Middle East newest: Top diplomats from US, Arab League and Turkey focus on Syria’s transition | EUROtoday

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Top diplomats from the United States, the Arab League and Turkey are assembly in Jordan to debate plans and targets to help Syria’s transition from the deposed authorities of Bashar Assad.

Some 12 overseas ministers and senior officers from the European Union and United Nations on Saturday gathered within the Jordanian port metropolis of Aqaba to attempt to forge consensus on what new management in Syria ought to prioritize. No Syrian representatives are set to attend, nonetheless.

The collapse of the Assad household’s greater than half-century of rule final week has sparked new fears of instability and turmoil in a risky area already immersed within the Israel-Hamas battle in Gaza and hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon regardless of a tenuous ceasefire.

The U.S. can be making a renewed push for an ceasefire in Gaza, the place the warfare has plunged greater than 2 million Palestinians right into a extreme humanitarian disaster.

Israel’s warfare in opposition to Hamas has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, greater than half of them ladies and youngsters, in line with the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t say what number of have been combatants. The Israeli navy says it has killed over 17,000 militants, with out offering proof.

The October 2023 Hamas assault that sparked the warfare killed some 1,200 individuals in Israel, principally civilians, and round 250 others have been taken hostage. Some 100 hostages are nonetheless inside Gaza, a minimum of a 3rd of whom are believed to be lifeless.

Here’s the most recent:

US Secretary of State Blinken wrapping up regional tour in Jordan

AQABA, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says broad consensus exists amongst regional companions that Syria’s new authorities should be inclusive, should respect ladies and minority rights, reject terrorism and safe and destroy suspected Assad-era chemical weapons stockpiles.

Blinken is wrapping up a three-country regional tour in Aqaba after visiting Iraq, Turkey and Jordan as soon as already this week.

Earlier Saturday in a gathering with U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pederson, Blinken mentioned he anticipated to speak in regards to the challenges forward for Syria and “our determination to work together to support a Syrian-led transition where the United Nations plays a critical role, particularly when it comes to the provision of assistance, to the protection of minorities.”

Pederson agreed, saying: “What is so critical in Syria is that we see a credible and inclusive political process that brings together all communities in Syria. And the second point is that we need to make sure that state institutions do not collapse, and that we get in humanitarian assistance as quickly as possible. And if we can achieve that, perhaps there is a new opportunity for the Syrian people.”

In asserting Saturday’s conferences, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry mentioned the ministers would “discuss ways to support a comprehensive political process led by Syrians to achieve a transitional process,” which “ensures the reconstruction of Syrian state institutions, and preserves Syria’s unity, territorial integrity, sovereignty, security, stability, and the rights of all its citizens.”