Syria

UN sending non-essential

international staff out of

Syria

Syrian men inspect the scene of a car bomb explosion in Jaramana, a mainly Christian and Druze suburb of Damascus, on November 28, 2012. At least two car bombs exploded in Damascus killing and injureing a numbe of people.(AFP Photo / STR)

RT,

2 December, 2012

The UN says it is sending “all non-essential international staff out of Syria” and halting aid missions outside Damascus. The organization is restricting travels for remaining employees.

A quarter of the 100 international staff in Damascus could leave this week. Some staff could be moved out of the northern city of Aleppo. Travel outside the capital will be restricted, UN humanitarian officials said, as quoted by IRIN agency.

Officials say the move is necessary because the situation in Syria has deteriorated.

Regional humanitarian coordinator for the UN, Radhouane Nouicer, said that security needed to be reassessed because of violations to international humanitarian law.

"The security situation has become extremely difficult, including in Damascus," he said.

“For as long as international humanitarian law is not fully observed by all parties to this conflict and for as long as the safety of humanitarian workers is not strictly secured, UN agencies have to review the size of the their presence in the country as well as the way they deliver humanitarian aid,” he continued.

Damascus has largely remained safe since the Syrian conflict began. However, the city's main airport was closed last week after several attacks by rebels.

Internet services also suffered a two-day blackout nationwide.

“The situation is significantly changing…there is an increased risk for humanitarians as a result of indiscriminate shooting or clashes between the parties,” UN chief security advisor in Syria, Sabir Mughal, said.

Top UN security adviser Sabir Mughal said humanitarian workers are at serious risk in Syria. 

Eight UN staff have been killed since the beginning of the 20-month uprising against President Bashar Assad.

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Moscow shares international concern over the humanitarian situation in Syria. The leader met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Monday.

"We hope clashes and bloodshed in Syria would end immediately," Erdogon said in a statement. He added that the foreign ministries of Turkey and Russia were taking further steps regarding the Syrian conflict.

Also on Monday, an EgyptAir flight from Cairo to Damascus turned back because of a "bad security situation" at the Damascus airport, an EgyptAir official said.­

EgyptAir flights resumed on Monday. The company canceled all flights due to "security reasons" on Friday, leading to a three day grounding.

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Lebanese troops exchange fire with Syrian rebels

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said late Sunday that Lebanese soldiers stationed near the village of Qaa in the Bekaa Valley returned fire into Syria after 'armed men' shot at them from across the frontier.

Haaretz,

3 December, 2012

Lebanon's state news agency says Lebanese soldiers have exchanged fire across the border with rebels in neighboring Syria.

The state-run National News Agency said late Sunday that Lebanese soldiers stationed near the village of Qaa in the Bekaa Valley returned fire into Syria after "armed men" shot at them from across the frontier.

The agency quoted a statement from the Lebanese army that said the exchange of fire took place Saturday and that there were no casualties.

Since it began in March 2011, Syria's civil war on several occasions has spilled into neighboring countries, including Turkey, Israel and Lebanon, raising fears that the Arab Spring's longest and deadliest revolt against the authoritarian regime in Damascus could spark a regional war.

Russia, Turkey agree to differ over Syria conflict

Russia and Turkey agreed to differ on Monday on strategies to end Syria's civil war, highlighting how distant the prospects of a negotiated solution to the 20-month-old conflict are.

the Daily Star,

3 December, 2012

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during a one-day visit to Istanbul aimed partly at ensuring differences over Syria do not damage a deepening trade and energy relationship.

"The positions of the Russian Federation and Turkey completely correspond regarding what has to be attained (in Syria), but as of yet no shared approach regarding methods of how to attain it has been reached," Putin told a joint news conference with Erdogan after the talks.

Turkey - worried about Syria's chemical weapons, a growing refugee crisis, and Syrian support for Kurdish militants - has been a major backer of the Syrian opposition and has led calls for international action against President Bashar al-Assad.

It sees Russia, one of Syria's closest allies, as key to quelling a conflict that has sent over a hundred thousand refugees fleeing to Turkish soil and stirred warnings of a sectarian war beyond Syria's borders.

"Our biggest wish is an immediate halt to the bloodshed and fighting in Syria, and we are taking steps to make sure our foreign ministers are carrying out extensive work with this aim," Erdogan told the news conference.

But Moscow has vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at putting pressure on the Syrian leader, blocking Turkish, Western and Arab efforts to provide U.N. support for the rebel forces trying to topple him.

As Syria's new opposition coalition consolidates, Russia has stepped up efforts to tell the world it is not on Assad's side, part of a bid to cast itself as a neutral player with an interest in peace alone. But it has shown no signs of shifting to join Western rivals in backing the rebels.

Turkish officials say Russia must be assured it does not stand to lose from the departure of Assad, who has been Moscow's chief Middle Eastern ally. Syria has been a major client for Russian arms and hosts a naval maintenance facility that is Russia's only military base outside the former Soviet Union.

Both sides have been careful to ensure their differences over Syria do not undermine a broader relationship governed by trade, Turkey's need for energy supplies and mutual security interests across an array of regional hotspots.

"Turkish-Russian relations have made significant progress in the last 10 years," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a television interview ahead of Putin's visit.

"Nobody should dwell on a scenario in which tensions emerge between Turkey and Russia over Syria."

Russia provides nearly two thirds of Turkey's gas supplies and often ramps up its exports to the country during frequent cuts in Iranian gas supplies in the winter.

Erdogan said Turkey would continue to buy natural gas from Iran despite the prospect of tighter U.S. sanctions aimed at ratcheting up economic pressure on Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, who was also in Istanbul, said on Sunday Russia was willing to increase gas supplies to Turkey - Gazprom's second-largest natural gas consumer after Germany - this winter if requested.

Turkish energy officials said Ankara, which usually buys around 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas from Russia each year, had requested an additional 3 bcm from Gazprom ahead of an anticipated rise in energy demand in the winter months.

Gazprom clinched a long-term deal to export natural gas to private companies in Turkey last month, securing a growing market for the Russian gas export monopoly as it faces declines from its core consumers in the European Union.

The move followed a one-year impasse in gas trade between Gazprom and Turkish firms after state pipeline company Botas did not renew an expiring 25-year contract at the end of 2011 due to a pricing dispute. Business has continued in the meantime only on a short-term basis.

State-controlled Russian energy group InterRao meanwhile said it had reached a tentative agreement to complete the purchase of a power station in Turkey this year by buying the Turkish subsidiary of U.S. firm AEI.

Sources familiar with the matter say the deal had been held up for months amid tensions between Moscow and Ankara with Turkish government approval the last major hurdle.