Latest news with #securitydeal
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 days ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Netanyahu Asks US to Broker Israel-Syria Negotiations
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US envoy Tom Barrack he is interested in negotiating with the new Syrian government, with the US serving as mediator, two Israeli officials told Axios on Wednesday. 'Netanyahu is interested in negotiating an updated security deal and working up towards a full peace agreement,' according to a senior Israeli official. 'When Barrack met Netanyahu last week, the Israeli prime minister told him he wants to use the momentum from the Trump-al-Sharaa meeting to start US-mediated negotiations with Syria,' an Israeli official said. A senior Israel official also told Axios that Netanyahu's goal is to try and reach a set of agreements, starting with an updated security deal based on the 1974 disengagement of forces agreement, with modifications, and ending with a peace deal between the countries. The prime minister believes Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa's aspiration to build close ties with the Trump administration create a diplomatic opportunity. 'We want to try and move towards normalization with Syria as soon as possible,' the official said. According to the official, Barrack told the Israelis that al-Sharaa is open to discussing new agreements with Israel. After his visit to Israel, Barrack traveled to Washington and briefed Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. A US official said the Israelis presented to Barrack their 'red lines' on Syria: No Turkish military bases in the country, no renewed Iranian and Hezbollah presence and the demilitarization of southern Syria. The Israelis told Barrack they will keep their forces in Syria until a new agreement is signed that includes the demilitarization of southern Syria, an Israeli official said. The official added that in a new future border deal with Syria, Israel wants to add US forces to the UN force that was previously stationed on the border. In a related development, the Israeli forces on Wednesday seized one vehicle and arrested three workers employed by Al-Quneitra city council. The forces had advanced into Al-Qahtaniyah village in Syria's southern countryside of the governorate, deploying within residential neighborhoods and firing guns into the air. The Syrian TV reported that the deployment coincided with loudspeaker announcements calling on residents to stay in their homes. Last Sunday, the Israeli forces destroyed an agricultural land near the border in the southern countryside of Quneitra and confiscated a flock of sheep. Earlier, the Israeli forces had carried out airstrikes in southern Syria, saying it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel. Israeli shelling also targeted agricultural areas in the Wadi Yarmouk region. Residents described increased tensions in recent weeks, including reported Israeli incursions into villages, where they have reportedly been barred from sowing their crops.
BBC News
13-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Fishing shouldn't block defence pact, says EU chief Kaja Kallas
Negotiations with the UK over future fishing quotas should not hold up a security deal, the European Union's foreign policy chief has suggested. Kaja Kallas told BBC Newsnight "a few elements" of a deal were still to be agreed but "I think we are over the fish".It comes as the UK and EU prepare to hold a summit in London next week at which they hope to announce a security and defence pact. There have been reports that some EU countries, particularly France, want to link future access to British waters for fishing with wider negotiations. Kallas previously said she was "surprised at how important fish are" in the talks. Asked on Monday whether fish could hold up a deal on security, she told the BBC: "No, I think we are over the fish."Pressed again whether disagreements over fishing had been dealt with, she said: "As any deal is not together, unless everything is agreed, we still have a few elements there, but I hope that we'll get there." Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he wants to "reset" the UK's post-Brexit relations with the EU and seek closer ties with the bloc. The UK's aims include a defence deal, as well as a wider negotiation of its trading relationship.A security pact could pave the way for greater UK involvement in EU-wide defence procurement projects, as well as access to a loans scheme for British defence one sticking point has been fishing arrangements, which are due to expire in June next year under the post-Brexit trade deal agreed in 2020. France wants a long-term deal that gives the EU continued access to the same levels of fish after 2026, rather than negotiating quotas every fisheries industry is only small in the overall context of the UK-EU economic relationship, but has long occupied a prominent political importance. One of the EU's key demands is for youth mobility scheme, which would make it easier for young people to study and work in the UK and vice versa, for a time-limited UK previously said it has "no plans" for such a scheme, but its opposition to the idea has softened in recent this month, European relations minister Nick Thomas-Symonds told the Financial Times the UK would consider "sensible EU proposals in this space". Commons debate The EU has been keen to stress that a youth deal would not replicate the bloc's rules on freedom of movement, under which EU citizens were automatically entitled to live and work in the UK without applying for a the Conservatives have suggested an agreement would "reintroduce free movement by the back door".In the House of Commons later, the party is seeking to force a symbolic vote on its demands, which also include calling on the government not to "surrender our fishing rights" or "create dynamic alignment between the UK and EU". Dynamic alignment means the UK would maintain similar regulations to the EU, reducing checks when food, animals or plants cross the foreign secretary Priti Patel said: "Labour cannot be trusted with our Brexit freedoms. "Keir Starmer and many of his cabinet spent years campaigning to reverse the referendum, and this so-called reset is the first stage in their mission to betray Brexit." Gibraltar talks 'not resolved' Meanwhile, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has suggested an agreement over Gibraltar will be needed to secure a closer UK-EU relationship. Talks over the border rules between Spain and Gibraltar - a British overseas territory - have been ongoing since the UK left the EU in 2020. Albares told BBC Newsnight the issue was "not resolved yet". "There is no agreement, and it's very clear," he said."It's part of the withdrawal agreement. We need to solve the issue of Gibraltar in order to have a full European-Union-UK relationship." Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.
