Southern Yemeni Separatists Seize Large Parts of Aden

CAIRO — 

Southern Yemeni separatists control large chunks of the southern interim capital of Aden and continue to lay siege to the presidential palace.

Amateur video shown Wednesday on Arab TV showed forces loyal to internationally recognized President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi moving troops from the coastal port of Mukha to the southern capital of Aden to reinforce garrisons that remain loyal to the government.

Southern separatists captured large parts of Aden over the past 72 hours, amid scattered fighting that left dozens dead or wounded.

Yemeni analyst Ahmed Salah, who heads the Aden Center for International Relations, told Al Hurra TV that forces loyal to Hadi had defected to the separatist movement in many places and that some southerners were angry that Hadi's men had killed civilians with field artillery and mortars, in addition to damaging the city’s water infrastructure.

Good news, bad news

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported that forces loyal to Hadi had recaptured the Yemeni Army’s Fourth Brigade military garrison in Aden, which had recently fallen to the separatists. Other Arab media indicated that Hadi’s prime minister remained besieged inside the Maisheeq Presidential Palace, although Arabiya TV said “he and his ministers continue to exercise their functions.”

Arab analysts said that the Saudi-led coalition’s junior partner, the United Arab Emirates, which has a strong military presence in and around Aden, was supporting the southern Yemeni separatists under the command of Aiderous al Zubeidi.

Zubeidi told Arab media the residents of southern Yemen were unhappy with the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Ben Dagher and wanted him replaced.

He said that living conditions had deteriorated in southern Yemen because of the poor performance of the government, and he added that he had asked Hadi to replace Dagher and his ministers with a new Cabinet of technocrats.

Zubeidi went on to say that he would negotiate his movement’s demands with Hadi and other Yemeni political forces. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has reportedly proposed giving the southern separatists 50 percent representation in a joint confederation with the north of the country. Aden was a British crown colony until 1967.

Unstable situation

University of Paris political science professor Khattar Abou Diab told VOA that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have differing views about Aden, but the situation could be unstable for some time to come.

He pointed out that some influential Saudi power brokers had floated the idea of having a Yemeni government in the south of the country and another government in the north of the country, under the aegis of Hadi. He noted that Saudi Arabia was concerned about being bogged down in Yemen for a long time to come, because of the conflict in the north with the Houthi militia (backed by Iran), and might be looking for a simple resolution to the conflict.

Abou Diab warned that such a solution, involving a Yemeni confederation, could open the door to other latent conflicts over influence in the various regions of the country.

Neighboring Oman as well as the United Arab Emirates, which supports the southern separatists, are reported to have competing economic interests in different parts of the south.

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US Allows Some Syrians to Stay 18 More Months

WASHINGTON — 

The Trump administration said Wednesday it would allow about 7,000 Syrians to remain in the United States for at least another 18 months under protected status as civil war rages in their native country.

The decision was a relief for the Syrians, who would have faced the prospect of returning to a fractured country racked with violence if the administration had rescinded their temporary protected status (TPS) when it ran out in March. Instead, they are allowed to stay through Sept. 30, 2019.

“After carefully considering conditions on the ground, I have determined that it is necessary to extend the Temporary Protected Status designation for Syria,” said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in a statement.

“It is clear that the conditions upon which Syria’s designation was based continue to exist, therefore an extension is warranted under the statute,” she added.

The administration stopped short of redesignating Syria’s status, which means that it will continue to benefit only Syrians who have been in the United States since 2016 or earlier.

“It fell short that they didn’t redesignate it, but I think it’s a positive action nonetheless that should be praised,” said Monzer Shakally, 21, a Syrian student at the University of Iowa with the temporary status. “I’m happy this decision came out now and I don’t have to worry about this for another 18 months at least.”

The Obama administration granted Syrians temporary protected status in 2012, the year after the war in Syria began, and extended it through the end of March. The Obama administration redesignated Syria’s protected status several times so that waves of Syrians who had arrived in later years of the conflict could qualify.

There is no end in sight to the Syria conflict. A peace conference in Russia ended Tuesday with a call for democratic elections, but key opposition demands were ignored after squabbles and heckling of the Russian foreign minister.

The Trump administration has shown a deep skepticism toward the protected status program, announcing its end for immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan since President Donald Trump took office last year. Some of those countries were granted the protections more than a decade ago, and the administration argued that their crises had since been resolved.

Refugee advocates criticized the Trump administration’s decision not to re-designate Syria’s status, saying it ignored the fact that Syria’s conflict continues to produce new refugees.

“The Trump administration’s decision means that many Syrians who are already here in the U.S. will not be able to apply for TPS status,” said Lia Lindsey, Oxfam America’s senior humanitarian policy advisor.

Some groups that favor immigration restrictions had opposed an 18-month extension of the humanitarian benefits for Syrians, saying six months would be more appropriate.

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Minorities in Syria’s Afrin Fear Persecution as Turkey Escalates Offensive

WASHINGTON — 

As Turkey continues its military offensive and air campaign in Afrin, a city under the control of Syrian Kurds, minorities in the region fear that the conflict could make them a target of hostile militant groups still operating in the region.

“We fear that the factors that contributed to the Sinjar massacre would combine and produce a similar atrocity in Afrin,” Şêkh Ali Reşo, a board member of Central Council of Yazidis in Germany, told VOA.

In 2014, the Islamic State terror group perpetrated genocide against the Yazidis in the Sinjar region of Iraq. Tens of thousands of men, women and children fled to Mount Sinjar, where they were under siege for several days. IS massacred hundreds of them.

The fighting in Afrin has generated fears that religious minorities will again be targeted by extremist groups like IS that still operate in pockets of the region.

“These are not just our fears, but also the fears of Druze [a religious minority], Christians and Mandaens [a religious minority]. Religious minorities are the most vulnerable because they are targeted first and they can’t defend themselves,” Reşo said.

Reşo added that the world must understand that Yazidi fears are legitimate because the Turkish offensive created a very complex situation in the region and the distraction of the offensive could make minorities a target.

“We cannot foresee the future and we don’t know what will happen to our brothers and sisters in Afrin,” Reşo said.

According the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based rights group that monitors developments in Syria, IS still has a presence in parts of Aleppo and Idlib provinces. There are also reports that IS still has hideouts in northern Hama.

Members of the Yazidi community in Afrin are concerned about the potential return of IS to parts of Afrin.

IS "was chased out of Manbij, Aleppo, Raqqa and other areas, but they are still around and this operation might bring" them back, Pir Shammo, a Yazidi religious leader in Afrin, told VOA.

Shammo added that his village, Basoufane, a Yazidi village in Afrin, was shelled many times in the past few months by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an al-Qaida-affiliated terror group, which last year claimed it had severed ties with al-Qaida and operates in the region independently.

There is no official data as to how many Yazidis live in Afrin, but Yazidi and Kurdish sources say there were an estimated 25,000 Yazidis living in Afrin in 2011. In the aftermath of the Syrian war and the subsequent emergence of terror groups, because of fears of persecution, thousands of them left the region and migrated to Europe for asylum.

​Diverse city

Afrin is very diverse and home to various ethnic and religious groups. Thousands of refugees poured into the city in 2011 from different parts of Syria, mainly from Aleppo and its countryside, as the Syrian crisis was unfolding.

In 2012, Syrian regime forces withdrew from Afrin and the city fell under the control of Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the main fighting force in the U.S. backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Turkey charges that its offensive in Afrin is justified because it targets the YPG, which Turkey accuses of having ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S, European Union and Turkey.

However, U.S officials maintain that Turkey’s offensive in Afrin distracts the global coalition against IS from doing the more important work of eliminating the Islamic State terror group in the region.

​Civilian casualties

Continued Turkish shelling and airstrikes reportedly killed dozens of civilians in the city since it began this month, sparking criticism and calls for international intervention.

“We are unable to protect ourselves or our families from these attacks. We are also unable to offer a shelter for the innocent people,” a statement issued by the Kurdish Churches in Afrin and Kobane said.

Isa Berekat, a local Kurdish Christian in Afrin and a member of Good Shepherd Church, told VOA that Afrin is full of civilians and they are under attack.

“Christians in Afrin condemn these brutal attacks on the city. Many people were displaced. We call on human rights organizations to help us. Afrin needs aid and we pray to our Lord for protection of all innocent people in Afrin,” Berekat told VOA.

“Kurds, Muslims, Yazidis and others are living in Afrin, we call all human rights organizations to help us,” Berekat said.

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Egypt’s Leader Issues Tough Warning After Election Criticism

CAIRO — 

Egypt's president on Wednesday angrily threatened to take strong action against anyone trying to disrupt the country's stability in a warning that followed calls by opposition politicians for a boycott of upcoming presidential elections.

