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Moscow Consultations: Russia, Syria Disagree on Turkish Deployment

The Russian and Syrian delegations meet in Moscow on Monday. (Russia Today)
The Russian and Syrian delegations meet in Moscow on Monday. (Russia Today)
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Moscow Consultations: Russia, Syria Disagree on Turkish Deployment

The Russian and Syrian delegations meet in Moscow on Monday. (Russia Today)
The Russian and Syrian delegations meet in Moscow on Monday. (Russia Today)

Russia, Türkiye, Syria and Iran kicked off in Moscow on Monday negotiations aimed at overcoming obstacles that are hindering the normalization of relations between Ankara and Damascus.

The deputy foreign ministers of the four countries held talks ahead of a potential meeting for their foreign ministers, said a source from the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The source provided little details about the discussions that took place on Monday.

They started off with bilateral meetings between the officials. The Syrian government delegation, headed by deputy FM Ayman Sousan, held talks with the Russian delegation, headed by Presidential Special Envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev and deputy FM Mikhail Bogdanov.

The Syrian delegation then met separately with the Iranian delegation, headed by Ali Asghar Khaji, the Iranian foreign minister's senior advisor for special political affairs.

The Turkish delegation held separate talks with the Russian and Iranian delegations.

The meetings were all held behind closed doors and revealed disagreements between Moscow and Damascus.

Russian media, quoting Syria’s state news agency SANA, reported that Moscow and Damascus were in agreement on “the need to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and ending Türkiye's illegal deployment there.”

However, a Russian diplomatic source denied to Asharq Al-Awsat the SANA report.

“Claims that the two sides were in agreement over the illegal Turkish deployment in Syria are untrue,” it added.

Rather, the source stressed that the military presence there “is important because it is helping maintain calm, end the fighting between Syrians and focus the fight on terrorism.”

It said the future of the deployment of Turkish forces should be tackled in talks between Türkiye and Syria. Both parties must take into account the circumstances that led the situation to where it is now and address ways to tackle it.

He stressed that these are positions that Russia has always maintained.

The Moscow consultations are set to continue on Tuesday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had visited the Russian capital in March, laying out conditions for normalization relations with Ankara.

His demands included the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Syria and that it stop supporting terrorists, a reference to opposition-held areas in the Idlib region and its surroundings.

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Israeli Troops, Palestinian Fighters Clash in West Bank after Incidents Near Settlements

Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
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Israeli Troops, Palestinian Fighters Clash in West Bank after Incidents Near Settlements

Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
Israeli troops move inside the Jenin refugee camp on the fourth day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 31 August 2024. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

Clashes broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters in the occupied West Bank on Saturday as Israel pushed ahead with a military operation in the flashpoint city of Jenin.
Israeli troops searched areas around Jewish settlements after two separate security incidents on Friday evening. In Jenin itself, drones and helicopters circled overhead while the sound of sporadic firing could be heard in the city, said Reuters.
Hundreds of Israeli troops have been carrying out raids since Wednesday in one of their largest actions in the West Bank in months.
The operation, which Israel says was mounted to block Iranian-backed militant groups from attacking its citizens, has drawn international calls for a halt.
At least 19 Palestinians, including armed fighters and civilians, have now been killed since it began. The Israeli military said on Saturday a soldier had been killed during the fighting in the West Bank.
The Israeli forces were battling Palestinian fighters from armed factions that have long had a strong presence in Jenin and the adjoining refugee camp, a densely populated township housing families driven from their homes in the 1948 Middle East war around the creation of Israel.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Saturday a child had been taken to hospital in Jenin with a bullet wound to the head.
The escalation in hostilities in the West Bank takes place as fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas group still rages in the coastal Gaza Strip nearly 11 months since it began, and hostilities with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in the Israel-Lebanon border area have intensified.
Late on Friday, Israeli forces said two men were killed in separate incidents near Gush Etzion, a large West Bank settlement cluster located south of Jerusalem, that the military assessed were both attempted attacks on Israelis.
In the first, a car exploded at a petrol station in what the army said was an attempted car bombing attack. The military said a man was shot dead after he got out of the car and tried to attack soldiers.
In the second incident, a man was killed after the military said a car attempted to ram a security guard and infiltrate the Karmei Tzur settlement. The car was chased by security forces and crashed and an explosive device in it was detonated, the military said in a statement.
The two deaths were confirmed by Palestinian health authorities but they gave no details on how they died.
Troops combed the area following the two incidents. Security forces also carried out raids in the city of Hebron, where the two men came from.
Hamas praised what it called a "double heroic operation" in the West Bank. It said in a statement it was "a clear message that resistance will remain striking, prolonged and sustained as long as the brutal occupation's aggression and targeting of our people and land continue".
The group, however, did not claim direct responsibility for the attacks.
Israeli army chief General Herzi Halevi said on Saturday Israel would step up defensive measures as well as offensive actions like the Jenin operation.
Amid the gunfire, armored bulldozers searching for roadside bombs have ploughed up large stretches of paved roads and water pipes have been damaged, leading to flooding in some areas.
Since the Hamas attack on Israel last October that triggered the Gaza war, at least 660 Palestinian combatants and civilians have been killed in the West Bank, according to Palestinian tallies, some by Israeli troops and some by Jewish settlers who have carried out frequent attacks on Palestinian communities.
Israel says Iran provides weapons and support to militant factions in the West Bank - under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Middle East war - and the military has as a result cranked up its operations there.