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.
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
Russia early yesterday bombarded Ukraine, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France. A nationwide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine’s military said air defenses were operating in several places. In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building. Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, Kyiv Governor Mykola
RSS