The sharp warning by a visibly furious President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was a signal that authorities will tolerate no questioning of the legitimacy of the March 26-28 vote. The general-turned-president said he would not allow a repeat of the 2011 uprising.

Those calling for a boycott have called the election a farce after a string of would-be candidates were arrested, forced out of the race or dropped out in protest. It had appeared el-Sissi might be the only one to run until at the last minute on Monday a little-known politician stepped forward to enter the race as a face-saver.

That prevented the embarrassment of a one-candidate election, but also sparked considerable mockery on social media. Criticism of the vote could taint what is seen as el-Sissi’s inevitable victory and open the door to wider dissent, which his government has largely shut down over the past four years.

The boycott call came Tuesday from a coalition of opposition parties and public figures. Earlier this week, five opposition figures, including a 2012 presidential candidate and two top campaign aides for a now-arrested presidential hopeful, also called for a boycott and urged Egyptians not to recognize the vote’s outcome.

One would-be candidate forced out of the race, former lawmaker Mohammed Anwar Sadat, called on the opposition to stage a peaceful march on the presidential palace to present el-Sissi with “demands” pertaining to the country’s political future. Sadat is a nephew of assassinated Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat.

El-Sissi did not directly mention the boycott calls during his speech at a ceremony marking the launch of a giant offshore gas field. But the timing a day after the calls suggested he was referring to them — and his vehemence appeared to suggest that any questioning of the election was considered equivalent to destabilizing the country.

Grim-faced and at times shouting, el-Sissi implied he would launch an intensified crackdown. “There will be other measures against anyone who believes he can mess with (Egypt’s) security ... I fear no one but God.” he said.

“Whoever wants to mess with Egypt’s security and wreck it must get rid of me first because by God Almighty I will not allow it. I would die so that 100 million can live,” he added.

He said that if attempts to destabilize the nation continue, he would call on Egyptians to give him “another mandate” to counter what he called the “evil people.”

That was a reference to the “popular mandate” that el-Sissi asked for to fight terrorism in July 2013, just after he led the military’s ouster of Islamist Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president whose one year in office proved divisive.

Millions took to the streets in response to his call, and el-Sissi then launched Egypt’s largest and harshest crackdown on dissent in decades, arresting thousands, mostly Islamists but also secular pro-democracy activists.

In his warnings Wednesday, el-Sissi also made a rare reference to the 2011 uprising that forced autocrat Hosni Mubarak to step down.

“Be warned, what happened seven or eight years ago will not be repeated. ... You seem not to know me well enough. No, by God, the price of Egypt’s stability and security is my life and the life of the army,” he said, directing an intense gaze at Defense Minister Sidki Sobhi, seated to his left. “I am not a politician who just talks,” he added.

His reference to the uprising had echoes of the line that is presented almost daily in pro-government media demonizing the 2011 “revolution” as a foreign plot to destabilize Egypt carried out by paid agents. Many of the uprising's key figures are either in jail, live in exile or quietly moved to the sidelines.

Khaled Dawoud, leader of one of the parties calling for a boycott of the vote, defiantly rejected el-Sissi's threats.

“No one can prevent a repeat of the January (2011) revolution if oppression continues,” Dawoud told The Associated Press. “We are not inventing the wheel here; justice and respect for the law and are the basis of governance and the conditions for the continuation of any state. Egyptians are not afraid to demand their rights.”

El-Sissi has consistently cited security and economic recovery as taking precedence over freedoms. He often complains of the political turmoil after 2011 that wrecked the economy.

In office, el-Sissi has pursued mega infrastructure projects and painful austerity measures to repair the economy, stopping a slide in bankruptcy but also sending prices soaring beyond the reach of a majority of Egyptians.

“Stability and security means where we are now, anything else is doom. Please, don’t let anyone lead (the nation) to doom,” he warned.

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Israeli Defense Chief: Lebanon Will Pay for Iranian Meddling

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL — 

Israel's defense minister said Wednesday that Lebanon would “pay the full price” for Iran’s entrenchment in any future war, the latest in a series of Israeli warnings about Tehran’s growing presence in neighboring Lebanon and Syria.

Avigdor Lieberman said Hezbollah guerrillas have sacrificed Lebanon’s national interests by subjugating the country to Iran. As a result, he said, all of Lebanon would be fair game in a future war.

Speaking to the Institute for National Security Studies’ annual conference, Lieberman said the Lebanese army will be targeted and “if citizens of Tel Aviv are forced to sit in shelters, all of Beirut will too.”

He also described as “very provocative” Lebanon's offshore oil and gas exploration tender on the countries’ maritime border and suggested that Lebanon had put out a tender to international groups for a gas field “which is by all accounts ours.”

Hezbollah, Lebanese respond

His comments drew sharp condemnation from Hezbollah and Lebanese officials, including Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a Western ally, who described Lieberman’s comments as a “blatant provocation that Lebanon rejects.”

He said Lieberman's claim is “invalid in form and substance” and that the Lebanese government would follow this up “with the competent international parties to assert its legitimate right to act in its territorial waters.”

Lebanon last year approved the licenses for an international consortium led by France's Total, Italy's ENI and Russia's Novatek to move forward with offshore oil and gas development for two of five blocks in the Mediterranean Sea, including one known as Block 9 that is disputed in part with Israel.

Lebanese officials say the country will start exploratory offshore drilling in 2019 and say Lebanon wants to assert its resource rights along the length of its maritime territories.

Offshore drilling could lead to dispute

A major find in Lebanon’s southernmost waters could raise the possibility of a dispute with Israel, which is developing a number of offshore gas deposits, with one large field, Tamar, already producing gas, and the larger Leviathan field set to go online next year.

There are over 800 square kilometers (300 square miles) of waters claimed by the two countries, which are technically in a state of conflict. Israel and Hezbollah fought a monthlong war in 2006.

Hezbollah, in a statement, said Lieberman’s remarks offer new proof of Israel’s ambitions to steal Lebanon’s resources and said it would confront any aggression against Lebanon’s rights.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun also weighed in on Wednesday, rejecting Lieberman’s statements.

“Comments by Lieberman about Block 9 are a threat to Lebanon and its right to sovereignty over its territorial waters,” he said in a statement released by his office.Israel has repeatedly warned of Iran’s increasing efforts to turn Lebanon into “one giant missile site.” Israel’s chief military spokesman this week said it was “prepared for all the scenarios.”

The Iranian-backed Hezbollah wields enormous political and military influence in Lebanon. Its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has said the Shiite militant group does not seek to provoke a war with Israel but would respond with crushing force should Israel attack Lebanon.

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Israel Vows to Retain West Bank Control in Any Peace Deal

JERUSALEM — 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said Israel will retain security control over the Palestinians as part of any future peace deal, deepening Palestinian fears that Israel and the Trump administration are colluding on a proposal that will fall far short of their dreams of independence.

Netanyahu's statement exposed a deepening rift that has emerged between the U.S. and Israel on one hand, and the Palestinians and the Europeans on the other, ahead of an expected peace push by the Trump administration. Those disagreements could complicate things for the U.S. team.

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has distanced himself somewhat from the two-state solution — the outcome favored by the international community, including Trump's predecessors, for the past two decades.

Instead, he has said he would support Palestinian independence only if Israel agrees. The European Union, meanwhile, along with the rest of the international community, remains committed to the two-state solution.

These differences were evident at a meeting Wednesday between Netanyahu and the German foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel.

In an awkward exchange, Gabriel said his country is "very much in favor" of the two-state solution.

"I was very thankful to hear that of course also the government of Israel wants to have two states, but [with secure] borders," he said.

Netanyahu broke in with a clarification.

He said Israel's "first condition," would be to control security west of the Jordan River, an area that includes all of the West Bank, the heartland of the Palestinians' hoped-for state.

"Whether or not it is defined as a state when we have the military control is another matter," he said. "I'd rather not discuss labels, but substance."

Autonomy vs. independence

That suggests Israel would prefer something most observers would more likely define as autonomy than independence — an arrangement that would have few if any equivalents in the world.

The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, areas captured by Israel in 1967, for their state. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but it has settled over 600,000 people in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, making it increasingly difficult to partition the land.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinians would not accept the presence of "one Israeli soldier" on sovereign Palestinian lands.

"Either there will be full Palestinian sovereignty or there will be no security, no peace and no stability," he said.

Advocates of the two-state solution, including Israel's opposition parties, have long argued that the establishment of a Palestinian state is essential for Israel's own survival. Without a Palestinian state, they say that the number of Jews and Arabs under Israeli control will be roughly equal.

Israel would then have to choose between granting millions of Palestinians citizenship, threatening the country's status as a Jewish-majority democracy, or turning into an apartheid-like state where Jews and Palestinians have different sets of rights.

It is far from certain that Netanyahu's envisioned solution would ease international concerns over Israel's half-century occupation over the Palestinians.

