ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT: Syria’s US-backed Kurds are getting indirect help from an unlikely source in their war against Turkey in the northwestern region of Afrin: President Bashar Assad.
Pro-government forces and Kurdish-led forces have fought each other elsewhere in Syria and Damascus opposes the Kurds’ demands for autonomy. But in Afrin they have a common enemy and a mutual interest in blocking Turkish advances.
Turkey, which regards the Kurdish YPG militia in Afrin as a threat on its southern border, launched an assault on the region last month. Seeking to shield Afrin, the Kurds asked Damascus to send forces into action to defend the border.
The government shows no sign of doing so, but it is providing indirect help by allowing Kurdish fighters, civilians and politicians to reach Afrin through territory it holds, representatives of both sides told Reuters.
Assad stands to gain while doing little.
The arrival of reinforcements is likely to sustain Kurdish resistance, bog down the Turkish forces and prolong a conflict that is sapping the resources of military powers that rival him for control of Syrian territory.
For the United States, it is yet another complication in Syria’s seven-year-old war, and a reminder of how its Syrian Kurdish ally must at times make deals with Assad even as it builds military ties with the United States.
Lacking international protection, the Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria say they have reached agreements with Damascus to allow reinforcements to be sent to Afrin from other Kurdish-dominated areas — Kobani and the Jazeera region.
“There are different ways to get reinforcements to Afrin but the fundamental route is via regime forces. There are understandings between the two forces ... for the sake of delivering reinforcements to Afrin,” Kino Gabriel, spokesman for the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said.
While the Kurds depend on Assad to reach Afrin, Kurdish sources say they also enjoy leverage over Damascus because it needs their cooperation to source grain and oil from areas of the northeast under Kurdish control.
A commander in the military alliance fighting in support of Assad said “the Kurds have no option but coordination with the regime” to defend Afrin.
“The Syrian regime is helping the Kurds with humanitarian support and some logistics, like turning a blind eye and allowing Kurdish support to reach some fronts,” said the commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Turkish campaign moves slowly
The Turkish military is making slow gains nearly three weeks into the operation it calls “Olive Branch.”
Ankara views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a three-decade insurgency in Turkey and is regarded as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.
The United States has relied on the YPG as a vital ground component of its war against Daesh, and has backed the group in other Kurdish-run regions in northern Syria along the border with Turkey.
But US forces are not in Afrin, so have been unable to shield Afrin from the attack by Turkey, its NATO ally.
The Kurds meanwhile accuse Russia of giving a green light for the Turkish attack by withdrawing observers it deployed in Afrin last year.
The Afrin war marks another twist in the complicated story of relations between Assad and the Syrian Kurdish groups, spearheaded by the YPG, that have carved out autonomous regions in northern Syria since the war began in 2011.
The YPG controls nearly all of Syria’s frontier with Turkey. But Afrin is separated from the bigger Kurdish-controlled region further east by a 100 km-wide zone controlled by the Turkish military and its Syrian militia allies.
For much of the war, Damascus and the YPG have avoided confrontation, at times fighting common enemies, including the rebel groups that are now helping Turkey attack Afrin.
But tensions have mounted in recent months, with Damascus threatening to march into parts of eastern and northern Syria captured by the SDF with support from the US-led coalition.
Underlining that, pro-Syrian government forces attacked the SDF in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, drawing coalition air strikes overnight that killed more than 100 of the attackers, the coalition said.
“The regime has allowed the YPG to bring people into Afrin, while attacking it east of Euphrates (River). I think that is indicative of the state of relations right,” said Noah Bonsey, International Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst on Syria.
He added: “There is still a significant gap between the YPG and regime positions on the future of northeastern Syria.”
Fighting for Afrin
The main Syrian Kurdish groups remain wedded to their vision of a Syria where they enjoy autonomy in a form of federalism that is at odds with Assad’s determination to recover all Syria.
Each side has allowed the other to maintain footholds in its territory. In Kurdish-held Qamishli, the government still controls the airport. In the Sheikh Maqsoud district of Aleppo, a government city, Kurdish security forces patrol the streets.
