GENEVA: Daesh’s remaining Syrian strongholds are likely to fall by the end of October, which must be the trigger for the international community to push for free and fair elections, UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Friday.
“What we are seeing is in my opinion the beginning of the end of this war … what we need to make sure is that this becomes also the beginning of peace. And that is where the challenge starts at this very moment,” he said in a BBC radio interview.
Three places were still far from stabilized, de Mistura said: Raqqa, Deir Al-Zor and Idlib.
“After Raqqa and Deir Al-Zor, and that is a matter of a few months, there will be a moment of truth. If the international community will be helping both the opposition and the government by pushing the government to accept a real negotiation, then within a year it would be a possibility of having a truly credible election.”
The city of Deir Al-Zor has been under siege by Daesh fighters for years, forcing the UN to conduct an unprecedented and expensive high-altitude airdrop campaign to supply the population.
“The Syrian government and the Russians are very likely between now and the end of this month or perhaps early October, latest, to actually liberate it,” de Mistura said.
The US and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces “will probably liberate Raqqa by the end of October.”
The third area, Idlib, is “full of al Nusra, which is Al-Qaeda,” de Mistura said, referring to the Nusra Front, a one-time Al-Qaeda affiliate. It has been renamed and merged with other groups, but remains the only force in Syria’s war, apart from Daesh, that is designated by the UN as “terrorists.”
The lesson from the Iraqi city of Mosul, taken over by Daesh a decade after the US declared “mission accomplished” in the war in Iraq, was that Syria’s war needed to be followed by a fair UN-managed election, without neglecting minorities.
An unrepresentative peace deal would leave the door open to a resurgence of Daesh.
“Even those who believe they won the war — that is the government — they will need to make a gesture, otherwise Daesh will come back in a month or two months’ time.”
Nobody had an interest in a resurgence of Daesh in Syria, de Mistura said. Assad’s allies in Moscow, recalling the Soviet experience of war in Afghanistan, “certainly want an exit strategy.”
“We are getting close to some kind of understanding even among those who have been involved in the conflict that the priority is to close it. What we need to do is wrap it up in a way that is stabilized, not just close the conflict.”
UN sees election possibility in Syria after Daesh defeat
UN sees election possibility in Syria after Daesh defeat
Palestinians evacuate homes in Silwan following collapse blamed on Israeli excavations
- Ground under 3 adjacent houses caves in resulting in severe structural cracks and the collapse of a room in one of the properties
- Israel has been carrying out excavations beneath Silwan since 2007 to create an underground tourist attraction called ‘City of David’
LONDON: Palestinian residents were forced to evacuate three homes in Silwan, a neighborhood in the south of occupied East Jerusalem, on Monday after the ground beneath them caved in, reportedly as a result of decades of Israeli excavations in the area.
The Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate said a retaining wall collapsed on Sunday and the ground beneath three adjacent homes belonging to the Abu Sbeih family gave way. This resulted in severe structural cracks and the collapse of a room in one of the houses.
Residents said they had repeatedly notified the Israeli Jerusalem Municipality about urgent safety concerns, but no preventive measures were taken to prevent a collapse, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
Fawaz Abu Sbeih said cracks in the walls of his house were the result of Israeli excavations in the ground beneath and around the property. Since 2007, the Israel Antiquities Authority and settler group the Elad Association, also known as the Ir David Foundation, has been excavating under Silwan to create an underground tourist attraction called the “City of David.”
A recent storm and heavy rains in Jerusalem accelerated the collapse, said Abu Sbeih, who added that Israeli authorities require residents to obtain permits before maintenance work to reinforce building foundations can be carried out.
The excavations in Silwan have affected many residents, some of whom face eviction orders from Israeli authorities for building without permits.
Jerusalem Governorate described ground collapses in Silwan as part of Israel’s “systematic policy of forced displacement based on dangerous colonial excavations and the deliberate neglect of their impact on the homes of Jerusalemites, while simultaneously preventing Jerusalemite families from repairing or reinforcing their homes.”
