Latest news with #SuleimanAl-Khalidi
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Exclusive-UAE mediating secret talks between Israel and Syria, sources say
By Timour Azhari and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has set up a backchannel for talks between Israel and Syria, three people familiar with the matter said, as Syria's new rulers seek regional help to manage an increasingly hostile relationship with their southern neighbour. The indirect contacts, which have not been previously reported, are focused on security and intelligence matters and confidence-building between two states with no official relations, a person with direct knowledge of the matter, a Syrian security source and a regional intelligence official said. The first source described the effort, which began days after Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa visited the UAE on April 13, as currently focused on "technical matters," and said there was no limit to what may eventually be discussed. The senior Syrian security source told Reuters the backchannel was limited strictly to security-related issues, focusing on several counterterrorism files. The source said that purely military matters, particularly those concerning Israeli army activities in Syria, fell outside the scope of the current channel. The intelligence source said UAE security officials, Syrian intelligence officials and former Israeli intelligence officials were involved in the mechanism, among others. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation. Syria's presidency and the UAE foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The Israeli prime minister's office declined to comment. The mediation effort preceded Israeli strikes in Syria last week, including one just 500 metres (yards) from the presidential palace in Damascus, and Reuters could not establish if the mechanism has been used since the strikes occurred. Israel has framed the strikes as a message to Syria's new rulers in response to threats against Syria's Druze, a minority sect that is an offshoot of Islam with adherents in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Informal mediation between Israel and Syria aimed at calming the situation has taken place in the last week via other channels, according to one of the sources and a regional diplomat. They declined to elaborate. Syria's government has condemned Israel's strikes as escalatory and as foreign interference, and says the new government in Damascus is working to unify the country after 14 years of bloodletting. The new rulers have also made repeated efforts to show they pose no threat to Israel, meeting representatives of the Jewish community in Damascus and abroad and detaining two senior members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which participated in the October 7 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. A letter sent by Syria's foreign ministry to the U.S. State Department last month, seen by Reuters, said "we will not allow Syria to become a source of threat to any party, including Israel." MINORITY FEARS Israel has struck in Syria for years in a shadow campaign aimed at weakening Iran and its allies, including Lebanese Hezbollah, who grew their influence after entering the country's civil war on the side of former President Bashar al-Assad. Israeli military operations have escalated since rebels ousted Assad in December, saying it will not tolerate an Islamist militant presence in southern Syria. Israel has bombed what it says are military targets across the country and Israeli ground forces have entered southwestern Syria. Reuters reported in February that Israel has lobbied the U.S. to keep Syria decentralised and isolated, framing its approach around suspicion of Sharaa - who once headed a branch of al-Qaeda before renouncing ties to the group in 2016. The UAE government also has concerns about the Islamist bent of Syria's new leaders, but Sharaa's meeting with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan last month went very well, the sources said, helping to assuage some of Abu Dhabi's concerns. The sources noted the meeting lasted several hours, making Sharaa late for a subsequent engagement. The backchannel with Israel was established days later, the sources said. Damascus sees the UAE's ties with Israel, established in a historic U.S.-brokered deal in 2020, as a key avenue to address issues with Israel, given the absence of direct relations between the two states. Israel's latest strikes in Syria followed days of clashes between Sunni Muslim and Druze gunmen triggered by a voice recording of unclear origin purportedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed, leaving more than two dozen people dead. Syria's government has since reached an agreement with Druze factions in the Druze heartland region of Suweida to hire local security forces from their ranks, in a move that has so far reduced tensions. The fighting posed the latest challenge for Sharaa, who has repeatedly vowed to unite all of Syria's armed forces under one structure and govern the country, fractured by 14 years of civil war until Assad's overthrow. But incidents of sectarian violence, notably the killing of hundreds of pro-Assad Alawites in March, have hardened fears among minority groups about the now-dominant Islamists and sparked condemnation from global powers. (Reporting by Timour Azhari in Beirut and Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman; additional reporting by Maha El Dahan in Dubai; Editing by William Maclean)
