Syrian FM says Russia, Iran have sent new government ‘positive indications’
Syrian FM says Russia, Iran have sent new government ‘positive indications’/node/2589928/middle-east
Syrian FM says Russia, Iran have sent new government ‘positive indications’
Interim Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani said the ‘government that will be launched March 1 will represent the Syrian people as much as possible and take its diversity into account.’ (AP)
LONDON: Iran and Russia have sent “positive indications” to the new government in Damascus but there remains an “open wound” over their support for the previous regime, Syria’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Moscow and Tehran provided key military and political support to Bashar Assad after an uprising against the former president descended into a 13-year-long civil war.
Assad fled to Russia in December after a lightning offensive led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham seized much of the country including the capital.
Asaad Hassan Al-Shaibani was appointed foreign minister by the HTS commander and now president of the Syrian Arab Republic, Ahmad Al-Sharaa.
Speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Al-Shaibani said there had been clear messages of intent from Russia and Iran to respect his new government, and the Syrian people.
But he added: “There is an open wound for the Syrian people and there are a lot of people who have suffered as a result of the relationship between the previous regime and these two states, and as a result, we need to give it some time for the Syrian people to be satisfied.”
Al-Shaibani said the Assad regime had exploited the relationships with Iran and Russia against the Syrian people and that the country needed to “shake off” this previous period.
“Any kind of respect to our freedom and sovereignty will be met with mutual respect and any kind of interference will be rejected.”
The positive indications Syria had received needed to be translated into “real policies based on mutual respect and the need to satisfy the Syrian people.”
Al-Shaibani also addressed Syria’s relations with its neighbor Lebanon — another country with which it has a complicated relationship.
Under the Assad dynasty, Syria imposed its will on Lebanon for decades and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia was another supporter of the former regime during the Syrian war.
“We’re not to be held responsible for the bad relations that existed with Lebanon under the previous regime,” Al-Shaibani said.
Lebanon’s prime minister established a new government on Saturday after two years of political deadlock was broken by the election of President Joseph Aoun last month.
Al-Shaibani said the new Syrian government would respect Lebanon as a sovereign state and avoid interfering in its internal affairs.
“The best proof of that is Lebanon being able to elect its president so swiftly without any interference by Syria,” he said.
Al-Sharaa visited Lebanon last month saying he hoped to build long-term strategic relations between the neighbors.
On another of Syria’s neighbors, Jordan, Al-Shaibani said his government had already removed challenges related to security and drug smuggling.
Jordan supported components of the Syrian opposition during the war and became increasingly concerned about the Assad regime’s mass production and export of the narcotic known as captagon.
Syria, he said, is building new economic partnerships with Jordan along with security cooperation to better control the border.
A new government will take office in Syria on March 1, Al-Shaibani said. The country’s new rulers said last month that they would form an interim legislative council to help govern until a new constitution was approved.
The administration will be “as representative as possible of the Syrian people, and should have the trust of the Syrian people,” the foreign minister said.
During the war, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham was considered an Islamist militant group and designated a terrorist organization by the EU and US.
But since taking power, its former commanders have claimed that they will offer a tolerant form of governance inclusive to all of Syria’s religions.
“Contrary to the previous Syrian regime, we have honored that diversity since day one because we see that as a source of strength,” Al-Shaibani said.
Why Gaza aid curbs are deepening children’s health crisis despite ceasefire
Humanitarian aid deliveries are still restricted, leaving thousands of children without sufficient food, medicine, and basic shelter
International agencies warn that without urgent, unrestricted aid, child mortality and long-term health crises will escalate sharply
Updated 04 December 2025
Sherouk Zakaria
DUBAI: Two months into Gaza’s fragile ceasefire, children in the besieged enclave continue to bear the brunt of a deepening humanitarian crisis, with aid agencies warning that Israel’s continued restrictions on relief supplies are exposing the population to malnutrition and disease.
Despite the Oct. 10 ceasefire, humanitarian groups say convoys carrying much-needed aid remain stuck at border crossings. Meanwhile, thousands of families displaced by two years of war are now enduring heavy rains in overcrowded shelters, heightening the risk of disease.
For displaced children, limited access to medical care and vaccinations could have long-term, irreversible consequences. Without timely medical intervention and proper nutrition, healthcare workers warn that children are far more vulnerable to illness and death.
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The UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians has reported a rise in cases of child malnutrition, with medical facilities facing “critical shortages” of supplies needed to treat postwar health complications.
“While the number of severely malnourished patients has decreased compared with the peak of the famine, cases are still regularly presenting to hospital emergency departments and medical points,” Rohan Talbot, MAP’s director of advocacy and campaigns, told Arab News.
In November, the organization’s nutrition cluster identified 575 children with acute malnutrition, including 128 with severe malnutrition, out of 7,930 children screened. The highest rates were in Gaza City, where almost 10 percent of children screened were malnourished.
“We have also seen birth defects attributed to poor nutrition in mothers and lack of access to proper food and medical care,” said Talbot, warning that malnutrition could have long-term effects on children, leaving them at risk of stunting, poor development, and recurrent infections.
A man carries the body of Palestinian baby Zainab Abu Haleeb, who died due to malnutrition, according to health officials, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on July 26, 2025. (REUTERS)
Last week, MAP reported that three of Gaza’s largest hospitals — Al-Shifa, Nasser and the Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society — remain overwhelmed with critically injured and malnourished patients.
Staff are unable to provide adequate care or carry out surgeries postponed during the war, with some patients dying as a result.
Medical supplies have not “meaningfully increased” since the ceasefire began, leaving a collapsed healthcare system with little capacity to recover, the organization said.
According to the UN, only half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are currently partially operational, and not a single hospital in the enclave is fully functional.
A nurse examines a malnourished child at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on July 25, 2025. (REUTERS)
The Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society Hospital, the main pediatric facility in northern Gaza, has reported critical shortages of essential drugs, medical supplies, cleaning materials, and sterilization equipment.
On Nov. 14, the hospital — already damaged in the fighting — was flooded by heavy rain, trapping children and their families on the ground floor.
“Medical intervention was not enough to save the lives of children, so we lost a large number of them in the intensive care unit,” Dr. Majd Awadallah, the hospital’s medical director, said in a statement.
“These problems are unsolvable without opening the crossings and allowing the unconditional entry of essential materials, especially medicines. How can a hospital operate in surgical and maternity cases without cleaning materials?”
INNUMBERS
• 600 Aid trucks expected to enter Gaza daily under ceasefire deal.
• 145 Actual average number of aid trucks entering Gaza per day.
(Source: Gaza’s Government Media Office)
On Monday, the UN Relief and Works Agency accused Israel of blocking around 6,000 aid trucks carrying food, medicine, tents and blankets — enough to sustain the enclave for three months.
The organization warned that 1.5 million people urgently need shelter after heavy rains in November flooded displacement camps and damaged at least 13,000 tents.
Israel’s military operation in Gaza, triggered by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack, has displaced about 2.1 million Palestinians — roughly 95 percent of the population — and destroyed nearly 78 percent of the enclave’s 250,000 buildings, according to UN figures.
Most of the displaced now live in makeshift tents, some erected over the rubble of their former homes, without proper sanitation, clean water, insulation or sewage systems, contributing to the spread of infectious diseases.
The World Health Organization has reported a rise in cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, acute watery diarrhea, and acute jaundice syndrome, the latter of which can be linked to hepatitis A.
Though more aid has been reaching the devastated enclave since the ceasefire, humanitarian organizations warn this is insufficient to meet the population’s needs.
Under the US-brokered truce, at least 600 aid trucks were expected to enter Gaza daily. However, Gaza’s Government Media Office said the enclave has received an average of just 145 trucks a day since the agreement began.
