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ANKARA: Turkey’s intelligence chief has held multiple meetings with his Syrian counterpart in Damascus over the last few weeks, a sign of Russian efforts to encourage a thaw between states on opposite sides of Syria’s war, four sources said. A regional source aligned with Damascus said that Hakan Fidan, head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, and Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk met as recently as this week in the Syrian capital. The contacts reflect a Russian policy shift as Moscow steels itself for a protracted conflict in Ukraine and seeks to secure its position in Syria, where its forces have supported President Bashar Assad since 2015, according to two Turkish officials and the regional source. Any normalization between Ankara and Damascus would reshape the decade-long Syrian war. Turkish backing has been vital to sustaining Syrian fighters in their last major territorial foothold in the northwest, after Assad defeated the insurgency across the rest of the country, aided by Russia and Iran.
Turkish backing has been vital to sustaining Syrian fighters in their last major territorial foothold in the northwest, after Bashar Assad’s regime defeated the insurgency across the rest of the country, aided by Russia and Iran.
But rapprochement faces big complications, including the fate of rebel fighters and millions of civilians, many of whom fled to the northwest to escape Assad’s rule. Turkey, a NATO member country, has troops on the ground across the area, deemed occupying forces by Assad. During the meetings, Fidan — one of President Tayyip Erdogan’s closest confidants — and Mamlouk evaluated how the two countries’ foreign ministers could eventually meet, according to a senior Turkish official and a Turkish security source. “Russia wants Syria and Turkey to overcome their problems and achieve certain agreements ... which are in the interest of everyone, both Turkey and Syria,” said the Turkish official. One big challenge is Turkey’s desire to include Syrian rebels in any talks with Damascus, the official added. The Turkish security official said Russia has gradually withdrawn some military resources from Syria in order to focus on Ukraine, and had asked Turkey to normalise relations with Assad to “accelerate a political solution” in Syria. The Damascus-allied source said Russia had nudged Syria to enter talks as Moscow seeks to nail down its position and that of Assad in the event it must redeploy forces to Ukraine. Russia has sustained stunning losses on the ground in Ukraine over the past week. The most recent meetings — including a two-day visit by Fidan to Damascus at the end of August — had sought to lay the ground for sessions at a higher level, the source said. The senior Turkish official said Ankara does not want to see Iranian or Iran-backed forces — already widely deployed in regime-controlled parts of Syria — plugging gaps left by Russian withdrawals. The Turkish security official said neither did Russia want to see Iranian influence expand as it reduces its presence. A diplomat based in the region said Russia had pulled a limited number of troops out of Syria’s south earlier this summer, particularly in areas along the border with Israel that were later filled by Iran-aligned forces. While Fidan and Mamlouk have spoken intermittently over the last two years, the pace and timing of recent meetings suggests a new urgency to the contacts. The regional source allied to Damascus and a second senior pro-Assad source in the Middle East said the Turkish-Syrian contacts had made a lot of progress, without giving details. A third regional source aligned with Damascus said Turkish-Syrian relations had begun to thaw and were advancing to a stage of “creating a climate for understanding.” The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Turkey’s MIT declined to comment and the Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment. The Syrian Information Ministry did not immediately reply to emailed questions from Reuters. Turkish-Syrian rapprochement seemed unthinkable earlier in the Syrian conflict, which spiraled out of an uprising against Assad in 2011, killing hundreds of thousands of people, drawing in numerous foreign powers, and splintering the country. Erdogan has called Assad a terrorist and said there could be no peace in Syria with him in office, while Assad has called Erdogan a thief for “stealing” Syrian land. But in an apparent change of tone last month, Erdogan said he could never rule out dialogue and diplomacy with Syria. Erdogan faces tight elections next year in which a key issue will be repatriating some of the 3.7 million Syrian refugees now in Turkey. The Turkish-Syrian contacts come against the backdrop of a flurry of meetings between Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, including one planned on Friday in Uzbekistan. In July, Turkey helped seal a UN-backed deal that lifted a blockade on grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.. After a recent visit to Moscow, Erdogan said Putin had suggested Turkey cooperate with Damascus along their joint border, where Ankara has waged several offensives into areas where Syrian Kurdish groups have carved out autonomy since 2011. Turkey has been threatening to launch another offensive against the US-backed Kurdish forces, which Ankara deems a national security threat. Russia has signaled opposition to such an incursion.
RIYADH: Iran’s supreme leader is on bed rest under observation after falling ill last week, the New York Times reported on Friday. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “canceled all meetings and public appearances last week after falling gravely ill,” the paper said, citing four unnamed sources with knowledge of Khamenei’s health situation. The 83-year-old leader had surgery last week at a home clinic for bowel obstruction after suffering “extreme stomach pains and high fever”. The US paper said that Khamenei, who took over as supreme leader in 1989, was too weak to even sit up and is being monitored by a group of doctors, though his condition had improved from last week.