Trump's influence

The Palestinians have long been suspicious of Trump's Mideast team, led by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, due to their deep connections to Israel and years of support to the West Bank settlement movement.

Those suspicions deepened after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital last month. The Palestinians accused Trump of siding with Israel and said they would no longer accept the U.S. as a mediator.

Palestinian officials now claim that Trump's team is working with Israel on a plan that would give them a mini-state in roughly half of the West Bank, with Israel retaining overall security control, as well as control over Jerusalem and its holy sites. Final borders and the fate of Israel's dozens of settlements would be decided later. The officials say a third country with close ties to the U.S. recently presented details of the proposal.

When they tried to negotiate improvements, they say they were told it was a "take it or leave it" plan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing a classified diplomatic issue.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Officials have said recently that the White House is still working on its proposal, and have refused to say when it might be unveiled.

On Wednesday, European officials urged the administration not to go it alone.

"Any framework for negotiations must be multilateral and must involve all players," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in Brussels. "Nothing without the United States, nothing with the United States alone."

At an academic conference in Tel Aviv, Gabriel, the German foreign minister, expressed grave concern for Israel's future, saying the government's ambivalence toward a Palestinian state showed a lack of direction and suggesting that Trump's unflinching support wasn't necessarily in Israel's best interest.

Gabriel said that in Europe "there is clearly growing frustration with Israel's actions," and asked Israelis: "How do you want Israel's future to look like? Are you prepared to pay the price of perpetual occupation?"

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Eritrean Leader Criticizes Israel's Migrant Deportation Plan

JOHANNESBURG — 

In a rare interview, Eritrea's president has expressed his displeasure with Israel's plan to deport tens of thousands of African migrants, saying they deserve far more than the $3,500 they were offered to leave.

President Isaias Afwerki's interview on a government website Wednesday said the migrants from his country and Sudan paid a "high price" to human traffickers to reach Israel and deserve more like $50,000.

"They need fair compensation to start a new life in their home country," Afwerki said in the interview with local reporters. He said all those who wish to return home "have every right to do so," and that Eritrea has offered to register all of its roughly 20,000 migrants but Israeli authorities had refused.

Many Eritreans leaving the east African nation claim they fled a restrictive regime under Afwerki, where men are often forced into a military service with slavery-like conditions. They say they cannot return.

In the interview, Afwerki claimed instead that the Eritrean migrants were enticed abroad to organize an armed opposition but that the "subversive schemes" failed and the migrants now have become a burden.

Israel's deportation plan has sparked protests by liberal Israelis who say the country should never turn away those in need. They note that of 15,000 African refugee status requests, only 11 have been approved.

On April 1, Israel plans to start expelling the African migrants, some of whom have been in the country for years. About 60,000 migrants crossed Israel's previously porous desert border with Egypt before a barrier was completed in 2012 along the 130-mile (220-kilometer) frontier.

Since then about 20,000 migrants have left either voluntarily, via a U.N. program, or with the encouragement of the Israeli government, which offers each about $3,500 and a plane ticket to leave. Others have been locked up in a massive detention center in the remote southern desert.

Israel's Cabinet recently voted to begin shipping out the remaining 40,000 migrants, even against their will, to an unnamed third African country with which it has reached a secret agreement.

Israeli authorities said the migrants would be deported to Rwanda and Uganda, Afwerki said.

"We are told they will be deported to any country that can accept them," he said. "These are human beings, not livestock. No country can claim legal responsibility to receive our citizens."

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US Designates Hamas Political Leader as ‘Global Terrorist’

WASHINGTON — 

Less than a week after threatening to cut aid to the Palestinians if they fail to pursue peace with Israel, the United States is sanctioning the political leader of Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip.

The State Department Tuesday announced it has placed Ismail Haniyeh, president of the Hamas political bureau, on its terrorist list as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).

The U.S. already lists Hamas as a terrorist organization, but the State Department said Haniyeh maintains close ties with the group’s military wing and has reportedly been involved in attacks on Israeli citizens.

Also designated is Harakat al-Sabireen, an Iranian-backed group that operates mainly out of Gaza and the West Bank. Officials say Harakat al-Sabireen has planned and carried out attacks against Israel and has fired rockets at Israeli targets.

Two Egyptian groups, Liwa al-Thawra, and Harakat Sawa’d Misr, were also added to the terrorist list. Both had previously been associated with the Egyptian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

‘Important step’

“These designations target key terrorist groups and leaders, including two sponsored and directed by Iran, who are threatening the stability of the Middle East, undermining the peace process, and attacking our allies Egypt and Israel,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement. “Today’s actions are an important step in denying them the resources they need to plan and carry out their terrorist activities.”

The terrorist designations appear to support two of U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign policy priorities — support for Israel and countering Iranian influence across the Middle East.

During meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week, Trump threatened to withhold as much as $85 million slated to go to the Palestinians through the United Nations.

“We give them hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and support, tremendous numbers, numbers that nobody understands. That money is on the table, and that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace,” Trump said after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In his State of the Union address Tuesday, Trump reiterated he would seek to curtail aid to any country that failed to stand by the U.S., including those that voted against the U.S. in the United Nations General Assembly after he moved to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“American taxpayers generously send those same countries billions of dollars in aid every year,” he said. “I am asking Congress to pass legislation to help ensure American foreign assistance dollars always serve American interests and only go to America’s friends, not enemies.”

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Russian-Backed Syria Forces Increase Pressure on Rebels' Last Province

Nearly 200 civilians have reportedly been killed in Syrian government airstrikes launched in the past 37 days as part an offensive to retake territory in the northwest province of Idlib, the last province in the war-torn country remaining in the hands of insurgents battling to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based organization that relies on information gathered by on-the-ground spotters, say among the dead are 50 children and 36 women and that civilian facilities are clearly being targeted, including makeshift clinics and market places.

Political activists say they have recorded more than 96 air raids, some involving the dropping of crude, but powerful barrel bombs, in the southern and eastern countryside of Idlib.

Video posted online of the aftermath of one marketplace attack captures a picture of panic with White Helmet rescue workers frantically digging away rubble to free injured civilians. The White Helmets have accused Syrian warplanes of dropping banned cluster munitions on farmland “to prevent families from farming.”

Government helicopters dropped barrel bombs Wednesday on the villages of Tell-es-Sultan and Barissa, say activists. And the local council in Saraqib reported the town has suffered “massive destruction resulting from the relentless bombing campaign by the Assad regime and Russian warplanes.” The council said most of Saraqib’s main civilian facilities, including medical centers and bakeries, have been destroyed.

The weeks-long government offensive has forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee towards the border with Turkey, according to humanitarian groups, but they are having to contend not only with harsh winter weather, but also to dodge fighting on an increasingly complex battlefield featuring forces loyal to the Assad regime, including foreign Shi’ite fighters, and a mixed bag of rebel militias, including al-Qaida-linked Tahrir al-Sham, working alongside Turkey.

To the north, a Turkish incursion launched more than a week ago, and backed by Syrian rebel militias, into the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, is complicating where refugees can go to seek safety. The Turkish intervention has prompted fierce fighting with much of the focus on a strategic hill near Azaz that has changed hands, reportedly, several times since January 22 between the Turkish military and Kurdish militiamen.

To add to the complexity, Turkey sent a detachment of more than 40 armored vehicles into Idlib province Monday, apparently to re-enforce a de-escalation zone agreed to months ago by Turkey, Russia and Iran. Another Turkish convoy in Idlib was the target of a car bombing Tuesday that killed a Turkish civilian support worker, according to Turkey’s General Staff.

It remains unclear who was responsible for the bomb. Initially Turkish officials blamed jihadists, but then later accused the Kurdish militia, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), of being behind the blast.

On the face of it, the northwestern battlefield looks chaotic. But analysts, and Syrian rebel commanders, say there’s increasingly a logic to it, one driven by Ankara and Moscow, who appear to be maneuvering for the south and east of Idlib to end up back in the hands of the Assad regime, while the northern part of the province, as well as northern Aleppo, coming under the control of the Turks.

“The operation poses serious dilemmas for Turkey,” says Gonul Tol, an analyst with the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based policy research organization. “Turkish officials said the aim of the operation was to create a 19-mile [30 km.] deep zone inside Syria, which can be used as a safe area for civilians. The zone is likely to be secured and administered by Turkey’s Syrian rebel allies,” she argued.

But aside from the challenge the Turks face in defeating the Kurds in their enclave of Afrin, the question remains how rebel militiamen will react in the longer term.

Many rebels say they will continue to mount an underground insurgency that will likely turn to car bombings and urban terrorism, pushing militiamen further away from the original democratic aims of the revolution. The longer term aims of al- Qaida affiliate Tahrir al-Sham will also be key.