Palestinians collect aid supplies from trucks in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 12, 2025, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. (REUTERS)
Of the aid that has entered Gaza, only 5 percent of the trucks contained medical supplies, according to the UN.
“The strain on Palestinians’ lives is only deepening,” said Talbot. “Even the most basic materials needed for shelter continue to be blocked by Israeli authorities.”
Though food availability has slightly improved due to the entry of humanitarian and commercial trucks, aid organizations still report limited quantities and less diverse food in markets.
The World Food Programme said food consumption remained below pre-conflict levels by mid-October, as meat, eggs, vegetables, and fruits remain unaffordable for many families. Talbot said the food shortages are affecting patient recovery and overall public health.
“Local food production has been severely disrupted, and humanitarian access remains extremely constrained by Israeli restrictions, with a severe lack of properly nutritious food entering Gaza,” he said.
The war has eroded purchasing power, leaving 95 percent of the population entirely dependent on aid, UNRWA said, urging Israel to facilitate rapid at-scale and unimpeded humanitarian access.
Although the ceasefire was intended to bring relief, near-daily Israeli strikes have killed 347 Palestinians, including at least 67 children, and injured 889 others, pushing Gaza’s death toll to more than 70,000, according to the Ministry of Health.
Gaza’s Government Media Office has documented 535 Israeli violations since the ceasefire began, while satellite imagery shows more than 1,500 buildings have been destroyed during this period.
In a statement last week, rights monitor Amnesty International accused Israel of continuing to commit genocide in Gaza by severely restricting the entry of aid and blocking the restoration of services essential for civilian survival.
Agnes Callamard, the organization’s secretary-general, said the ceasefire creates “a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal,” warning that the lack of proper food, water and shelter could lead to “slow death” of Palestinians in Gaza.
This includes blocking equipment needed to repair life-sustaining infrastructure and to remove unexploded ordnance, contaminated rubble and sewage — all of which pose serious and potentially irreversible public health and environmental risks, she said.
Israel denies accusations it is deliberately obstructing aid, and accuses Hamas of stealing humanitarian assistance.
Israeli soldiers secure humanitarian aid, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, near the Erez Crossing point in northern Gaza, on May 1, 2024. (REUTERS)
COGAT, the Israeli military arm that oversees humanitarian matters, insists that “hundreds of trucks” enter Gaza daily.
In a Nov. 30 statement, the unit said it “approved 100,000 pallet requests submitted by organizations, of winter-related items, shelter equipment, and sanitation supplies.”
“These supplies are ready and waiting for weeks for immediate coordination by the relevant organizations so they can enter Gaza,” the statement read.
Israel and Hamas have continued to trade accusations of ceasefire violations as the first phase nears completion.
Under this initial phase, Israel was required to withdraw its troops behind a temporary boundary known as the yellow line, while Hamas was to release all living and deceased hostages.
The next stage of the Trump 20‑point Gaza peace plan, endorsed by the UN Security Council on Nov. 18, faces major obstacles, including Hamas disarmament, Israel’s full withdrawal from Gaza, governance of the enclave, and international security arrangements.
Despite these obstacles, aid agencies are continuing live-saving work, stepping up efforts to provide essential health services, distribute clean water, support trauma and emergency responses, and offer mental health support.
On Nov. 21, the WHO, UNRWA, and the UN children’s fund UNICEF, announced the completion of the first round of vaccinations, which immunized more than 13,700 children against measles, polio, mumps and rubella, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, rotavirus and pneumonia.
The agencies are now preparing for rounds two and three after 1.6 million syringes procured by UNICEF entered Gaza in mid-November.
The UN also distributed food parcels to more than 264,000 families in the same month.
However, aid workers say that these efforts represent only a fraction of what is needed to mitigate the worsening humanitarian crisis and help the population recover.
“A ceasefire must mean more than this; it must bring an end to Palestinians’ suffering and allow them to regain their dignity and safety,” said Talbot.
“Without a flood of aid and assistance, we will see more avoidable deaths and deprivation.”