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Iran’s supreme leader makes final decisions in major domestic, regional and global issues, including those related to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. US President Joe Biden’s administration is attempting to revive a nuclear agreement — scuttled by his predecessor Donald Trump — with Iran in a bid to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. US allies in the region have called on Biden not to renew the deal in order to thwart Tehran’s destabilizing actions in the Middle East.
DAMASCUS: An Israeli airstrike near Damascus airport killed five Syria soldiers on Saturday, Syrian state media said. “The aggression led to the death of five soldiers and some material damage,” Syria’s official news agency Sana quoted a military source as saying. The strike carried out at approximately 00:45 am (2145 GMT Friday) came “from the northeastern direction of Lake Tiberias, targeting Damascus airport and some points south of Damascus,” it added. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor confirmed that the strikes killed five Syrian soldiers, and said two Iran-backed fighters were also killed. The monitor, which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria, said Israel targeted sites where Iran-backed groups are stationed near Damascus airport and in the Damascus countryside. An Israeli strike in the countryside around the capital Damascus and south of coastal Tartus province killed three soldiers last month. In June, Israeli airstrikes put Damascus airport out of service for nearly two weeks. In the past month, Israeli airstrikes have twice targeted Aleppo airport. The rights monitor said at the time that those strikes had targeted weapons depots belonging to Iran-backed militias. Since civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against its northern neighbor, targeting government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters. While Israel rarely comments on individual strikes, it has acknowledged carrying out hundreds. It says its air campaign is necessary to stop arch-foe Iran gaining a foothold on its doorstep.
TUNIS: Tunisian President Kais Saied has made new changes to electoral law that diminish the role of political parties, three months ahead of legislative elections.
A new electoral law reduces the number of members of the lower house of parliament from 217 to 161, and says candidates will now be elected directly instead of via party lists. Voters will elect a new legislature Dec. 17. “In the past, the parliament deputy drew his legitimacy from his party. Today, he must assume his responsibilities, above all, before his constituents,” Saied said at a Cabinet meeting. According to the new rules, parliament members “who do not fulfill their roles” can be removed if 10 percent of constituents who voted for them lodge a formal request with parliament.
In the past, the parliament deputy drew his legitimacy from his party. Today, he must assume his responsibilities, above all, before his constituents.
Several opposition parties, including the Ennahdha movement, have said they will boycott the December elections and say the new electoral law is aimed at muffling them. Saied froze parliament in 2021 after years of political deadlock and economic crisis, and then dissolved it in March. A constitution approved in a July referendum hands broad executive powers to the president and weakens the influence of Tunisia’s parliament and judiciary. While opposition members and Western critics warned the moves threaten hard-won democratic gains, many Tunisians welcomed Saied’s actions after years of exasperation with the country’s political elites. The president insisted at a Cabinet meeting Thursday that he had no intention of excluding any party from the parliamentary elections. He argued that the new law was based on a study of systems in other countries, and “will allow the people to freely express their will and to vote for the person of their choice.” His critics accuse him of authoritarian drift and endangering the democratic process initiated in Tunisia in 2011. Tunisia is struggling to revive its public finances as discontent grows over inflation running at nearly 9 percent and a shortage of many food items in stores because the country can’t afford to pay for some imports. The International Monetary Fund and major foreign donors want Tunisia to push ahead with cuts in subsidies and the restructuring of state-owned companies as well as steps to bring the public sector wage bill under control. The government’s spokesperson said on Friday that Tunisia hopes to reach an agreement with the IMF by the end of October after a wage deal agreed on with unions was seen as a key step toward getting IMF support. The government and the powerful UGTT union on Thursday signed a deal to boost public sector wages by 5 percent, a step that may ease social tensions. But they did not announce any further agreement on reforms needed for an IMF bailout. “The Tunisian negotiating team was in contact yesterday with (the) IMF regarding the last terms of the agreement with the Fund,” said Nasreddine Nsibi, the government spokesperson. “We seek to reach a deal with the IMF before the end of October, which would make Tunisia able to fulfill all its commitments, including providing foods and energy products, paying wages and debt service,” he added. Fitch Ratings said on Friday that Tunisia’s wage agreement raises the likelihood of an IMF deal. Tunisian officials have said that Tunis aims for a $3 billion loan. The IMF has signaled it will not move forward with a bailout sought by Tunis unless the government brings on board the UGTT, which says it has more than a million members and has previously shut down the economy in strikes.
TEHRAN: Iran’s president has ordered a probe in the case of a young woman who slipped into a coma while in custody in Tehran and died, state media reported on Friday. The police have said she suffered a heart attack. According to the state-run IRNA news agency, President Ebrahim Raisi asked Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi to “investigate the cause of the incident with urgency and special attention.” According to reports on social media, Mahsa Amini, 22, was detained earlier this week by the so-called “morality police” after officers apparently found fault with her hijab.
