The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Bashar al-Assad

  • Syria on the brink

    Syria on the brink

    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s 24 years in power may be about to end, a lesson on the complex dynamics of Middle East politics, and also a lesson to Nigerian politicians sometimes needlessly and unwisely infuse their incendiary remarks and actions with religious undertones. President al-Assad is Alawite, a subset of Shi’a Islam. But Syria is largely Sunni (74 percent), while Alawism and other Shi’a Islam constitute about 13 percent of the population. The rebel forces, particularly the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), are largely Sunni, and are supported by Sunni majority Turkey. Mr al-Assad had been supported by Shi’a Iran and Shi’a Iraq. Iran has now withdrawn its military advisers and forces, Russia is preoccupied with Ukraine and won’t commit more to the Syrian government, and the United States has prevented Iraqi Shiites from sending reinforcements to Mr al-Assad.

    Read Also: Town planners hail Tinubu over Dangiwa’s appointment as minister

    Iran has not only now lost all its proxies in Lebanon and Gaza as a result of the Hezbollah and Hamas wars, it is unable to rally to the side of a fellow Shi’a in Syria, thus almost completing the demolition of its nascent empire. Nigeria needs to advise itself of the dangers and limitations of flirting with theocracy, for in the end, what is evident everywhere in politics is power game, with religion serving nothing more than a tool. Building a secular, inclusive and restructured nation is the most reliable guarantee of stability. Syria is also a lesson to the vulnerable regimes in Iran and Russia, especially in light of the recent lightning speed with which the Syrian rebels have prosecuted a war stalemated since 2011 when the Arab Spring began. A post-Alawite Syria will be unpredictable for everyone, including the Kurds in northern Syria, Turkey itself, Iran, and the entire Middle East. The world should brace up for how impact crater would look like.   

  • Israeli Minister threatens to end Assad’s rule

    An Israeli Minister threatened to end the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday in a sharp increase in Israeli rhetoric over Iran’s military presence in Syria.

    “If Assad allows Iran to turn Syria into a military base against us to attack us from Syrian territory, he needs to know that this is his end, this is the end of his regime,’’ Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said in an interview with the Ynet news site.

    “He cannot remain the president of Syria, ruler of Syria, if he allows states – principally Iran – to turn Syria into a base to attack Israel,’’ he added.

    The minister’s comments come as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned with increasingly bellicose rhetoric that Israel would not allow Iran to establish a permanent military presence in Syria as the civil war there winds down.

    Read Also: Syria returns Assad award to France

    On Sunday Netanyahu said that a confrontation with Iran over Syria is “better now than later.’’

    “Nations that were unwilling to act in time against murderous aggression against them later paid much heavier prices,’’ he said.

    Iran says it is acting in Syria at the behest of the Syrian government.

    Steinitz’s statements come ahead of a May 12, deadline for U.S. President Donald Trump to reinstate sanctions on Iran, possibly spelling an end to the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.

    NAN

  • Syria returns Assad award to France

    Syria has returned to France the prestigious Légion d’honneur presented to President Bashar al-Assad, saying he would not wear the award of a country that was a “slave” to America.

    The move comes days after France said a “disciplinary procedure” for withdrawing the award was under way, the BBC reports.

    France recently joined the United States and Britain in bombing Syrian targets over an alleged chemical weapons attack.

    The award was returned to France via the Romanian embassy in Damascus.

    President Assad was decorated with the highest class of the award, the grand-croix, in 2001 after he took power following the death of his father.

    “The ministry of foreign affairs has returned to the French republic the decoration of the grand-croix of the Légion d’honneur awarded to President Assad,” the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement.

    “It is no honour for President Assad to wear a decoration attributed by a slave country and follower of the United States that supports terrorists,” it added

    About 3,000 people every year are awarded the Légion d’honneur for “services rendered to France” or for defending human rights, press freedom or similar causes.

    The U.S, United Kingdom and France bombed several Syrian government sites on Saturday in retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack on Douma, the last rebel-held town in the Eastern Ghouta region outside Damascus.

     

  • ‘Al-Assad cannot be part of Syria solution’

    Syrian crisis needs a negotiated solution involving all powers in the region, German foreign minister Heiko Maas said on Monday, adding he could not imagine anyone who had used chemical weapons against his own people to be part of that process, Maas was asked whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could be part of a solution to the crisis in Syria.

    “There will be a solution involving everyone who has influence on the region,” he told reporters on arrival to a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

    “Nobody can imagine someone who uses chemical weapons against his own people to be part of this solution.”

    The news men reports that the U. S., Britain and France fired more than 100 missiles at Syria on Friday in a “one-time shot”
    the Pentagon said followed evidence that Al-Assad was responsible for a chemical weapons attack using at least chlorine gas.