Scores of Kurds from Sheikh Maqsoud have gone to Afrin to support the fight, Kurdish officials there said. The short journey requires movement through areas held by the government or its Iran-backed Shiite militia allies.
“Of course people went from Sheikh Maqsoud — in the hundreds — to bear arms and defend Afrin,” said Badran Himo, a Kurdish official from Sheikh Maqsoud.
“Around 10 of them were martyred (killed),” he told Reuters as Kurdish security forces held a rally to commemorate one of the dead.
Earlier this week, witnesses say a civilian convoy of hundreds of cars drove to Afrin from other Kurdish-held areas in a show of solidarity.
The Syrian government has ignored appeals by the Kurdish authorities to guard the Syrian border at Afrin.
“We tried to convince them, via the Russians, to at least protect the borders, to take a position, but we did not reach (get?) a result,” Aldar Khalil, a top Kurdish politician, told Reuters.
“If they don’t protect the borders, then at least they don’t have the right to block the way for Syrian patriots who are protecting these borders, regardless of other domestic issues.”
Friend or foe? Assad quietly aids Syrian Kurds against Turkey
Friend or foe? Assad quietly aids Syrian Kurds against Turkey
US military says first aid shipment has been driven across a newly built US pier into the Gaza Strip
US military says first aid shipment has been driven across a newly built US pier into the Gaza Strip
- Trucks carrying badly needed aid for the Gaza Strip have rolled across a newly built US floating pier to Rafah
The shipment is the first in an operation that American military officials anticipate could scale up to 150 truckloads a day entering the Gaza Strip as Israel presses in on the southern city of Rafah as its 7-month offensive against Gaza.
But the US and aid groups also warn that the pier project is not considered a substitute for land deliveries that could bring in all the food, water and fuel needed in Gaza. Before the war, more than 500 truckloads entered Gaza on an average day.
The operation’s success also remains tenuous due to the risk of militant attack, logistical hurdles and a growing shortage of fuel for the trucks to run due to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7. Israel’s offensive since then has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, local health officials say, while hundreds more have been killed in the West Bank.
The US military’s Central Command acknowledged the aid movement in a statement Friday, saying the first aid crossed into Gaza at 9 a.m. It said no American troops went ashore in the operation.
“This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature, and will involve aid commodities donated by a number of countries and humanitarian organizations,” the command said.
Troops finished installing the floating pier on Thursday. Hours later, the Pentagon said that humanitarian aid would soon begin flowing and that no backups were expected in the distribution process, which is being coordinated by the United Nations.
The UN, however, said fuel deliveries brought through land routes have all but stopped and this will make it extremely difficult to bring the aid to Gaza’s people.
“We desperately need fuel,” UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said. “It doesn’t matter how the aid comes, whether it’s by sea or whether by land, without fuel, aid won’t get to the people.”
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said the issue of fuel deliveries comes up in all US conversations with the Israelis. She also said the plan is to begin slowly with the sea route and ramp up the truck deliveries over time as they work the kinks out of the system.
Aid agencies say they are running out of food in southern Gaza and fuel is dwindling, while the US Agency for International Development and the World Food Program say famine has taken hold in Gaza’s north.
Israel asserts it places no limits on the entry of humanitarian aid and blames the UN for delays in distributing goods entering Gaza. The UN says fighting, Israeli fire and chaotic security conditions have hindered delivery.
Under pressure from the US, Israel has in recent weeks opened a pair of crossings to deliver aid into hard-hit northern Gaza and said that a series of Hamas attacks on the main crossing, Kerem Shalom, have disrupted the flow of goods. There’s also been violent protests by Israelis disrupting aid shipments.
US President Joe Biden ordered the pier project, expected to cost $320 million. The boatloads of aid will be deposited at a port facility built by the Israelis just southwest of Gaza City and then distributed by aid groups.
US officials said the initial shipment totaled as much as 500 tons of aid. The US has closely coordinated with Israel on how to protect the ships and personnel working on the beach.
But there are still questions on how aid groups will safely operate in Gaza to distribute food, said Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, which is helping with logistics.
