the dire humanitarian “catastrophe” in Syria and urged the EU to increase aid in opposition-held regions.

Le Gal stressed that there can be no normalization with Damascus until progress is made in the political process.

Russia, meanwhile, has been intensifying its contacts to maintain the momentum in its drive to normalize ties between Türkiye and the Damascus regime. It added that Iran would be taking part in these efforts.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar had announced on Wednesday that a technical meeting will be held soon to follow up on the implementation of the agreement reached between the defense ministers and heads of intelligence of Türkiye, Russia and Syria in Moscow on December 28.

He stressed that Türkiye’s rapprochement with the regime aims to combat terrorism, secure the safe return of Syrian refugees to their country and achieve stability in Syria.



Evidence of Ongoing 'Crimes Against Humanity' in Darfur, Says ICC Deputy Prosecutor

A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
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Evidence of Ongoing 'Crimes Against Humanity' in Darfur, Says ICC Deputy Prosecutor

A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
A boy sits atop a hill overlooking a refugee camp near the Chad-Sudan border, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo

There are "reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity" are being committed in war-ravaged Sudan's western Darfur region, the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said.

Outlining her office's probe of the devastating conflict which has raged since 2023, Nazhat Shameem Khan told the UN Security Council that it was "difficult to find appropriate words to describe the depth of suffering in Darfur," AFP reported.

"On the basis of our independent investigations, the position of our office is clear. We have reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity, have been and are continuing to be committed in Darfur," she said.

The prosecutor's office focused its probe on crimes committed in West Darfur, Khan said, interviewing victims who fled to neighboring Chad.

She detailed an "intolerable" humanitarian situation, with apparent targeting of hospitals and humanitarian convoys, while warning that "famine is escalating" as aid is unable to reach "those in dire need."

"People are being deprived of water and food. Rape and sexual violence are being weaponized," Khan said, adding that abductions for ransom had become "common practice."

"And yet we should not be under any illusion, things can still get worse."

The Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC in 2005, with some 300,000 people killed during conflict in the region in the 2000s.

In 2023, the ICC opened a fresh probe into war crimes in Darfur after a new conflict erupted between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The RSF's predecessor, the Janjaweed militia, was accused of genocide two decades ago in the vast western region.

ICC judges are expected to deliver their first decision on crimes committed in Darfur two decades ago in the case of Ali Mohamed Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, known as Ali Kosheib, after the trial ended in 2024.

"I wish to be clear to those on the ground in Darfur now, to those who are inflicting unimaginable atrocities on its population -- they may feel a sense of impunity at this moment, as Ali Kosheib may have felt in the past," said Khan.

"But we are working intensively to ensure that the Ali Kosheib trial represents only the first of many in relation to this situation at the International Criminal Court," she added.