Britain re-establishing relations with Syria, announces David Lammy
'There is renewed hope for the Syrian people,' Lammy said in a statement. 'It is in our interests to support the new government to deliver their commitment to build a stable, more secure and prosperous future for all Syrians.'
Lammy's visit to Syria is the first by a British minister in 14 years and is accompanied by a pledge of £94.5m for urgent humanitarian aid and to support the country's long-term recovery and help countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region.
The west has been slowly resetting its approach to Syria since insurgent forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham ousted Bashar al-Assad as president in December after more than 13 years of war.
Just days ago, the US president, Donald Trump, signed an executive order terminating a US sanctions programme on Syria, ending its isolation from the international financial system and helping it rebuild after the war.
Britain also eased its sanctions in April, unfreezing the assets of Syria's central bank and 23 other entities, including banks and oil companies to encourage investments, though it kept in place those targeting members of the former regime.
A stable Syria will reduce the risk of 'irregular migration', ensure chemical weapons are destroyed, and tackle the threat of terrorism, Lammy said, after meeting his Syrian counterpart, Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, and the president, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
In those meetings, Lammy reiterated the importance of an 'inclusive and representative political transition' in Syria and offered Britain's continued support, the statement said.
Sign up to First Edition
Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters
after newsletter promotion
Lammy is also due to travel to Kuwait, where regional security and strengthening bilateral relations will be top of the agenda. In addition, he is expected to announce a new partnership with the Gulf monarchy to tackle the humanitarian crisis in Sudan.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The TACO President? Why I refuse to bet against Trump the deal maker - or his chances of reeling in the biggest prize of all...
The TACO President? Trump will Always Chicken Out? That's been the slur levelled by some financial traders amid the many twists and turns of the tariff wars waged by the 47th president against America's competitors. The big threats, the really big threats, simply never come true has been the claim. Take the plans for a gargantuan 145 per cent levy on Chinese goods. These have settled at an effective rate of around 30 per cent, which is serious, but not so very different from the 25 per cent charged on imports under the Biden administration. But no one is calling Trump a chicken after the extraordinary bombing mission that took out much of Iran 's nuclear processing capacity last month. Flying B2 stealth bombers loaded with 30,000lb 'bunker busting' bombs into the heart of Iran was truly audacious move and one that it was widely predicted no president would dare to make. In truth, however, the claim that Trump was the TACO president was always false – and that's because, even now, Trump's critics still have no idea about how he actually works. Why bomb Iran, at the risk of angering his own MAGA base? Why do it when serious experts were warning that even those giant payloads might not have been enough to seriously knock the mullahs off course? Iran is almost certain to acquire a nuclear bomb at some stage down the road. But when it comes to Trump, it's all about the deal, stupid. And the Middle East is a great example of the president at work. However intractable the war in Gaza might seem, Trump wants an end to it. Now wheels are in motion. Hamas and Israel are already talking in Doha. The Israeli Prime Minister is due in Washington this week and, although he's not yet landed, Benjamin Netanyahu already knows the terms. Trump bombed Iran and now Netanyahu must fulfil his part of the deal bring the hostilities to a close, even though to do so, could collapse his government - and place not just his political career but his liberty in jeopardy. Hence another Trump intervention: those extraordinary demands that Israel drop charges of bribery and fraud still faced by Netanyahu – which he denies. Unwarranted interference in the justice system of a friendly power? Another late-night rush of blood to the head by an insomniac president? No, a signal from Trump that an end to the Gazan bloodshed is imperative, even if that means Israel's Prime Minister avoids a trial. Perhaps it's a coincidence, but an Israeli court has just delayed the trial on undisclosed diplomatic and security grounds. Whatever the criticisms of Trump, he has a deep abhorrence of needless killing. And he is driven by this conviction: there has to be a deal to get the outcome that works all round, even if that means using threats, drama and brinkmanship. It's true, of course, that his play in the Middle East might not work – but there again, it might. And no one else has come close to striking at the heart of Iran or bringing Irael to heel. Sure, Trump didn't end the war in Ukraine on day one. Sure, the Israeli hostages have yet to be returned, despite his threats and promises. But if one thing was certain about his moribund predecessor, Joe Biden, it's that nothing at all was going to happen. With fire after fire breaking out in the world kitchen, meanwhile, someone has to act. Ukraine, China, the destructive forces of globalisation and immigration, the failure of the West to spend on defence… on these and many other issues, Trump has forced a conversation that simply wasn't taking place. Which means that however theatrical his initial boasts might have been, America is already in a better situation. There is also a personal stake for the arch deal maker - of course. Trump has made no secret of his wish for a Nobel Peace Prize, or his belief that he merits the award for his leadership in the Middle East. And however outlandish such a prospect might seem, I, for one, am unlikely to bet against it.