“There is a very insecure operating environment” and aid groups are still struggling to get clearance for their planned movements in Gaza, Korde said.
The fear follows an Israeli strike last month that killed seven relief workers from World Central Kitchen whose trip had been coordinated with Israeli officials and the deaths of other aid personnel during the war.
Pentagon officials have made it clear that security conditions will be monitored closely and could prompt a shutdown of the maritime route, even just temporarily. Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, a deputy commander at the US military’s Central Command, told reporters Thursday that “we are confident in the ability of this security arrangement to protect those involved.”
Already, the site has been targeted by mortar fire during its construction, and Hamas has threatened to target any foreign forces who “occupy” the Gaza Strip.
Biden has made it clear that there will be no US forces on the ground in Gaza, so third-country contractors will drive the trucks onto the shore. Cooper said “the United Nations will receive the aid and coordinate its distribution into Gaza.”
The World Food Program will be the UN agency handling the aid, officials said.
Israeli forces are in charge of security on shore, but there are also two US Navy warships nearby that can protect US troops and others.
The aid for the sea route is collected and inspected in Cyprus, then loaded onto ships and taken about 200 miles (320 kilometers) to a large floating pier built by the US off the Gaza coast. There, the pallets are transferred onto the trucks that then drive onto the Army boats. Once the trucks drop off the aid on shore, they immediately turn around the return to the boats.
Yemen, Egypt presidents discuss Red Sea security
- Houthis claim they are attacking ships to stop Israel’s war on Gaza
RIYADH: The presidents of Egypt and Yemen held talks on Thursday about ways to secure shipping lanes in the Red Sea.
Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met on the sidelines of the Arab League Summit in Bahrain, according to Yemen’s state news agency Saba.
Al-Alimi and El-Sisi emphasized the importance of security in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden for the region’s stability.
Since November, the Houthis have launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at international commercial and naval ships in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden. They have reportedly been acting in solidarity with the Palestinian people and want Israel to stop its war on Gaza.
During the meeting, El-Sisi emphasized Egypt’s commitment to Yemen’s unity and stability, and added that Cairo would continue seeking a political solution to the crisis in that country.
Al-Alimi thanked Egypt for its efforts to alleviate suffering in Yemen and for seeking to ensure stability in the region.
Hezbollah introduces new weapons and tactics against Israel as war in Gaza drags on
- Hezbollah has regularly fired missiles across the border with Israel over the past seven months
- Hezbollah said it had launched a new rocket with a heavy warhead named Jihad Mughniyeh
BEIRUT: The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah this week struck a military post in northern Israel using a drone that fired two missiles. The attack wounded three soldiers, one of them seriously, according to the Israeli military.
Hezbollah has regularly fired missiles across the border with Israel over the past seven months, but the one on Thursday appears to have been the first successful missile airstrike it has launched from within Israeli airspace.
The group has stepped up its attacks on Israel in recent weeks, particularly since the Israeli incursion into the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. It has struck deeper inside Israel and introduced new and more advanced weaponry.
“This is a method of sending messages on the ground to the Israeli enemy, meaning that this is part of what we have, and if needed we can strike more,” said Lebanese political analyst Faisal Abdul-Sater who closely follows Hezbollah.
While the cross-border exchanges of fire have been ongoing since early October, “complex attacks” by Hezbollah began a few days after Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile barrage attack on Israel in mid-April.
In the past two weeks, Hezbollah has escalated further in response to the Israeli incursion into the city of southern Rafah in the Gaza Strip, a Lebanese official familiar with the group’s operations said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to detail military information to the media.
The Thursday afternoon attack by a drone carrying missiles came just days after Hezbollah launched three anti-tank guided missiles at an Israeli military post that controlled a surveillance balloon flying over the border. They released camera footage afterward to show they had hit their mark. Hours later, the Israeli military confirmed that the spy balloon had been shot down over Lebanon.
The night before, Hezbollah had carried out its deepest attack in Israel to date using explosive drones to strike at a base in Ilaniya near the city of Tiberias about 35 kilometers from the Lebanon border. The Israeli military said the attack did not hurt anyone.
Abdul-Sater, the analyst, said the Iran-led coalition known as the axis of resistance, which includes the Palestinian militant group Hamas, has warned that if Israeli troops launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah in an attempt to go after Hamas, other fronts will also escalate.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed Wednesday that they attacked a US destroyer while Iran-backed militants in Iraq have said they fired a series of drones toward Israel in recent weeks after having gone relatively quiet since February.
Hezbollah’s use of more advanced weaponry, including drones capable of firing missiles, explosive drones and the small type of guided missile known as Almas, or Diamond, that was used to attack the base controlling the balloon has raised alarms within the Israeli military.
“Hezbollah has been escalating the situation in the north,” said military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani. “They’ve been firing more and more.”
In adapting its attacks, Hezbollah has also managed to reduce the numbers of fighters lost compared with the early weeks of the conflict.
The group has lost more than 250 fighters so far, compared with 15 Israeli troops since fighting broke out along the Lebanon-Israel border a day after the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7.
According to a count by The Associated Press, Hezbollah lost 47 fighters in October and 35 in November, compared with 20 in April and 12 so far this month.
The official familiar with the group’s operations said Hezbollah had reduced the numbers of fighters along the border areas to bring down the numbers of casualties. While Hezbollah continues to fire Russian-made anti-tank Kornet missiles from areas close to the border, it has also shifted to firing drones and other types of rockets with heavy war heads — including Almas as well as Falaq and Burkan rockets — from areas several kilometers (miles) from the border.
Over the weekend, Hezbollah said it had launched a new rocket with a heavy warhead named Jihad Mughniyeh after a senior operative who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on southern Syria in 2015.
Eva J. Koulouriotis, a political analyst specialized in the Middle East and jihadi groups wrote on the social media platform X that Hezbollah’s recent escalation likely has several goals, including raising the ceiling of the group’s demands in any future negotiations for a border deal, as well as raising military pressure on Israel’s military in light of the preparations for the battle in Rafah.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed in a speech last week that “we will stand, we will achieve our goals, we will hit Hamas, we will destroy Hezbollah, and we will bring security.”
On Monday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah reiterated in a speech that there will be no end to the fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border until Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip come to an end.
“The main goal of Lebanon’s front is to contribute to the pressure on the enemy to end the war on Gaza,” Nasrallah said.
His comments were a blow to attempts by foreign dignitaries, including US and French officials, who have visited Beirut t o try to put an end to the violence that has displaced tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border.
A day after Nasrallah spoke, Canada’s Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly visited Beirut and told Lebanon’s private LBC TV station that she was pushing for a ceasefire.
“We need the people living in the south of Lebanon to be able to go back to their homes,” she said. “We need to make sure that the Israelis living in the northern part of Israel are able to get back to their homes also.”
Hezbollah’s deputy leader Naim Kassim warned Israel in a speech over the weekend against opening an all-out war.
“You have tried in the past and you were defeated and if you try again you will be defeated,” said Kassim, referring to the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah 34-day war that ended in a draw.
Arab League summit calls for UN peacekeepers in Palestinian territories
- The declaration also called for ‘all Palestinian factions to join under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization’
- Arab League said it considered PLO, dominated by ruling Fatah movement, ‘sole legitimate representative of Palestinian people’
MANAMA: The Arab League on Thursday called for a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Palestinian territories at a summit dominated by the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The “Manama Declaration” issued by the 22-member bloc called for “international protection and peacekeeping forces of the United Nations in the occupied Palestinian territories” until a two-state solution is implemented.
The declaration also called for “all Palestinian factions to join under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization,” which is dominated by the ruling Fatah movement, and added that it considered the PLO “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.”
It also called for an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza and an end to forced displacement in the Palestinian territory.
“We demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a halt to all attempts at forced displacement, an end to all forms of siege and allowing full and sustainable access to aid,” the final communique said.
