Russia has delivered to Syria promised air defense missiles, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad implied in an interview aired yesterday, in a move that could complicate any foreign intervention in his war-torn country.
Moscow, the al-Assad regime’s most powerful ally, announced this week it intends to honor its contract to supply Syria with the S-300 missiles, prompting fears of the country’s more than two-year conflict spreading.
Meanwhile, the opposition National Coalition launched an urgent appeal for the rescue of 1,000 wounded civilians in the central-west town of al-Qusayr, which al-Assad’s forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are battling to recapture from rebels.
Photo: AFP
The developments come against a backdrop of concerns the opposition will fail to agree to attend a peace conference that the US and Russia have been jointly pushing for in a bid to end a war estimated to have killed more than 90,000 people.
The al-Assad interview was scheduled to be broadcast on al-Manar, the channel of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, his close regional ally, yesterday evening.
In it, the embattled Syrian leader implicitly acknowledged that Russia had already delivered some of the S-300 missiles.
Al-Manar said in a statement that when asked about the delivery of the surface-to-air missiles, al-Assad replied: “All the agreements with Russia will be honored and some already have been recently.”
The S-300s are capable of shooting down warplanes and guided missiles, and are similar to Patriots, which NATO has deployed on the Turkish border with war-torn Syria.
On the ground, fighting has centered around al-Qusayr, the town al-Assad’s forces have been trying to seize back from rebels in an all-out offensive since May 19, backed by Hezbollah fighters.
The National Coalition warned yesterday that the fierce battle for the town, strategic to both sides for its links to Lebanon and the Mediterranean, has left 1,000 wounded civilians stranded.
“Al-Qusayr has been under constant bombardment,” a coalition statement said. “[A] large number of civilians living in the area have been injured due to the assault launched over two weeks ago on the city.”
It cited an “acute shortage of doctors, paramedics and first aid kits,” and said this “must trigger international relief organizations to respond immediately and save the wounded civilians.”
The National Coalition has been recognized by many Western and Arab states as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
It insists any negotiations with the regime must lead to al-Assad’s resignation, a position Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov criticized yesterday as unrealistic.
“We are under the impression that the National Coalition and its regional sponsors are doing everything so as not to allow the start of the political process and achieve military intervention in Syria through any means possible,” Lavrov said. “These demands are impossible to fulfill. The only thing that unites them is a demand of Bashar al-Assad’s immediate departure.”
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 140 people were killed in fighting across Syria on Wednesday.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique