بواسطة Syria in a Week Editors | يوليو 3, 2018 | Media Roundups, Syria in a Week
The following is a selection by our editors of significant weekly developments in Syria. Depending on events, each issue will include anywhere from four to eight briefs. This series is produced in both Arabic and English in partnership between Salon Syria and Jadaliyya. Suggestions and blurbs may be sent to info@salonsyria.com.
Syria Between Trump and Putin
28 June 2018
The first summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump will be held on 16 July in Helsinki amid an ambiguous international atmosphere for Trump who has been distancing himself from historical allies and whose mandate has been a subject of investigation for possible Russian intervention in the presidential elections.
The Republican president reached the White House after promising to achieve reconciliation between Russia and the United States, however, after seventeen months in office, he has not fulfilled this promise. Preparations have been underway for two months for this summit between the two presidents who have not met except on the sidelines of international meetings. The White House and the Kremlin symbolically announced the date and time of the meeting simultaneously on Thursday.
The summit, which will be held ten years after former President Barack Obama’ declaration of “reviving relationships” that was not meant to be, constitutes a new attempt to improve these relations that have not been this bad since the Cold War.
In recent years, new issues have been added to the list of disputes, including Moscow’s support for the Syrian government, the annexation of Crimea after the pro-Russian separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine, and the poisoning of the former double agent Sergey Skripal that led to the exchange of diplomatic expulsions, including US diplomats.
The final touches to this summit were made on Wednesday during the White House National Security Adviser John Bolton’s visit to Moscow, which was closely followed in the United States.
Putin said after meeting Bolton in the Kremlin that he hoped to at least achieve “first steps to restore full relationships,” stressing that “he never sought for a confrontation.”
The Kremlin said that the summit will include a private meeting, a business lunch, a joint press conference, and a joint statement.
The Putin-Trump summit will be held a few days after the NATO summit in Brussels on 11-12 July, which is expected to witness tensions between Trump and his western counterparts.
On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the summit, stressing that NATO’s approach is based on defense and dialogue with Russia.
Israel Prevents Entry of Syrians
30 June 2018
Israel will not allow for the entry of Syrian civilians fleeing the war in their country, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that his government will continue to provide them with humanitarian assistance.
Tens of thousands of Syrians have fled from the large-scale military operation launched by the Syrian government on 19 June with Russian support in Daraa governorate, with the aim of fully recapturing this government. Some of them have established temporary camps near the Israeli occupied Golan Heights.
“In regard to southern Syria, we will continue to defend our border,” Netanyahu said in his cabinet meeting.
“We will provide humanitarian assistance as much as we can. We will not allow for the entry into our country,” he said. An Israeli officer told the press on Sunday that Israel transported “around thirty tons of food, medical equipment, and a large quantity of clothes” to displaced civilians on the Syrian side of the Golan heights after they fled battles in southern Syria.
Israel set up a program to provide humanitarian assistance for Syrians across the border in the Golan region and treatment for injured Syrians.
On Friday, the Israeli army said that it carried out a night-time operation across the armistice line with Syria.
The surge in violence in the last two weeks has forced around one hundred and sixty thousand people to flee their homes according to preliminary estimates from the UN. This includes twenty thousand people who fled to areas close to the Naseeb border crossing with Jordan, which hosts more than six hundred and fifty thousand registered Syrian refugees and estimates the actual number to be around 1.3 million refugees.
The Israeli officer reiterated that the army would not enter Syrian territory and said, “We will open up the gates, deliver the humanitarian assistance, and then close the gate.” This aid is handled by non-governmental organizations he added.
Amman said that it cannot open its border for more Syrians fleeing the seven-year-old conflict, however, it said that it would send aid across the border for displaced people.
In 1967, Israel occupied vast areas in the Golan Heights and surrounding areas in Syria, and later annexed them in a move that was not recognized by the international community.
Turkey in Afrin
1 July 2018
The Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hami Aksoy said that the Turkish presence in Afrin, north of Syria, will go on for some time in order to “continue its development.”
“Life has gone back to normal in Afrin, but Turkey’s presence will go on for some time to continue work on the development of the area,” according to the official Anatolia news agency. Aksoy pointed out that there are more than one hundred and forty thousand people from Afrin’s residents who went back to settle down in their houses.
“Turkey has gradually begun to hand over some of the tasks to the local council established by the residents of Afrin, which comprises figures from all components in the region, including Kurds, Turkmen, and Arabs,” he said, “Turkey is facing defamation campaigns on the pretext of Afrin,” he added.
On 18 March 2018, Turkish forces and the opposition Free Syrian Army took control over the center of Afrin, according to Anatolia news agency.
Maya Without Legs in Turkey
27 June 2018
The image of the Syrian child Maya who was born without legs and uses artificial limbs that are basically tin cans has circled the world and caused wide shock and controversy. Now, Maya has been transferred to Turkey and is ready to start a new chapter in her life.
The orthopedic treating the eight-year-old child in Istanbul pledged in front of her father saying: “Maya will walk.”
AFP and other media ten days ago published photos showing Maya Morai difficultly moving around with the help of tin cans and plastic tubes in a camp for displaced people in Idlib, northwest of Syria.
Maya’s father Mohammed Moraai (thirty-four years) made these artificial limbs, he himself was born with the same birth defect as that of Maya.
Their pictures motivated the Israeli Red Crescent to evacuate the child and the father from Idlib quickly, and send to a specialized clinic in Istanbul.
“Maya will walk. I hope this will happen in the next three months,” said Dr. Mehmet Zeki Culcu who is taking care of them.
Mohammed Morai and his family used to live in a village in the southern countryside of Aleppo, and they left their homes early this year because of the battles.
A few months ago, Maya was able to move around by crawling just like her father, but after she went through surgery which shortened her amputated legs, she was not able to even crawl.
“After the surgery, she could not move around and she stayed in the tent,” her father said, “Maya has two brothers and three sisters who do not suffer from this birth defect.”
“In order to encourage her to leave the tent, I came up with the idea of placing plastic tubes stuffed with sponges on the amputated legs to ease the pressure on the limbs. After that, I added two empty tuna cans because the tubes could not withstand the friction with the ground very well,” her father said.
Armed with this innovative device, Maya went back to wandering outside the tent and went to the camp’s school all by herself. Her father used to replace the tubes once a month and the tuna cans once a week.
Russia Imposes a Settlement
1 July 2018
Syrian opposition factions in Daraa reached an agreement on Sunday with Russian forces that provides for settling the situation of militants under a general amnesty.
“The Russian military negotiation team reached an agreement with militant commanders in the city Daraa al-Balad and the northwestern countryside of Daraa that provides for handing in heavy and middle weaponry to the Syrian army and settling the situation of all militants under a general amnesty. Militant commanders most probably left for Jordan,” informed Syrian sources said.
A meeting was held on Sunday at noon at the governorate town hall in Daraa that included some militant commanders from Daraa al-Balad and the northwestern countryside of Daraa. The first session of negotiations ended, and the parties left for consultations and came back in the evening, and an agreement was reached.
Another team from the Russian forces held prolonged meetings that lasted for two days in the city of Bosra al-Sham in the eastern countryside of Daraa. An agreement was reached the provides for the handing of heavy, middle, and light weaponry present in Bosra al-Sham. The agreement also provides for the entry of the Syrian army to the city and the opening of a humanitarian corridor between the villages of Kharba and Ira’a.
“On Sunday evening, the armed groups began to hand in their heavy equipment in Bosra al-Sham to army units and then it was transported to the town of Barad in Sweida Governorate, east of Bosra al-Sham,” a Syrian military source told a German news agency.
بواسطة Syria in a Week Editors | مارس 6, 2018 | Media Roundups, Syria in a Week
The following is a selection by our editors of significant weekly developments in Syria. Depending on events, each issue will include anywhere from four to eight briefs. This series is produced in both Arabic and English in partnership between Salon Syria and Jadaliyya. Suggestions and blurbs may be sent to info@salonsyria.com.
A “Humanitarian Corridor” with No Crossing
27 February 2018
Moscow declared the implementation of a humanitarian truce in the besieged eastern Ghouta on 27 February, however, no civilians were reported to have gotten out at the set crossing, located northeast of Damascus.
During this truce that began on Tuesday, a “humanitarian corridor” was to be opened at the Wafideen crossing, northeast of the city of Duma, to allow for the exit of civilians. No civilians were reported to have gotten out after five days. Reporters witnessed Russian officers and soldiers along with soldiers from the Syrian regular army at the crossing. Volunteers from the Syrian Red Crescent were also present with two ambulances. At the army post, portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin along with one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were hung on one of the walls. The crossing appeared completely empty of any civilian movements at a time when no shells or bombardment were heard in the neighbouring, besieged Ghouta.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that no civilians have left the Wafideen crossing since the start of the Russian truce on Tuesday, except for two Pakistani nationals who left on Wednesday under separate negotiations handled by the Pakistani embassy in Damascus.
Damascus and Moscow, on one hand, and the opposition, on the other, exchanged accusations concerning the bombardment of the “humanitarian corridor.”
A Comeback to Chemical Weapons
28 February 2018
Various media outlets, including The New York Times and The Middle East newspapers, have leaked documents that indicate North Korea is supplying the Syrian government with equipment that could be used to make chemical weapons. The documents show the ongoing cooperation even after UN Security Council Resolution 2118 on the disposal of the chemical weapons arsenal of the government.
The report, consisting of hundreds of pages, dedicated more than fifteen paragraphs to restricted transactions under international resolutions between Pyongyang and Damascus. “There are more than forty unreported shipments from North Korea to Syria between 2012 and 2017 that involve entities designated by a number of UN member states as interfaces of the Council of Scientific Research in Syria, in the town of Jamraya.”
The US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that the North Korean government “has become more desperate and they are looking for different ways to fund their criminal regime.”
“For Russia to claim that the Assad regime has eliminated its chemical stockpiles is just absurd and simply incredible,” US Disarmament Ambassador Robert Wood told the Conference on Disarmament held in Geneva under UN sponsorship, while the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Syrian government has disposed of its chemical arsenal.
Putin Announces His “Tested” Weapons in Syria
1 March 2018
Russian President Vladimir Putin used his annual speech in front of the Russian Socialist Assembly to announce his weapons, rockets, and nuclear arsenal ahead of the presidential elections scheduled on the eighteenth of this month.
Putin said that Moscow has successfully tested eighty types of advanced rockets in Syria adding: “The whole world saw our capabilities and now knows the names of Russian rockets and technologies that have carried out important missions.”
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu unveiled that the newest fifth-generation Russian jetfighter Sukhoi 57 carried out “a successful combat trial program in Syria.” Adding, “they really were there for a short time. Just two days. Over this time, they conducted a trial program, including a direct combat trial. I can tell you that the trial was successful; the planes returned home a week ago.”
On the other hand, the official, Alexander Venediktove, an aide to Russia’s Security Council Secretary for International Security affairs lashed out at the United States, saying “the presence of twenty American military bases on territory controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units in eastern Syria constitutes a clear example of obstacles created by foreign intervention.”
Two days later, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said that the United States is using the al-Tanf area at the Syrian-Iraqi-Jordanian border as a “safe haven for terrorists.” Speaking to Russia-24 Fomin said, “We can only be concerned with the fifty-five kilometer safe zone near the town of al-Tanf near the Syrian-Iraqi border, which has effectively seen the establishment of a terrorist safe haven.”