    Read Also:U.S ‘will press’ Russia to ditch Al-Assad

    While Turkey is cooperating with both Russia and Iran to wind down some of the violence in Syria, Ankara has long demanded that President Al-Assad must go and has backed rebels against him. Assad’s main supporters are Moscow and Tehran.

    Turkey has also been at loggerheads with Washington over U.S. support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara considers a terrorist organisation linked to Kurdish militants waging a decades-long insurgency in Turkish soil.

    Turkey supported the air strikes by U.S., British and French forces, saying the move sent a message to Al-Assad.

    NAN

  • UNICEF issues blank statement on Syria

    UNICEF issues blank statement on Syria

    UNICEF issued a blank “statement” on Tuesday to express its outrage at mass casualties among Syrian children in the besieged enclave of Eastern Ghouta and neighboring Damascus.

    “No words will do justice to the children killed, their mothers, their fathers and their loved ones,” the release from UNICEF’s regional director Geert Cappalaere began.

    There followed 10 empty lines with quote marks indicating missing text, and an explanatory footnote.

    “UNICEF is issuing this blank statement. We no longer have the words to describe children’s suffering and our outrage,” it said.

    “Do those inflicting the suffering still have words to justify their barbaric acts?”

    Read Also: UNICEF launches worldwide campaign ‘Every Child Alive’

    Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been besieging almost 400,000 civilians trapped inside Eastern Ghouta for years, but the siege has tightened this year and attacks on the enclave have intensified.

    Siege tactics and indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas contravene the internationally-agreed “rules of war”.

    Pro-government forces carried out air raids on Eastern Ghouta overnight on Monday and early on Tuesday, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

    The observatory said no fewer than 100 people were killed in air raids, rocket strikes and shelling of the area on Monday.

    NAN

  • UN: Netanyahu bows hot as secretary-general makes first regional trip

    UN: Netanyahu bows hot as secretary-general makes first regional trip

    Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a scathing criticism of the UN on Monday as the Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, began his first visit to the country.

    At the opening remarks of Netanyahu’s meeting with the UN chief, the prime minister accused the UN of failing to prevent arms shipments to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

    He added, that Iran is seeking to open a front against Israel on the Lebanese and Syrian borders.

    “[Iran] is also building sites to produce precision-guided missiles towards that end in both Syria and in Lebanon.

    “This is something Israel cannot accept. This is something the UN should not accept,” Netanyahu said, without offering specifics.

    Iran and Hezbollah are fighting alongside Syrian President ‘s government in the Syrian civil war, which has killed hundreds of thousands.

    The prime minister added that he believes the UN has an “absurd obsession” with his country.

  • Erdogan approves deployment of Turkish troops to Qatar

    Erdogan approves deployment of Turkish troops to Qatar

    President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday approved legislation on deployment of Turkish troops in Qatar, signaling support for the Gulf state as it faces isolation imposed by fellow Arab states over its alleged support for terrorism.

    Turkey’s parliament pushed through the bill on Wednesday and Erdogan’s rapid approval of it, announced by his office late on Thursday, was followed by its publication in the Official Gazette on Friday, completing the legislative process.

    Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed relations with Qatar on Monday, accusing it of supporting Islamist militants and their arch-adversary Iran – charges Qatar calls baseless. Several countries followed suit.

    Qatar vowed on Thursday to ride out the isolation and said it would not compromise its sovereignty over foreign policy to resolve the region’s biggest diplomatic crisis in years.

    After an initial deployment of Turkish troops at a base in Doha, Turkish warplanes and ships will also be sent, the mass-circulation Hurriyet newspaper said on its website on Friday.

    “The number of Turkish warplanes and Turkish warships going to the base will become clear after the preparation of a report based on an initial assessment at the base,” Hurriyet said.

    A Turkish delegation would go to Qatar in the coming days to assess the situation at the base, where around 90 Turkish soldiers are currently based, it said.

    Turkish officials were not immediately available to comment on the report but Hurriyet said there were plans send some 200 to 250 soldiers within two months in the initial stage.

    Erdogan also approved another accord between Turkey and Qatar on military training cooperation late on Thursday.

    Both bills were drawn up before the dispute erupted.

    Turkey has also pledged to provide food and water supplies to Qatar.

    The president has said isolating Qatar would not resolve any problems.

    Erdogan, who has long tried to play the role of a regional power broker, said Ankara would do everything in its power to help end the regional crisis.

    Turkey has maintained good relations with Qatar as well as several of its Gulf Arab neighbors.

    Turkey and Qatar have both provided support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and backed rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    The bill did not specify how many troops would go or when.

