Iraq prevented a North Korean plane from entering its airspace on suspicion it was carrying weapons for Syria, prompting praise from the US on Friday, but also demands for a ban of Iranian aircraft with similar suspect cargo.
Iraq’s decision could potentially close a supply line for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime.
US officials have accused Baghdad of allowing Iran — like North Korea, an ally of Syria — to fly weapons to Syrian forces through Iraqi airspace, a charge Iraq has denied.
“We urge the government of Iraq to take additional steps to prevent others, including Iran, from abusing its airspace by shipping arms to Syria,” US Department of State spokesman Michael Lavallee said, calling the move to ban the North Korean flight a “positive step.”
Activists on Friday raised the number of people killed in Syria in the past 18 months to nearly 30,000. Daily tolls have been rising in recent weeks, with the regime attacking from the air and some rebels using heavy weapons.
The new UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, who started his job three weeks ago, said on Friday he is not in a rush to devise a new roadmap to peace after his predecessor, former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, failed to get his proposal implemented.
“Following the failure of Kofi Annan’s six-point plan, I don’t think we are capable of withstanding another failure,” Lakhdar Brahimi told the al-Arabiya TV station.
Meanwhile, al-Assad was adamant that the rebels “will not succeed.”
In comments published on Friday, he also said a foreign military intervention such as the one that helped topple former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi will “not be repeated” in Syria.
Both sides have foreign backers. Al-Assad’s allies include Russia and China, along with Iran and North Korea, while the rebels are supported by the US and its Western allies, Turkey and several Gulf states, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
On Wednesday, the US Treasury identified 117 Iranian aircraft it said were ferrying weapons to the Syrian regime. The department said the planes were delivering weapons and Iranian forces under the cover of “humanitarian” shipments.
Iraq has accepted Iranian assurances that it is not using Iraqi airspace to smuggle weapons into Syria, said Stephen Beecroft, US President Barack Obama’s choice for ambassador to Iraq, earlier this week.
Iraq’s ban of the North Korean flight came on Thursday, after Pyongyang requested to fly a plane to Syria through Iraqi skies. Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Moussawi confirmed the move a day later, saying it was made over suspicion the plane carried weapons.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, an ally of Iran, has denied that he is allowing weapons trafficking and has said Baghdad will remain neutral in the Syria conflict.
Iraq rejects “any arming activities through Iraqi territories or skies,” al-Maliki said on Friday.
The issue has been an enduring sore point between Baghdad and Washington, raised again in a phone call between al-Maliki and US Vice President Joe Biden the same day. Biden spoke of the need “to prevent any state from taking advantage of Iraq’s territory or air space to send weapons to Syria,” the White House said.
Meanwhile, in Damascus, al-Assad lashed out at Gulf countries, which he accused of using their enormous oil wealth to try to drive him from power. He singled out Saudi Arabia and Qatar, among his most vocal critics.
“They think their money can buy geography, history and a regional role,” al-Assad was quoted as saying in the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi.
The upheaval in Syria presents an opportunity for the Gulf’s Sunni rulers to bolster their influence and possibly leave Shiite powerhouse Iran without its critical alliances that flow through Damascus. Al-Assad’s regime is led by the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi later told state-run TV that al-Assad had received nine Egyptian journalists to have a chat with them about the latest developments.
In the meeting with the Egyptian journalists, al-Assad was also quoted as saying that the only way to solve the Syrian crisis is through “dialogue with the opposition” and that the “door for dialogue is open.”
Activists and pro-government media reported fighting in several locations on Friday, including Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, and in the capital Damascus. The state-run news agency SANA said government troops retook the Damascus suburb of al-Hajar al-Aswad.
SANA also said troops found a mass grave containing 25 blindfolded and handcuffed bodies in the al-Qadam suburb of the city. The agency said the dead were people who had been seized by rebels.
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
RSS