LONDON: Military operations in northwest Syria have caused “unacceptable” human suffering and “massive waves of civilian displacement and major loss of civilian life,” the UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Thursday.
Hundreds of civilians have died and over half a million people have been displaced from their homes as fighting has intensified between Damascus and armed groups in the last rebel stronghold of Idlib in recent months.
Airstrikes and ground operations in Idlib by Russian-backed Syrian regime forces, Turkish forces and various militant groups have all contributed to creating a nightmare scenario, Pedersen said, with over half a million people displaced by violence in just two months.
The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund announced that it was releasing an additional $30 million in aid to help ease the crisis. 
Pedersen said he could see no military solution to the situation on the ground, and if UN resolution 2245 —calling for a “nationwide ceasefire” — is not implemented, the region will descend into a “bloody and protracted last stand on the Turkish border, with grave consequences for civilians.”
The UN’s Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Sir Mark Lowcock also addressed the Security Council, describing the situation in Idlib as a “humanitarian catastrophe.”
Sir Mark, who is also the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, said civilians are in urgent need of assistance with so many being forced to flee in the depths of winter, and hundreds of millions of dollars are needed to provide basic things such as tents, plastic sheets, fuel, stoves and warm clothes.
“We have seen chaotic pictures in town after town as vehicles line up in every direction trying to flee. People who have just moved cannot find adequate shelter,” he added.
“Tens of thousands are crammed into schools, mosques and unfinished buildings. Many others are in tents in the mud, exposed to wind, rain and freezing weather. What we have been warning you about is happening.”
The EU also called for an end to bombings in Syria, as well as the opening of a humanitarian corridor from Idlib to allow civilians to flee, as regime forces continue to advance on the rebel stronghold.
“Bombings and other attacks on civilians in northwest Syria must stop,” said the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Josep Borrell. 
In a statement released jointly with European Emergency Response Coordinator Janez Lenarcic, Borrell said the EU stands ready to provide assistance to internally displaced Syrians facing “extraordinary human suffering.”
The statement also demanded “unimpeded” humanitarian access, respect for “humanitarian law” and the protection of Idlib’s civilian population.
The Syrian conflict is thought to have claimed the lives of almost 400,000 people since its outbreak, sparked by a civil uprising against President Bashar Assad in 2011.
More than half the civilian population is said to have fled the country as a result of the war, with many residing in neighboring Arab states and Turkey.
On Wednesday, regime forces backed by Russian warplanes entered the town of Saraqib, 15 km east of the city of Idlib.

LONDON: British Daesh militants could face trial in Syria under plans announced by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is holding thousands of prisoners in the country’s northeast.  
The SDF’s political arm, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, announced on Thursday that it would begin putting the militants on trial in Syria in March, The Independent reported. 
The announcement followed a meeting between the SDF’s foreign relations committee and Finland’s Foreign Ministry. 
“We explained our intention to set up a special court for Isis (Daesh) to the Finnish government and asked for help from the legal and technical aspects, and that this trial be transparent and public,” the administration said in a statement. 
The SDF has been calling for foreign governments to repatriate their citizens who joined Daesh so they can face trial in their own countries. 
However, the UK and other European countries have refused to bring them home, citing security risks. 
“Unfortunately many states have not responded to our appeals. For example, we have handed over less than 10 percent of Isis-linked children to their countries so far,” the statement said.
“There is the urgent need for a solution to this issue in our region, and to pressure states to receive their nationals.”
More than 1,000 foreign militants have been held in detention by the SDF since the territorial defeat of Daesh last year. 
Around 40 of these fighters are British — 10 men and 30 women who are being held separately along with their children. 
The SDF is a Kurdish-led armed group that had been a key member of the international coalition fighting Daesh. 
Meanwhile, a British woman who ran away to join Daesh as a teenager lost a legal challenge on Friday aimed at restoring her citizenship, which was revoked on national security grounds.
Shamima Begum, one of three London schoolgirls who traveled to Syria in 2015, resurfaced at a refugee camp in the country last year and told reporters she wanted to come home.
But her apparent lack of remorse has triggered criticism in Britain, and the family has expressed its own shock at her lack of repentance.
Former Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her citizenship, but she challenged the decision before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.
She argued that she is not the citizen of another country, and that Javid’s decision left her stateless.
But the tribunal ruled in Javid’s favor on Friday. Judge Doron Blum said the decision did not breach the Home Office’s “extraterritorial human rights policy by exposing Ms Begum to a real risk of death or inhuman or degrading treatment.”
The tribunal ruled that she was “a citizen of Bangladesh by descent,” and therefore not rendered stateless.
Her attorney, Daniel Furner, said the decision was baffling and would be appealed.
Begum’s family has long argued that she has never had a Bangladeshi passport and that she is from the UK.

JERUSALEM: Palestinian and US leaders blamed each other for a surge of violence, as mourners gathered in the occupied West Bank for the funeral of a Palestinian police officer shot dead during unrest, and Israel tightened security ahead of Friday Muslim prayers.

Tensions were high a day after two Palestinians were killed and 16 Israelis injured amid Palestinian anger at US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, unveiled last week with Israel’s prime minister at his side.

There were sporadic clashes on Friday between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces near Azzun, where the funeral was held for the police officer killed in Jenin the previous day.

Palestinian authorities said he was killed by Israeli gunfire. Israeli officials did not comment, and Israeli media reported that he was shot by troops by mistake.