Hindustan Times
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
UAE mediating secret talks between Israel and Syria, sources say
* UAE mediating secret talks between Israel and Syria, sources say UAE creates backchannel for Israel-Syria talks, sources say * Ties between the neighbours have become increasingly hostile * Israel says it won't tolerate Islamist presence in border zone * Syria's new leaders seek to show they pose no threat to Israel By Timour Azhari and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN, - The United Arab Emirates has set up a backchannel for talks between Israel and Syria, three people familiar with the matter said, as Syria's new rulers seek regional help to manage an increasingly hostile relationship with their southern neighbour. The indirect contacts, which have not been previously reported, are focused on security and intelligence matters and confidence-building between two states with no official relations, a person with direct knowledge of the matter, a Syrian security source and a regional intelligence official said. The first source described the effort, which began days after Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa visited the UAE on April 13, as currently focused on "technical matters," and said there was no limit to what may eventually be discussed. The senior Syrian security source told Reuters the backchannel was limited strictly to security-related issues, focusing on several counterterrorism files. The source said that purely military matters, particularly those concerning Israeli army activities in Syria, fell outside the scope of the current channel. The intelligence source said UAE security officials, Syrian intelligence officials and former Israeli intelligence officials were involved in the mechanism, among others. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation. Syria's presidency and the UAE foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The Israeli prime minister's office declined to comment. The mediation effort preceded Israeli strikes in Syria last week, including one just 500 metres from the presidential palace in Damascus, and Reuters could not establish if the mechanism has been used since the strikes occurred. Israel has framed the strikes as a message to Syria's new rulers in response to threats against Syria's Druze, a minority sect that is an offshoot of Islam with adherents in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Informal mediation between Israel and Syria aimed at calming the situation has taken place in the last week via other channels, according to one of the sources and a regional diplomat. They declined to elaborate. Syria's government has condemned Israel's strikes as escalatory and as foreign interference, and says the new government in Damascus is working to unify the country after 14 years of bloodletting. The new rulers have also made repeated efforts to show they pose no threat to Israel, meeting representatives of the Jewish community in Damascus and abroad and detaining two senior members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which participated in the October 7 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. A letter sent by Syria's foreign ministry to the U.S. State Department last month, seen by Reuters, said "we will not allow Syria to become a source of threat to any party, including Israel." MINORITY FEARS Israel has struck in Syria for years in a shadow campaign aimed at weakening Iran and its allies, including Lebanese Hezbollah, who grew their influence after entering the country's civil war on the side of former President Bashar al-Assad. Israeli military operations have escalated since rebels ousted Assad in December, saying it will not tolerate an Islamist militant presence in southern Syria. Israel has bombed what it says are military targets across the country and Israeli ground forces have entered southwestern Syria. Reuters reported in February that Israel has lobbied the U.S. to keep Syria decentralised and isolated, framing its approach around suspicion of Sharaa - who once headed a branch of al-Qaeda before renouncing ties to the group in 2016. The UAE government also has concerns about the Islamist bent of Syria's new leaders, but Sharaa's meeting with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan last month went very well, the sources said, helping to assuage some of Abu Dhabi's concerns. The sources noted the meeting lasted several hours, making Sharaa late for a subsequent engagement. The backchannel with Israel was established days later, the sources said. Damascus sees the UAE's ties with Israel, established in a historic U.S.-brokered deal in 2020, as a key avenue to address issues with Israel, given the absence of direct relations between the two states. Israel's latest strikes in Syria followed days of clashes between Sunni Muslim and Druze gunmen triggered by a voice recording of unclear origin purportedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed, leaving more than two dozen people dead. Syria's government has since reached an agreement with Druze factions in the Druze heartland region of Suweida to hire local security forces from their ranks, in a move that has so far reduced tensions. The fighting posed the latest challenge for Sharaa, who has repeatedly vowed to unite all of Syria's armed forces under one structure and govern the country, fractured by 14 years of civil war until Assad's overthrow. But incidents of sectarian violence, notably the killing of hundreds of pro-Assad Alawites in March, have hardened fears among minority groups about the now-dominant Islamists and sparked condemnation from global powers. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Jordan wins Trump aid carve-out for strategic projects and support
