‘We need Syria to be a place of peace and development,’ FM Al-Shaibani tells WEF

Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani speaks with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the 55th annual WEF meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2025. (Reuters)
Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani speaks with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the 55th annual WEF meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2025. (Reuters)
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Updated 23 January 2025
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‘We need Syria to be a place of peace and development,’ FM Al-Shaibani tells WEF

‘We need Syria to be a place of peace and development,’ FM Al-Shaibani tells WEF
  • Syrian FM Al-Shaibani calls for sanctions relief and new Gulf partnerships to help aid recovery
  • Cites Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 as an inspiration for rebuilding Syria after gruelling civil war 

DAVOS: Saudi Vision 2030 is an inspiration for Syria, which needs to become a place of peace and development, Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani told the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.

“Where do we see inspiration for the new Syria? We have the Vision 2030 of Saudi Arabia,” Al-Shaibani said during a conversation with former UK prime minister Tony Blair at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“We need Syria to be a place of peace, to be a place of development, a place free of war.”

Having become foreign minister following the overthrow of the Bashar Assad regime on Dec. 8 last year, Al-Shaibani said the lifting of economic sanctions imposed on the former regime would be “key” to establishing stability in his country.

“Removing economic sanctions is the key for the stability of Syria,” he said, adding that they were imposed for the benefit of Syrians, but are now “against the Syrian people.”

“The reason for these sanctions is now in Moscow,” he said, referring to Assad, who fled to the Russian capital. A new government led by the victorious Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham has since taken Assad’s place, but still does not have full control over the nation’s territory.




Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani looks on during the 55th annual WEF meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2025. (Reuters)

“The Syrian people shouldn’t be punished” now that the deposed ruler was no longer in power, said Al-Shaibani. “We inherited a collapsed state from the Assad regime, there is no economic system,” he added, saying he hoped “the economy in the future will be open.”

Al-Shaibani said a committee had been formed to study economic conditions and infrastructure in Syria and would focus on privatization efforts, including of oil, cotton, and factories, while exploring “public-private partnerships to encourage investment into airports, railways and roads.”

Al-Shaibani also confirmed that the country will open its economy to foreign investments, adding that Damascus was working on partnerships with Gulf states in the energy sector.

The new Syrian government has been especially keen to reach out to the Gulf states to reestablish ties, which have long suffered as a result of the Assad regime’s support for the narcotics trade.




Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani speaks at a session during the WEF annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2025. (AFP)

“We chose to visit the Gulf countries, because we wanted to fix the relations with these countries, where Assad had made a lot of problems for them,” Al-Shaibani said.

“(The Assad regime) used harsh language against them, exported Captagon there, these are important countries to the region. But Syria should also take its role in the region, and they can help us with that.”

Al-Shaibaani was not the only Middle Eastern voice at Davos on Wednesday. Iran’s vice-president for strategic affairs, Javad Zarif, also shared his reflections on the regional situation in the wake of Israel’s ceasefires with Hamas and Hezbollah. 

Speaking to CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Zarif said: “The resistance will stay as long as the occupation stays, as long as repression stays. Resistance to Israel, to Israeli occupation, to apartheid, to genocide, existed before the Iranian revolution.”

Zarif said Hamas still exists in Gaza and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not achieve his goal of destroying the Palestinian militant group during the 15-month war in the enclave.

“Hamas is still there. Israel had to come to a temporary ceasefire. I hope it will be permanent, for the sake of 50,000 people who were massacred by Israel, so that there won’t be another 50,000, but resistance is not dead,” said Zarif.

“I can tell you that the wish for the resistance to go away has been based on a misrepresentation, a framing by Israel, that this is not an Israeli-Palestinian issue, but an Israeli-Iranian issue.”




Palestinians sit in a ruined neighbourhood of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, on January 22, 2025. (AFP)

Zarif said the decades-old conflict can only be ended by resolving the Palestinian question.

“If you want to resolve the problem of Palestine, you should not look at Iran,” he said. “You should look at the Palestinian issue.

“As long as the Palestinian issue is there, the struggle will be there, the resistance will be there, and there will be support from the international community, including from Arab allies of the US.”

