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Cyprus to Gaza Corridor Will Continue to Operate, Cyprus President Says

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides briefs media on the Gaza aid corridor, during a visit of the EU Parliament President (not pictured) at the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) near Larnaca's international airport on April 2, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP)
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides briefs media on the Gaza aid corridor, during a visit of the EU Parliament President (not pictured) at the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) near Larnaca's international airport on April 2, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP)
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Cyprus to Gaza Corridor Will Continue to Operate, Cyprus President Says

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides briefs media on the Gaza aid corridor, during a visit of the EU Parliament President (not pictured) at the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) near Larnaca's international airport on April 2, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP)
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides briefs media on the Gaza aid corridor, during a visit of the EU Parliament President (not pictured) at the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) near Larnaca's international airport on April 2, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP)

Cyprus's president on Tuesday urged an immediate investigation into the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, saying the US-based charity they were members of was a "crucial partner" in efforts to get aid to the enclave by sea.

"We need to double down on efforts to get aid to Gaza," Nikos Christodoulides said, after a meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

The Israeli strike hit a convoy carrying a World Central Kitchen team which had just unloaded more than 100 tons of food aid brought to Gaza via the maritime route from Cyprus. Citizens from Australia, Poland and Britain were among the victims.

The charity said it was pausing operations in the region with immediate effect. WCK has been active in Gaza since October, bringing food by land routes and also participating in air drops.

Earlier this month, it launched an inaugural sea corridor transporting aid to the enclave from Cyprus.

A second convoy of ships taking just over 300 tons of aid left Cyprus last weekend and got to Gaza around midday on Monday, Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said.

Kombos said Cypriot authorities had been in touch with the WCK.

The strike occurred 12 km (7.46 miles) from the landing area for aid - a makeshift jetty created by the charity. The aid workers had just ended a shift halfway through the offloading process, which was supposed to resume early Tuesday, the Cypriot minister said.

"This is something that has now been frozen and since WCK has made the announcement - they will be leaving the area in order to come back, regroup and see and assess what the next steps are," Kombos said.

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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah

Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus’ offer is grounded on its own past experience both with helping rid Syria of chemical weapons 11 years ago and its own ongoing, decades-old search for hundreds of people who disappeared amid fighting between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s and a 1974 Turkish invasion, The AP reported.

Cyprus in 2013 hosted the support base of a mission jointly run by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to remove and dispose of Syria's chemical weapons.

“As a neighboring country located just 65 miles from Syria, Cyprus has a vested interest in Syria’s future. Developments there will directly impact Cyprus, particularly in terms of potential new migratory flows and the risks of terrorism and extremism,” Kombos told The AP in written replies to questions.

Kombos said there are “profound concerns” among his counterparts across the region over Syria’s future security, especially regarding a possible resurgence of extremist groups like ISIS in a fragmented and polarized society.

“This is particularly critical in light of potential social and demographic engineering disguised as “security” arrangements, which could further destabilize the country,” Kombos said.

The diplomat also pointed to the recent proliferation of narcotics production like the stimulant Captagon that is interconnected with smuggling networks involved in people and arms trafficking.

Kombos said ongoing attacks against Syria’s Kurds must stop immediately, given the role that Kurdish forces have played in combating extremist forces like the ISIS group in the past decade.

Saleh Muslim, a member of the Kurdish Presidential Council, said in an interview that the Kurds primarily seek “equality” enshrined in rights accorded to all in any democracy.

He said a future form of governance could accord autonomy to the Kurds under some kind of federal structure.

“But the important thing is to have democratic rights for all the Syrians and including the Kurdish people,” he said.

Muslim warned that the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, near Syria’s border with Türkiye, is in “very big danger” of falling into the hands of Turkish-backed forces, and accused Türkiye of trying to occupy it.

Kombos said the international community needs to ensure that the influence Türkiye is trying to exert in Syria is “not going to create an even worse situation than there already is.”

“Whatever the future landscape in Syria, it will have a direct and far-reaching impact on the region, the European Union and the broader international community,” Kombos said.