“Syrian rebels have long said that if Assad wins on the battlefield, they will flip to guerrilla warfare and wage a campaign of bombings and assassinations,” Arun Lund, an analyst with the Century Foundation, a New York-based policy research organization. “So far, that’s mostly talk, and areas retaken by the army have remained more or less stable.”

He adds, “In 2018, therefore, it is worth monitoring the frequency of car bombings, assassinations, and suicide attacks in government-held cities.”

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A Glimpse of the Beautiful Side of Syria

ELLICOTT CITY, MARYLAND — 

When Syrian immigrant Khaldoun Alghatrif's daughter was nine months old, he searched for the right memento to mark her birth. He found it online, part of a poem on the side of a set of ceramic coffee cups. In flowing Arabic calligraphy, one of the cups said, "Her name is Shaam" — the Arabic name for the city of Damascus. Along with the other two cups, the set read: "She is beautiful." "I love her." "Her name is Shaam."

The poem was an ode to the city before Syria's devastating war.

Now three, Alghatrif’s daughter's name is Shaam.

Alghatrif derived something else from those cups — inspiration to start a business promoting Syrian artisans, like the artist who created the cups, in an effort to get by in war-torn Syria.

"We wanted to start showing America the other face of Syria, the beautiful face of Syria, something they don't see in the news," Alghatrif said.

Today, Syriana Café and Gallery in Ellicott City, Md., features the cups and sells other Syrian heritage handicrafts — exotic mosaic works, mother of pearl inlays, Damask textiles and brocade silk.

"When I think of Syria today, I think of it as a war-torn country," said shopper Martin Viteri. "But when I come to a place like this, and I get to see all the beautiful culture, it is really cool."

The taste of Syria

Alghatrif immigrated to the U.S. in 2015, following his brother Majd, who had come to the U.S. a few years earlier. Together, they opened Syriana Gallery in December 2017 in an 18th-century building on an Ellicott City street lined with stone buildings dating back to the town’s origins in 1772. The brothers say it resembles their hometown of As-Suwayda in Syria.

"This building is built from natural material around you and the great sense of community in this area. People made us feel this could be our home," Majd says.

Majd says the gallery has two missions — preserving Syrian heritage and supporting artisans by establishing a market for their products.

"Artisans work in the tourism industry mainly, and with a lack of tourism, there is no prospects for making the living," he said. "That was one of the main drives for people fleeing the country, besides being attacked by the war itself."

Recently, the Alghatrifs have expanded their Syrian cultural experience by adding food. Syrian coffee traditionally boiled in heated sands is a specialty. Majd’s wife, Rasha Obaid, operates the café inside the gallery.

"All of our recipes are homemade and Syrian, very authentic," she said. "And all of our workers in the kitchen are Syrian refugee women. I am trying to train them to work in the business environment here."

Gayle Killen lives nearby. “I love the rich ingredients. I love having authentic cuisine. And the artwork, the craftsmanship, is beautiful.”

The Alghatrifs plan to further expand by sponsoring workshops in Syria and in the U.S. to help Syrian artisans and refugees.

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A Glimpse of Beautiful Side of Syria

As Syria’s long-lasting war (started in 2011) has taken a toll on human lives and buildings, it has also destroyed the country’s deep-rooted artistic culture.  A Syrian immigrant family in the U.S. eastern state of Maryland is dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage and supporting artisans in the war-torn country. VOA’s June Soh visited Syriana Café and Gallery in Ellicott City where the family works to share the beauty of their native land. June Soh reports.

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UN: Airstrikes on Syria Hospitals Affect Hundreds of Thousands of People

GENEVA — 

The United Nations on Tuesday condemned a recent wave of airstrikes on medical centers in rebel-held parts of Syria including one that put a hospital serving 50,000 people out of action.

The Syrian government, which is backed by Russian air power in its almost seven-year-long war with rebels, says it only targets militants and has repeatedly denied striking civilian facilities such as hospitals.

"I am appalled by the ongoing attacks on hospitals and other medical facilities in northwestern Syria, depriving hundreds of thousands of people of their basic right to health," said Panos Moumtzis, U.N. regional coordinator for the Syria crisis.

Syria's war shows no sign of ending and a peace conference hosted by Russia on Tuesday was marred by discord.

On Monday, two airstrikes damaged the 18-bed Owdai Hospital in Saraqib city in rebel-held Idlib governorate supported by the aid charity Médecins Sans Frontières, killing at least five people, including a child, and injuring six.

The hospital, which experienced a near miss that blew out windows on Jan. 21, was hit while receiving people wounded in an airstrike on Saraqib's main market, which the United Nations said had killed at least 16 people.

It was the fourth time in 10 days that airstrikes had caused major structural damage to a hospital in Saraqib, said Moumtzis. An air attack also wrecked a medical center serving at least 10,000 people in Aleppo governorate on the same day.

"The loss of the provision of these medical services, including surgical and reproductive health services, will have a staggering effect on vulnerable communities affected by this conflict," he said in a statement.

In 2017, there were 112 verified attacks on health facilities in Syria, and there had been at least 13 so far this year, according to Moumtzis.

A separate U.N. report said 272,345 people had been displaced between Dec. 15 and Jan. 24 in Idlib governorate, and health organizations there were being stretched to the limit.

It described heavy fighting between rebels and Syrian government forces in the eastern part of the governorate, mainly around the town of Abul Thohur and its air base, with numerous civilian casualties and "high levels of psychosocial distress among girls, boys, women and men."

Saraqib's town council has declared a disaster zone and called on the international community to intervene, the U.N. report said.

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Suspected Russian Airstrikes Kill 15 in Syrian Market

Suspected Russian airstrikes killed at least 15 people Tuesday in a crowded market in the rebel-held city of Ariha, south of Syria's rebel-held city of Idlib. It was the second such strike on a shopping area in area within 24 hours, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog group said.

The opposition-run civil defense service said another 20 people were wounded in the strike. Video released by local activists showed extensive damage.

A day earlier, dozens of people were killed in airstrikes by suspected Russian jets on a market in Saraqeb, 16 kilometers (10 miles) east of Idlib.

The strikes came as peace talks aimed at ending the Syrian conflict began in Russia.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since March 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad government cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

While U.N. officials say hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, Syrian government officials say the death toll is closer to 10,000.

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UN: 'We Stand No Chance of Ending Hunger' Without Peace

ROME — 

Conflict is worsening global starvation, the United Nations said on Tuesday, as it called for greater peace-building efforts to end hunger for almost 500 million people living in war zones.

In the world's eight hungriest countries, at least one in four people do not have enough to eat, two U.N. agencies said in a report to the Security Council on Monday.

The greatest needs in Yemen where 60 percent of the population — 17 million people — face acute hunger, followed by South Sudan, where 45 percent of people do not have enough food.

"Unless the wars stop, what we build by day will be undone by night," Andre Vornic, a spokesman for the World Food Program (WFP) in Rome, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Without peace, "we stand no chance of ending hunger, whatever else we do," he added.

Eliminating hunger and malnutrition by 2030 is one of 17 ambitious global goals set by governments in 2015.

But hunger levels rose in 2016 for the first time in more than a decade to 815 million people, up from 777 million in 2015, amid biting conflict, climate change and economic woes.

U.N. data shows the majority of the hungry - 489 million people - live in countries where there is war.

The report highlighted 16 countries globally, plus West Africa's Lake Chad basin, that face the greatest hunger risks.

Syria and Lebanon — which is hosting millions of Syrian refugees — were the third worst hit, with 33 percent of the population short of food.

"The intensification of conflicts is a key reason behind the recent resurgence of world hunger levels," the Food and Agriculture Organization said.

"Activities to support resilient livelihoods must be combined with peacebuilding and conflict resolution."

Two countries -- Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — have seen dramatic increases in the number of people needing food aid over the last year, the report said.

In Afghanistan, 7.6 million people need help, with many in areas that are difficult for aid agencies to access and where armed groups are present, it said.

The situation in the DRC is also "deteriorating", with 7.7 million people short of food, an increase of almost 2 million since 2016, it said.

"Many people are eating little more than a meal a day — typically just maize or cassava root and leaves," it said.

The DRC was identified as 2017's most neglected crisis, according to a Thomson Reuters Foundation survey.

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IMF Chief Says Middle Eastern Nations Must Broaden Tax Bases

MARRAKECH, MOROCCO — 

Middle Eastern countries should pursue fiscal policies to support growth and build broader tax bases to fund infrastructure projects and social spending, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday.

"A key priority is building broader and more equitable tax bases. All must pay their fair share, while the poor must be protected," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told an economic conference in Marrakech, organized by the Washington-based fund and the kingdom.

That would allow them to spend more on social safety nets, health and education services than the current 11 percent of gross domestic product in the region. "Fiscal policy can and must be redesigned to support inclusive growth in the region," Lagarde said.

