Germany says ‘urgent need’ for measures in Mideast

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the Jabal Al-Rehan area in the southern Lebanese Jezzine district on September 21, 2024. (AFP)
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the Jabal Al-Rehan area in the southern Lebanese Jezzine district on September 21, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 21 September 2024
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Germany says ‘urgent need’ for measures in Mideast

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike that targeted the Jabal Al-Rehan area in the southern Lebanese Jezzine district
  • “We have an urgent need for concrete measures in the Middle East to defuse the situation and avoid more civilian victims,” the German foreign ministry wrote on X

FRANKFURT: Germany on Saturday said there was an “urgent need” for measures to calm tensions in the Middle East as Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza threatened to spread to Lebanon.
Attacks carried out by Israel or blamed on the country, including air strikes and the explosions of hand-held communications devices, have killed dozens and injured thousands in Lebanon since Tuesday.
The country’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militia and Israel have also intensified cross-border fire that has raged since the Gaza war broke out on October 7 last year.
“We have an urgent need for concrete measures in the Middle East to defuse the situation and avoid more civilian victims,” the German foreign ministry wrote on X.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has been in contact with her Israeli and Lebanese counterparts to discuss the next steps, it added.
The German federal government said it was “deeply concerned” by the recent escalation in the region but added that it was not “inevitable.”
“A diplomatic solution to the conflict must be possible,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s office warned that a regional conflagration would “have terrible and lasting consequences for the populations of the whole region,” resulting in “catastrophic” destruction.


GCC secretary-general holds high-level talks at Manama Dialogue

GCC secretary-general holds high-level talks at Manama Dialogue
Updated 10 sec ago
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GCC secretary-general holds high-level talks at Manama Dialogue

GCC secretary-general holds high-level talks at Manama Dialogue
  • Met with Chinese envoy and EU operation commander of EUNAVFOR Aspides

MANAMA: Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi held key meetings on the sidelines of the 20th International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Manama Dialogue, which began Friday in Bahrain.

The conference, being held under the theme “Middle East Leadership in Shaping Regional Prosperity and Security,” is organized by the IISS in collaboration with the Bahraini Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Albudaiwi met with Zhai Jun, China’s special envoy for the Middle East, to discuss GCC-China relations, including progress on a free-trade agreement, Saudi Press Agency reported.

They also addressed Middle East issues of mutual interest, coordinated viewpoints on regional developments, and explored efforts to promote political stability and comprehensive peace, SPA added.

In a separate meeting, Albudaiwi spoke with Rear Admiral Vasileios Gryparis, EU operation commander of EUNAVFOR Aspides.

Their discussions focused on developments in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden regions and international efforts to ensure regional and shipping security.

Albudaiwi highlighted the GCC’s commitment to de-escalation and maintaining freedom of navigation in accordance with international law, as outlined in the final statement of the 45th GCC Supreme Council session.


Three killed in clashes between Druze militias and Syrian security forces in Sweida

Three killed in clashes between Druze militias and Syrian security forces in Sweida
Updated 40 min 49 sec ago
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Three killed in clashes between Druze militias and Syrian security forces in Sweida

Three killed in clashes between Druze militias and Syrian security forces in Sweida
  • Anti-government fighters also took control of the main police station

AMMAN: At least three people were killed in clashes between Druze militias and security forces in the southern Syrian city of Sweida on Friday, two witnesses and a local activist said.
They said anti-government fighters also took control of the main police station and the biggest civilian prison hours after hundreds of people protested in a main square demanding the downfall of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
“People are seeing what is happening in the rest of Syria as liberation of Syria and a chance to bring down the regime,” activist Ryan Marouf, editor of Suwayda 24, a website that covers the province, told Reuters.


Turkish diplomat named OSCE head after tense Malta talks

Turkish diplomat named OSCE head after tense Malta talks
Updated 06 December 2024
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Turkish diplomat named OSCE head after tense Malta talks

Turkish diplomat named OSCE head after tense Malta talks
  • Ian Borg, Malta’s foreign minister, told reporters the OSCE faced “fundamental geopolitical divisions and institutional paralysis“
  • Sinirlioglu said he hoped to act as “a bridge and a facilitator” between participating states

TA’QALI, Malta: The OSCE, the world’s largest regional security organization, agreed Friday on Turkish diplomat Feridun Sinirlioglu as its next leader, after a meeting marred by outrage over Russia’s participation.
The 57-nation Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has been paralyzed since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and has been without a secretary general since September.
Ian Borg, Malta’s foreign minister, told reporters the OSCE faced “fundamental geopolitical divisions and institutional paralysis.”
He said the agreement on a new secretary general and three other top posts had been “no easy feat” but hailed it as proof members could come together.
Borg did not rule out a deal on the budget — which has not been agreed since 2021 — by the end of the year.
Sinirlioglu, who has served as foreign minister and as Turkiye’s ambassador to Israel and the United Nations, said he hoped to act as “a bridge and a facilitator” between participating states.
Sinirlioglu, who takes over from Germany’s Helga Maria Schmid, also called on Russia to release three OSCE officials held in Russian-controlled Ukraine since 2022.
The Malta meeting was dominated by criticism of Russia, represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on his first trip to a European Union country since the invasion.
Ukraine boycotted last year’s OSCE meeting in North Macedonia over Lavrov’s presence.
Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga was present in Malta, but he and several allies walked out during Lavrov’s address.
Poland has led calls for Russia to be excluded from the OSCE, but Borg said it was vital to keep talking.
“I’d rather have the other... (members) telling Russia on the same table to stop this war,” he said.
“It’s easy to discuss and agree among friends,” he added, but it was important also, “especially with the backdrop of raging wars, to engage with those who started and can stop the war immediately.”
Malta took the 2025 chairmanship at the last minute after Russia blocked NATO member Estonia.
Finland, which joined NATO last year, is chair for 2025.
The OSCE was founded in 1975 to ease East-West tensions during the Cold War, and now counts members from the United States to Mongolia.
It helps coordinate issues such as human rights and arms control, but Moscow has accused the group of being politicized by the EU and NATO.


Iraq PM says keeping up diplomacy to ‘contain crisis’ in Syria

Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh, left, arrives to meet his Iraqi counterpart Fouad Hussein during his visit to Baghdad on
Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh, left, arrives to meet his Iraqi counterpart Fouad Hussein during his visit to Baghdad on
Updated 06 December 2024
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Iraq PM says keeping up diplomacy to ‘contain crisis’ in Syria

Syrian Foreign Minister Bassam Sabbagh, left, arrives to meet his Iraqi counterpart Fouad Hussein during his visit to Baghdad on

BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani on Friday said his country was pressing diplomatic efforts aimed at “containing the crisis in Syria due to its clear impact on Iraqi security.”
His remarks came ahead of a meeting between the top diplomats of Baghdad, Damascus and Tehran to discuss developments in Syria, which has been in the throes of a shock offensive that has seen militants capture key cities from the government.
Islamist-led fighters in Syria were about five kilometers outside of the western city of Homs, the country’s third largest and a former bastion of anti-government protests.
In a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Sudani on Friday affirmed that “Iraq is continuing intensive diplomatic efforts with the aim of containing the crisis in Syria due to its clear impact on iraqi security.”
“Iraq’s official, fixed stance is in support of Syria’s unity, security and stability,” Sudani added, according to a statement from his office.
Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, during a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Bassam Al-Sabbagh, meanwhile expressed “deep concerns” over developments in the neighboring country.
The two ministers stressed “the importance of continuing consultation and coordination between the two countries to avoid the repetition of previous experiences and to work to protect regional security.”
Sabbagh pointed to “the necessity of mobilizing Arab and regional efforts to counter this terrorist threat... and prevent it from moving to other countries,” according to the official Syrian news agency SANA.
Both Iraq and Syria have scarcely recovered from the Daesh group’s takeover of large swathes of territory in both countries, as well as the subsequent wars waged to eject them.
Iraq’s defense ministry on Monday said it was sending armored vehicles to enhance security along the country’s 600-kilometers porous border with Syria.
On Thursday, Syrian rebel leader known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani urged Sudani to keep his country distant from Syria’s war and prevent armed groups from backing Bashar Assad’s forces.
Faleh Al-Fayyad, the head of the Hashed Al-Shaabi former paramilitaries now integrated into Iraq’s regular army, on Friday said that “the crisis in Syria is an internal event... and Iraq has no business with it.”


Jordan, Lebanon close border crossings into Syria

Jordan, Lebanon close border crossings into Syria
Updated 06 December 2024
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Jordan, Lebanon close border crossings into Syria

Jordan, Lebanon close border crossings into Syria
  • Armed groups had been firing at Syria’s Nassib border crossing into Jordan
  • dozens of trailers and passengers were now stranded near the area

AMMAN: Jordan has closed its only passenger and commercial border crossing into Syria, the interior ministry said on Friday.

A Syrian army source told Reuters that armed groups had been firing at Syria’s Nassib border crossing into Jordan.

“Armed groups who infiltrated the crossing attacked Syrian army posts stationed there,” the source added.

He said dozens of trailers and passengers were now stranded near the area.

Jordan’s interior minister said Jordanians and Jordanian trucks would be allowed to return via the crossing, known as the Jaber crossing on the Jordanian side, while no one would be allowed to cross into Syria.

Also on Friday, Lebanon’s General Security Directorate said the country was closing all land border crossings with Syria except for a main one that links Beirut with the Syrian capital Damascus.

The decision by the security agency in charge of border crossings came hours after an Israeli airstrike damaged the Arida border crossing with Syria in north Lebanon, days after it was reopened.

Separately, Israel’s military said in a statement it planned to reinforce its forces stationed in the Golan Heights and near the border with Syria, where civil war has reignited between the government forces and militants.

The statement said it was “monitoring developments and is prepared for all scenarios, offensive and defensive alike.”

* With AP and Reuters