LONDON: The Collective Security Treaty Organization is set to send a mission to assess the situation on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border amid UN concerns over the imminent collapse of a fragile cease-fire.
Fighting erupted in the early hours of Monday between Armenian and Azeri troops as long-running tensions between the neighboring states over the Nagorno-Karabakh region flared, with both sides blaming one another for breaching a Moscow-brokered 2020 peace deal.
Addressing the UN Security Council on Thursday, Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenca said both sides reported “heavy fighting on their international border.”
He added: “According to reports, heavy artillery, drones and large-caliber weapons were used. The exchange of fire reportedly continued through Sept. 13 and 14, while yesterday evening it was announced that a cease-fire had been agreed starting at 8 p.m. local time.”
He said: “We welcome this agreement and hope the cease-fire will hold, but remain deeply concerned over this dangerous escalation, including its possible impact on civilians.”
Following the death of 105 service personnel and wounding of at least six civilians during the recent fighting, Armenia requested deployment of the Russian-led CSTO — the regional equivalent of NATO — to provide a full picture on the source of this latest violence.
Both Armenia and Azerbaijan wrote to the UN secretary-general and Security Council alleging violations of the 2020 peace deal that ended a six-week war.
Addressing the UNSC, Mher Margaryan, Armenia’s permanent representative to the UN, said the past three nights had been a “grave time” for the country after “our neighbor to the east instituted a major offensive.
“Over the past year, we have repeatedly brought to the council’s attention Azerbaijan’s breaches of international law.”
He added: “In the absence of proper accountability, we see the actions step up. Azerbaijan has occupied 10 sq. km of Armenia in the past two days, while Armenia engages in negotiations in good faith. This aggression of Azerbaijan is the answer to that.
“As we speak, Azerbaijan is reportedly planning to widen the scope of its predatory conduct, with the blame game and speculation its best friends.”
Azerbaijan’s permanent representative to the UN, Yashar Teymur oglu Aliyev, said this “serious escalation” had been “provoked by Armenia,” adding that Margaryan’s statement demonstrated the country’s lack of good faith in finding a peaceful solution.
“We reject the claims made, the distortions and deceptions. (The fighting) is the consequence of Armenian aggression, which remains unaddressed,” added Aliyev.
Jenca said he was unable to verify specifics of reports surrounding what was occurring on the ground, adding that he “fully supported” mediation efforts being undertaken by international organizations, the EU and Russia.
After an initial cease-fire brokered by Moscow on Tuesday failed to hold, China welcomed the latest cessation in hostilities, but added: “We hope both sides stick to this.”
Expressing “extreme concern” over the resumption of hostilities, Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, urged both sides to return to the trilateral deal reached with Moscow in 2020, describing it as the basis for the “path to peace.”
But, he said, “sustainable results in bringing about peace require time and effort from both Baku and Yerevan.”
He added: “Substantial efforts are being undertaken by Russia’s Ministry of Defense and our border forces, and we are also engaging both parties. But the main thing today is for both parties to stop armed clashes and implement cease-fires.”
However, with fighting on the border at its worst since 2020, representatives expressed “deep concern” over the apparent targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure.
“The UAE expresses satisfaction at the cease-fire but remains deeply concerned over the ongoing violence, and wishes to see efforts convert to a lasting cease-fire and thereafter a lasting peace,” said Ameira Obaid Mohamed Obaid Alhefeiti, Emirati deputy permanent representative.
“Repeated crisis and humanitarian suffering will weaken the world order. We urge the parties to return to the negotiating table and seek a diplomatic solution quickly.”
Russian-led mission to assess situation along Armenia-Azerbaijan border
https://arab.news/wf5ux
Russian-led mission to assess situation along Armenia-Azerbaijan border
- Concerns over imminent collapse of fragile Moscow-brokered cease-fire
- ‘Heavy fighting’ has led to the death of 105 service personnel and wounding of civilians
The shootings in Minneapolis are upending the politics of immigration in Congress
- Many GOP lawmakers continue to embrace the Trump administration’s deportation strategy
WASHINGTON: The shooting deaths of two American citizens during the Trump administration’s deportation operations in Minneapolis have upended the politics of immigration in Congress, plunging the country toward another government shutdown.
Democrats have awakened to what they see as a moral moment for the country, refusing funds for the Department of Homeland Security’s military-style immigration enforcement operations unless there are new restraints. Two former presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, have broken from retirement to speak out.
At the same time, Republicans who have championed President Donald Trump’s tough approach to immigration are signaling second thoughts. A growing number of Republicans want a full investigation into the shooting death of Alex Pretti and congressional hearings about US Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
“Americans are horrified & don’t want their tax dollars funding this brutality,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., wrote on social media. “Not another dime to this lawless operation.”
