DAMASCUS: Syria’s president on Saturday received a Republican member of Congress in the first visit to the country by American legislators since the ouster of former leader Bashar Assad in December.
State news agency SANA did not give details about the meeting between President Ahmad Al-Sharaa and Rep. Cory Mills of Florida in the capital Damascus. It said the meeting was attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani, and comes in the wake of calls by Syria’s new rulers for the lifting of sanctions imposed by the US and other Western nations early in the conflict.
Since arriving in Syria on an unofficial visit Friday, Mills and Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana toured parts of Damascus, including the old quarter as well as one of the oldest synagogues in the world that was badly damaged and looted during the country’s 14-year conflict that killed half a million people. The came at the invitation of the Syrian American Alliance for Peace and Prosperity, a US-based nonprofit that describes its mission as fostering “a sustainable political, economic, and social partnership between the people of Syria and the United States.”
On Saturday, Stutzman visited the country’s notorious Saydnaya Prison near Damascus, where tens of thousands of people were subjected to killings and torture during the 54-year rule of the Assad family.
Al-Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham group led the offensive that captured Damascus in early December, forcing Assad and his family to flee to his ally Russia, where he was given asylum.
Days after Assad was removed from power, the then-Biden administration decided not to pursue a $10 million reward it had offered for the capture of Al-Sharaa, a former leader of Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria. The announcement in December followed a meeting between Al-Sharaa and then top US diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, who led the first US diplomatic delegation into post-Assad Syria.
The Trump administration has yet to officially recognize the current Syrian government and Washington has not yet lifted harsh sanctions that were imposed during Assad’s rule.
After visiting the prison, Stutzman told reporters that he saw that the people of Syria now have energy and optimism, adding that as the country’s new government makes decisions, “it will be very helpful having the United States understand what the changes are here and that the sanctions lifted would be a huge economic boom.” Any move to lift sanctions “would be President Trump’s decision,” he said.
“As a member of Congress, I can go back home and share with my colleagues, share with the president and others, and tell the story of the changes that are happening in Syria and we want to be here to support that,” Stutzman said. “We would not want to see Syria fall back in the hands of another dictator.”
After the fall of Assad, the US eased some restrictions on Syria to allow the entry of humanitarian aid. The US Treasury issued a general license, lasting six months, that authorizes certain transactions with the Syrian government, including some energy sales and incidental transactions.
Syrian officials have been calling for the lifting of Western sanctions but the US administration has been demanding steps by the country’s new authorities including protecting the rights of religious and ethnic minorities.
“I think lifting the sanctions will be very beneficial and I understand why the people that I’m encountering and traveling with want the sanctions lifted,” Stutzman said.
President Ahmad Al-Sharaa hosts first US Congress member to visit post-Assad Syria
https://arab.news/2zacy
President Ahmad Al-Sharaa hosts first US Congress member to visit post-Assad Syria
- Rep. Cory Mills and Rep. Marlin Stutzman visited Syria at the invitation of the non-profit Syrian American Alliance for Peace and Prosperity
- Washington has already eased some sanctions on Syria affecting essential services
UN rights chief shocked by ‘unbearable’ Darfur atrocities
- Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur
PORT SUDAN: Nearly three years of war have put the Sudanese people through “hell,” the UN’s rights chief said on Sunday, blasting the vast sums spent on advanced weaponry at the expense of humanitarian aid and the recruitment of child soldiers.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has left tens of thousands of people dead and around 11 million displaced.
Speaking in Port Sudan during his first wartime visit, UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk said the population had endured “horror and hell,” calling it “despicable” that funds that “should be used to alleviate the suffering of the population” are instead spent on advanced weapons, particularly drones.
More than 21 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and two-thirds of Sudan’s population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.
In addition to the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis, Sudan is also facing “the increasing militarization of society by all parties to the conflict, including through the arming of civilians and recruitment and use of children,” Turk added.
He said he had heard testimony of “unbearable” atrocities from survivors of attacks in Darfur, and warned of similar crimes unfolding in the Kordofan region — the current epicenter of the fighting.
Testimony of these atrocities must be heard by “the commanders of this conflict and those who are arming, funding and profiting from this war,” he said.
Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur.
“We must ensure that the perpetrators of these horrific violations face justice regardless of the affiliation,” Turk said on Sunday, adding that repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute “war crimes.”
He called on both sides to “cease intolerable attacks against civilian objects that are indispensable to the civilian population, including markets, health facilities, schools and shelters.”
Turk again warned on Sunday that crimes similar to those seen in El-Fasher could recur in volatile Kordofan, where the RSF has advanced, besieging and attacking several key cities.
Hundreds of thousands face starvation across the region, where more than 65,000 people have been displaced since October, according to the latest UN figures.
