The Syrian government yesterday said that it was ready for further peace talks with the opposition and that it was intent on a political solution to the five-year conflict, which continued unabated as reports emerged of hospitals being hit in airstrikes.
“Syria ... is ready to continue the Syrian-Syrian dialogue without any preconditions ... and without foreign interference, with the support of the United Nations,” state news agency SANA quoted a Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs official as saying.
The UN hopes to convene a new round of intra-Syrian peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland, next month, UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said last week.
Photo: AFP
Previous rounds of talks this year broke down as fighting escalated, particularly near Aleppo, where government forces recently cut off the only road into rebel-held areas of the divided northern city.
The US and Russia, which back opposing sides in the conflict, are to discuss a proposal by Washington for closer military cooperation and intelligence sharing on Syria to combat militant groups.
US Secretary of State John Kerry this month said that Washington and Damascus ally Moscow had reached a common understanding on the steps needed to get Syria’s peace process back on track.
Meanwhile, four makeshift hospitals and a blood bank in Aleppo were hit by airstrikes, a group of doctors said yesterday.
The bombardment killed a two-day-old baby in a children’s hospital in a besieged eastern neighborhood of Aleppo, said the Independent Doctor’s Association, a group of Syrian doctors who support clinics in the city.
The infant’s oxygen supply was cut after a strike on the hospital at 1am, the second strike on the hospital in about nine hours, the association said.
“The doctors could only yell for their colleagues to take cover and shield the babies,” the group said in a statement.
The association said the four hospitals that were hit — the children’s hospital, al-Bayan, al-Zahraa and al-Daqaq — would all be going out of service “as a result of the escalating series of aerial attacks taking place against health facilities in Aleppo by Syrian and Russian warplanes.”
The WHO said Syria was the most dangerous place for healthcare workers to operate last year, with 135 attacks on health facilities and workers last year.
In recent months, several hospitals have been damaged and medical staff killed in the densely populated eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo. A hospital in the eastern Maadi neighborhood was hit, wounding some of the staff and patients inside. More than 280,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict erupted in 2011, and millions have been forced to flee.
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
US president-elect Donald Trump said he would “never say” if Washington is committed to defending Taiwan from China, but “I would prefer that they do not do it [ an attack],” adding that he has a “good relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). “I never say because I have to negotiate things, right?” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker after saying he would not reveal his incoming administration’s stance on Taiwan’s defense in the event of an attack. Asked the question again, Trump, in a reference to China, said: “I would prefer that they
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