Speaking about US President Donald Trump, Zarif said he hoped  “a ‘Trump 2’ will be more serious, more focused, more realistic” when dealing with Iran.

In 2018, during his first term, Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama, and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran as part of his “maximum pressure” policy against the regime.

Tehran responded by breaching the deal in several ways, including by accelerating its uranium enrichment program.




Iran’s Vice-President for strategic affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif gestures as he addresses the audience during the WEF annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2025. (AFP)

Trump has vowed to return to the policy he pursued in his previous term that sought to use economic pressure to force Iran to negotiate a deal on its nuclear program, ballistic missiles, and regional activities, including its support for proxy militias.

Zarif added that Iran has good relations with Saudi Arabia and the UAE and that he has proposed a new arrangement in the region that is based on amity.

“I have proposed in an article I recently wrote in The Economist, after my Foreign Affairs article, that we should have a new arrangement in this region,” he said.

“I call it MWADA: Muslim, West Asia Dialog Association. In Arabic, ‘mwada’ means ‘amity,’ and the title in The Economist was ‘Amity instead of enmity.’ Let’s do that.”

In his own address earlier in the day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lamented the recent rash of conflicts in the Middle East.

“We see a multiplication of conflicts, some of which are leading to a reshaping of different regions of the world — not least the Middle East,” he told the annual meeting.

He did, however, highlight recent progress, including the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which has already resulted in the exchange of several prisoners and hostages.

“There is, finally, a measure of hope when the ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza takes place — and we are working to surge up desperately needed humanitarian aid,” Guterres said.




UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses a speech during the WEF annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2025. (AFP)

He also lauded the recent ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and the election of a new Lebanese president and prime minister, potentially ending years of political deadlock.

“I was also just in Lebanon where a cessation of hostilities is holding, and a new government is taking shape after two years of stalemate,” he said.

In relation to Syria, Guterres said there was still a danger of further disorder unless the victorious HTS formed an inclusive administration that could work with the international community.

“We still have a strong risk of fragmentation and of extremism in at least parts of the Syrian territory,” he said.

“It is in the interest of us all to engage to make things move in the direction of an inclusive form of governance and I think some gesture must be made in relation to the sanctions.”

 


Al-Rahi warns Lebanon over ‘axis of degradation’

Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi waves. (File/AFP)
Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi waves. (File/AFP)
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Al-Rahi warns Lebanon over ‘axis of degradation’

Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi waves. (File/AFP)
  • Maronite patriarch urges new govt to ‘preserve unity, end stagnation’

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi has warned that the country risks “slipping into degradation,” and called on its leaders to end what he described as national “stagnation.”

Delivering a sermon in St. George Cathedral in Beirut on Sunday to celebrate the Feast of St. Maron, the patron saint of the Maronites, Al-Rahi urged Lebanon’s political leaders and state institutions to “end the procrastination, the undermining of the judiciary, the loss of sovereignty and dignity, and the violation of the constitution.”

He added: “People are suffocating from the stagnation. Offer them a solution.”

Al-Rahi warned that “the real danger facing Lebanon is slipping into the axis of degradation.

“As much as we must remain neutral in a positive way, we must align ourselves with the axis of civilization, renaissance, and progress.”

He said: “Neutrality is more about preserving Lebanon’s unity than ensuring its survival. Neutrality equals internal security and foreign defense.”

Al-Rahi’s comments came a day after Lebanon formed a new government led by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, a move that ended a two-year political deadlock in the country.

Salam and President Joseph Aoun attended the celebrations on Sunday along with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Following the Cabinet formation, Aoun said that the government did not include ministers affiliated with political parties.

“They will be cohesive, united, and work as a strong team to undoubtedly serve all Lebanese because their goal is only the interest of Lebanon,” he said.

Aoun said that the formation of the “reform and rescue government was based on competence, experience, specialization, and the ministers’ good reputation.” 

The US, France, and the UK congratulated Lebanon on the government formation.

French President Emmanuel Macron personally phoned Aoun and Salam, and called on the new prime minister to carry out essential economic reforms.

According to the Elysee’s statement, Macron emphasized that “it is important that all parties collaborate to implement the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon.”

He also called on Israel to continue its withdrawal.

Macron affirmed France’s willingness to help establish stability on the Syrian–Lebanese borders.

