In response to the two parties’ recent Parisian talks on de-escalation of the conflict in southern Syria, Syria has condemned a new “military incursion” by Israel in the southwest of Damascus countryside area outside the capital. It calls it a “grave threat to regional peace.”
Asaad al-Shaibani, the foreign minister of Syria, claimed that Israel had violated the Disengagement Agreement by setting up military installations and intelligence facilities in demilitarized areas in order to advance its “expansionist and partition plans” on Monday.
Al-Shaibani addressed the issue of Israel’s genocidal war in the Gaza Strip at an opportune meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) foreign ministers.
Following a week of sectarian violence in Suwayda, where 1,400 people were killed before a ceasefire, the Israeli military moved to Syria. Under the pretext of defending the Druze, Israel bombed Damascus and carried out strikes on Syrian troops.
First Syrian leader to address UNGA will be Al-Sharaa.
In the interim, it was made known that Bashar al-Assad’s replacement president Ahmed al-Sharaa will address the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in September, marking the country’s first major international leader in a decade.
No one ever addressed the annual gathering of world leaders in New York during the more than 50 years that the al-Assad dynasty ruled Syria.
A Syrian official confirmed to the AFP news agency that he will be the first president from Syria to address the UN since Nureddin al-Atassi (in 1967) and the first to attend the General Assembly’s high-level week, which is scheduled for September 22 to 30.
Due to his past as a fighter, Al-Sharaa, who oversaw rebels’ lightning advance to Damascus in December and oversaw al-Assad’s ouster, is still subject to UN sanctions and a travel ban, and must request an exemption for all travel arrangements abroad.
Al-Shaibani made his first UN appearance in April at the organization’s New York headquarters, raising his nation’s new flag.
Since taking office, Syria’s new administration has accumulated significant economic support, both diplomatically and financially, helping to rebuild the devastated nation.
This month, Damascus  signed 12 agreements worth $14 billion, including a $4 billion agreement with Qatar’s UCC Holding to construct a new airport and a $2 billion agreement with the United Arab Emirates’ national investment corporation.
Al-Sharaa met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on his first visit to the West in May when he first met US President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia.
Syrian sanctions have been lifted by the US and the European Union.
In September, a week before the UNGA meeting, Syria will hold parliamentary elections.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply