UNITED NATIONS: For the past six years the United Nations and other aid groups have been crossing into Syria from Turkey, Iraq and Jordan at four places authorized by the UN Security Council to deliver humanitarian assistance to millions of people.
The 15-member council is aiming to extend approval for those operations this week, which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres describes as essential.
Russia, however, wants to cut the number of border crossings in half.
A resolution drafted by Belgium, Kuwait and Germany proposes increasing the authorized border crossings to five — by adding a third from Turkey — but Russia has put forward a rival text that would only approve current operations at two Turkish crossings.
When asked on Tuesday if Russia could veto the draft resolution by Belgium, Kuwait and Germany, Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia described that text as “unacceptable and inviable.”
“If it so happens that our draft does not pass, this will mean that the mechanism that we have proposed to extend will not be extended,” he told reporters.
A resolution needs nine votes to pass and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, France or Britain. Last year Russia and China abstained in the council vote to extend approval for the cross-border humanitarian aid deliveries.
Russia has vetoed 13 council resolutions on Syria since a crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 led to civil war. Daesh militants then used the chaos to seize territory in Syria and Iraq.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, Belgium, Kuwait and Germany and their seven elected counterparts on the Security Council expressed support for their draft resolution.
“The consequences of a non-renewal of the mechanism would be disastrous,” the 10 Security Council members, who are each serving two year terms, said. “This is a mechanism that enables life-saving assistance to reach 4 million people in Syria.”
In a Dec. 16 report to the Council, Guterres urged members to extend authorization of the cross-border aid deliveries.
“This aid has staved off an even larger humanitarian crisis inside Syria,” Guterres wrote.
“While I welcome ongoing efforts to scale up humanitarian assistance delivered from inside the Syrian Arab Republic, I reiterate that the United Nations does not have an alternative means of reaching people in the areas in which cross-border assistance is being provided,” he said.
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UN Security Council set for showdown over Syria cross-border aid deliveries
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UN Security Council set for showdown over Syria cross-border aid deliveries
- A resolution drafted by Belgium, Kuwait and Germany proposes increasing the authorized border crossings to five
- Russia has vetoed 13 council resolutions on Syria since a crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 led to civil war
Turkiye arrests two on charges of spying for Israel
- Security sources said Mehmet Budak Derya and Veysel Kerimoglu had been arrested in Istanbul
- They had long been on the radar of Turkiye’s MIT intelligence agency
ISTANBUL: Turkish intelligence has arrested two people on suspicion of spying for Israel’s Mossad and providing information that helped the spy agency target its enemies, state news agency Anadolu reported Friday.
Security sources said Mehmet Budak Derya and Veysel Kerimoglu had been arrested in Istanbul, saying they had long been on the radar of Turkiye’s MIT intelligence agency.
Derya, a mining engineer, allegedly first caught the attention of Mossad in 2005 when he opened a marble quarry near the southern coastal city of Mersin and began trading overseas, first contacting him via an individual called Ali Ahmed Yassin in 2012, the sources said.
Investigators said Yassin, who ran an Israeli shell company, invited Derya for a business meeting in Europe in 2013 which is where he allegedly first met Mossad agents, they said.
During the meeting, they discussed the marble trade and suggested he hire a Turkish citizen of Palestinian origin called Veysel Kerimoglu, they said.
The men became friends and allegedly began sharing information with Mossad, who paid Kerimoglu’s salary, they said.
Through Kerimoglu, Derya is alleged to have increased his Middle Eastern activities, building social and commercial ties with Palestinians opposed to Israel’s policies and allegedly sharing information about them with Mossad.
The men are also alleged to have sent through technical information and photos of premises they were looking to acquire, notably in Gaza.
In early 2016, Kerimoglu is alleged to have suggested to Derya to begin supplying drone parts, with the businessman making contact with Mohamed Zouari who was killed in Tunisia later that year, allegedly by Mossad, investigators said.
Zouari — an engineer who specialized in drone development for the Palestinian Hamas movement — was gunned down in his car in the eastern city of Sfax in December 2016.
Late last year, a Tunisian a court convicted 18 people in absentia over his murder.
Derya is alleged to have used an encrypted communication system to send technical data to his handlers, and underwent two lie detector tests in 2016 and 2024.
He was arrested while trying to set up a company that would have overseen three Asian shell companies whose aim was allegedly to hide the origins of various products that would have been supplied to buyers on Mossad’s radar.
The plan was allegedly discussed in detail at their last meeting in January.
Both suspects are currently being questioned by police, they said.
Security sources said Mehmet Budak Derya and Veysel Kerimoglu had been arrested in Istanbul, saying they had long been on the radar of Turkiye’s MIT intelligence agency.
Derya, a mining engineer, allegedly first caught the attention of Mossad in 2005 when he opened a marble quarry near the southern coastal city of Mersin and began trading overseas, first contacting him via an individual called Ali Ahmed Yassin in 2012, the sources said.
Investigators said Yassin, who ran an Israeli shell company, invited Derya for a business meeting in Europe in 2013 which is where he allegedly first met Mossad agents, they said.
During the meeting, they discussed the marble trade and suggested he hire a Turkish citizen of Palestinian origin called Veysel Kerimoglu, they said.
The men became friends and allegedly began sharing information with Mossad, who paid Kerimoglu’s salary, they said.
Through Kerimoglu, Derya is alleged to have increased his Middle Eastern activities, building social and commercial ties with Palestinians opposed to Israel’s policies and allegedly sharing information about them with Mossad.
The men are also alleged to have sent through technical information and photos of premises they were looking to acquire, notably in Gaza.
In early 2016, Kerimoglu is alleged to have suggested to Derya to begin supplying drone parts, with the businessman making contact with Mohamed Zouari who was killed in Tunisia later that year, allegedly by Mossad, investigators said.
Zouari — an engineer who specialized in drone development for the Palestinian Hamas movement — was gunned down in his car in the eastern city of Sfax in December 2016.
Late last year, a Tunisian a court convicted 18 people in absentia over his murder.
Derya is alleged to have used an encrypted communication system to send technical data to his handlers, and underwent two lie detector tests in 2016 and 2024.
He was arrested while trying to set up a company that would have overseen three Asian shell companies whose aim was allegedly to hide the origins of various products that would have been supplied to buyers on Mossad’s radar.
The plan was allegedly discussed in detail at their last meeting in January.
Both suspects are currently being questioned by police, they said.
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