The Lebanese government will carry out its duties until May 2026 when the next parliamentary elections will be held.

Most of the ministers appointed in Salam’s Cabinet graduated from the American University of Beirut, Universite Saint-Joseph de Beirut, or other leading American and French universities.

Both ministers proposed by Hezbollah and the Amal Movement are doctors at the American University of Beirut Medical Center.

Dr. Rakan Nassereddine, a specialist in arterial surgery, is the new minister of health.

The 36-year-old surgeon, who is from Hermel, is the youngest minister in the government.

Dr. Mohammed Haidar, director of nuclear medicine at AUBMC, has been appointed minister of labor.

The government is set to hold a meeting next Tuesday to form the committee tasked with drafting the ministerial statement.

The US Embassy in Lebanon welcomed the formation of the government.

In a statement, it urged “the drafting of a ministerial declaration that would assist Lebanon overcome the crisis and chart a course toward achieving its objectives.”

In reviewing the biographies of the appointed ministers, it is evident that a primary characteristic of the prevailing government is the expertise in the portfolios assigned to them.

The Foreign Minister, Youssef Raji, has held various diplomatic positions in Jordan, Ivory Coast, Morocco, and at the UN in Geneva, Belgium, and Washington.

Yassine Jaber, the minister of finance, is a former minister and MP representing the Shiite seat in the Nabatieh and southern regions.

He has been active in the construction sector in Lebanon since 1978 and continues to be involved to this day.

Gen. Michel Menassa, minister of defense, is a retired officer who served for several decades in the Lebanese Army.

He later became the Inspector General at the Ministry of Defense before his retirement.

Interior Minister Ahmed Al-Hajjar, a retired brigadier-general in the Internal Security Forces, was formerly head of the Internal Security Forces Institute.

Minister of Economy Amer Bizat is an investment expert who previously held the position of global head of Emerging Markets Fixed Income at BlackRock.

He also held portfolio management roles at UBS and Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

Joseph Saddi, the energy minister, previously worked at Strategy&.


Israeli delegation in Qatar for Gaza ceasefire talks

Talal Al-Assali, 64, poses in front of his destroyed home in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, on February 9, 2025. (AFP)
Talal Al-Assali, 64, poses in front of his destroyed home in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, on February 9, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli delegation in Qatar for Gaza ceasefire talks

Talal Al-Assali, 64, poses in front of his destroyed home in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, on February 9, 2025. (AFP)
  • Netanyahu’s security cabinet was scheduled to discuss Trump’s proposal, as well as the second stage of the ceasefire, on Tuesday, the source in his office said

