Syria’s Assad steps out of diplomatic freeze with high-level China trip

Syria’s Assad steps out of diplomatic freeze with high-level China trip
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A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency shows Syria's President Bashar Assad (C) and wife Asma being welcomed upon their arrival at Hangzhou airport in Beijing, China, on September 21, 2023. (SANA via AFP)
Syria’s Assad steps out of diplomatic freeze with high-level China trip
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A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency shows Syria's President Bashar Assad (C) and wife Asma arriving at Hangzhou airport in Beijing, China, on September 21, 2023. (SANA via AFP)
Syria’s Assad steps out of diplomatic freeze with high-level China trip
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A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency shows Syria's President Bashar Assad (C) and wife Asma being welcomed upon their arrival at Hangzhou airport in Beijing, China, on September 21, 2023. (SANA via AFP)
Syria’s Assad steps out of diplomatic freeze with high-level China trip
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Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma are welcomed upon their arrival at Hangzhou airport, China, September 21, 2023. (SANA/Handout via REUTERS)
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Updated 22 September 2023
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Syria’s Assad steps out of diplomatic freeze with high-level China trip

Syria’s Assad steps out of diplomatic freeze with high-level China trip
  • Talks with Xi Jinping to focus on Syrian reconstruction
  • He will also attend opening ceremony of Asian Games

JEDDAH: Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday began his first visit to China since 2004 and his latest attempt to end more than a decade of diplomatic isolation under Western sanctions.

Assad arrived in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou aboard an Air China plane in heavy fog, which Chinese state media said “added to the atmosphere of mystery.” Assad last visited China in 2004 to meet then-President Hu Jintao. It was the first visit by a Syrian head of state to China since the countries established diplomatic ties in 1956.

China — like Syria’s main allies Russia and Iran — maintained those ties even as other countries isolated Assad over his brutal crackdown of anti-government demonstrations that erupted in 2011, leading to a civil war that has killed more than half a million people, displaced millions more, and battered Syria’s infrastructure and industry.

Assad will attend Saturday’s Asian Games opening ceremony before leading a delegation in meetings in several Chinese cities. 

He meets President Xi Jinping on Friday.




Syrian President Bashar al-Assad meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing on June 23, 2004. He was the first Syrian head of state to visit China since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1956. (AFP Photo/File)

Being seen with China’s president at a regional gathering adds further legitimacy to Assad’s campaign to return to the world stage. 

Syria joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2022 and was welcomed back into the Arab League in May.

Faced with a crippled economy and little to show so far from his efforts to rebuild ties with Arab states, Assad is keen for financial support. 

But any Chinese or other investment in Syria risks entangling an investor in US sanctions under the 2020 Caesar Act that can freeze assets of anyone dealing with Syria.

“In his third term, Xi Jinping is seeking to openly challenge the US, so I don’t think it’s a surprise that he is willing to … host a leader like Assad,” said Alfred Wu, an associate professor at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. 

“It will further marginalize China in the world, but he doesn’t care about that.”

The visit comes as China expands its engagement in the Middle East. 

This year Beijing brokered a deal restoring ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran. 

That detente was followed by Syria’s return to the Arab fold at a summit in Saudi Arabia in May, ending more than a decade of regional isolation.

Analysts expect Assad’s visit to China will focus, in part, on funds for reconstruction. 

“Assad intends for his trip to China to convey a sense of international legitimacy for his regime and paint a picture of looming Chinese support for reconstruction in Syria,” said Lina Khatib, director of the Middle East Institute at SOAS university in London.

Syria signed up to China’s vast Belt and Road trade and infrastructure initiative in January 2022.

Assad’s meeting with Xi “is expected to revolve around convincing China to aid Syria’s economic recovery,” said Haid Haid, of the Chatham House think tank in London. 

China pledged $2 billion in investments in Syria in 2017, but Haid said the funds had “yet to materialize.”

(With Agencies)


UK’s Sunak tells Netanyahu in call of disappointment at new fighting in Gaza

UK’s Sunak tells Netanyahu in call of disappointment at new fighting in Gaza
Updated 17 sec ago
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UK’s Sunak tells Netanyahu in call of disappointment at new fighting in Gaza

UK’s Sunak tells Netanyahu in call of disappointment at new fighting in Gaza
  • Downing Street spokesperson: ‘The PM expressed disappointment about the breakdown of the pause in fighting in Gaza, which had allowed hostages to be released’
  • Spokesperson: ‘The leaders discussed urgent efforts to ensure all remaining hostages are safely freed and to allow any remaining British nationals in Gaza to leave’
LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his disappointment about the breakdown of the pause in fighting in Gaza in a call with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, his office said in a readout.
“The Prime Minister spoke to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this afternoon. He expressed disappointment about the breakdown of the pause in fighting in Gaza, which had allowed hostages to be released,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“The leaders discussed urgent efforts to ensure all remaining hostages are safely freed and to allow any remaining British nationals in Gaza to leave.”
Sunak’s spokeperson said the British prime minister stressed the need for Israel to take greater care to protect civilians in Gaza and for humanitarian aid to be allowed to enter the Palestinian enclave.
Defense minister Grant Shapps said Britain was considering sending a military
support vessel
to provide medical and humanitarian aid in the Middle East.