The headscarf has been compulsory for women in Iran since after the 1979 revolution and members of the morality police enforce the strict dress code.
According to reports on social media, Mahsa Amini, 22, was detained earlier this week by the so-called ‘morality police’ after officers apparently found fault with her hijab.
Police said on Thursday that Amini was taken to a hospital after she allegedly had a heart attack while in custody. News websites quoted an uncle of Amini as saying she had no history of heart disease. Police said she was arrested on Tuesday. The official website of Iran’s judiciary, Mizan.news, said that Tehran’s chief prosecutor, Ali Salehi, ordered a police team of forensic pathologists to examine the medical aspects of the case. Iran’s morality police has been criticized in recent years over its treatment of people, especially young women, and videos uploaded on social media have shown officers forcing women into police vehicles. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has supported a softer attitude toward women who do not comply with the official dress code. But hard-liners have called for harsh punishment and even lashes, arguing that allowing women to show their hair leads to moral decay and the disintegration of families. The judiciary has in recent years urged people to inform on women who do not wear the hijab. Since 2017, after dozens of women publicly took off their headscarves in a wave of protests, the authorities adopted tougher measures. Amini’s case has drawn condemnation from Iranian celebrities, athletes and other public figures. Former President Mohammad Khatami said the behavior of the morality police was a “disaster” while outspoken politician and former lawmaker Mahmoud Sadeghi called on Khamenei to speak publicly about Amini’s case. Popular former soccer player, Ali Karimi, tweeted that while children of high-ranking officials are leaving the country, “our children are dying.” Hossein Mahini, another former soccer player, said in a tweet, addressing the morality police: “We hate you.”
AMMAN: A bloc of Arab parties has split ahead of Israel’s November elections — a move that could dilute the minority’s political influence and strengthen former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hopes of a return to power.
The Arab nationalist Balad party will run separately from the other two parties in the Joint List in the general election.
The Nov. 1 poll is expected to be a hard-fought contest between Netanyahu and a constellation of parties from across the political spectrum. But the last-minute decision by the Balad faction to split from the Joint Arab List may play into Netanyahu’s hands.
Balad, also known as Tajamu and headed by Sami Abu Shehadeh, has submitted a separate list for the Nov. 1 election.
Abu Shehadeh, a Knesset member and head of the Balad list, told Arab News that he is confident the party can pass the electoral threshold needed to enter the Knesset.
However, Botrus Mansour, a Nazareth-based lawyer and observer of the Arab political map in Israel, is not so sure.
”Balad has only a slim chance of crossing the threshold. Based on the estimates, the 3.25 percent threshold requires around 140,000 votes,” he said.
Polling and general estimates suggest that Balad can gain no more than half that number.
Explaining the last-minute withdrawal, Balad supporters said that they had signed an agreement with Hadash (the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) and its leader Ayman Odeh on both ideological issues and seat allocations, but accused the party of reneging on the deal and pushing for a rotation of the sixth seat.
Wadie Abu Nassar, director of the International Center for Consultations, told Arab News that Balad has only a slim chance of sending any of its members to the Knesset.
“They are entering a race ahead of elections alone at a very late stage, less than two months before election day. The second reason is that the prevailing discourse among the Arab population has shifted inwardly.”
The Haifa-based analyst told Arab News that while in past decades the Palestinian and pan-Arab discourse was the prevailing focus of Palestinian citizens in Israel, they had other priorities today.
“The discourse is focusing on domestic issues and less on Palestinian-related issues, and this means that they (Balad) will not be able to garner the kind of voting numbers that are needed.”
Observers are unclear how the split will affect the already expected low voter turnout, which is forecast to be in the 40 percent range.
“The new split will add to the frustration and despair, combined with the general mood of helplessness because of lack of change toward Arabs of Israel from the current government. Therefore, and without a dramatic change, the percentage of the vote is likely to decrease,” Mansour said.
But Abu Nassar believes that the Balad split might have a different effect on the turnout.
“On the one hand, the competition will be tougher, and each faction will invest more time. On the other hand, more people will be angry, so I believe the split will have a limited impact on the turnout.”
If Balad fails to cross the threshold, the potential waste of about 70,000 Arab votes might help the Netanyahu bloc.
Abu Nassar said that Netanyahu’s chances had “improved significantly.”
However, he added that “the game is not over yet because things in the right wing are not clear,” referring to the possible scenarios between Netanyahu and the far-right versus the blocs of caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz.
Mansour believes that if the Netanyahu bloc is unable to garner the necessary 61 out of 120 Knesset seats, the absence of Balad will make it easier for Ayman Odeh and Ahmad Tibi, leader of the Ta’al party, to support the Lapid/Gantz alliance.
“If Balad is not in the Joint List, the chances of joining a governing coalition will be easier now, especially since this line has already been crossed by the Islamist leader Mansour Abbas,” he said.