  •  U.S. attack killed nine civilians: Syrian state news agency

     U.S. attack killed nine civilians: Syrian state news agency

    Nine civilians including four children were killed in the U.S. missile attack on a Syrian airbase near the city of Homs on Friday, the Syrian state news agency said.

    The SANA report said the civilians died in villages near the airbase.

    It said seven more people had been wounded and homes in the area had been badly damaged.

    Earlier, Homs governor Talal Barazi said seven people had been killed in the attack. It was not immediately clear if these were separate casualty tolls.

    U.S. President Donald Trump said he had ordered missile strikes against the airfield from which a deadly

    chemical attack was launched, declaring he acted in America’s “national security interest” against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    The strikes drew sharp criticism from Russia, Assad’s ally.

    U.S. officials said the military fired dozens of cruise missiles against the base in response to the suspected

    gas attack in a rebel-held area this week, which Washington has blamed on Assad’s forces.

    The Syrian government has strongly denied responsibility and says it does not use chemical weapons.

     

    The governor of Homs province said earlier that the airbase was used to support Syrian army operations against Islamic State.

    NAN reports that the UN Security Council was expected to hold closed-door consultations on Friday about the U.S. strike on Syria following a request by Bolivia, an elected member of the council, a senior Security Council diplomat said.

     

  • Syria Deal: Russia suspends military deal with U.S.

    Syria Deal: Russia suspends military deal with U.S.

    Russia on Friday suspended a deal on military cooperation with the U.S. in Syria, in response to the U.S. bombing of Syrian state forces.

    The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement  that the deal was designed to prevent possible military incidents between the two great powers, which support opposing sides in the Syrian civil war.

    Russia condemns the U.S. “illegitimate actions against the lawful Syrian government,” the Foreign Ministry said, referring to the U.S. bombing carried out in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian state military.

    “Russia denies that the Syrian state military used chemical weapons, and maintains that Syrian militants were responsible for a recent chemical weapons incident in the north-western province of Idlib,’’ the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

    U.S. President Donald Trump ordered missile strikes against the airfield from which a deadly chemical attack was launched, declaring he acted in America’s “national security interest” against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    The strikes drew sharp criticism from Russia, Assad’s ally.

    U.S. officials said the military fired dozens of cruise missiles against the base in response to the suspected gas attack in a rebel-held area this week, which Washington has blamed on Assad’s forces.

    The Syrian government has strongly denied responsibility and says it does not use chemical weapons.

    The governor of Homs province said earlier that the airbase was used to support Syrian army operations against Islamic State.

    NAN reports that the U.N. Security Council was expected to hold closed-door consultations on Friday about the U.S. strike on Syria following a request by Bolivia, an elected member of the council, a senior Security Council diplomat said.

     

  • Britain regrets 2013 decision after Syrian gas-attack – Minister

    Britain regrets 2013 decision after Syrian gas-attack – Minister

    Britain’s Foreign Minister, Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that Syrians were suffering the consequences of a decision taken by Britain and the U.S. in 2013.

    Johnson said the decision of not to act following a gas attack in Syria despite having threatened that the use of chemical weapons was a “red line.”

    He made the comment during an EU-hosted international conference on Syria which had been overshadowed by an apparent chemical weapons attack in Syria’s Idlib province on Tuesday that left at least 72 people dead.

    “We made a historic decision, the UK and the U.S., back in 2013 not to respond to the crossing of the red line that everybody remembers: the use of gas at Ghouta.

    “That, I’m afraid, vacated the field in Syria as everybody knows, and we are living today with the consequences.

    “I’m afraid the people of Syria are living today with the consequences of that decision,” he said.

    In August 2012, former U.S. president Barack Obama warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that the use of chemical or biological weapons in Syria was a “red line” that should not be crossed.

    In August 2013, a chemical weapons attack was carried out in the Ghouta area outside of Damascus killing more than 1,400 people.

    The Syrian regime was accused of the attack.

    While the U.S. was weighing military action, it decided against taking any military steps after the Syrian government agreed to eliminate its chemical weapons stash under a UN Security Council resolution.

    However, chemical weapons attacks have continued.

    UN investigators found last year that the Syrian government had carried out attacks using chlorine gas on three occasions since 2014.

    The alleged chemical attack on Tuesday has been blamed on the Syrian government by the U.S. and several other countries.

    The White House also blamed the Obama administration for failing to act more forcefully to prevent such attacks by the Syrian government.

    “These heinous actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime are a consequence of the previous administration’s weakness and irresolution,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

    He pointed to Obama’s decision to draw a “red line” on chemical weapons as doing “nothing.”