Jordan’s King Abdullah says world should condemn any attempt to forcibly expel Palestinians

Jordan’s King Abdullah says world should condemn any attempt to forcibly expel Palestinians
Updated 15 min 3 sec ago
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Jordan’s King Abdullah says world should condemn any attempt to forcibly expel Palestinians

Jordan’s King Abdullah says world should condemn any attempt to forcibly expel Palestinians
  • Talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides focused on the need to increase efforts to deliver humanitarian aid and relief to the embattled civilians living in Gaza
  • King Abdullah told Christodoulides there would be dangerous consequences from any attempt to forcibly push Palestinians en masse from their land

AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah said on Tuesday the world should condemn any attempt by Israel to create conditions that would forcibly displace Palestinians within the war-devastated Gaza Strip or outside its borders.
In remarks carried by state media after a meeting with the Cypriot president in Amman, the monarch again called for an immediate cease-fire and warned that Israel’s relentless bombing campaign was leading to a “dangerous deterioration” in the situation.
Talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides focused on the need to increase efforts to deliver humanitarian aid and relief to the embattled civilians living in Gaza.
Abdullah has lobbied Western leaders to pile pressure on Israel to allow an uninterrupted flow of aid and open crossings it controls to bring in sufficient level of aid needed.
Israel now controls the volume and nature of aid entering to over 2.3 million inhabitants under siege, according to UN officials and humanitarian workers.
UNRWA officials say only a trickle of the aid the enclave needs is getting through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt which NGOs and officials say can only handle a fraction of the needs.
Israel started its campaign in retribution for an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters who rampaged through Israeli towns, killing 1,200 people and seizing 240 hostages, according to Israel’s tally.
Israeli bombardments have killed nearly 16,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health ministry figures, and driven 80 percent of the population from their homes.
King Abdullah told Christodoulides there would be dangerous consequences from any attempt to forcibly push Palestinians en masse from their land while it maintained security control, officials said.
Officials also fear wider violence in the West Bank, which Jordan borders, as settler attacks on Palestinian civilians, confiscation of land and Israeli military raids mount.
It could create circumstances that could encourage Israel to forcibly push tens of thousands of Palestians across the Jordan River.
Officials say the forcible expulsion of Palestinians would amount to a declaration of war and prompt Jordan to suspend its peace treaty with Israel.
On Tuesday, Amman condemned Israel’s move to build new settlements in Arab East Jerusalem, the part of the contested city that was seized along with the West Bank in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and the UN considers occupied territory..
“Israel’s expansion of Jewish settlement building on land it occupied and the confiscation of territory are a flagrant violation of international law” and dimmed any prospects of peace, said Sufain Qudah, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry.


Egypt’s FM heads to US for talks with top officials

Egypt’s FM heads to US for talks with top officials
Updated 05 December 2023
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Egypt’s FM heads to US for talks with top officials

Egypt’s FM heads to US for talks with top officials
  • Shoukry will meet Congress foreign policy committee officials with the aim of advancing and strengthening strategic relations
  • Visit will also include talks with a number of American think tanks and research centers

CAIRO: Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry traveled to the US on Tuesday to meet House of Representatives and Senate members in Washington.

Shoukry will meet Congress foreign policy committee officials with the aim of advancing and strengthening strategic relations, according to Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid.

The visit will also include talks with a number of American think tanks and research centers, in addition to media engagements, he said.

Abu Zeid said that Shoukry will also join an Arab-Islamic ministerial committee meeting on Dec. 7.

The committee will hold meetings with the US secretary of state, a number of Congress members and the US media in an effort to stop the war in Gaza, in line with the mandate issued by the recent Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit.

Meanwhile, Shoukry affirmed Egypt’s categorical rejection of attempts to force Palestinians out of Gaza.

The foreign minister made the remarks during a phone call with Colombian counterpart Alvaro Leyva.

Shoukry and Leyva discussed the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, the necessity of an immediate ceasefire and the opportunity to establish humanitarian truces to bring in aid.


Soldier dies after Israeli forces target Lebanese army center

Soldier dies after Israeli forces target Lebanese army center
Updated 05 December 2023
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Soldier dies after Israeli forces target Lebanese army center

Soldier dies after Israeli forces target Lebanese army center
  • Israeli army targeted a Lebanese army center on Al-Awaida hill, near the border town of Odaisseh, killing a soldier and wounding three others
  • Negative response to Hamas’ appeal for resistance fighters

BEIRUT: Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have continued their hostilities on the front in southern Lebanon following the end of the truce in the region on Friday.

