Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Friday 25 august 2017

Syria opposition told to come to terms with Qatar sending ambassador back
to Iran, ignoring Arab demands
President Bashar Assad’s political survival

By JON GAMBRELL bia, Iran’s regional rival.
By PHILIP ISSA move him,” said former “He didn’t explicitly say Associated Press Perhaps not unrelated, the
Associated Press U.S. Ambassador to Syria Bashar (Assad) is going to DUBAI, United Arab Emir- move comes just days after
BEIRUT (AP) — As Damas- Robert Ford, now a fellow stay, but if you read be- ates (AP) — Qatar restored Saudi Arabia began pro-
cus reverses military losses at the Middle East Institute tween the lines, if you say full diplomatic relations with moting a Qatari royal fam-
in much of the country’s in Washington, D.C. “Every- there needs to be a new vi- Iran early on Thursday and ily member whose branch
strategically important one, including the U.S., has sion, what is the most con- promised to send its am- of the family was ousted in
west, and foreign states recognized that Assad is tentious issue out there? bassador back to Tehran a palace coup in 1972.
cut support for rebel forc- staying.” It’s whether Bashar stays,” — a move counter to the “Qatar has shown it is going
es, diplomats from Wash- The war has settled into said the interlocutor, who demands of Arab nations to go in a different direc-
ington to Riyadh are asking a familiar, lower-intensity mediates between the op- trying to isolate Doha as tion,” said Kristian Coates
part of a regional dispute. Ulrichsen, a research fel-
In announcing its decision, low at the James A. Baker
Qatar made no mention III Institute for Public Policy
of the diplomatic crisis roil- at Rice University who lives
ing Gulf Arab nations since in Seattle. “It could very
June, when Doha found its well be calculated toward
land, sea and air routes cut reinforcing the point that
off by the four Arab states. Qatar will not bow to this
Iran, which welcomed regional pressure placed
Doha’s decision, has sent upon it.”
food to Qatar and allowed Qatar pulled its ambas-
its airplanes to increasingly sador from Tehran in early
use the Islamic Republic’s 2016 after Saudi Arabia’s
airspace. execution of a prominent
Restoring diplomatic ties Shiite cleric sparked at-
will undoubtedly anger tacks on two Saudi diplo-
those opposing Qatar in matic posts in Iran, a move
the regional dispute, chief to show solidarity with the
among them Saudi Ara- kingdom. q

Syrian officer says anti-IS fight
on Lebanon border soon over

In this July 14, 2017 photo, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria Staffan de Mistura,
second left, attends a round of negotiation with Syria’s main opposition High Negotiations Com- By BASSEM MROUE in Syria alongside President
mittee (HNC) leader Nasr al-Hariri during the Intra Syria talks, at Palais des Nations in Geneva, Associated Press Bashar Assad’s forces since
Switzerland. BEIRUT (AP) — The battle 2013.
(Xu Jinquan/Pool Photo via AP) against the Islamic State Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV
group in an area along said that about 400 IS fight-
representatives of Syria’s grind, with the Syrian gov- position and state capitals
opposition to come to ernment now in control of and requested anonymity the Lebanon-Syria will end ers are still in the border
terms with President Bashar most of the populated west so as not to compromise within hours, a Syrian army area.
Assad’s political survival. while Islamic State group his work. It is a difficult pill to officer said Thursday as the Hassan Nasrallah, the He-
The country’s civil war militants and al-Qaida af- swallow for the opposition, extremists faced news set- zbollah leader, said late
has crossed the halfway filiates, U.S.-backed Kurds which has been holding a backs in the two neighbor- Thursday that IS still holds
point of its seventh year and Turkey-backed rebels series of meetings as part ing countries. 20 square kilometers (7.7
and Assad and his allies hold on to remaining pock- of a months-long stock- The colonel’s comments square miles) on the Leb-
are now in control of Syr- ets in the north, east and taking process in which its to the Lebanon-based Al- anese side of the border
ia’s four largest cities and south. Russia-sponsored so- members are expected to Mayadeen TV came as and 40 square kilometers
its Mediterranean coast. called de-escalation zones narrow their aims and re- Lebanese artillery and air- (15.4 square miles) on the
With the help of Russian air have significantly reduced fresh their leadership. craft pounded IS positions Syrian side. He said in tele-
power and Iranian-spon- violence in rebel-held terri- However, at a two-day on the other side of the bor- vised remarks that for any
sored militias, pro-govern- tory although fighting con- meeting in Riyadh this der as part of Lebanon’s settlement for IS fighters in
ment forces are marching tinues to rage in some ar- week that was meant to own offensive against the the area, the fate of nine
steadily across the ener- eas. With another round of try and bridge differences extremists. Lebanese soldiers whom
gy-rich Homs province to U.N. mediated peace talks between the three main The Lebanese army com- the extremists kidnapped
reach the Euphrates River on the horizon in Geneva, political opposition groups mand said the fourth in 2014 must be revealed.
valley. the opposition’s chief rep- and come up with a uni- phase of the offensive that “The most likely outcome
Western and regional rebel resentative group, the High fied vision based on the began on Saturday should of the battle will be a mili-
patrons, currently more fo- Negotiations Committee, new political and military eventually evict all IS fight- tary victory and not a set-
cused on advancing their is being told by even its reality, divisions were once ers from the border region. tlement,” Nasrallah said.
own interests rather than closest patrons it risks irrel- again on full display. The Syrian army and its ally, “What was achieved on
accomplishing regime evance if it does not adapt The opposition’s chief rep- the Lebanese Hezbollah both fronts is very impor-
change in Damascus, to the new realities. resentative group, the Sau- group, launched an op- tant.”
are shifting their alliances Saudi Foreign Minister Adel di-based High Negotiations eration simultaneously with Elsewhere in the fight
and have ceased calls on al-Jubeir, according to an Committee (HNC), publicly the Lebanese to clear IS against IS, Syrian troops
Assad to step down. interlocutor briefed on the held on to its position that from the Syrian side of the and their allies besieged
“There is no conceivable matter, told the opposition Assad must step down be- border in the western Qala- a large area controlled
military alignment that’s it was time to formulate “a fore any political transition. moun mountain range. He- by IS in central Syria on
going to be able to re- new vision.” q zbollah has been fighting Thursday.q