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Sisi Backs Syrian Battle Against Terrorists
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has publicly affirmed his support for the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Speaking on the Portuguese TV network RTP, Sisi said it was necessary to support "national armies" in the Middle East.
"The priority is that we support the national armies to impose control over the territory, deal with the extremists, and impose the necessary stability in Libya, Syria and Iraq," he said.
"When you refer to the national army in Syria, do you mean the Syrian army?" the presenter asked, to which Sisi replied: "Yes."
The admission of support for Assad's forces is likely to further raise already heightened tensions between Egypt and its allies in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
Regional support for the Assad government has been mixed, with the Persian Gulf states and Turkey generally opposed to his war against assorted terrorists. Meanwhile Iraq, Iran and, to an extent, Algeria, are supportive.
Sisi restored diplomatic relations with Syria following the 2013 military coup which overthrew the government of the Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Muhammad Mursi. Under Mursi, relations with Riyadh had been severed due to the Brotherhood's support for the Saudi opposition.
Egypt also angered its allies last month when it backed a Russian-backed motion calling for a ceasefire in Syria.
On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said countries which back "moderate" terrorists in Syria, including the United States and Persian Gulf nations, will meet in Paris in early December.
In Syria itself, around 100 families tried to flee terrorist-held east Aleppo overnight as the Syrian army advanced, but were turned back by the militants, monitor said.
The government is pushing with an offensive to recapture the east of the city, and accuses the terrorists of preventing civilians from leaving and using them as "human shields."
"On Tuesday night, around 100 families gathered near a passage from the (militant-held) Bustan al-Basha district to cross to Sheikh Maqsud," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"But when the civilians tried to cross to the other side, (militant) gunfire broke out," he told AFP.
The incident comes as Syrian forces advance into the east in their latest bid to recapture neighborhoods held by the rebels since 2012.
As they advanced on Tuesday, the army accused the terrorists of using the more than 250,000 civilians trapped in the east as "human shields."
"Permit those citizens who want to do so to leave," the army said. "Stop using them as hostages and human shields, clear the mines from the crossings identified by the state."
The Syrian army, backed by allied forces, launched a renewed attack on east Aleppo on November 15 and on Wednesday was in control of half of the strategically important Masaken Hanano district.
Controlling the district will give the army line-of-fire control over a large swathe of territory, and allow the government to cut the terrorist-held east in two, separating northern neighborhoods from southern ones.
A global watchdog probing chemical arms attacks in Aleppo Tuesday took Russia up on an offer to provide some possible evidence saying it "may be of use" to their investigation.
The Russian military said on November 11 that it had evidence of the use of chemical weapons by terrorists in Syria's besieged eastern city of Aleppo.
The military said in a statement that its experts "have found unexploded artillery ammunition belonging to terrorists which contains toxic substances."
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Tuesday it had "recently received an offer from Russian authorities to provide some samples and other material in relation to an incident of alleged use of chemicals as weapons in Aleppo."
"These samples and other material may be of use in the ongoing work of the OPCW fact-finding mission," the organization said in a statement.
It said it had "proposed" to the Russian foreign ministry that given the ongoing conflict in Aleppo, it would be better "to receive such material in Damascus or The Hague."
"At present, the OPCW is awaiting a response," the statement added.
The OPCW, based in The Hague, has launched a fact-finding mission to investigate chemical weapons attacks in Syria. The mission is feeding its reports to a joint UN-OPCW panel, whose mandate has just been extended for a year.
Ahmet Uzumcu, the OPCW chief, told AFP last week that his organization had received more than 20 reports of chemical attacks since 1 August.
http://kayhan.ir/en/news/33814/sisi-backs-syrian-battle-against-terrorists
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has publicly affirmed his support for the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Speaking on the Portuguese TV network RTP, Sisi said it was necessary to support "national armies" in the Middle East.
"The priority is that we support the national armies to impose control over the territory, deal with the extremists, and impose the necessary stability in Libya, Syria and Iraq," he said.
"When you refer to the national army in Syria, do you mean the Syrian army?" the presenter asked, to which Sisi replied: "Yes."
The admission of support for Assad's forces is likely to further raise already heightened tensions between Egypt and its allies in the U.S. and Saudi Arabia.
Regional support for the Assad government has been mixed, with the Persian Gulf states and Turkey generally opposed to his war against assorted terrorists. Meanwhile Iraq, Iran and, to an extent, Algeria, are supportive.
Sisi restored diplomatic relations with Syria following the 2013 military coup which overthrew the government of the Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Muhammad Mursi. Under Mursi, relations with Riyadh had been severed due to the Brotherhood's support for the Saudi opposition.
Egypt also angered its allies last month when it backed a Russian-backed motion calling for a ceasefire in Syria.
On Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said countries which back "moderate" terrorists in Syria, including the United States and Persian Gulf nations, will meet in Paris in early December.
In Syria itself, around 100 families tried to flee terrorist-held east Aleppo overnight as the Syrian army advanced, but were turned back by the militants, monitor said.
The government is pushing with an offensive to recapture the east of the city, and accuses the terrorists of preventing civilians from leaving and using them as "human shields."
"On Tuesday night, around 100 families gathered near a passage from the (militant-held) Bustan al-Basha district to cross to Sheikh Maqsud," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"But when the civilians tried to cross to the other side, (militant) gunfire broke out," he told AFP.
The incident comes as Syrian forces advance into the east in their latest bid to recapture neighborhoods held by the rebels since 2012.
As they advanced on Tuesday, the army accused the terrorists of using the more than 250,000 civilians trapped in the east as "human shields."
"Permit those citizens who want to do so to leave," the army said. "Stop using them as hostages and human shields, clear the mines from the crossings identified by the state."
The Syrian army, backed by allied forces, launched a renewed attack on east Aleppo on November 15 and on Wednesday was in control of half of the strategically important Masaken Hanano district.
Controlling the district will give the army line-of-fire control over a large swathe of territory, and allow the government to cut the terrorist-held east in two, separating northern neighborhoods from southern ones.
A global watchdog probing chemical arms attacks in Aleppo Tuesday took Russia up on an offer to provide some possible evidence saying it "may be of use" to their investigation.
The Russian military said on November 11 that it had evidence of the use of chemical weapons by terrorists in Syria's besieged eastern city of Aleppo.
The military said in a statement that its experts "have found unexploded artillery ammunition belonging to terrorists which contains toxic substances."
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Tuesday it had "recently received an offer from Russian authorities to provide some samples and other material in relation to an incident of alleged use of chemicals as weapons in Aleppo."
"These samples and other material may be of use in the ongoing work of the OPCW fact-finding mission," the organization said in a statement.
It said it had "proposed" to the Russian foreign ministry that given the ongoing conflict in Aleppo, it would be better "to receive such material in Damascus or The Hague."
"At present, the OPCW is awaiting a response," the statement added.
The OPCW, based in The Hague, has launched a fact-finding mission to investigate chemical weapons attacks in Syria. The mission is feeding its reports to a joint UN-OPCW panel, whose mandate has just been extended for a year.
Ahmet Uzumcu, the OPCW chief, told AFP last week that his organization had received more than 20 reports of chemical attacks since 1 August.
http://kayhan.ir/en/news/33814/sisi-backs-syrian-battle-against-terrorists
