Konflikten i Syrien

Militant Groups, Syrian Gov't Hold Talks to End Al-Nusra's Presence in Eastern Damascus

TEHRAN (FNA)- The main militant groups in Eastern Damascus have been negotiating with the Syrian and Russian officials over ending the presence of the Al-Nusra Front (Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at or the Levant Liberation Board) terrorists in Eastern Ghouta, an Arab media outlet reported on Wednesday.

The Arabic-language al-Watan daily quoted well-informed sources as saying that intense talks are underway between reconciliation committees and the Russian forces with the representatives of Jeish al-Islam and Faylaq al-Rahman to pave the ground for the imminent withdrawal of Al-Nusra terrorists from Eastern Damascus.

More than 4000 residents of al-Keswa to join Syrian Arab Army

13 December، 2017
Damascus Countryside, SANA – Damascus Countryside Governor Alaa Ibrahim said that more than 4000 young men from al-Keswa area in Damascus Countryside, whose legal status were settled, want to join the ranks of the Syrian Arab Army.

Ibrahim’s remarks came during a meeting in al-Keswa area which included civil and official figures and a large number of al-Keswa’s residents who are assigned or reserved to the military service in addition to dodgers.

The meeting was held upon a local initiative and in the framework of enhancing local reconciliations.
On 2016, al-Keswa along with a number of its surrounding villages in the southern part of Damascus Countryside have witnessed the accomplishing of comprehensive local reconciliations, where the areas were cleared of weapons and militants and the legal status of many of them were settled as the state institutions returned to all those areas.

Guterres: Astana meetings played positive role in finding solution to crisis in Syria

14 December، 2017
Tokyo, SANA-United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said Thursday that Astana meetings on the crisis in Syria played a positive and significant role in solving the crisis through reaching the agreement of de-escalation zones in the country.
Guterres remarks came in a press conference following his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo .

“Astana played a positive and significant role in easing tension,” the UN Secretary General said, adding that we should work on developing the situation through holding talks and we will not give up till achieving that.

Astana hosted seven rounds of intra-Syrian dialogue, as the last round was concluded on October 31st. on Tuesday, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry announced that the 8th round of Astana meeting will be held on 21-22 of the current month.

But the hysteria continued, reaching its peak with the case of Anas Abudaabes, a journalist and photographer from the Bedouin town of Rahat. He spoke out against the incitement in a pair of Facebook posts on Thursday. In the first one, written around noon, Abudaabes decried the “ignorance” of his fellow Arabs. “Our country is burning, and it turns out there are Arabs in countries in the region who are busy praising God for this,” he wrote. A few hours later, he followed up with a second post, outlining some “urgent steps” that Arabs could take to celebrate. The hundreds of thousands of Muslims living near the fires in Haifa and Jerusalem shouldn’t worry, he joked, since “what has happened is from God”—just pour the gasoline “in a direction away from your homes,” and you’ll be fine. He also suggested that “our young thugs” go start fires in “Iqrit, Imwas, Tel al-Khuweilfeh, Asqelon, Bisan, al-Fallujah, al-Tantura and Khabiza.” Any Palestinian would have immediately understood his meaning: none of these villages exist anymore. They were destroyed by the Israeli army during the war of independence. Setting fire to Haifa or Jerusalem, he implied, would be no better than what the Israelis did in 1948. He concluded by reminding his readers that a Muslim leader (Abu Bakr, the first caliph) had given instructions to soldiers not to uproot or burn palm trees. In case it still wasn’t clear, Abudaabes added a “sarcasm, not serious” hashtag to the bottom of his post. It was exactly the sort of thing Israeli politicians routinely demand: a prominent figure in the Arab community, speaking out against incitement. So naturally the police arrested him. When he appeared in a Be’er Sheva court on Friday, the state argued that his words could be misunderstood, even if they were meant as satire. The judge, rather than dismiss the case, agreed with the state and extended his detention: he argued that Abudaabes should have considered how his post could be interpreted as “a call and encouragement to hurt the state”. It was a surreal scene when he returned a few days later for a bail hearing: the police admitted they’d made a mistake, and pleaded with the judge to release Abudaabes. He did—but ordered him to a brief period of house arrest, and a two-week ban from the internet. Nearly a month later, only six people had been indicted, all of them for setting minor fires in northern Israel—not the major conflagrations in Haifa or outside Jerusalem. Most of the people arrested were released. Among them was Jawad Qattoush, the Palestinian from Battir whose face was aired on Channel 2 (and other networks). After five days of interrogation, the Shin Bet concluded that he had, in fact, started a fire. He burned some garbage on his own property, a mile away from any Jewish town. And then he extinguished it.