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Millions of dollars in U.S. grants for Jordan's largest water desalination project abruptly dried up when President Donald Trump announced sweeping cuts to foreign aid in January. Within two months, support was flowing again, a result of diplomacy that has arguably put the pivotal Middle Eastern state on more solid financial footing than before the U.S. president's shock move to reshape global foreign aid in January, conversations with more than 20 sources in Jordan and the United States reveal. Jordan - which stands behind only Ukraine, Israel and Ethiopia among the largest recipients of U.S. aid globally - has won assurances from Washington that the bulk of financing worth at least $1.45 billion annually remains intact, including military and direct budgetary support, according to Reuters conversations with the sources. Most of the sources, including Jordanian officials, diplomats, regional security officials, U.S. officials and contractors involved in U.S. aid projects asked not to be named to discuss sensitive ongoing diplomatic discussions. Four of them said payments resumed in March to U.S. firm CDM Smith, which USAID tasked with overseeing the $6 billion Aqaba-Amman Water Desalination and Conveyance Project, seen as key to the self-sufficiency of the arid kingdom. The United States has for decades relied on Jordan to help achieve its goals in the Middle East, including during the Iraq War and as a partner in the fight against al Qaeda in the region. Jordan hosts U.S. forces under a treaty allowing them to deploy at its bases. The CIA works closely with Amman's intelligence services. Although several sources said much of the $430 million annual assistance for development programs remains frozen, hitting education and health projects, Molly Hickey, a Harvard-doctoral researcher studying U.S. aid and Jordan's political landscape, said these areas are seen as less strategically important. "Trump has protected funding considered critical to Jordan's stability, namely defense, water, and direct budget support,' said Hickey, citing contacts with U.S. officials that corroborate Reuters' findings. A U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed Jordan's military aid was intact, calling Jordan a strong U.S. partner with a critical role for regional security. A decision has now been taken to continue U.S. Foreign Military Financing to all recipients, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio completed his review of foreign assistance awarded by State and USAID, the spokesperson said. The assurances to Jordan, extended during visits by King Abdullah and Prime Minister Jafaar Hassan to Washington in recent weeks, have not previously been reported, and appear to mark a reversal of Trump's earlier warning he could target Jordan's aid if the country did not agree to take in large numbers of refugees under a proposal to turn Gaza into a beach resort. In a private White House meeting in February, Trump assured King Abdullah that U.S. aid would not be used as leverage for political concessions, two U.S. and two Jordanian officials familiar with the matter told Reuters. The State Department spokesperson declined to comment on "ongoing negotiations." The White House said questions on the issue should be directed to State. Senior White House aides met in recent weeks to discuss the fate of Jordan's financing, three officials with knowledge of the situation told Reuters, concluding that the kingdom's stability was critical to U.S. national security. There was agreement in the meetings that aid should be restructured and enhanced to directly support that goal, one of the officials said. None of the sources described specific concessions by Jordan, instead pointing to its position as a stable ally whose longstanding peace deal with neighbour Israel and deep ties to Palestinians were a bulwark against wider Middle East conflict. "We appreciate the U.S. economic and financial support and will continue to engage in discussions that will benefit the economic sectors of both countries," Jordan's Minister of State for Communications Mohammad al Momani told Reuters in response to a question about Hassan's talks and whether Jordan's lobbying to maintain critical aid was paying off. ISLAMISTS OUTLAWED A financial squeeze on Jordan does not serve U.S. interests, given the kingdom's vulnerability to 'radical influences,' said one senior Jordanian official, referring to Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood as well as Iran's funding of militants in the region. Last week, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, a political movement that gave rise to Hamas. Jordan accuses its members of a major sabotage plot. The plot was announced on April 15, the same day Hassan met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. One official told Reuters the threat of political Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood was discussed at the meeting. Reuters could not establish whether they discussed banning the group. Another senior official and a regional intelligence official said economic pressure risked unrest among a population angered by the government's treaty with Israel