Palestinians also clashed with Israeli troops in Jericho and burned tires in the West Bank village of Bil’in, and Palestinian medics said one protester had been critically wounded near Tulkarm.

“The Palestinian people will not allow the ‘Deal of the Century’ to pass,” said Mohammed Barakeh, waving a Palestinian flag in Bil’in.

“They are fighting for their national character and the independence of their country,” added Barakeh, a former Israeli lawmaker and member of Israel’s 21% Arab minority, many of whom identify with their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank and Gaza.

President Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority has rejected Trump’s peace plan, which would give Israel most of what it has sought during decades of conflict, including the disputed holy city of Jerusalem and nearly all the occupied land on which it has built settlements.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Washington was to blame for the unrest since the plan was unveiled.

“Those who introduce plans for annexation and the legalizing of occupation and settlements are really responsible for deepening violence and counter-violence,” he said. Abbas would go to the UN Security Council with “a genuine peace plan,” Erekat said.

Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner, the principal architect of the US plan, has repeatedly denounced the Palestinian leadership, a break from decades of diplomacy when Washington strove to appear as a neutral broker. On Thursday he blamed Abbas for the violence.

“I think he does have responsibility,” Kushner said after briefing United Nations Security Council ambassadors. “He calls for days of rage in response, and he said that before he even saw the plan.”

Israeli police said security chiefs had met late on Thursday and decided to increase security “across the country, with emphasis on Jerusalem.”

A police statement singled out the risk of trouble during Friday prayers at the Jerusalem holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

Palestinians have long boycotted relations with the Trump administration, which they view as biased against them. Washington says its plan offers a path toward a Palestinian state, and blames the Palestinian leadership for rejecting it over unrealistic demands.

ISTANBUL: A Russian delegation will arrive in Turkey on Saturday for talks aiming to stop the Syrian government’s “aggression” and halt a humanitarian catastrophe in Syria’s northwest Idlib region, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday.

Cavusoglu repeated Turkey would do whatever is necessary to stop a humanitarian tragedy in Idlib, where on Thursday Russian-led Syrian forces entered the strategic town of Saraqeb in a push to capture the country’s last rebel stronghold.

Meanwhile, a Turkish security source said the country has no plans to withdraw troops from observation posts in Syria’s northwest Idlib region even though three of the posts are in areas now controlled by the Syrian government.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to drive back Syrian troops in Idlib unless they withdrew by the end of the month, after eight Turkish soldiers were killed on Monday by Syrian government shelling near the town of Saraqeb.

The source said there were “no problems” with Turkish military personnel in Saraqeb and added each of the observation posts in Idlib were equipped to defend themselves.

The source said joint patrols by Turkish and Russian troops in a swathe of northern Syria along Turkey’s border to the east had been postponed due to weather conditions, not over the attacks in Idlib.

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s government has set up an emergency committee to counter the threat of coronavirus, and ordered air and seaports to remain on heightened alert. 

Salem Al-Khanbashi, Yemen’s deputy prime minister and head of the committee, told Arab News that fever detectors will be installed at all Yemeni entry points.

The emergency committee includes members of government bodies, World Health Organization officials and aid groups. 

Al-Khanbashi said the government will build a quarantine facility at Al-Sadaka hospital in Aden in case the virus reaches the country. 

“We have ordered seaports and airports to intensify their checkups. A health committee will inspect preparations at entry points,” Al-Khanbashi said.

There have been no confirmed coronavirus cases in Yemen, and the country’s airports and seaports have no direct links with China.

However, health officials believe the virus might enter the country through Aden and Seiyun airports, said Al-Khanbashi.

“We have no problem with land border crossings. We predict that the coronavirus might come through airports,” he said.

Yemen’s deputy leader said there were no plans to evacuate 173 Yemenis, mostly students, in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which is at the center of the outbreak. 

“They are in good health. The government has sent student stipends plus foodstuffs,” he said. 

Health facilities in Yemen have crumbled during the current conflict, which began when Iran-backed Houthi rebels stormed Sanaa and extended their grip in other regions of the country.

Outbreaks of cholera and dengue fever have killed scores of people, and the country faces the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according the UN.

Thousands of Yemeni patients travel to Egypt and Jordan for medical treatment each month.

Health experts have warned that bringing Yemenis home from virus-affected Chinese cities could pose a threat to the country.

Meanwhile, in Al-Mukalla, capital of the southeastern province of Hadramout, a meeting of army, port and health officials decided to monitor all arrivals at the seaport, one of the busiest in Yemen.

From Sunday, cargo workers at the port will be asked to wear face masks and rubber gloves, and wash their hands regularly. 

Omer Bakrshoum, head of the port’s health department, told Arab News that four health workers will be deployed at Al-Mukalla seaport to check arrivals and educate port workers about the illness. 

If suspected cases are found on board a ship, the vessel will not be allowed to enter the port and the case will be isolated on the same ship, Al-Mukalla said. 

Officials also discussed turned back ships with suspected cases due to lack of health facilities. Fishermen who sail to the Horn of African will not be examined till the virus hits Somalia. 

“At the moment, it is difficult to check all the fishermen,” Salem Ali Basamer, manager of Al-Mukalla seaport, said.

His main concern is that the virus could reach India, which has a direct shipping link with Al-Mukalla.

“If the plague reaches India, we will be forced to restrict sailing to the country,” he said.