The Israeli army targeted a Lebanese army center on Al-Awaida hill near the border town of Odaisseh, killing a soldier and wounding three others.

Hezbollah targeted Israeli soldiers at the Ruwaisat Al-Assi site and the Al-Tayhat Triangle, as well as Zabdin in the Shebaa Farms, and Bayyad Blida.

An Israeli drone attacked Lebanese border towns. Artillery was used to target the outskirts of villages and towns, from which most residents had been displaced at the start of military operations.

The Israelis fired flares over the sea coast south of Tyre and over the Blue Line in the western and central sectors. The towns of the Marjayoun district also experienced an Israeli bombardment with heavy artillery shells, flares, and phosphorus bombs causing damage to shops and homes.

Meanwhile, the announcement from Hamas militants in Lebanon of the establishment of “Vanguards of Al-Aqsa Flood” has been met by a negative reaction.

A media report on Tuesday said: “Hamas’ announcement was met with discontent … in southern Lebanon for fear of repeating the 1970s experience of Palestinian armed action from the south.”

Hamas in Lebanon had called on “the brave youth and men (to) join the vanguards of the resistance fighters and participate in the liberation of Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, in affirmation of the role of the Palestinian people, wherever they may be, in resisting the occupation by all available and legitimate means, and in continuation of what the Al-Aqsa flood operation has achieved.”

Gebran Bassil, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, said on social media: “We absolutely reject Hamas’ announcement.

“We also consider that any armed action launched from Lebanese territory is an assault on national sovereignty. We recall what the Lebanese agreed upon since 1990 in the Taif Agreement — weapons should be taken away from Palestinians inside and outside of the camps — as well as the agreement upon the cancellation of the Cairo Agreement.

“History has taught us not to become a bargaining chip in times of war, when we can impose our conditions on the table in times of negotiations.”

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora was “surprised” by the statement of Hamas in Lebanon, and added: “The mere idea of bringing back Palestinian armed action from Lebanon is unacceptable and rejected.”

Hesham Dibsi, a Palestinian researcher and director at the Tatwir Center for Studies, told Arab News: “The step is an … attempt to popularize the Oct. 7 operation (and) say that the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon’s camps are with Hamas, and this is not true.”

Former Justice Minister Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi said: “Establishing the ‘Vanguards of Al-Aqsa Flood’ in Lebanon is a grave mistake.

“It harms the Palestinian cause for the benefit of the axis of resistance that trades with it.”

Independent MP Mark Daou said: “Lebanon is a state, not an arena, and Hamas has no right to violate Lebanon.

“We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, but we will not accept that the cause be used as an excuse to violate Lebanon and organize non-Lebanese armed forces. Hamas leaders must immediately reconsider this step, or we will consider this a hostile act against the Lebanese and a violation of their security.”

Camille Chamoun, the head of the National Liberal Party, said: “The establishment of the ‘Vanguards of Al-Aqsa Flood’ constitutes a danger and a pretext for a new Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, the destruction of the remaining institutions and infrastructure, and additional tragedies for the Lebanese people.”

Hamas official Ayman Shanaa said in a statement: “We respect the sovereignty of the Lebanese state, and Hamas operates under the umbrella of Lebanese law. Even in resistance actions from the south, we are under the umbrella of the Lebanese resistance.”


Egyptian-Cypriot presidential talks urge Gaza ceasefire, aid push

Egyptian-Cypriot presidential talks urge Gaza ceasefire, aid push
Updated 05 December 2023
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Egyptian-Cypriot presidential talks urge Gaza ceasefire, aid push

Egyptian-Cypriot presidential talks urge Gaza ceasefire, aid push
  • Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides highlighted the requirement for immediate action on Gaza
  • Discussions also centered around ways to further strengthen cooperation between Egypt and Cyprus in several fields, particularly energy

CAIRO: The presidents of Egypt and Cyprus have agreed on the urgent need for the international community to push for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides highlighted the requirement for immediate action during talks at the Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo.

Discussions also centered around ways to further strengthen cooperation between Egypt and Cyprus in several fields, particularly energy, while exploring opportunities to consolidate relations not only between the two countries, but Greece too.

But it was the situation in Gaza that dominated their meeting.

Spokesman for the Egyptian presidency, Ahmed Fahmy, said El-Sisi briefed Christodoulides on Egypt’s efforts to broker a permanent end to fighting in the Gaza Strip while ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

Christodoulides noted that his country was keen to work with Egypt on both fronts and El-Sisi pointed out the need for a global consensus on bringing about a two-state solution to the conflict. This, he said, would involve the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Earlier, in a call from Christodoulides to El-Sisi, the latest developments in Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip were reviewed.

The two presidents agreed that international and regional efforts to stop an escalation of the fighting were the top priority.