More efforts are also needed to support the private sector, she said. The state, the dominant employer in many Arab countries with their young populations, can no longer hire newcomers to the labor market.

"This, too, can help make room for high-return social and infrastructure outlays," Largarde said, adding that better access to finance, a more favorable business environment and fewer barriers such as red tape were necessary.

"Protracted regional conflicts, low commodity prices, weak productivity and poor governance have held back the considerable potential of the region," the final statement issued by the IMF and two other international bodies said.

"Growth has not been strong enough to reduce unemployment significantly, and a staggering 25 percent of young people are jobless," it added.

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US Calls for De-escalating Tensions in Gulf

STATE DEPARTMENT — 

The United States is urging all sides in the ongoing Gulf dispute to de-escalate tensions and work to counter terrorism as well as Iran's influence in the region.

"It's critical that all parties minimize rhetoric, exercise restraint to avoid further escalation and work toward a resolution," said U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday.

In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt imposed sanctions on Qatar, accusing Doha of financing extremist groups and aligning with Iran, the Gulf Arab states' rival. Qatar has denied the allegations. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Qatar are all members of Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC.

Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis co-hosted the inaugural U.S.-Qatar Strategic Dialogue with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Defense Minister Khalid bin Muhammad al-Attiyah at the State Department.

Tuesday's high-level talks took place as the Gulf dispute nears its eighth month. The tensions have divided the GCC, a grouping of U.S. allies that has long served as an Arab counterbalance to Shiite Iran.

"A united GCC bolsters our effectiveness on many fronts, particularly on counterterrorism, defeating ISIS and countering the spread of Iran's malign influence," said Tillerson, using an acronym for the Islamic State terror group.

U.S.-Qatar defense ties

U.S. officials say the rift between Qatar and other Arab nations has not affected U.S. military ties with Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. military facility in the Middle East. U.S.-led coalition aircraft bomb Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq from Al Udeid Air Base.

"The United States enjoys a long-standing defense relationship with Qatar," said Mattis on Tuesday, calling Qatar "a strong and valued military partner" in the Middle East region.

"Even in the midst of its own current challenges, Qatar and the United States maintain excellent military-to-military relations," he added.

Last week, the Qatari air force for the first time flew two C-17 flights from the Gulf to Afghanistan to supply the NATO mission there, according to Mattis.

Strategic and commercial relations

The State Department said Washington is reaffirming its "strategic relationship" with Doha, with both agreeing to deepen security and military cooperation, as well as work together in the fight against human trafficking.

The two countries also agreed to establish a permanent and annual strategic dialogue, with the next round to be held in Doha next year.

Tuesday's talks came after U.S. authorities issued an order requiring additional screening of cargo on flights heading to the United States from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said last Monday the purpose of this order was to prevent terrorist attacks in response to persistent threats to aviation.

Qatar Airways, operating out of Doha International Airport, is one of the airlines required by the U.S. authorities to provide certain information on shipments before loading cargo.

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Yemen’s War Within a War: What Does New Fighting Mean?

CAIRO — 

A civil war within a civil war has broken out in Yemen.

Rifts exploded within the U.S.-backed alliance joining Yemen’s president and the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels, as forces loyal to each side turned on each other in fierce fighting this week. As a result, the southern city of Aden has become a war zone. The airport has been shut down, schools and shops closed, and families fled districts with the most intense battles.

The new split brings more uncertainty and violence in a nearly 3-year-old conflict that has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Here is a look at what’s happening.

Who is fighting whom?

Forces loyal to the Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi have largely been defeated in Aden by a separatist group calling itself the Transitional Southern Council and its forces known as the Security Belt, which was formed, financed and armed by the United Arab Emirates, a key member of the Saudi-led coalition that ostensibly backs Hadi.

The council is led by Aidarous al-Zubaidi, once the governor of Aden who was forced out of his post by Hadi last year. Al-Zubaidi joined forces with southern separatist factions fighting for the coalition. The council advocates secession and a return to the pre-1990 situation when there were two Yemeni states.

Last week, the council gave an ultimatum to Hadi to fire his government over allegations of corruption and incompetence. As the deadline was expiring, the separatists and Hadi’s forces pounded each other using tanks, artillery and machine guns. In less than three days, the council forces seized control of most of Aden, including the district where the president’s Mashiq Palace is located. Members of Hadi’s government are preparing to flee.

Why did they turn against each other?

Hadi has been at odds with the UAE for most of the past two years. The Emirates has taken advantage of the war to seal domination over southern Yemen, taking over oil and gas facilities and ports, setting up militias and creating a network of secret prisons. Hadi and his aides have complained publicly and privately that the UAE is acting like an occupier. The UAE considers Hadi and his circle as corrupt and incompetent and is angered by Hadi’s alliance with the Emirates’ nemesis, the Muslim Brotherhood’s branch in Yemen, known as the Islah Party.

The AP has reported earlier that Hadi, his sons, and a number of his aides and commanders, now in Riyadh, were banned from returning to Yemen as Saudis put them under virtual house arrest to appease the UAE.

What about the broader civil war?

The fight between the Hadi-coalition alliance and the Shiite rebels known as Houthis has been largely stalemated, with some see-sawing of control on the edges of territory but no major breakthroughs. The Houthis control the north, the capital Sanaa and most of the western Red Sea coast. The coalition and Hadi’s forces hold Aden, most of the south and the east (which in the past was part of the separate nation of South Yemen.)

Last month, the alliance on the rebel side fell apart as well when fighting erupted between the Houthis and their partner throughout the war, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh was fed up with Houthi monopolizing of the north and reached out to ally with Hadi and the coalition. But the Houthis attacked his forces in the capital, defeated them, killed Saleh and arrested hundreds of his loyalists and relatives, leaving the rebels as the sole power.

What happens next?

If the power struggle within the coalition drags on with fighting in Aden or spreads to other cities, the vacuum could allow extremists like al-Qaida and the Islamic State group to surge and allow the Houthis to advance. One likely scenario is that Hadi will succumb to UAE pressure, toss out his current government, dump his Islamist allies and create a new administration filled with UAE-approved figures. That would solidify the Emirates’ power but keep Hadi in place.

What Saudi Arabic does next could be decisive, and so far its stance is unclear. The kingdom says restoring Hadi is its main objective in Yemen but then, the Saudi coalition spokesman avoided condemning the separatists and called on Hadi to “fix flaws” in his government, implying Saudi consent.

Yemen’s civil war, meanwhile, shows no sign of ending. It has left more than 10,000 people dead, displaced 2 million people and pushed the impoverished nation of some 28 million people to the verge of famine. A proposal for a long-term solution came from a well-known former Saudi general Anwar Eshki, known to be close to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince. On Twitter, Eshki recently called for the formation of self-rule entities in the north and south under federation headed by Hadi.

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UN Palestinian Aid Agency Gets Cash Injection After Trump Cuts

GENEVA — 

Almost a dozen countries have agreed to advance their annual contributions to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees to help it plug a major shortfall after a partial cutoff of U.S. funding, its chief said Tuesday.

The move by the Trump administration appears linked to a United Nations vote rejecting Washington's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, head of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

The United States said this month it would withhold $65 million of $125 million it had planned to send to UNRWA, which runs schools and clinics for 5.3 million Palestinians across the Middle East, including in Gaza and the West Bank.

"It is very clear that the decision by the United States was not related to our performance," Kraehenbuehl told a news briefing, citing his "very good meetings" with senior U.S. officials in Washington in November.

"This has to be part of the debate that took place around Jerusalem, the vote on Jerusalem at the [U.N.] General Assembly.

"And I simply note here again that humanitarian funding should be preserved from being tied up with political considerations," he added.

Eleven countries have agreed to advance their donations to finance UNRWA programs in coming months, Kraehenbuehl said after meeting donor representatives, adding: "There a sense of coming together."

Seven countries — Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Russia — had already transferred early funds while four — Belgium, Kuwait, the Netherlands and Ireland — had pledged to do so soon, he said.

Kraehenbuehl launched an appeal for some $800 million to provide aid to Palestinian refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinian territories this year.

He said UNRWA received $360 million from the United States last year but Washington had cleared only $60 million for 2018 — a drop of $300 million that he called "a very severe and dramatic change."

UNRWA is supported almost entirely by voluntary contributions from states, and the United States is the largest contributor. U.S. President Donald Trump has questioned the value of such funding, and the U.S. State Department said UNRWA needed to make unspecified reforms.