Telegraph
41 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Not even Trump can stand in Netanyahu's way
Payback will be the sentiment uppermost in Donald Trump's mind when he hosts the Israeli premier in Washington this week. In return for providing vital military support for Israel's military assault on Iran's nuclear programme, Trump will expect Benjamin Netanyahu's unequivocal support for his Gaza ceasefire plan. The Israeli military may have carried out a highly impressive operation to destroy and degrade Iran's key nuclear facilities, as well as liquidating several top nuclear scientists and commanders in the regime's intelligence and security establishment, but not even the Israelis could summon the firepower to take out two of Iran's key nuclear targets, the underground enrichment facilities at Natanz and Fordow. Trump's decision, therefore, to authorise US air strikes against the heavily-fortified compounds, using fourteen 30,000lb Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPS) to destroy the facilities, provided a vital boost to the Israeli offensive. And even though the jury is still out about how much damage the Americans inflicted on Iran's nuclear programme – there are already suggestions that Iran has resumed work on enriching uranium – Trump clearly believes his military contribution helped the Israelis to achieve their military objectives in Operation Rising Lion, their codename for the Iran attack. Now, having forced Tehran and Jerusalem to observe a ceasefire, Trump has turned his attention to Gaza. This is a president who, after all, has set his sights on winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Ending the war in Gaza – together with resolving the conflict in Ukraine – have been two of Trump's main foreign policy objectives since returning to the White House. While his efforts in Ukraine have been frustrated by Putin's marked lack of interest in a ceasefire, the White House has enjoyed a modicum of success in Gaza, where it did succeed in establishing a short-lived break in the fighting earlier this year. The most notable elements of that deal were the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and the easing of humanitarian aid for Gaza's battered civilian population. The ceasefire collapsed at the end of March amid mutual recriminations, with Israel resuming its military offensive against Hamas terrorists. Buoyed by his successful intervention in the Israel-Iran conflict, Trump believes now is the time to strike a new ceasefire deal, which would be based on similar terms to the previous agreement implemented earlier this year. In return for the staggered release of Israeli hostages – both dead and alive – hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be freed from Israeli jails, aid supplies will resume and Israel will be expected to begin a phased withdrawal from territory it has occupied in the enclave. While Netanyahu can be expected to accept the hostages-for-prisoners formula, and ease aid restrictions, he will be more resistant to the notion of any military withdrawal from Gaza so long as any vestige remains intact. Thus, while Trump has sought to pre-empt the outcome of his meeting with Netanyahu by announcing that Israel has already agreed to the 'necessary conditions' to finalise a 60-day ceasefire, there will nonetheless be concerns at the White House that the Israeli premier will not be prepared to commit to any form of military withdrawal until Hamas's presence in Gaza has been fully eradicated. This was Israel's key military objective in the wake of the October 7 attacks in 2023, and remains so to this day. While the US and Israel have forged an effective alliance in combatting Iran's nuclear infrastructure, on a personal level tensions remain between Trump and Netanyahu, who have not always enjoyed the easiest of relationships. Trump has privately accused Netanyahu of being ungrateful for the backing he receives from Washington, especially after the key role Trump played during his first term negotiating the Abraham Accords, which saw several Arab states normalise relations with Israel. These tensions memorably erupted in public after Trump accused both Israel and Iran of breaching the ceasefire terms he arranged at the end of the Iran conflict in June, claiming that they 'don't know what the f*** they are doing'. Using expletives to describe Iran's conduct is nothing new for Trump – he used the F-word about Iran in 2020. But using it in relation to a country that is supposed to be one of Washington's closest allies showed that not even Netanyahu is immune from Trump's temper tantrums. The risk of upsetting Trump, and provoking one of his famous Oval Office outbursts, will therefore be one of Netanyahu's foremost concerns during his Washington visit, as will be his desire to ensure that he ultimately achieves his goal of destroying Hamas in Gaza. One important consequence of the US-Israel military attack on Iran is that Tehran is no longer in a position to maintain its support for Hamas's terrorist activities, placing the terrorist organisation in its weakest position since the October 7 attacks. With Hamas on the ropes, Netanyahu will remain committed to achieving his ultimate goal of destroying the organisation once and for all, even if it means upsetting his White House host.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Hamas orders Gaza clan leader to surrender, accuses him of treason
CAIRO, July 2 (Reuters) - The Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza on Wednesday ordered the leader of a well-armed Bedouin clan defying the group's control of the Palestinian enclave to surrender and face trial, accusing him of treason. A ministry statement said the decision was taken by what it called a "Revolutionary Court". Yasser Abu Shabab, who does not recognise the authority of Hamas and accuses the militants of hurting the interests of Gaza, had 10 days to surrender, it said. The court urged Palestinians to inform Hamas security officials about the whereabouts of Abu Shabab, who has so far remained beyond their reach in the Rafah area of southern Gaza held by Israeli troops. The Abu Shabab group described the Hamas court's order as a "sitcom that doesn't frighten us, nor does it frighten any free man who loves his homeland and its dignity", in a post on the Facebook page that usually carried the group's announcements. Hamas, which accuses Abu Shabab of looting U.N. aid trucks and alleges that he is backed by Israel, has sent some of its top fighters to kill him, two Hamas sources and two other sources familiar with the situation told Reuters last month. Abu Shabab's group told Reuters, opens new tab at the time that it was a popular force protecting humanitarian aid from looting by escorting aid trucks and denied getting support from Israel or contacts with the Israeli army. It accused Hamas of violence and muzzling dissent. Israel has said it has backed some of Gaza's clans against Hamas, but has not said which.