It further “strongly condemned the attacks on commercial ships,” saying they “threaten freedom of navigation, international trade, and the interests of countries and peoples of the world,” and reiterated the Arab League’s commitment to “ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea” and surrounding areas.
The King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, opened the summit by calling for an international conference for peace in the Middle East.
The king, as the summit’s host, also reaffirmed his country’s support for the full recognition of a Palestinian state and the acceptance of its membership in the United Nations.
He stressed that the establishment of a Palestinian state will reflect positively on the region.
Last week, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member and called on the UN Security Council to reconsider the request.
The vote by the 193-member General Assembly was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member — a move that would effectively recognize a Palestinian state — after the US vetoed it in the UN Security Council last month.
“What the Palestinians are facing requires a unified international stance,” the King of Bahrain said.
During his opening remarks at the summit, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called for the establishment of an internationally recognized Palestinian state.
The prince was among the Arab delegates who arrived in Manama on Thursday for the Arab League Summit.
During his speech, the prince highlighted the Kingdom’s efforts in alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, reiterating Saudi Arabia’s support for issues of the Arab world.
He urged the international community to back ceasefire efforts and halt the aggression on Palestinian civilians.
It is the first time the Arab leaders come together after Riyadh hosted an extraordinary summit in November where the bloc condemned Israel’s “barbaric” actions in Gaza.
The one-day summit was set to discuss events in Gaza, propose a ceasefire and push for a Palestinian state.
“The Kingdom calls for conflict resolution through peaceful means,” the prince said.
Palestinian leader slams Hamas
The Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas criticized Hamas for giving Israel the ‘pretext to attack’ Gaza with the Oct. 7 attack.
“Hamas’ rejection of ending the division serves Israel’s interest in ending the two-state solution,” he noted, pointing to the long-standing tensions between the Palestinian Authority and the militant group governing Gaza.
He said the Palestinian government has not received the financial support it had expected from international and regional partners, noting that Israel is still withholding the funds and creating a dire situation.
The Palestinian leader called on Arab countries for financial support and the US to pressure Israel into releasing the funds.
“It has now become critical to activate the Arab safety net, to boost the resilience of our people and to enable the government to carry out its duties,” Abbas added.
He also urged the international community to start immediately with the implementation of the two-state solution and reiterated ‘full rejection’ of the displacement of Palestinians, who just marked the 76th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba.
Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, UAE’s Vice President and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid, Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad were among the attendees on Thursday.
Israel to abolish free trade deal with Turkiye in retaliation
- Earlier this month, Turkiye said it was stopping exports to Israel during the duration of the Israel-Hamas war
JERUSALEM: Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday said Israel would abolish its free trade agreement with Turkiye and also impose a 100 percent tariff on other imports from Turkiye in retaliation for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to halt exports to Israel.
The plan, he said, would be submitted to the cabinet for approval.
Earlier this month, Turkiye said it was stopping exports to Israel during the duration of the Israel-Hamas war, citing “worsening humanitarian tragedy” in the Palestinian territories. But the Turkish Trade Ministry has said that companies have three months to fulfil existing orders via third countries.
“His (Erdogan’s) announcement of the stoppage of imports to Israel constitutes a declaration of an economic boycott and a serious violation of international trade agreements to which Turkiye has committed,” Smotrich said in a statement.
He noted that Israel’s actions would only last as long as Erdogan remained in power.
“If at the end of Erdogan’s term the citizens of Turkiye elect a leader who is sane and not a hater of Israel, it would be possible to return the trade route with Turkiye,” Smotrich said.
Under Smotrich’s plan, all the reduced customs rates applicable to goods imported from Turkiye to Israel according to an agreement to the free trade deal would be abolished. At the same time, a duty would be imposed on any product imported from Turkiye to Israel at a rate of 100 percent of the value of the goods in addition to the existing duty rate.
The finance, economy and foreign ministries, the statement said, would also take steps to strengthen Israel’s manufacturing while diversifying sources of import to reduce the dependency on Turkiye.
Israel’s Manufacturers’ Association called Smotrich’s plan “an appropriate response” for not allowing Erdogan to damage the economy without a response.