Trump's endorsement in December of Israel's claim to Jerusalem as its capital drew universal condemnation from Arab leaders and criticism around the world. It broke with decades of U.S. policy that the city's status must be decided in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

More than 120 countries defied Trump on Dec. 22 and voted in favor of a U.N. General Assembly resolution calling for the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

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Syria Talks in Russia Marred by Boycotts, Heckling

Peace talks aimed at ending Syria's seven-year war began Tuesday in Russia, despite heckling, boycotts and disputes over who should preside over the event.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov's opening speech at the two-day Syrian Congress of National Dialogue held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi was interrupted by heckling from Syrian delegates and cries of "Long live Russia!" The speech was delayed by two hours due to ongoing negotiations.

Reading a letter from Russian president Vladimir Putin, Lavrov said conditions were ripe for Syria to turn "a tragic page" in its history. Syrian delegates accused Russia of killing innocent civilians in their country. Russian state television footage of the event showed security guards ordering a man in the audience to sit down.

Critics of the Sochi Congress, which is backed by Turkey and Iran, accused Russia of trying to hijack the Syrian peace process from the United Nations and offering a solution that favors the government of Bashar al-Assad.

A Syrian opposition delegation that included members of the armed opposition who had flown in from Turkey refused to leave the airport upon arrival, saying it was boycotting the talks because of broken promises to remove the Syrian government emblem from the premises.

Artyom Kozhin, senior diplomat at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Lavrov had spoken by phone with his Turkish counterpart prior to the meeting and promised that Syrian flags and emblems would be removed from the airport and the conference venue. Kozhin acknowledged that there had been complications.

The United States, France and Britain declined to attend the conference, deferring to a U.N.-led effort to end the civil war.

VOA's Victor Beattie contributed to this report.

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Doctors Arrested as Turkish Crackdown Widens on Dissent

ISTANBUL — 

Nine members of Turkey's medical association have been detained for voicing opposition to the ongoing Turkish-led military incursion into Syria against a Kurdish militia group. The arrests are part of a widening crackdown on dissent over the operation.

Ankara's prosecutor's office issued arrest warrants for 11 leading members of the Turkish Medical Association, including its head, Rasit Tukel.

Police raided the homes of the doctors early Tuesday morning. The organization's offices across the country have also been targeted.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday labeled the association's members as traitors and "servants of imperialism." The remarks were in response to the association calling for an end to the ongoing military incursion into Syria, and the doctors raising humanitarian concerns for civilians trapped by fighting.

Nearly two weeks ago, Turkish-led forces entered the Syrian enclave of Afrin to oust the YPG Kurdish militia, which is a key ally of the United States in the fight against Islamic State. Ankara accuses the YPG of supporting a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.

Reaction to detentions

The doctors' detention has drawn swift political condemnation.

Member of parliament Selin Sayek Boke of the opposition CHP, speaking outside the headquarters of the medical association, criticized the government.

"This is an attack on freedom of expression and on those who call for peace and it is an attack done by those who want to kill the culture of living together in this country," Boke said.

International human rights groups have also criticized the detentions.

The London-based Amnesty International's Turkey representative, Andrew Gardner, tweeted the government should be protecting the association, rather than detaining doctors from their beds on false propaganda charges.

​Growing crackdown

The medical association is one of the country's most prominent nongovernmental organizations, with more than 80,000 members. The arrest of its leading members is part of a growing crackdown on dissent over the ongoing Syrian operation.

The Turkish Interior Ministry announced Monday that more than 300 people, including four journalists, have been detained under the country's anti-terror laws for social media postings criticizing the operation.

Erdogan said last week all dissent would be crushed.

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US, Qatar Reach Agreement on Subsidy Spat With Airlines

The United States and Qatar have reached a deal to resolve a years-old quarrel over alleged airline subsidies, as Qatar's government works to defuse tensions with the Trump administration.

A formal announcement could come Tuesday, when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis meet with a Qatari delegation.

The agreement will see state-owned Qatar Airways agree voluntarily to open up its accounting books, the individuals said. U.S. airlines say the company receives billions of dollars in government payments that leave them at a competitive disadvantage. Qatar will also make a loose commitment that the flag carrier won't launch flights to the United States from Europe or other non-Qatari cities, creating yet more competition for the U.S. airlines.

The individuals briefed on the agreement demanded anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss it ahead of a formal announcement.

Both sides of the dispute can claim the agreement as a victory — for very different reasons.

The U.S. airline industry can claim the increased transparency will create a powerful disincentive to unfair subsidies, as Qatar will no longer be able to mask such payments through creative accounting. The three major U.S. carriers — Delta Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines — have spent huge sums over the last three years pressing the Obama administration and Trump administration for tough action. They're eager to show a win.

Yet for Qatar, the agreement averts the more serious step U.S. airlines wanted: re-opening the so-called open-skies treaties that could lead to less favorable conditions for Persian Gulf airlines.

Qatar, denounced by President Donald Trump last year for allegedly funding terrorism, can also show it's cooperating closely and productively with U.S. regulators. That could help the tiny gas-rich kingdom draw a contrast with the United Arab Emirates, whose two airlines are also accused of improper subsidies but have yet to reach an agreement with Washington.

"Everybody gets to claim victory in this," said Helane Becker, an airline analyst for Cowen and Co.

Indeed, even before any announcement, American, the world's biggest airline by passenger traffic, praised the deal as a way to "thoughtfully address" Qatari subsidies. And United CEO Oscar Munoz applauded the agreement while thanking Trump's administration for "effectively representing the interests of the American aviation industry."

Though on the same side of the airline dispute, Qatar and the UAE oppose each other in a bitter, unrelated standoff. Last year, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations blockaded Qatar after accusing it of supporting extremism and fomenting dissent throughout the region. Qatar hopes to change that narrative by enhancing counterterrorism cooperation and allowing greater U.S. visibility into its finances and banking practices.

In an eight-paragraph document laying out "understandings" between Qatar and the U.S., the Gulf nation will commit within one year to releasing audited financial statements for Qatar Airlines "in accordance with internationally-recognized accounting standards," according to a text of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press. Within two years, Qatar Airways is to disclose any transactions with other state-owned entities, such as caterers or other companies that support airline operations, closing what the U.S. airlines have claimed is a backdoor used by Gulf nations to hide illicit subsidies.

A side-letter to the agreement will state that Qatar's civilian aviation authority is unaware of any plans by Qatar Airlines to start so-called "Fifth Freedoms" flights — routes from third countries to the United States. Under the scenario U.S. airlines fear, Qatar Airways could offer flights from its Doha hub to, say, Paris or London, stop to pick up more passengers, then fly on to New York.

The side-letter only says there are no current plans to operate such service. That's short of a binding guarantee. There's also no commitment Qatar Airways won't expand its offering of Qatar-U.S. flights.

"This appears to be the administration essentially throwing a meatless bone to the three U.S. carriers to put an end to their rants against the Gulf carriers," said John Byerly, who was the chief open skies negotiator in the Obama administration and has also consulted for Emirates Airline and UPS.

The two UAE airlines — Dubai-based Emirates and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways — aren't a party to the U.S.-Qatar agreement. Emirates Airline currently offers "Fifth Freedom" flights in which passengers can fly from New York-area airports to Milan, Italy or Athens without ever setting foot in the UAE.

All three Gulf airlines have long denied receiving unfair government subsidies. A Qatari government spokesman declined to comment on the agreement. There was no immediate reaction from either Emirates or Etihad.

AP Airlines Writer David Koenig in Dallas and AP writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

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Yemen Separatists Seize Control of Aden

Separatist forces in Yemen have surrounded the palace of the internationally-recognized president in the interim capital of Aden, throwing the southern Arabian nation into further political chaos.

The fall of Aden ends two days of fighting between troops loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and forces with the Southern Transitional Council, a group formed last year to revive the former independent state of South Yemen. The former states of North and South Yemen were merged under one flag in 1990.

The STC had demanded that Hadi dismiss the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr by Sunday, accusing it of corruption and mismanagement. The International Committee of the Red Cross says at least 36 people have been killed in the fighting since Sunday.

The fighting split the Saudi-led coalition formed after Houthi rebels chased Hadi's government out of the capital, Sanaa, in northern Yemen.

Saudi-led coalition airstrikes trying to oust the Houthis have obliterated entire civilian neighborhoods, including schools and hospitals. Yemen is also battling a deadly cholera outbreak and a possible famine. The U.N. estimates about 80 percent of Yemenis are in desperate need of food, medicine and clean water.

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Syria Fighting Intensifies Ahead of Sochi Conference

Civilian casualties in Syria's northwestern region are growing amid fierce fighting among Syrian various factions. Turkey has claimed a strategic mount overlooking the city of Afrin, which it plans to take from Kurds. The government planes backed by Russia pounded rebel communities in Idlib province on Monday. The fierce fighting comes a day ahead of Sochi talks on Syria. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports.

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Trust Deficit Fuels US-Turkish Tensions

ISTANBUL — 

Tensions between Turkey and the United States are rising partly due to Washington’s support for Kurdish fighters in Syria. Analysts warn distrust between the NATO allies is a key factor behind the rising tensions and remains the main obstacle to resolving them.