US Pressure on Russia
2 March 2018
US President Donald Trump made two phone calls with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, on the highest US engagement in the Syrian issue.
There were two goals from these calls: the first is to exert pressure on Russia to comply with resolution 2401 for a truce, the second is accountability for using chemical weapons.
According to a statement of the German Chancellery, the Syrian government must be held accountable for attacks on and bombardment of civilians in eastern Ghouta. Also adding that during the Thursday phone call, Merkel and Trump considered that “the Syrian government must be held accountable for the ongoing deteriorating humanitarian situation in eastern Ghouta. This goes for the use of chemical weapons by (President Bashar) al-Assad’s government, as well as attacks on civilians and freezing humanitarian aid.”
Paris criticized Washington when former President Barack Obama backed down from targeting the Syrian government after a chemical attack on Ghouta at the end of 2013.
Damascus denies using chemical weapons and accuses the opposition of “fabricating” attacks to pave the way for a potential strike from the West.
Trump’s calls coincided with the arrival of US aircraft carriers to the Mediterranean to participate in manoeuvres with Israel. They also coincided with a draft resolution put forward by the United States to the UN Security Council to form a committee to investigate chemical weapons in Syrian and accountability for its use.
“Dismemberment” in Ghouta
3 March 2018
Government forces have made an additional advance on 3 March in the east and southeast of Ghouta near Damascus in an attempt to separate areas controlled by different groups from each other.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that government forces controlled the towns of al-Shaifonieh and Otaya in the east and southeast of the besieged area, after they were subject to heavy air raids and artillery fire in the last few days. Government forces and their allies have intensified their attacks, enabling them to control the villages of Hosh al-Zawahra and Hosh al-Zreiqieh in addition to two previous military bases.
These areas were under the control of Jaish al-Islam, the biggest faction in eastern Ghouta.
The spokesman for Jaish al-Islam Hamzeh Beiraqdar said in a statement that government forces are implementing “a scorched earth policy,” confirming the withdrawal of fighters from their posts in Hosh al-Zawahra and Shaifonieh because they were “exposed to hysterical bombardment.”
Government forces are attempting to advance “in order to isolate the towns al-Marj (southeast) and Duma (north), which include the greatest number of civilians, from the rest of towns in the western part of the besieged eastern Ghouta.”
More than six hundred and thirty civilians, including one hundred and fifty children, have been killed since the onset of the government campaign on the besieged eastern Ghouta.
Turkish Air Strikes on Allies of Damascus
3 March 2018
Turkish jet fighters targeted pro-government forces in the village of Kafr Janneh in Afrin that have been supporting Kurdish fighters for two weeks in facing an attack launched by Turkey and other Syrian factions on the area located north of Syria.
The Kurds confirmed the targeting of these forces on Saturday.
This is the third such incident where Turkish planes targeted positions of fighters allied with Damascus in the last two days, after the death of eighteen soldiers on Wednesday and Thursday from Turkish air strikes on two villages northeast of Afrin, raising the total of deaths to at least fifty-four soldiers since Thursday night.
After Kurdish demands for Syrian government forces to intervene in order to face the ongoing Turkish attack on Afrin that has been going on for a month and a half, Syrian forces entered Afrin and were described by official state media as “popular forces,” whereas Kurds said that they were “military units” affiliated with the Syrian army.
These strikes come at a time where Turkish forces and Syrian factions loyal to them were able to control large parts of the strategic town Rajo, located northwest of Afrin. They also advanced on another front northeast of Afrin, as they controlled parts of a strategic mountain that overlooks several other towns and villages.
Since the start of their attack, Turkish forces were able to capture more than eighty villages and towns. Two hundred and fifty-two soldiers from Syrian factions loyal to Ankara were killed as opposed to two hundred and eighty-one Kurdish fighters during the battles and air strikes, in addition to the death of one hundred and forty-nine civilians. Turkey has reported the death of forty of its soldiers.
