Syrian minister holds rare meeting with Israeli officials in Paris
Foreign minister Asaad al-Shibani met Israeli officials on Tuesday to discuss de-escalating tensions and restoring a 1974 ceasefire agreement, the SANA news agency said
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Tensions have soared between the two neighbouring countries following the overthrow of Syrian president Bashar Assad in December, with Israel sending ground forces into southern Syria and bombing military assets across the country.
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Reuters
17 minutes ago
- Reuters
Aid groups say shelter materials are still not entering Gaza
GENEVA, Aug 20 (Reuters) - International aid groups say they have not yet been able to deliver shelter materials to Gaza despite Israeli authorities saying they have lifted restrictions on such supplies, and warn that further delays could cause more Palestinian deaths. Aid organisations say Israel had in effect been blocking the delivery of materials for shelters for nearly six months, with tent poles previously listed among items Israeli authorities considered could have a military as well as civilian use. With international concern over the plight of Palestinians mounting as the war in Gaza continues, Israel announced measures last month to let more aid into Gaza and said on Saturday that it would start allowing shelter materials in from the next day. But officials from five aid groups, including U.N. agencies, told Reuters that shelter materials needed by large numbers of displaced Palestinians were still not reaching Gaza and blamed Israeli bureaucratic hurdles. "The United Nations and our partners been able to bring in shelter materials following the Israeli announcement," the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), spokesperson Jens Laerke said. "There's a set of impediments that still needs to be addressed, including Israeli customs clearance." CARE International, ShelterBox and the Norwegian Refugee Council also said they had not yet received any authorisation to deliver shelter materials. Another international NGO, which declined to be identified, said it had been unable to deliver such supplies but was trying to get clearance. Over 1.3 million Gazans lack tents, the United Nations said this month, and more people are expected to be displaced by an Israeli operation to seize Gaza City. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that coordinates aid, did not immediately respond to Reuters questions. It has previously said it invests considerable efforts to ensure aid reaches Gaza and has denied restricting supplies. After nearly two years of war, many displaced Palestinians are living in the rubble of their homes or in tents. "Life in the tent is no life at no proper bathroom, not even a decent place to sit. We end up sitting in the street, suffocating in the heat," 55-year-old Ibrahim Tabassi said in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis. He shares his cramped tent, made from tarpaulin sheets and scrap metal, with nine other family members. Clothes and pots hang inside. Another Gaza resident, Sanaa Abu Jamous, said that she, like many other Gazans, had been using the same tattered tent throughout the war. "My tent is extremely worn out," she said. Israel said on Saturday that deliveries of materials for shelters would be allowed via the Kerem Shalom Crossing with Israel but would have to undergo security inspections. The Red Cross told Reuters it had received permission from COGAT to bring in shelter materials from what is known as the Jordanian corridor to Kerem Shalom, but that many challenges remain. CARE International said it had received no confirmation that the change in policy had been enacted. The Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian organisation, said it had applied for permission to deliver 3,000 tents across Gaza, including the north, but had not yet received a reply. Many aid groups are resisting Israeli demands - under measures imposed in March - to register because it means disclosing personal information about Palestinian staff. COGAT says the mechanism is a security screening intended to ensure aid goes directly to the population rather than to the Palestinian militant group Hamas. ShelterBox's regional director, Haroon Altaf, said granting permission to only a select number of aid groups would not meet demand for shelter materials. "If it's only a handful of organisations that can bring shelter aid in, it doesn't really change much and it's deeply concerning. People are going to die because of it," he said.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Putin and Zelensky have only met once before – here's what happened
Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky may soon meet Russian president Vladimir Putin again, for the first time since 2019. A summit in Paris six years ago was the first and only time the two presidents ever met, flanked by French president Emmanuel Macron and Germany's then-chancellor Angela Merkel. At the time, Putin and Zelensky were looking to hash out a ceasefire deal for war in Donbas in Ukraine's east, where Russia-backed forces were fighting Ukrainian troops. The two world leaders are now potentially set for another meeting as part of US president Donald Trump's bid to end the devastating Ukraine war. However, this is far from set in stone with Putin's initial suggestion that it could take place in Moscow quickly rejected by the Ukrainian president. What happened in 2019? Ukrainian forces and Russian separatists had been embroiled in conflict in Donbas, in Ukraine's east, since 2014. Zelensky and Putin travelled to Paris in December 2019 for the Normandy Format Summit, a diplomatic forum designed by French, German, Russian and Ukrainian diplomats after the outbreak of conflict. The Ukrainian president had been elected just months earlier in spring that year - his first role in political office - beating former foreign minister Petro Poroshenko to the presidency. The summit in Paris led to progress, but was not groundbreaking. The two sides agreed to implement 'all necessary ceasefire support measures' before the end of 2019 and to release all the prisoners of war. Both sides also expressed their desire to implement the Minsk agreements signed in 2014 and 2015, the first attempt to achieve a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia after Putin's forces rolled into and took over the Crimean peninsula. What did the leaders say about each other? The mood between the pair was chilly at first. There was no public handshake and they are said to have largely avoided eye contact during the meeting. Clean shaven and sporting a suit, 2019 Zelensky cut a strikingly different figure compared to his more familiar appearance now as a war-time leader. After the summit, Putin hailed the talks as an 'important step' towards de-escalation. He expressed what at the time appeared to be cautious hope: "All this gives us the grounds to suppose that the process is developing in the right direction.' Zelensky also hailed the meeting as a 'big step towards peace'. When he was asked by reporters who he believed had emerged victorious from the exchanges with his Russian counterpart, he said: "I don't know who (beat) who. I think it would be appropriate to be diplomatic as we've just started talking. Let's say for now it's a draw." What happened afterwards? Despite a number of prisoner exchanges, the 2019 meeting was not a catalyst for any major long-term change in Russo-Ukrainian relations - and little over two years later Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Several key sticking points remained after the 2019 negotiations. Kyiv continued to demand the withdrawal of Russian-backed troops and a complete ceasefire, with a return of border control to Ukraine. Russia insisted that before Ukraine regained control of its eastern border, local elections should be held in the occupied territories. Putin also demanded that Donbas have a special constitutional status in Ukraine, to give it a degree of autonomy. In January 2022, just weeks before the full-scale Russian invasion, the summit in Paris took place again, but was attended by officials from the same four countries, rather than their leaders. Senior diplomats met in February 2022 in an attempt to prevent a conflict. After the Russian invasion on 24 February, Zelensky said the invasion had 'ruined' the progress made by the Normandy Format.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
What are the prospects of a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war?