As Turkish-led forces continue their offensive into the Syria’s Afrin enclave, Ankara is demanding that Washington remove its forces deployed with the YPG in the Syrian City Manbij, Turkey’s next target. The militia is a key ally of Washington’s war against the Islamic State but are deemed terrorists by Ankara who accuses them of being linked to a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.

“At the moment there is absolutely no trust between the sides,” warns political columnist Semih Idiz, of Al Monitor website. “Clearly Washington doesn’t trust Ankara and there is no trust in Ankara of Washington, not just because of Syria but because of a whole line of issues, since the coup attempt (in Turkey) two years ago.”

Two Turkish ministers accused Washington of being behind the 2016 coup attempt, a charge repeated last week by Yigit Bulut, a top advisor to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Washington has repeatedly denied any involvement, but analysts warn the perception of U.S. involvement by Turkey remains an open wound in relations.

Also fanning the flames is Washington’s failure to honor its guarantee that YPG forces would withdraw from the Syrian city of Manbij after it was captured from Islamic State, a promise made by the Obama administration.

“We (Turkey) remember Joe Biden, he promised to Turkey he would withdraw U.S. and YPG forces from Manbij area” says Mesut Hakki Casin, professor of international relations at Istinye University.

The relationship reached new depths last Wednesday when neither side agreed on what was discussed in a telephone conversation between Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump.

“We are facing more than one United States,” Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said Sunday in a television interview. “The Pentagon says something while the State Department says otherwise. We are confused. According to which statement should we act upon?”

The clearest example of Washington's lack of clarity was a statement from the Pentagon that said they would train a 30,000-strong force that would include the YPG, but was later refuted by other U.S. government officials, says analyst Sinan Ulgen of the Carnegie Institute.

“That was one of the triggers for this (Turkish) cross-border operation (into Afrin). This is clearly a case of a lack of coordination, even a lack of clear U.S. strategy in dealing with Turkey, in particular in regard to Syria,” Ulgen said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu demanded that U.S. forces deployed in the Syrian city should “immediately” withdraw along with the Syrian Kurdish militia. Erdogan has warned Manbij is the next target of Turkish forces after its operation against the YPG in Afrin.

“Not something we are looking into,” said U.S. General Joseph Votel, commander of the United States Central Command, when asked about Cavusolgu's demand.

Turkish forces are already deployed close to Manbij as part of a previous Turkish military operation into Syria.

“There can be military mistakes. I am afraid of this, there can be accidental clashes,” warns Casin. “If an American kills one Turkish soldier, you will lose forever the Turkish nation. This would result in a collapse of NATO’s southern flank. Who would be the winner? Russia.”

Prizing Turkey away from its western partners has been a decades-long goal of Moscow, analyst Ulgen said.

“When you look at incentives for the other actors who have influence on the ground whether its Moscow, Tehran or the Damascus regime, they have an interest in creating a situation where this undesirable outcome (a U.S.-Turkish conflict) could emerge,” he said.

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36 Dead, 185 Wounded in Fighting in Southern Yemen

Fighting between separatists and government forces in southern Yemen has killed at least 36 people, the Red Cross says, while the president accuses the fighters of a coup.

About 185 people have been wounded.

President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi is calling for a cease-fire, saying "rebellion and weapons won't achieve peace or build a state."

He said the real enemy is the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, and anything else distracts from that fight.

Fighting broke out when Hadi ignored separatists' demands to fire Prime Minister Ahmed Obaid bin Dagher, accusing him of corruption.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition that backs Hadi is calling for restraint by the separatists and for the government to listen to their "political and social" demands.

The separatists are backed by the United Arab Emirates. They want to bring back the independent country of South Yemen. The fighters have seized several government buildings in the port city of Aden, which is serving as the capital of Hadi's internationally-recognized Yemeni government.

South Yemen was an independent state before its unification with North Yemen in 1990.

All of Yemen has been in turmoil since Houthi rebels seized the capital of Sana'a in 2014, forcing Hadi to flee to exile in Saudi Arabia. Hadi has remained there while his government operates out of Aden.

Saudi-led coalition airstrikes looking to oust the Houthis have obliterated entire civilian neighborhoods, including schools and hospitals. Yemen is also battling a deadly cholera outbreak and a possible famine. The U.N. estimates about 80 percent of Yemenis are in desperate need of food, medicine and clean water.

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Kurds: Turkish Airstrikes Damaging Historic, Civilian Sites

WASHINGTON / AFRIN, SYRIA — 

Kurdish officials said Monday that Turkish air raids have seriously damaged an Iron Age temple in the northern Syria town of Afrin.

The temple of Ain Dara is located near a village by the same name in the southern countryside of the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, and was built by the Arameans from around 1300 to 700 BC. Globally noted for its similarities to Solomon's Temple, the ancient sanctuary consists of large carved stones and wall reliefs, sculptures depicting lions and sphinxes, and giant footprints carved into the floor.

"The center of the temple, all the way to its right gate, has seriously been damaged," Salah Sino, a member of the Afrin antiquities committee, told VOA. "The ballast blocks at the right gate have been smashed into pieces and spread as far as 100 meters around the temple."

Sino said at least 50 percent of the neo-Hittite temple has been destroyed by Turkish shelling. He said the site came under attack twice last week.

A statement from the Syrian government's directorate general of antiquities and museums of the ministry of culture called for international pressure on Turkey "to prevent the targeting of archaeological and cultural sites."

A VOA reporter in northern Syria who visited the site Sunday confirmed that the relics were harmed, and said apparent shell craters could be seen inside the temple. VOA could not independently confirm if the damage was done by Turkish actions.

Turkey is currently engaged in an air and ground offensive in northwestern Syria's city of Afrin against a Kurdish group known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG.

Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organization, alleging the group is an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for decades.

But the U.S. denies those connections and sees the YPG as a key ally in the battle against the Islamic State. Washington has urged Turkey to show restraint and focus on fighting IS.

Meanwhile, YPG has claimed that Turkish war jets have targeted Midanki Dam — also known as the 17th of Nisan Dam — located on the Afrin River, threatening the surrounding villages and towns with flooding if the dam collapses.

"Turkish warplanes have targeted Midanki Dam with several air raids, putting hundreds of villages in peril," according to the statement issued Sunday.

Turkey's response

But Turkey maintains that its only targets in Syria are YPG.

"The operation concerns terrorists and terror organizations within the Afrin district," said deputy prime minister Bekir Bozdag, as reported by state-run Anadolu Agency on Jan. 29.

Bozdag said some quarters were spreading reports that Turkey was attacking civilians and the Kurdish population in the region.

"This is all false news. Turkey is a state for our Kurdish brothers, as well," he said.

But according to U.K.-based watchdog Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, fierce clashes and intensive Turkish aerial and artillery raids on Afrin have left about 220 people dead, including 55 civilians.

Moreover, the head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said the world cannot remain silent while children are killed in Syria. About 23 children have been killed in Afrin, Idlib, Saraqab, Khan Shaykhoun and Damascus in the past few days.

"In Afrin, violence is reported to be so intense that families are confined to the basements of their buildings, after reportedly being prevented from leaving the area," the UNICEF official said.

Newroz Rasho, Salih Damiger and VOA Turkish Service contributed to this report.

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UN Employees in Gaza Demonstrate Against US Aid Cut

GAZA — 

Schools, clinics and food distribution centers in the Gaza Strip were closed most of Monday by a demonstration by thousands of employees of the United Nations agency that serves Palestinian refugees.

Palestinians have been angered by a U.S. decision to cut aid to the United Nations Relief and Welfare Agency (UNRWA), saying it will cause worse hardship in Gaza. More than half the enclave's two million residents depend on support from UNRWA and other humanitarian agencies.

Those joining Monday's protest feared job losses among UNRWA's 13,000 employees and cuts to services. They marched to the U.N. headquarters in Gaza City waving Palestinian flags and brandishing banners that read "Dignity is priceless."

"I have a family of nine and I have never felt afraid for my job like today. U.S. aid cuts will affect the entire community," said 59-year-old English teacher Ahmed Abu Suleiman.

UNRWA, which runs 278 schools in Gaza attended by some 300,000 students, has made an international appeal for funds.

"We don't know how to pay for the food we are currently distributing," said UNRWA's Gaza director, Matthias Schmale, who accompanied the marchers. "My biggest worry at the moment is will I be able to distribute food in April at all."

UNRWA is funded mainly by voluntary contributions from U.N. member states, with the United States by far the largest donor.

U.S. officials have demanded UNRWA make unspecified reforms.

Washington said on Jan. 16 that it will hold back $65 million of a $125 million aid instalment to the agency. UNRWA received $355 million from the United States in the 2017 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, U.S. officials say.

