World powers supporting Syria’s rebels decided on Saturday to provide them with urgent military aid so they can counter “brutal attacks” by the regime and “protect the Syrian people.”
Yet, even as they prepared to step up their own contribution to a war that has killed nearly 100,000 people, they demanded that Iran and Lebanese movement Hezbollah stop supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Top Qatari diplomat and host Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said a meeting in Doha of foreign ministers of the “Friends of Syria” had taken “secret decisions about practical measures to change the situation on the ground.”
A final communique said “each country in its own way” would provide “urgently all the necessary materiel and equipment” so that the rebels could “counter brutal attacks by the regime and its allies and protect the Syrian people.”
Sheikh Hamad said two of the 11 countries participating had expressed reservations, with diplomats saying they were Germany and Italy.
WORLD POWERS
Also attending were the foreign ministers of Britain, Egypt, France, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the US.
Washington and Doha had called for increasing aid to end what US Secretary of State John Kerry called an “imbalance” in al-Assad’s favor.
Kerry said the US remained committed to a peace plan that includes a conference in Geneva, Switzerland, and a transitional government picked both by al-Assad and the opposition.
However, he said the rebels need more support “for the purpose of being able to get to Geneva and to be able to address the imbalance on the ground.”
Sheikh Hamad echoed Kerry’s remarks, saying a peaceful end “cannot be reached unless a balance on the ground is achieved, in order to force the regime to sit down to talks.”
On Thursday, the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) said it needed anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons.
A Western diplomat in Doha said on Saturday that FSA Chief of Staff General Selim Idriss had presented a wish list and that it had been agreed to for the most part.
“Everybody is going to help and help better,” the diplomat said, adding that there would be on “important qualitative and quantitative leap.”
Later on Saturday, French President Francois Hollande arrived in Qatar for talks with the emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
He was expected to highlight the “need for trust, clarity and coordination” in backing the rebels, as Qatar is accused of “supporting Syrian opposition groups it does not know,” a French diplomat said.
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the ministers demanded that predominantly Shiite Iran and Hezbollah stop meddling in the war by supporting al-Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
“We have demanded that Iran and Hezbollah end their intervention in the conflict,” Fabius said. “We are fully against the internationalization of the conflict,” he told reporters.
Kerry also accused al-Assad of an “internationalization” of the conflict by bringing in Iran and Hezbollah.
And the final communique said that the entry into Syria of militia and fighters that support the regime, a clear reference to Hezbollah, “must be prevented.”
In that respect, they emphasized that neighboring Iraq and Lebanon need to “actively safeguard their borders in order to ensure that fighters and equipment do not escalate current tensions.”
The ministers also warned of the “increasing presence and growing radicalism” and “terrorist elements in Syria.”
Western powers have hesitated to arm the rebels for fear weapons would fall into the hands of radical elements among them, such as the powerful al-Nusra Front, which wants to establish an Islamic state in Syria.
PEACE TALKS
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani also voiced support for a peace conference, but insisted there could be no role in the future government for “Assad and aides with bloodstained hands.”
He accused al-Assad’s regime of wanting to block the Geneva conference in order to stay in power, “even if that costs 1 million dead, millions of displaced and refugees and the destruction of Syria and its partition.”
And the final communique stated that al-Assad “has no role in the transitional governing body or thereafter.”
On the ground, loyalist forces pressed a fierce four-day assault on rebel-held parts of Damascus, while insurgents launched a new attack on regime-controlled neighborhoods of second city Aleppo.
Saturday’s developments came as the Syrian military pushed on with its bid to end the insurgency in and around Homs in central Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
They also come a day after at least 100 people were killed nationwide, it added.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was