CAIRO/JERUSALEM: An Israeli delegation arrived in Qatar on Sunday for more Gaza truce talks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson said, as its military withdrew from an important crossing point in the enclave, as agreed under the truce with Hamas.
Indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on the next stage of the ceasefire are set to start this week following Netanyahu’s visit to the United States last week.
However, a source in Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli delegation at this point will only discuss technical issues, rather than the bigger matters which are supposed to be hammered out, including the administration of post-war Gaza.
Last week, US President Donald Trump made a surprise call for Palestinians to be displaced from Gaza and for the enclave to come under the ownership of the US, which would rebuild it.
US officials have since walked back some of Trump’s remarks, saying Palestinians could return to Gaza once it was cleared of unexploded ordnance and rebuilt.
Still, Trump’s plan was widely panned with some critics saying it amounted to “ethnic cleansing.” Israeli officials have welcomed it.
Netanyahu’s security cabinet was scheduled to discuss Trump’s proposal, as well as the second stage of the ceasefire, on Tuesday, the source in his office said.
The first stage of the ceasefire which began on January 19 is meant to last six weeks and includes the release by Hamas of 33 Israeli hostages in return for Israel freeing almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners from its jails.
Images of three hostages freed on Saturday, looking gaunt and weak, shocked Israelis. “Yesterday we got our father back. He lost much of his weight but not his spirit,” said Yulie Ben Ami, whose father Ohad was freed. “He survived hell.”
Withdrawal
Washington, Qatar and Egypt mediated the ceasefire, which has largely held. In keeping with the deal, on Sunday the Israeli military completed its withdrawal from its remaining positions in the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects Gaza.
Crowds of people were seen traversing the corridor as Hamas announced the Israeli withdrawal, while a long line of cars waited to pass through. An Israeli security source confirmed the military was leaving its positions there.
The Hamas-run police force deployed to the area to manage the flow Palestinians crossing through and Reuters footage showed what appeared to be Israeli military vehicles moving away from the coast and toward the Israeli border.
Hamas military and police forces have increased their public presence since January’s ceasefire, in what analysts say is an intentional message that the group has not been defeated.
Former American soldiers employed as private contractors have been deployed to inspect vehicles passing through the corridor in recent weeks following the ceasefire agreement that was implemented on January 19 after more than 15 months of war.
Israel had occupied the roughly 4 mile-long (6km) corridor south of Gaza City that stretches from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea.
The corridor cut off Gaza’s northern communities, including its largest metropolitan area, from the south.
Thousands of Palestinians have streamed through the corridor in recent weeks, returning to their homes in the north from southern Gaza where they had sought shelter from the war.
Much of northern Gaza has become a wasteland following Israel’s devastating campaign. After finding their homes destroyed, some Gazans have gone back to the south, while others have set up tents where their homes once stood.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas for its October 2023 attack in which 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 48,000 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory assault, according to Palestinian health authorities, most of them civilians.
Gazan medics said that on Sunday four Palestinians, including an elderly woman, had been killed by Israeli gunfire in two separate incidents near Khan Yunis and in Gaza City.
The Israeli military said soldiers had fired warning shots at “several suspects” and that “several hits were identified,” when asked about the Gaza City incident where medics said three Palestinians had been killed and five wounded. The military was not aware of the incident where the woman was allegedly killed.


UAE’s G42, Microsoft launch Responsible AI Foundation

UAE’s G42, Microsoft launch Responsible AI Foundation
Updated 09 February 2025
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UAE’s G42, Microsoft launch Responsible AI Foundation

UAE’s G42, Microsoft launch Responsible AI Foundation
  • Responsible AI Foundation aims to promote best artificial intelligence practices in Middle East, Global South
  • Alongside G42, Microsoft also announced the expansion of its AI for Good Lab in Abu Dhabi

LONDON: The Emirati artificial intelligence company G42 and Microsoft launched the first Responsible AI Foundation in the Middle East on Sunday.

The Responsible AI Foundation aims to promote responsible AI standards and best practices in the Middle East and Global South, with support from research partner Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence.

In collaboration with G42, Microsoft also announced the expansion of its AI for Good Lab in Abu Dhabi, the Emirates News Agency reported.

Inception, a G42 affiliate company, will serve as the program lead for the institution to enhance its mission, which concentrates on two main areas of research and implementation.

Research will focus on AI safety methodologies, bias mitigation techniques, and analytical tools, while implementation will focus on developing frameworks for the ethical and culturally diverse deployment of AI systems.

With the creation of the Responsible AI Foundation and a Microsoft AI for Good Lab in Abu Dhabi, G42 and the UAE are becoming a global hub for responsible AI development, the WAM added.

The AI for Good Lab will collaborate with NGOs and governments to use AI to tackle challenges in the Middle East and Global South. The first researchers at the Abu Dhabi hub will start their work next March.


Sudan to form new government after regaining Khartoum, say military sources

Sudan to form new government after regaining Khartoum, say military sources
Updated 09 February 2025
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Sudan to form new government after regaining Khartoum, say military sources

Sudan to form new government after regaining Khartoum, say military sources
  • Army head Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan said he would form a technocratic wartime government

