TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid took off for Germany on Sunday, in his latest diplomatic effort to persuade Western powers to ditch a nuclear deal with Iran.
Israel has long opposed a revival of the 2015 accord, which has been moribund since then US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 and reimposed biting sanctions on Tehran.
Momentum that built toward a restored agreement last month appears to have slowed, after the three European nations that are party to the agreement — Germany, France and Britain — on Saturday raised “serious doubts” about Iran’s sincerity in restoring the deal.
Meeting his cabinet before flying to Berlin, Lapid thanked these three powers for the “strong position” they had voiced in a tripartite statement on Saturday.
These powers charged that Tehran “has chosen not to seize this critical diplomatic opportunity,” adding that “instead, Iran continues to escalate its nuclear program way beyond any plausible civilian justification.”
Lapid told his cabinet that “Israel is conducting a successful diplomatic campaign to stop the nuclear agreement and prevent the lifting of sanctions on Iran.
“It is not over yet,” he added. “There is still a long way to go, but there are encouraging signs.”
An Israeli diplomatic official, who requested anonymity, told AFP that Iran will be the focus of the talks when the delegation lands in Berlin.
“It’s important to continue to coordinate positions and to influence the European position. Germany has an important role in this,” the official said.
Lapid, who was traveling with senior security officials, is scheduled to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier before returning to Israel late Monday.
The 2015 agreement, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, gave Iran sanctions relief in return for restricting its nuclear program.
Negotiations underway in Vienna since April 2021 have sought to restore the agreement, by lifting the sanctions on Tehran and pushing Iran to fully honor its prior nuclear commitments.
Last month, the European Union, which acts as the mediator of the talks, put forward a “final” draft of the agreement.
Iran and the US then took turns to respond to the text, with Washington saying on Friday that Tehran’s reply was a step “backwards.”
Israel PM heads to Berlin for fresh pitch against Iran deal
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Israel PM heads to Berlin for fresh pitch against Iran deal
- Israel has long opposed a revival of the 2015 accord
- Momentum that built toward a restored agreement last month appears to have slowed
The UN says Al-Hol camp population has dropped sharply as Syria moves to relocate remaining families
The UN says Al-Hol camp population has dropped sharply as Syria moves to relocate remaining families
- Forces of Syria’s central government captured the Al-Hol camp on Jan. 21 during a weekslong offensive against the SDF, which had been running the camp near the border with Iraq for a decade
DAMASCUS: The UN refugee agency said Sunday that a large number of residents of a camp housing family members of suspected Daesh group militants have left and the Syrian government plans to relocate those who remain.
Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR’s representative in Syria, said in a statement that the agency “has observed a significant decrease in the number of residents in Al-Hol camp in recent weeks.”
“Syrian authorities have informed UNHCR of their plan to relocate the remaining families to Akhtarin camp in Aleppo Governorate (province) and have requested UNHCR’s support to assist the population in the new camp, which we stand ready to provide,” he said.
He added that UNHCR “will continue to support the return and reintegration of Syrians who have departed Al-Hol, as well as those who remain.”
The statement did not say how residents had left the camp or how many remain. Many families are believed to have escaped either during the chaos when government forces captured the camp from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces last month or afterward.
There was no immediate statement from the Syrian government and a government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
At its peak after the defeat of IS in Syria in 2019, around 73,000 people were living at Al-Hol. Since then, the number has declined with some countries repatriating their citizens. The camp’s residents are mostly children and women, including many wives or widows of IS members.
The camp’s residents are not technically prisoners and most have not been accused of crimes, but they have been held in de facto detention at the heavily guarded facility.
Forces of Syria’s central government captured the Al-Hol camp on Jan. 21 during a weekslong offensive against the SDF, which had been running the camp near the border with Iraq for a decade. A ceasefire deal has since ended the fighting.
Separately, thousands of accused IS militants who were held in detention centers in northeastern Syria have been transferred to Iraq to stand trial under an agreement with the US
The US military said Friday that it had completed the transfer of more than 5,700 adult male IS suspects from detention facilities in Syria to Iraqi custody.
Iraq’s National Center for International Judicial Cooperation said a total of 5,704 suspects from 61 countries who were affiliated with IS — most of them Syrian and Iraqi — were transferred from prisons in Syria. They are now being interrogated in Iraq.
