DAMASCUS: The United Nations special envoy for Syria on Sunday called for a quick end to Western sanctions after the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
The Syrian government has been under strict sanctions by the United States, European Union and others for years as a result of Assad’s brutal response to what began as peaceful anti-government protests in 2011 and later spiraled into a civil war.
The conflict has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million. Rebuilding has been stymied to a large degree by sanctions that aimed to prevent rebuilding of damaged infrastructure and property in government-held areas in the absence of a political solution.
“We can hopefully see a quick end to the sanctions so that we can see really a rallying around building of Syria,” UN envoy Geir Pedersen told reporters during a visit to Damascus.
Pedersen came to the Syrian capital to meet with officials with the new interim government set up by the former opposition forces who toppled Assad, led by the Islamic militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS.
HTS is designated a terrorist group by the US, which could also complicate reconstruction efforts, but officials in Washington have indicated that the Biden administration is considering removing the designation.
The interim government is set to govern until March, but it has not yet made clear the process under which a new permanent administration would replace it.
“We need to get the political process underway that is inclusive of all Syrians,” Pedersen said. “That process obviously needs to be led by the Syrians themselves.”
He called for “justice and accountability for crimes” committed during the war and for the international community to step up humanitarian aid.
UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall
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UN special envoy for Syria calls for sanctions relief following Assad’s fall
- The Syrian government has been under strict sanctions by the US, EU and others for years
- ‘We can hopefully see a quick end to the sanctions so that we can see really a rallying around building of Syria’
Yemen’s STC leader Al-Zubaidi has fled to unknown location, did not board plane to Riyadh: Coalition
Yemen’s STC leader Al-Zubaidi has fled to unknown location, did not board plane to Riyadh: Coalition
RIYADH: Aidarous Al-Zubaidi, the leader of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council, has fled to an unknown location and did not board a plane to the Saudi capital Riyadh, where talks with other southern-based factions are set to take place, the coalition to support the legitimate government of Yemen said.
Saudi Arabia offered to mediate between the factions to resolve tensions in the south of the country and both Al-Zubaidi and Yemen’s presidential council leader Rashad Al-Alimi agreed to attend.
A large delegation of STC members did board the flight to Riyadh, the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen said early on Wednesday.
Al-Zubaidi was due to arrive in the Kingdom on Tuesday but during a 3-hour flight delay, the coalition said that “unjustified field movements” were observed in Aden.
The coalition said it had been provided with information that Al-Zubaidi has moved a large number of forces toward Dhala.
Last week, the coalition carried a out a “limited” airstrike targeting two shipments of smuggled weapons and other military hardware into Mukalla in southern Yemen.
It said the two vessels entered the port without authorization from either the Yemeni government or the coalition, prompting the port’s closure.
The large quantity of “weapons and combat vehicles to support the Southern Transitional Council forces in the eastern governorates of Yemen” aimed to fuel the conflict, the coalition said.
More to follow...