For six months Donald Trump has been calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine. His position abruptly changed after his summit last week with Vladimir Putin in Alaska. The US now supports a final settlement of the war first, which is Russia's negotiating position. What changed? And where does Trump's latest flip-flop leave prospects for an end to the fighting? Since spring the White House has been urging Russia to accept a ceasefire in Ukraine. As Donald Trump put it in March: 'I think the ceasefire is very important. If we can get Russia to do it, that'll be great.' The US president threatened to impose sanctions on Moscow, and on buyers of its oil such as India, if it refused. He gave various deadlines, which came and went. Until last week the US continued its demand for a 30-day pause in the fighting, to which Kyiv agreed. Speaking on his plane to Alaska on Friday, before a meeting with Putin, Trump repeated his demand. There would be 'severe consequences' if a ceasefire didn't happen. 'I'm not going to be happy,' he said. The US president's position dramatically shifted after his meeting Putin. Exactly why is uncertain. But in the face of Russian opposition, Trump dropped his call for a ceasefire and instead embraced the Kremlin's preferred 'plan' to end the war. This envisages a comprehensive peace settlement first. Until that happens, Moscow will carry on bombing. Trump also agreed to Russia's territorial claims. Putin wants Ukraine to cede the northern part of Donetsk oblast – including the fortress cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk – which Russian troops have been unable to conquer since 2014. By way of so-called concession, Russia reportedly said it would freeze the frontlines in southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces. The change in US policy on a Ukraine ceasefire was the summit's most significant outcome. It amounts to a major concession to the Russians. In his meeting on Monday with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, Trump explained his new way of thinking. He said there was no need for a truce and claimed he had ended six conflicts without one. 'I didn't do any ceasefire,' he said. He said he would still 'like them [the Russians] to stop' but said a pause in hostilities might disadvantage 'one side or the other'. Russia wants to continue its war. Over the summer Russian troops have seized villages in the Donbas, and have entered the Dnipropetrovsk region – which borders Donetsk oblast – for the first time. Russia's progress is gradual and achieved with heavy casualties. Putin believes he is winning and that time is on his side. His maximalist demands are unchanged since the 2022 invasion. He wants Zelenskyy removed, severe limits put on the size of Ukraine's army, and a veto on its Nato membership. Any ceasefire would in effect divide territory along the existing 1,000-km long frontline. A permanent peace plan, by contrast, could involve one side giving land to the other as part of a deal. Putin's conditions are unacceptable to Kyiv, and amount to Ukraine's surrender. Ukrainians believe he is using Trump to take what Russian forces have been unable to capture on the battlefield – with DC the quickest route to victory in Donetsk. When negotiations fail – the most likely outcome in the short term – Putin will inevitably blame Zelenskyy. Frustrated. European leaders have urged Trump to put pressure on Russia to agree a ceasefire before any negotiations take place. On Monday, they reinforced this message in the White House. Britain's Keir Starmer joined Zelenskyy in Washington, with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Finland, Nato and the EU. Their task was to protect Zelenskyy – in the end his meeting with Trump went better than the last encounter in February – and to tactfully convey Ukraine and Europe's principled anti-landgrab position. The Europeans are opposed to any deal that would reward Russian aggression. Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, expressed his support for a ceasefire. 'Let's work on that and let's try to put pressure on Russia,' the German leader told Trump. France's president, Emmanuel Macron, said European governments would eventually need to be included in any peace talks. After Trump's unexplained U-turn, Ukraine's EU allies are using a new formula to try to win him over to the idea of a ceasefire – 'stop the killing'. Wars can stop without formal peace treaties. In 1953 an armistice ended the war between North and South Korea. It established a demilitarised zone between the two states, the DMZ, dividing the peninsula. Military commanders from the US, China and North Korea signed the deal. South Korea's leader refused, because it left Korea split. Technically, the two Koreas are still in a state of war. The ceasefire, though, has lasted more than eight decades, despite breeches by Pyongyang. This model could work in Ukraine. No Ukrainian government is likely to accept Russian occupation over parts of its territory. But it might be prepared to acknowledge the Kremlin's de facto control as part of temporary settlement. Putin, however, is against the idea of a Korea-style armistice. His goal is to subjugate Ukraine – all of it, or as much as he can get – and to fold it into a reinvigorated greater Russia.