"We have received $60 million from the U.S. There is no certainty over whether they will give us any more," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said in an e-mail to Reuters.

The protest comes amid Palestinian anger over U.S. President Donald Trump's Dec. 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Trump criticized the Palestinian leadership for refusing to meet Vice President Mike Pence during his visit to the region and suggested such behavior provided grounds for cutting aid.

"When they disrespected us a week ago by not allowing our great vice president to see them, and we give them hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and support, tremendous numbers, numbers that nobody understands — that money is on the table and that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace," Trump said.

UNRWA was established by the U.N. General Assembly in 1949 after hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war that followed the creation of the state of Israel.

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Egyptian Politician Emerges as Sole Election Challenger to Sissi

CAIRO — 

An Egyptian politician emerged just ahead of a deadline Monday as the sole challenger to President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in an election in March the incumbent is set to win after other candidates withdrew citing repression.

Mousa Mostafa Mousa leads the Ghad party that has endorsed Sissi for a second term and even organized events to help nominate the former military commander as recently as last week.

Sissi was elected in 2014, a year after leading the army to oust President Mohamed Morsi, an Islamist. It is the third election since protests in 2011 unseated long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Several leading opposition figures called for an election boycott Sunday, blaming repression that has cleared the field of challengers and left Sissi's top opponent in jail.

At the time of Mousa's registration, his personal Facebook page included a cover photo with Sissi's face and "we support you as president of Egypt" written beneath it.

"We were supporting President Sissi before the decision to participate was taken," deputy head of the Ghad party Mahmoud Mousa told Reuters.

"We have a respectable program that we are offering to the Egyptian people and we are presenting ourselves just like any other candidate would," he said.

Mousa said he registered his candidacy at the electoral commission after having collected the required number of nomination pledges, submitting his official paperwork just minutes before the final deadline.

Would-be candidates were required to register by 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) Monday after clinching at least 20 nominations from parliament or 25,000 pledges from citizens across the country.

Mousa said he had netted 47,000 pledges and the backing of 27 lawmakers. The electoral commission said last week that Sissi had earned more than 1 million pledges. Over 500 of parliament's 595 lawmakers had already pledged support for Sissi.

Intimidation, arrests

The vote, slated for March 26-28, has come under heavy criticism from the United Nations, rights groups, and opposition figures who say its environment has been compromised by intimidation of opposition supporters, arrests, and a nomination process stacked in favor of the incumbent.

The electoral commission has said that it will ensure the vote is fair and transparent.

The last-minute bid comes days after Hisham Genena, a former anti-corruption watchdog chief who had been working to elect former military chief of staff Sami Anan, was attacked and badly wounded outside his home Saturday.

Anan's campaign was abruptly halted after he was arrested last week and accused of running for office without military permission.

Following the attack, a group of prominent figures including members of Anan's campaign, former Islamist presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abol Foutoh, and Mohamed Anwar Sadat, who halted his own presidential bid out of concern for the safety of his campaigners, called for a boycott.

They said the state's policies were paving the way for extended limits to presidential terms and were "removing any opportunity for the peaceful transfer of power."

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Southern Separatists, Forces Loyal to Yemeni President Clash in Aden

CAIRO — 

Arab media is reporting scattered clashes around Yemen's southern interim capital of Aden between forces loyal to exiled President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and southern separatists. At least 16 people are reported killed and about 140 wounded in two days of fighting.

In a second day of clashes Monday, forces loyal to Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi exchanged gunfire with southern separatist fighters around key government buildings in Aden. Arab media report several official government buildings are in the hands of the separatists but that a standoff prevails between the two sides in most places.

Supporters of the separatists chanted slogans against Hadi's government in several major squares of Aden. Clashes also took place in other parts of the city.

Southern Yemeni separatist leader Aiderous Zubeidi, whom Arab media claim is supported by the United Arab Emirates, insisted the situation in Aden could not remain as is. He vowed to continue to back the Saudi-led coalition in its battle against the Houthi militia group in the north of the country.

Last week, Zubeidi called on the government of Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher to step down, accusing it of corruption and malfeasance. Parts of the government administration under Dagher are based in Aden, while other departments are located in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Dagher called the fighting "a coup" by separatist forces. Hadi, who is currently in Riyadh, urged the separatists and his own forces Sunday to observe a cease-fire. Some Arab media reported the separatists were bringing reinforcements from Abyan and Ma'arib provinces to Aden.

Saudi coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki insisted Monday the goals of the parties in the coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, have not changed. He urged everyone to resolve their differences amicably.

Calling for wisdom and self-restraint, Maliki urged all parties in Aden to come to the negotiating table with Hadi's legitimate government to resolve their differences.

Yemeni analyst Yehya Abou Hatem in Cairo told Arab media the separatists have "been part of the ongoing national dialogue in Yemen" and "have no clear reason" to withdraw their support from the government now.

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Kurds Say Turkey Plans to Reshape Demographics in Northern Syria

Turkey’s latest military incursion into northern Syria which it says is aimed at reining in Kurdish separatists will speed up the return of Syrian refugees to their homes, Turkish officials say. But Kurds are fearful Ankara plans to use the returnees to displace them and engineer a population shift.

Kurd officials say Ankara wants to re-shape the demographics of the borderlands in a bid to establish a “corridor of stability” populated by fewer Kurds and with Sunni Arab refugees currently in Turkey taking their place.

That would weaken the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara dubs an affiliate of Turkey’s outlawed Kurdish separatists, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Kurdish political activists and YPG propagandists have been mounting a Twitter and social media campaign highlighting the danger, claiming "ethnic cleansing" is one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s key war aims in the offensive, which is now in its second week, and named Operation Olive Branch.

Fear of ethnic cleansing

Former U.S. officials have also expressed alarm. Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon adviser and currently an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, says, “What Turkey seeks to do in Afrin is not eradicate terrorism, but rather to engage in ethnic cleansing.”

Former U.S. envoy Alberto Fernandez picked up on remarks made last week by Erdogan in which he talked of settling Syrian refugees in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, which is bearing the brunt of Turkey's operation.

In a tweet, Fernandez warned, “If true, this would mean the ethnic cleansing of #Afrin right before our eyes is looming.”

Turkish officials dismiss the claim they intend to reorder ethnic populations in northern Syria. But they say they expect once the Turkish military offensive has secured territory that tens of thousands of Syrian refugees will flood back to their homes, much as thousands did in the wake of the 2016 Turkish incursion northeast of Aleppo.

Turkey is hosting more than three million Syrian war refugees.

Thousands are fleeing Afrin or trying to. U.N. officials say flight is being restricted not only by the hostilities, including continuous shelling, but also by local Kurdish authorities, who closed exit points between the enclave and Syria government-held areas in Aleppo province. Syrian soldiers have also been reported to have sent some refugees back.

Erdogan has prompted the rising alarm about a planned mass population displacement. On January 24 he told a meeting in the presidential complex in Turkey’s capital Ankara that one goal of Operation Olive Branch is to return Afrin to its “rightful owners.”

“First, we will wipe out the terrorists and then make the place livable. For whom? For 3.5 million Syrians who are our guests. We cannot forever house them in tents,” he said. He dismissed the idea that Afrin is a Kurdish enclave. “In Afrin, 55 percent are Arabs, 35 percent are Kurds and the rest are Turkmens.” That may be the case now as the population has been swollen by thousands of refugees, the majority Arabs.

But traditionally Afrin has been seen as Kurdish territory, with a peppering of other minorities, including Turkmens, Alawite Kurds, Yazidi Kurds and with some Armenians and Circassians, say analysts.

Yazidi activists last week urged the United Nations to protect their 21 villages in the Afrin pocket, saying they are at serious risk because of Turkey’s military operation. A Yazidi advocacy group, Yazda, warned they will hold Turkey and Syrian rebel militias fighting alongside the Turks, responsible “if any persecution of cleansing takes place against our people.”

Population displacements

All sides in the vicious Syrian war, with its seemingly endless cycles of sectarian and ethnic revenge, have engaged in war crimes and population displacements. That includes the Kurds, who rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch accuse the of forceful displacement and razing Arab villages, prompting fierce Kurdish denials.

But VOA interviewed dozens of Arab residents from a string of traditionally Sunni Arab villages east of Afrin, including Tell Rifaat, who say the YPG blocked them from returning home after the Kurds seized the territory as a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive against the rebels was underway in 2016.

Population displacements have long been employed by the region’s rulers to shape demographics to suit their purposes. Syrian autocrat Hafez al-Assad shifted populations around for collective punishment as well as for strategic reasons, including moving Arabs into Kurdish territory in northeast Syria. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein did the same during his 24-year rule. Historically the Ottomans, along with Russia’s Stalin, have been responsible for some of the biggest forcible ethnic displacements.

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