BEIRUT/ANKARA: Syria is resisting Russian efforts to broker a summit with Turkiye’s President Tayyip Erdogan, three sources said on Friday, after more than a decade of bitter enmity since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war.
However, two Turkish sources, including a senior official, disputed that Damascus was delaying and said that things were on track for an eventual meeting between the leaders.

BEIRUT: Lebanon has officially adopted a new exchange rate on imports ten times the previous level, in a move that will deepen economic misery in a country already suffering hardship.

The new customs exchange rate of 15,000 Lebanese pounds a dollar replaces the previous rate of 1,500, which was in use for nearly three years.

The customs dollar is the price for calculating the customs value of imports, and is paid in Lebanese pounds.

WASHINGTON: EU member states condemned the Syrian government for using chemical weapons against its own citizens during the 11-year civil war in the country, and demanded that the regime of President Bashar Assad complies with international conventions on such weapons of mass destruction.

France delivered a statement on behalf of its fellow EU members during the four-day 27th Session of the Conference of the States Parties of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which concluded at the World Forum the Hague in the Netherlands on Friday.

DUBAI: The UAE has sent a convoy of six trucks, loaded with 85 tons of medical supplies worth $10 million, to support hospitals in Gaza, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported on Friday.

The medical aid will be delivered through Rafah Crossing Point with aims to support the healthcare sector in Gaza, the report added.

“The UAE has always sought to provide all possible support to improve the humanitarian response to help the Palestinian brothers, and to provide the necessary needs for the people there, especially women and children,” read the statement.

RMEILAN: A US-led coalition fighting jihadists resumed regular patrols in Kurdish-held areas of northeast Syria on Friday after earlier Turkish air strikes, an AFP correspondent and a Kurdish military source said.
Patrols were reduced following the Turkish strikes that began on Nov. 20 in Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria and Iraq, in response to a deadly Istanbul bombing that Ankara blamed on Kurdish groups.
The Kurds denied responsibility.
Hundreds of American troops are in Syria as part of the fight against remnants of the Daesh group jihadists.