and its pro-Western stance. That view was bolstered by the foiled sabotage plot, the intelligence official said. While Washington has moved to restore some World Food Program food projects to countries including Jordan, few of the USAID-led projects including those promoting political and economic reform have been brought back. "Ensuring we have the right mix of programs to support U.S. national security and other core national interests of the United States requires an agile approach. We will continue to make changes as needed," the State Department spokesperson said. The largest component of U.S. aid to Jordan is some $850 million in direct budget support, agreed under a seven year strategic partnership signed in 2022. Government ministers had fretted in private that this money was at risk "Eliminating that support would significantly worsen our deficit and debt burden," former Planning Minister Wissam Rabadi said in televised remarks. "Today we face a deficit, and losing $800 million would be devastating." However, five of the sources, including two U.S. sources, told Reuters that Washington has now assured Amman this year's support, due in December and already factored into the $18 billion national budget, would not be touched. SHAKEN BY TRUMP Shaken by Trump's threats, Jordan has simultaneously been locking down further assistance from other allies. It has turned to Europe, Gulf neighbours and multilateral lenders since Trump unveiled the global aid freeze in a January 20 memo, with the State Department initially offering waivers only for military aid to Egypt and Israel. Last week, King Abdullah visited Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince of Jordan's larger Arabian peninsula neighbour Saudi Arabia. One senior Jordanian official abreast of the discussions said Riyadh was considering a military aid package to strengthen Jordan's defense capabilities. Ties with Saudi Arabia have been strained in recent years, and it has not previously provided military aid. The official did not give a sense of the potential scale of the package. The Saudi government media office and Jordan's army spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Two officials and a senior Western diplomat familiar with the talks with the IMF said the government was close to finalizing a sustainability agreement with the IMF to supplement its existing $1.2 billion, four-year EFF program. The new arrangement could unlock as much as an additional $750 million in tranches, they added. The IMF declined to comment. Other negotiations have already yielded results: 3 billion euros over three years from the European Union, announced days after Trump's aid cuts by European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, who cited 'geopolitical shifts;' $1.1 bln in fresh financing from the World Bank and a $690 million package from the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, both approved in April. Domestically, Prime Minister Hassan has been rallying corporations and business leaders to contribute to a national fund, raising over $100 million to relieve pressure on government finances. "Jordan's economy has largely weathered the storm," said Raad Mahmoud Al Tal, the head of economics faculty at Jordan University. The government's lobbying "allowed it to retain the bulk of core aid and even get bigger donor packages beyond what was anticipated."
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Syria's Sharaa rejects Kurdish demands for decentralisation
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria's Islamist leaders said on Sunday that Kurdish demands for the country to adopt a decentralised system of government in a post-Assad political order posed a threat to national unity. "We clearly reject any attempt to impose a partition or create separatist cantons under the terms of federalism or self-autonomy without a national consensus," Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa's office said in a statement. "The unity of Syrian territory and its people is a red line," the statement said. Rival Syrian Kurdish parties, including the dominant faction in the Kurdish-run northeast, agreed at a meeting in Syria's Kurdish-controlled city of Qamishli on Saturday on a common political vision for Syria's Kurdish minority. A communique at the end of the conference, which was attended by U.S. officials, demanded that a future Syrian constitution should enshrine respect for Kurdish national rights in Syria after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad. "A joint Kurdish political vision has been formulated that expresses a collective will and its project for a just solution to the Kurdish issue in Syria as a decentralized democratic state," the pan-Kurdish statement said. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the U.S., last month signed a deal with Damascus on merging Kurdish-led governing bodies and security forces with the central government The Syrian presidency's statement also said recent statements by SDF leaders advocating a federal solution went clearly against that deal. During the 14-year civil war, Kurdish-led groups took control of roughly a quarter of Syrian territory, where most of the country's oil wealth is found along with fertile arable land that produces a major proportion of the country's wheat. Kurdish officials have objected to the way Syria's governing Islamists are shaping the transition from Assad's rule, saying they are failing to respect Syria's diversity despite promises of inclusivity.