DUBAI: The formation of a new Sudanese government is expected to happen after the recapture of Khartoum is completed, military sources told Reuters on Sunday, a day after army head Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan said he would form a technocratic wartime government.
The Sudanese army, long on the backfoot in its war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, has in recent weeks regained ground in the capital Khartoum along several axes, closing in on the symbolic presidential palace along the Nile.
The RSF, which has said it would support the formation of a rival civilian administration, has retreated, overpowered by the army’s expanded air capacities and ground ranks swollen by allied militias.
“We can call it a caretaker government, a wartime government, it’s a government that will help us complete what remains of our military objectives, which is freeing Sudan from these rebels,” Burhan told a meeting of army-aligned politicians in the army’s stronghold of Port Sudan on Saturday.
The RSF controls most of the west of the country, and is engaged in an intense campaign to cement its control of the Darfur region by seizing the city of Al-Fashir. Burhan ruled out a Ramadan ceasefire unless the RSF stopped that campaign.
The war erupted in April 2023 over disputes about the integration of the two forces after they worked together to oust civilians with whom they had shared power after the uprising that ousted autocrat Omar Al-Bashir.
The conflict has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises with the displacement of more than 12 million people and half the population facing hunger.
Burhan said there would be changes to the country’s interim constitution, which the military sources said would remove all references to partnership with civilians or the RSF, placing authority solely with the army which would appoint a technocratic prime minister who would then appoint a cabinet.
Burhan called on members of the civilian Taqadum coalition to renounce the RSF, saying they would be welcomed back if they did so.


Turkiye detains three journalists over Istanbul prosecutor story

Turkiye detains three journalists over Istanbul prosecutor story
Updated 09 February 2025
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Turkiye detains three journalists over Istanbul prosecutor story

Turkiye detains three journalists over Istanbul prosecutor story
  • The trio were released after appearing in court in Istanbul on Sunday
  • Articles or comments about Istanbul’s top prosecutor have triggered several legal probes in recent months

ISTANBUL: Three journalists from the left-leaning BirGun newspaper were detained for several hours under anti-terror legislation over a story linked to Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, the paper said Sunday.
The move was denounced by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Turkiye’s main opposition CHP party.
Journalists Ugur Koc and Berkant Gultekin, who work for the online BirGun.net, and its managing editor Yasar Gokdemir were taken from their homes late Saturday for “targeting individuals engaged in counterterrorism efforts,” BirGun editor-in-chief Ibrahim Varli wrote on X.
He said it was over a story about a journalist from the pro-government Sabah newspaper visiting Istanbul’s chief prosecutor Akin Gurlek, which “had already been announced by (Sabah) itself.” Varli accused authorities of “trying to intimidate the press and society with investigations and detentions.”
The trio were released after appearing in court in Istanbul on Sunday. They were not formally arrested.
About 100 protesters gathered outside the court, holding up copies of the paper and signs saying: “BirGun will not be silent” and “Journalism is not a crime,” an AFP correspondent said. Three hundred people demonstrated in Ankara.
Erol Onderoglu of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called the detentions “unacceptable.”
“This action, over a news story critical of ‘prosecutor impartiality’, is unjustified,” he wrote on X.
Articles or comments about Istanbul’s top prosecutor have triggered several legal probes in recent months, including the latest investigation into Istanbul’s opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as well as another probe last year into CHP opposition leader Ozgur Ozel.
Writing on X, Ozel denounced the arrests as “an unprecedented disgrace.”
“The detention of journalists Ugur Koc, Berkant Gultekin and Yasar Gokdemir for publishing a news item that was already published by Sabah newspaper is an unprecedented disgrace. Trying to fabricate a crime out of this is a sign of guilt,” he wrote.
Ozel was placed under investigation in November for “insulting a public official” and “targeting individuals involved in counter-terror efforts” over remarks about Gurlek, whom he has called a “mobile guillotine” — a phrase he used again on X on Sunday.
On January 6, the MLSA media rights group said there were at least 30 journalists and media workers in prison and four under house arrest in Turkiye. It said in 2024, it monitored 281 freedom of expression trials involving 1,856 defendants, 366 of whom were journalists.
The number of detained journalists has since increased. Three journalists for the opposition Halk TV were detained in late January for broadcasting an interview with an expert witness involved in probes involving opposition CHP mayors, including Imamoglu.
Two were granted conditional release but editor-in-chief Suat Toktas remains behind bars, in a move denounced by the Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ) as “a political move by Turkish authorities to silence critical voices.”
In another investigation ordered by Gurlek, Melisa Sozen, an actor who played a Kurdish militant in a 2017 series of the hit French spy thriller “The Bureau,” was quizzed by police this week on grounds of alleged “terrorist propaganda,” DHA news agency and Halk TV said.
The probe was related to the fatigues she wore for the part, which were allegedly similar to those worn by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militants that Ankara says are linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).