The result is a rapidly changing political environment as the nation considers the reach of the Trump administration’s well-funded immigration enforcement machinery and Congress spirals toward a partial federal shutdown if no resolution is reached by midnight Friday.
“The tragic death of Alex Pretti has refocused attention on the Homeland Security bill, and I recognize and share the concerns,” said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the GOP chair of the Appropriations Committee, in brief remarks Monday.
Still, she urged colleagues to stick to the funding deal and avoid a “detrimental shutdown.”
Searching for a way out of a crisis
As Congress seeks to defuse a crisis, the next steps are uncertain.
The White House has indicated its own shifting strategy, sending Trump’s border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to take over for hard-charging Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, which many Republicans see as a potential turning point to calm operations.
“This is a positive development — one that I hope leads to turning down the temperature and restoring order in Minnesota,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune posted about Homan.
Behind the scenes, the White House is reaching out to congressional leaders, and even individual Democratic senators, in search of a way out of another government shutdown.
At stake is a six-bill government funding package, not just for Homeland Security but for Defense, Health and other departments, making up more than 70 percent of federal operations.
Even though Homeland Security has billions from Trump’s big tax break bill, Democrats are coalescing around changes to ICE operations. “We can still have some legitimate restriction on how these people are conducting themselves,” said Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona
But it appears doubtful the Trump administration would readily agree to Democrats’ demands to rein in immigration operations. Proposals for unmasking federal agents or limiting their reach into schools, hospitals or churches would be difficult to quickly approve in Congress.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that while conversations are underway, Trump wants to see the bipartisan spending package approved to avoid the possibility of a government shutdown.
“We absolutely do not want to see that funding lapse,” Leavitt said.
Politics reflect changing attitudes on Trump’s immigration agenda
The political climate is a turnaround from just a year ago, when Congress easily passed the Laken Riley Act, the first bill Trump signed into law in his second term.
At the time, dozens of Democrats joined the GOP majority in passing the bill named after a Georgia nursing student who was killed by a Venezuelan man who had entered the country illegally.
Many Democrats had worried about the Biden administration’s record of having allowed untold immigrants into the country. The party was increasingly seen as soft on crime following the “defund the police” protests and the aftermath of the death of George Floyd at the the hands of law enforcement.
But the Trump administrations tactics changed all that.
Just 38 percent of US adults approve of how Trump is handling immigration, down from 49 percent in March, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in January, shortly after the death of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by a ICE officer in Minnesota.
Last week, almost all House Democrats voted against the Homeland Security bill, as the package was sent the Senate.
Then there was the shooting death of Pretti over the weekend in Minneapolis.
Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York, who was among the seven Democrats who had voted to approve the Homeland Security funds, reversed course Monday in a Facebook post.
“I hear the anger from my constituents, and I take responsibility for that,” Suozzi wrote.
He said he “failed to view the DHS funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis.”
Voting ahead as shutdown risk grows
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday the responsibility for averting another shutdown falls to Republicans, who have majority control, to break apart the six-bill package, removing the homeland funds while allowing the others to go forward.
“We can pass them right away,” Schumer said.
But the White House panned that approach and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has blamed Democrats for last year’s shutdown, the longest in history, has been mum. The GOP speaker would need to recall lawmakers to Washington to vote.
Republicans believe they will be able to portray Democrats as radical if the government shuts down over Homeland Security funds, and certain centrist Democrats have warned the party against strong anti-ICE language.
A memo from centrist Democratic group Third Way had earlier warned lawmakers against proposals to “abolish” ICE as “emotionally satisfying, politically lethal.” In a new memo Monday it proposed “Overhauling ICE” with top-to-bottom changes, including removing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from her job.
GOP faces a divide on deportations
But Republicans also risk being sideways with public opinion over Trump’s immigration and deportation agenda.
Republicans prefer to keep the focus on Trump’s ability to secure the US-Mexico border, with illegal crossings at all-time lows, instead of the military-style deportation agenda. They are particularly sensitive to concerns from gun owners’ groups that Pretti, who was apparently licensed to carry a firearm, is being criticized for having a gun with him before he was killed.
GOP Sen. Rand Paul, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Oversight Committee, demanded that acting ICE director Todd Lyons appear for a hearing — joining a similar demand from House Republicans over the weekend.
At the same time, many GOP lawmakers continue to embrace the Trump administration’s deportation strategy.
“I want to be very clear,” said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., in a post. “I will not support any efforts to strip DHS of its funding.”
And pressure from their own right flank was bearing down on Republicans.
The Heritage Foundation chastised those Republicans who were “jubilant” at the prospect of slowing down ICE operations. “Deport every illegal alien,” it said in a post. “Nothing less.”