The Print
24-04-2025
- Politics
- The Print
Factbox-Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood and its role
Here are some basic facts about the Brotherhood and the political party that is widely seen as its parliamentary wing: By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets on Wednesday after members were found to be linked to a sabotage plot, Interior Minister Mazen Fraya said. The Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in the 1920s as an Islamic political movement to counter the spread of secular and nationalist ideas. It swiftly spread through Muslim countries, becoming a major player but often operating in secret. Although it works illegally as a clandestine organisation in many countries, it had been officially licensed in Jordan since independence in 1946 as a charitable and social organisation when the monarchy regarded the group as a potential ally. It has widespread grassroots support in major urban areas and scores of offices around the country. The Brotherhood does not operate under its own name as a political party but the Islamic Action Front (IAF) is widely regarded as its – unacknowledged – political wing. The IAF, whose head Wael Saqqa said on Wednesday the party has 'no organisational ties' with the Brotherhood, has been one of the biggest forces in parliament since Jordan legalised political parties in 1992. Saqqa's party offices were raided on Wednesday and documents seized. WHAT DO THE AUTHORITIES THINK? Despite its long presence in Jordan, the Brotherhood fell under official suspicion after the 2011 Arab Spring, when Islamists vied for sway with established powers across the Middle East. Jordan for years resisted pressure from Gulf Arab countries and Egypt, which have long been suspicious of the Brotherhood, to ban the organisation. But in keeping with a regional crackdown on political Islam and public freedoms, Jordan tightened restrictions on the group over the past two years, forbidding its public rallies and arresting vocal dissidents. Jordanian authorities had also encouraged a splinter group to legally challenge the main movement's license to operate but until Wednesday, they had shied away from an outright ban. Security officials say the suspects arrested last week were directly linked to the Lebanese wing of Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas. Jordan's political establishment now views the Brotherhood as having tried to form a clandestine militia and posing a direct challenge to the state, crossing a red line. The Brotherhood said the group arrested over a plot that was unveiled last week had links to it but acted in its own capacity. The arrested group had sought to smuggle weapons to Palestinians but did not plan attacks inside Jordan, according to the Brotherhood. THE ISLAMIC ACTION FRONT The IAF took more seats than any other party in last year's parliamentary elections, giving it 31 of the 138 seats for the first time, but it remained in opposition to the pro-Western government. Although the IAF says Jordan's political system treats it unfairly, it has competed in most elections. It says this is necessary to prevent it falling into the political wilderness and to ensure a vocal opposition. The party commands strong support in the cities, especially in Palestinian areas, but has also become more popular in tribal areas in recent years. In a country where anti-Israel sentiment runs high, the IAF has led some of the largest protests in the region in support of Hamas during the war in Gaza, and its opponents say this has helped boost its popularity. WHAT'S NEXT? The government says the courts will deliver the final verdict at the end of the trial on those implicated in the plot. Meanwhile it has said that any organisation promoting the Brotherhood's ideology will also be banned, raising questions about the future of the IAF. The Amman government may push both the IAF and individual members of parliament to disavow the Brotherhood, though it is not yet clear how that would work or what it could mean for the seats the IAF now holds. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; editing by Angus McDowall and Mark Heinrich) Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
