UNITED NATIONS: Syria’s opposition is hoping to persuade the US administration this week to throw its weight behind UN-led peace talks and counter Russia’s bid to set up a parallel track, its lead negotiator said Tuesday.
After meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York, opposition leaders are heading to Washington on Tuesday for meetings to shore up the Geneva talks, which are expected to resume on January 21.
“All of us, all of our countries are waiting for an American role” in finding a settlement to the nearly seven-year war, Nasr Hariri told AFP in an interview.
The United States is “the most important player in the Syrian fight, the only state that can make a balance with the Russian influence,” he said.
The delegation led by Hariri hopes to meet with US national security adviser H.R McMaster, State Department officials and members of Congress to make their case for US engagement.
The opposition’s appeal to the US administration comes as Russia is asking the United Nations to take part in a peace congress it is hosting along with Iran in Sochi on January 29 and 30.
Western countries view the Sochi peace talks with skepticism, concerned that Russia and Iran will carve out a settlement that will favor their ally Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Hariri said he was told by Guterres that no decision had been made yet on whether the United Nations would take part in the Sochi conference, a move that would bring credibility to the Russian-led effort.
For its part, the Syrian opposition has not taken a “final decision” on whether to boycott the Sochi talks, said Hariri, who became the opposition’s chief negotiator in November.
Eight rounds of talks in Geneva have repeatedly stumbled over Assad’s fate, with negotiators from Damascus refusing to meet the opposition directly until it drops demands that he leave office.
Assad’s forces have regained the upper hand in the war, re-taking territory in a campaign backed by Russia’s military intervention.
Without Washington as an “active political player in Geneva, I think the game will continue, by wasting time, establishing parallel tracks to hijack the political process in Geneva to Sochi, to Astana,” said Hariri.
President Donald Trump’s administration has shown little interest in the diplomatic effort to end the war in Syria, focusing instead on defeating Daesh.
After the US-led coalition drove Daesh out of Raqqa, Washington must now step up its involvement in forging a peace agreement to keep the group at bay and to prevent Iran from expanding its influence, said Hariri.
More than 340,000 people have died in Syria’s nearly seven-year war and over half of the population has been driven from their homes.
Syrian opposition wants US to weigh in and counter Russia
Syrian opposition wants US to weigh in and counter Russia
Kuwait airport targeted as Iran presses on with attacks on Gulf states
KUWAIT CITY/DUBAI: Gulf nations on Sunday reported new missile and drone attacks, while Iran vowed to press on with strikes against neighboring countries as the war entered its second week.
Kuwait’s defense ministry and Kuwait's Public Authority for Civil Aviation said that the country’s forces were “responding to a wave of hostile drones” that penetrated the country’s airspace.
“The fuel tanks of Kuwait International Airport were attacked by drones in a direct targeting of vital infrastructure,” the defense ministry spokesman said, according to a post by the Kuwaiti military on X.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Defense was also reporting a wave of drone attacks, saying 21 unmanned aerial vehicles were intercepted and destroyed in the last four hours.
Major General Turki Al-Maliki, spokesman for the Defense Ministry, said in separate posts on X that 13 drones were intercepted and destroyed east of the national capital, Riyadh city, while eight drones were shot down just after entering Saudi air space.
Before midnight on Saturday, loud explosions were heard in Dubai, the Qatari capital Doha and Bahrain’s Manama, with attacks reported in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, where the national oil company announced a “precautionary” cut to production.
The attacks came despite Iran’s president earlier apologizing to Gulf countries for earlier strikes. He had said they would no longer be targeted unless strikes were launched from their territory first.
Hours later, Iran said it would continue conducting strikes on sites in Gulf countries which were “at the disposal of the enemy.”
UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a rare televised address that the Emirates were in “a period of war” and “will emerge stronger” from it.
Dubai authorities said Saturday evening one person had been killed by debris from an “aerial interception,” adding they were a Pakistani national.
Dubai airport closed, reopens
Earlier in the day, Dubai closed its main airport — the world’s busiest for international traffic — after authorities said an unidentified object was intercepted nearby.
The government said there had been “a minor incident resulting from the fall of debris after an interception,” without directly mentioning the airport. It said there were no injuries.
The Flightradar24 tracking website earlier showed planes circling above the airport in an apparent holding pattern.
In a statement since deleted from X, Emirates, the largest airline in the Middle East, had announced it was suspending all flights to and from Dubai until further notice, but later said it had resumed operations.
The UAE, a US ally and home to American military installations, has been the most heavily targeted nation in the Gulf during the war.
Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Defense said that of the 16 ballistic missiles fired at the country on Saturday, all but one had been intercepted, with that missile falling into the sea.
Of the 121 drones detected, 119 were brought down, while two fell within Emirati territory.
The barrage brings the number of ballistic missiles detected by the UAE since the start of the war last Saturday to 221, the defense ministry said, with the number of drones surpassing 1,300.
Flights from Dubai’s main airport had partially resumed on Monday despite daily drone attacks targeting sites in the UAE.
Last Saturday, four employees were injured and an airport terminal damaged as the war broke out following US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
Iranian attacks have also hit Abu Dhabi airport, the upmarket Palm Jumeirah development and the Burj Al Arab luxury hotel over the past week, while drone debris caused a fire at the US consulate in Dubai on Tuesday.
Relentless air threats
Elsewhere in the Gulf on Saturday, Qatar’s defense ministry said its military had intercepted two missile attacks targeting the country.
Kuwait said Saturday night it had intercepted seven drones since dawn, with the attacks resulting “only in material damage from falling debris.”
And Bahrain said it has intercepted and 92 missiles and 151 drones since the start of the “brutal Iranian aggression.”
AFP journalists heard an explosion Saturday night in Manama, Bahrain’s capital, as authorities said one person was injured after rocket shrapnel fell in a public street.
In Saudi Arabia, the defense ministry said it had destroyed three ballistic missiles heading toward Prince Sultan Air Base, which hosts American troops, as well as 17 drones over the Shaybah oil field in the southeast.
Kuwait also reported intercepting a drone, while the country’s national oil company announced a “precautionary” cut to its production of crude due to Iranian attacks and threats to the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit point for Gulf hydrocarbons.
Further north, Jordan accused Iran of directly targeting sites in the kingdom, saying Tehran had fired 119 missiles and drones in the past week.
“These missiles and drones were targeting vital installations inside Jordan and were not passing through our territories,” said military spokesman Brig. Gen. Mustafa Hayari.
(With AFP)
