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Britain reestablishes full Syria ties as FM visits Damascus

Britain reestablished full diplomatic relations with Syria on Saturday, more than a decade after cutting ties, as Foreign Secretary David Lammy met the country’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus.In 2011, Britain was among the first countries to acknowledge rebel groups as the official Syrian government after then-president Bashar al-Assad’s crushing of pro-democracy protests plunged the country into civil war.London also joined sanctions against Syria and later closed its embassy in Damascus, going on to launch air strikes on Assad’s forces.Assad was ultimately toppled in December after more than 13 years of fighting by a rebel offensive led by Sharaa, now Syria’s interim president.”The UK is reestablishing diplomatic relations because it is in our interests to support the new government to deliver their commitment to build a stable, more secure and prosperous future for all Syrians,” Lammy said in a statement.Photos released by Sharaa’s office showed him and Lammy meeting alongside Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.Their discussions addressed “bilateral ties… and ways of strengthening cooperation, as well as regional and international developments”, the presidency said in a statement.The Syrian foreign ministry issued a similar statement following a separate meeting between Lammy and Shaibani.Lammy said a stable Syria would benefit Britain by “reducing the risk of irregular migration, ensuring the destruction of chemical weapons” and “tackling the threat of terrorism”.Britain’s Foreign Office said Assad’s overthrow was an opportunity to “fully declare and destroy Assad’s evil chemical weapons programme”, adding that London had contributed an additional $2.7 million to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to help Syria do so.In 2018, the UK joined US air strikes on Syria’s chemical weapons in response to a suspected poison gas attack by Assad’s forces. – Sanctions lifted -Syria has experienced a flurry of diplomatic activity in the months since Islamist-led forces ousted Assad.In May, Syrian Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra met with an official British delegation, the defence ministry said at the time.In April, the British government announced it was lifting sanctions imposed on Syria’s interior and defence ministries under Assad.It also said it was removing sanctions against various media groups and intelligence agencies, as well as on some sectors of the economy including financial services and energy production.A month earlier, it ended sanctions on 24 entities including Syria’s central bank.The United States has also lifted sanctions on Syria and is planning to remove it from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Last month, Damascus carried out its first electronic transfer through the international banking system since the imposition of sanctions.The growing international backing comes as Syria’s new leaders attempt to rebuild the country and reboot its moribund economy, both ravaged by the conflict and crippling sanctions.Britain’s Foreign Office said London had committed an extra $129 million to provide “urgent humanitarian aid” and support Syria’s reconstruction as well as countries hosting Syrian refugees.

Hamas says ready to start Gaza ceasefire talks ‘immediately’

Israel was considering its response on Saturday after Hamas said it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a US-sponsored proposal for a Gaza ceasefire.The security cabinet was expected to meet after the end of the Jewish sabbath at sundown to discuss Israel’s next steps, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to head to Washington for talks on Monday with US President Donald Trump.Trump has been making a renewed push to end nearly 21 months of war in Gaza, where the civil defence agency said 35 people were killed in Israeli military operations on Saturday.”No decision has been made yet on that issue,” an Israeli government official told AFP when asked about Hamas’s positive response to the latest ceasefire proposal.Hamas made its announcement late Friday after holding consultations with other Palestinian factions.”The movement is ready to engage immediately and seriously in a cycle of negotiations on the mechanism to put in place” the US-backed truce proposal, the militant group said in a statement.Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions told AFP that the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said it supported ceasefire talks, but demanded guarantees that Israel “will not resume its aggression” once hostages held in Gaza are freed.Trump, when asked about Hamas’s response aboard Air Force One, said: “That’s good. They haven’t briefed me on it. We have to get it over with. We have to do something about Gaza.”The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked a massive Israeli offensive in the territory that aimed to destroy Hamas and bring home all the hostages seized by Palestinian militants.Two previous ceasefires mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States secured temporary halts in fighting and the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.Of the 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.- ‘Will not be shut down’ -Efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the primary point of contention being Israel’s rejection of Hamas’s demand for guarantees that any new ceasefire will be lasting.Nearly 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations.A US- and Israel-backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, took the lead in food distribution in the territory in late May, when Israel partially lifted a more than two-month blockade on aid deliveries.The group said two of its US staff were wounded in an “attack” on one of its aid centres in southern Gaza on Saturday.  “This morning, two American aid workers were injured in a targeted terrorist attack during food distribution activities at SDS-3 in Khan Yunis,” the organisation said, adding that reports indicated it was carried out by “two assailants who threw two grenades at the Americans”.UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. Its operations have been marred by near-daily reports of Israeli fire on people waiting to collect rations. UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said Friday that more than 500 people have been killed waiting to access food from GHF distribution points.GHF’s chairman Johnnie Moore, a Christian evangelical leader allied to Trump, on Wednesday rejected calls for the lead role in Gaza aid distributions to revert to UN agencies.”We will not be shut down. We have one job to do. It’s very simple, every day to provide free food to the people of Gaza,” he told reporters.- Civil defence says 35 killed -Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said Israeli military operations killed 35 people across Gaza on Saturday.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency.Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it could not comment on specific strikes without precise coordinates.The Hamas attack of October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,338 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.burs-dcp/smw

French writer jailed in Algeria won’t appeal, still hopeful of pardon: supporters

French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal will not appeal his five-year prison sentence to Algeria’s supreme court, said sources close to the author on Saturday, saying they remain hopeful for a pardon.The 80-year-old dual national writer was sentenced to five years behind bars on March 27 on charges related to undermining Algeria’s territorial integrity over comments made to a French media outlet.”According to our information, he will not appeal to the supreme court,” the president of the author’s support committee, Noelle Lenoir, told broadcaster France Inter on Saturday.”Moreover, given the state of the justice system in Algeria…he has no chance of having his offence reclassified on appeal,” the former European affairs minister said.”This means that the sentence is final.”Sources close to Sansal told AFP that the writer had “given up his right to appeal”.His French lawyer, Pierre Cornut-Gentille, declined to comment when contacted by AFP.France’s prime minister Francois Bayrou said earlier this week that he hoped Algeria would pardon the author, whose family has highlighted his treatment for prostate cancer.But Sansal was not among the thousands pardoned by Algeria’s president on Friday, the eve of the country’s independence day.”We believe he will be released. It is impossible for Algeria to take responsibility for his death in prison,” Lenoir said, adding she was “remaining hopeful”.A prize-winning figure in North African modern francophone literature, Sansal is known for his criticism of Algerian authorities as well as of Islamists.The case against him arose after he told the far-right outlet Frontieres that France had unjustly transferred Moroccan territory to Algeria during the colonial period from 1830 to 1962 — a claim Algeria views as a challenge to its sovereignty and that aligns with longstanding Moroccan territorial assertions.Sansal was detained in November 2024 upon arrival at Algiers airport. On March 27, a court in Dar El Beida sentenced him to a five-year prison term and fined him 500,000 Algerian dinars ($3,730).Appearing in court without legal counsel on June 24, Sansal said the case against him “makes no sense” as “the Algerian constitution guarantees freedom of expression and conscience”.The writer’s conviction has further strained tense France-Algeria relations, which have been complicated by issues such as migration and France’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a disputed territory claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.