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Number Of Syrian Refugees Tops Four Million: UN

Number Of Syrian Refugees Tops Four Million: UN

By Rana Moussaoui with Omar Ibrahim in Minyeh, AFP

Beirut — More than 4 million Syrians have fled their country’s civil war, the United Nations said on Thursday, with many now despairing that they will ever return to their conflict-wracked homeland.

“We don’t think about going back to Syria. What we think about from day-to-day is how to keep our children alive,” said Yassin al-Ali, a Syrian refugee living in northern Lebanon.

Ali, 45, lives with his wife and three children in an informal refugee camp, that has no electricity or drinking water, on agricultural land where many refugees work long hours to eke out a meager salary.

“No one in the world is working seriously to end the conflict so that we can go home,” said Ali, who fled his home in the central Homs province at the onset of the conflict that began in March 2011.

Many of the more than 4 million Syrians now living as refugees in the Middle East and beyond share Ali’s resentment and sense of abandonment.

“Over the years, we’ve realized that the promises made by the United States and others were just empty air,” said Osama al-Raqa, 22, who missed attending university because of the war.

“I dream of leaving to Europe,” he said, in the same camp in the northern district of Minyeh.

“Europeans eat and live in houses. We, on the other hand, are homeless and the whole world treats us like a burden.”

Syria’s conflict began with anti-government protests but spiraled into a war after a regime crackdown.

It has since claimed more than 230,000 lives, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

Refugees ‘Sinking Into Poverty’

The UN refugee agency UNHCR said Thursday that the number of Syrian refugees now stands at 4,013,000 people, with another 7.6 million displaced inside the country.

“This is the biggest refugee population from a single conflict in a generation,” UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

“It is a population that needs the support of the world but is instead living in dire conditions and sinking deeper into poverty.”

UNHCR said 1 million Syrians had become refugees in just the last 10 months, and the overall number could grow to 4.27 million by the end of the year if the pace continued.

The crisis is the largest handled by UNHCR in a single conflict for nearly 25 years, since the agency assisted some 4.6 million Afghan refugees in 1992.

Most Syrian refugees are sheltering in neighboring countries, including Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, where many live in poverty with few legal protections.

“Worsening conditions are driving growing numbers towards Europe and further afield,” Guterres said, adding that poverty was also driving increased child labor and early marriage among refugees.

UNHCR estimated that $5.5 billion are needed this year to help Syrian refugees and the increasingly overwhelmed communities hosting them.

By June it had received just 24 percent of that amount, forcing cuts to food aid and schooling for refugees.

‘Nothing Has Changed’

In Lebanon, where the government has not allowed the creation of formal refugees camps, host communities are struggling with an influx of more than 1 million Syrians.

That has strained the already-stretched resources of a country with only 4 million citizens, and prompted the government to tighten its borders and crack down on those without official papers.

“The police detained my four sons with seven other people on Sunday because they didn’t have papers,” said Khaled Sheikh, 53, who described the camp in Minyeh as like a prison.

“We don’t have any work, and we can’t leave the camp” for fear of arrest.

Syrians made up a third of the 137,000 people who tried to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in the first half of 2015, the UNHCR says.

Guterres urged European countries to do more to “fully assume their responsibilities and … extend the mechanisms of solidarity that have been created.”

NGO Oxfam also urged the international community to “restore the lost faith in humanity of an entire generation” by donating more, taking in refugees and working to end the Syrian conflict.

On the ground in Minyeh, refugees said they had no expectation that the international community or the media would do anything to help.

“I don’t want to talk to the media. I’ve been talking to the media for three years and nothing has changed,” one woman said.

Photo: Daily life in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, located 10 kilometers east of Mafraq, Jordan, on June 04, 2014. Dominic Chavez/World Bank via Flickr

Putin Lifts Russia’s Ban On Delivery Of S-300 Missile System To Iran

Putin Lifts Russia’s Ban On Delivery Of S-300 Missile System To Iran

By Carol J. Williams and Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday cleared the way for delivery of sophisticated air defense systems to Iran with a decree that U.S. officials warned could disrupt the emerging deal to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

Kremlin officials cited the April 2 framework agreement between Iran and six world powers that is expected to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons as grounds for proceeding with delivery of the S-300 missile systems, which could give Russia a jump on others in resuming trade with the long-isolated Islamic Republic.

The announcement drew immediate criticism from the U.S., where State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said recent “destabilizing actions” on the part of Iran in Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon suggest that “this isn’t the time to be selling these kinds of systems to them.”

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted that “a modern air defense system is now very relevant to Iran, especially taking into account the severe escalation of tensions in neighboring areas.”

Of special note, he told the Russia Today television network, was “the rapid development of military activity in Yemen in recent weeks.” He added, “The S-300 is exclusively a defensive weapon, which can’t serve offensive purposes and will not jeopardize the security of any country, including, of course, Israel.”

Russia said its main objective was to demonstrate concrete progress after the framework agreement on limiting Iran’s nuclear program. The tentative pact, officials said, relieves Moscow of its 5-year-old commitment to hold back delivery of the S-300 missile systems Iran agreed to buy in 2007.

“It was done in the spirit of goodwill in order to encourage progress in talks,” Lavrov said in televised comments. “We are convinced that at this stage there is no longer need for such an embargo, specifically for a separate, voluntary Russian embargo.”

It was unclear whether Moscow was prepared to ship the missile systems any time soon, or what specific anti-aircraft batteries might be involved. The S-300 has been out of production for five years, and the Russian output until 2010 involved an array of ranges and capabilities, analysts said, leaving it uncertain whether Tehran could deter the kind of airstrikes that Israel has threatened if the nuclear deal falters and weapons production is suspected.

Still, a senior Israeli official also condemned the Russian announcement.

“This is a direct result of the legitimacy that Iran is obtaining from the deal being woven with it, and it is proof that the economic momentum in Iran that will come after the lifting of the sanctions will be exploited for arming and not for the welfare of the Iranian people,” Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said in a statement.

Tehran’s order for the S-300s was held up by then-President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, in line with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929, which banned supply to Iran of conventional weapons including missiles, tanks, attack helicopters, warplanes and ships.

Putin’s decree, which took immediate effect with his signature, ended Moscow’s self-imposed restrictions on transport of the S-300 systems worth a total of $800 million, the Kremlin website said.

By offering to resume arms sales to Iran, Putin has potentially positioned Russia to get a jump on other world powers in restoring trade links with the long-isolated Islamic Republic. A deputy foreign minister recently told Russian lawmakers that an oil-for-goods barter deal with Iran also was in the works as a result of the perceived easing of the nuclear standoff between Iran and the West.

But the Kremlin overture also has the potential to ease the pressure on Iran as the negotiations enter the final stretch, while President Barack Obama still faces the challenge of selling a permanent agreement to a reluctant, Republican-controlled Congress if a final deal is achieved.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the United States “has previously made known our objections to that sale” of S-300s. Secretary of State John F. Kerry raised those concerns again to Lavrov in a phone call Monday, Earnest said.

“It’s safe to say that Russia understands that the United States takes very seriously the safety and security of our allies in the region,” Earnest said.

Much of the international community has welcomed the framework agreement as opening a path for peaceful resolution of the decade-old debate about whether Iran is clandestinely pursuing nuclear weapons capabilities. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the pact and threatened unilateral action against Iran if he suspects Tehran of breaching the agreement. Those actions could include airstrikes, Israeli officials have said.

Some analysts saw the S-300 announcement as an attempt to pressure Western states to accept Tehran’s terms for a permanent nuclear deal by a June 30 deadline.

“This is a message from Putin that a deal’s within reach, and the West is going to have to be more flexible than it has been,” said Cliff Kupchan, chairman of the Eurasia Group, a risk-assessment consulting firm.

Russia has consistently cooperated with the Obama administration and negotiators for the other world powers, Britain, France, China and Germany, in urging Iran to accept a deal that would ease sanctions in exchange for curbs on nuclear development. Moscow is eager to resume its traditionally robust trade with Iran and doesn’t want the framework agreement reached in Lausanne, Switzerland, to unravel because of what it considers excessive Western demands.

Russia and Iran have enacted an oil-for-goods deal “on a very significant scale,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Russian upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, in a briefing following the Lausanne agreement. Under that arrangement, Russia would buy 500,000 barrels of Iranian crude per day in exchange for deliveries of grain and manufactured goods, Ryabkov said.

Israeli defense analyst Ron Ben-Yishai wrote on the Ynet website that the significance of any S-300 delivery for Iran’s air defenses was unclear because it isn’t known which version of the system Iran would receive or the effective range of the ballistic missiles, rockets, cruise missiles and aerial munitions it could launch. Also, he said, Israeli and U.S. air force officials have studied the S-300 systems deployed in Cyprus and elsewhere, presumably giving them time to develop disruption and decoy capabilities to confront it.

Delivery of any S-300 system to Tehran is “not expected to restrict a strike on Iran,” Ben-Yishai concluded.

Russian media reported Monday that Tehran had been offered a newer ballistic missile system, the Antey-2500, instead of the older S-300 system that is no longer in production. Iranian officials were considering that option, the Tass news agency reported, quoting Sergei Chemezov, the head of arms maker Rostec.

The last S-300 delivery was to China in 2010, Russia Today said. The systems also have been operable in Algeria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cyprus, Kazakhstan and Vietnam, the broadcast noted.

(Williams reported from Los Angeles and Richter from Washington. Staff writer Michael A. Memoli in Washington and special correspondent Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.)

(c)2015 Los Angeles Times, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

AFP Photo/Maxim Shipenkov

Israel, Hezbollah Clash Along Border; Two Israelis, U.N. Peacekeeper Killed

Israel, Hezbollah Clash Along Border; Two Israelis, U.N. Peacekeeper Killed

By Batsheva Sobelman, Nabih Bulos and Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

JERUSALEM — The Israel-Lebanon border region was tense Wednesday after an exchange of fire involving Israel and Hezbollah, a dominant military and political force in Lebanon, left two Israeli soldiers and a U.N. peacekeeper dead.

In a statement, Hezbollah said one of its units had targeted an Israeli military convoy with an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon. The Israeli military later confirmed that two soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the attack.

Al Manar TV, Hezbollah’s media outlet, reported that a Spanish soldier participating in the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon was killed in a retaliatory Israeli barrage on the Lebanese border area.

Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, confirmed that a peacekeeper was killed on Wednesday but would not identify the soldier’s nationality or say how the peacekeeper perished.

“We are looking into the circumstances of the unfortunate death,” Tenenti said. UNIFIL has deployed about 10,000 troops from 36 countries along the so-called Blue Line separating Israel and Lebanon.

U.N. authorities were in touch with both sides in the conflict and were urging “restraint,” Tenenti said.

Hezbollah and Israel waged a one-month war in 2006, and the two remain entrenched adversaries, but the “line of withdrawal” between northern Israel and southern Lebanon has been mostly calm since then, though there have been isolated flare-ups of violence.

In the wake of Wednesday’s incident, residents of Metula and other Israeli communities along the border with Lebanon have received instructions to remain indoors. Safed and other towns in the area were preparing to open public bomb shelters, and municipalities were coordinating with security authorities for the transportation of school students as parents were instructed not to pick them up themselves.

According to Israeli media, civilian airports in northern Israel were ordered closed due to heavy air force traffic. For the second time in as many days, the ski resort of Mt. Hermon was shut down and evacuated, along with nature reserves in northern Israel.

Officials in the region had been bracing for some kind of response from Hezbollah, and possibly from Iran, after a Jan. 18 airstrike in southwestern Syria killed six Hezbollah members and an Iranian commander, Gen. Mohammad Ali Allahdadi. Israel never publicly confirmed that it was behind the strike, but Israeli sources indicated later that they had been unaware that the Iranian official was present in the targeted convoy.

Observers in Israel and Lebanon said any Hezbollah response would likely be measured. The movement is already deeply mired in the war in Syria, where thousands of Hezbollah militiamen are fighting on behalf of the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Hezbollah leaders would likely wish to avoid a full-scale conflict with Israel that could trigger a large-scale attack on Lebanese territory and sap domestic support in Lebanon, analysts said. However, the situation is volatile and many said they feared a misstep by either side could lead to a larger conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding emergency consultations with Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

Speaking in the southern town of Sderot, Netanyahu issued a warning: “To those trying to challenge us on our northern border, I suggest looking at what happened not far from here in the Gaza Strip,” he said, referring to the 50-day war Israel waged against Hamas in July and August of 2014.

Photo: Israeli soldiers are seen at the entrance of the Mount Hermon Resort after it was hit by two rockets in the Golan Heights, northern Israel, on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015. (Gil Eliyahu-Jinipix/Xinhua/Zuma Press/TNS)

U.S. Pledges Arms For Lebanon Army After Jihadist Clashes

U.S. Pledges Arms For Lebanon Army After Jihadist Clashes

Beirut (AFP) — The United States will supply Lebanon’s army with additional munitions and ordnance in a bid to bolster the force after clashes with jihadists, the U.S. ambassador to Beirut said Thursday.

The new assistance comes after Lebanon’s military requested emergency aid following unprecedented clashes with jihadists in the eastern Arsal region of the country, on the Syrian border.

The clashes that began August 2 left 19 soldiers dead, and another 19 are still being held hostage despite a truce deal that saw the militants withdraw from the town after five days of fighting.

“The United States will soon deliver additional munitions and ordnance for offensive and defensive combat operations by the LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces),” U.S. ambassador David Hale said in a statement.

“This assistance will enhance the LAF’s ability to secure Lebanon’s borders, protect Lebanon’s people, and fight these violent extremist groups,” he said.

“U.S. military assistance will begin arriving in the next few weeks and continue in the months to follow.”

He said the aid was part of a long-term US project to support Lebanon’s army, often seen as one of the few institutions in the country commanding near universal support and allegiance.

“Since just last October, the United States has provided more than $120 million worth of training and equipment to the LAF to strengthen its role as the sole legitimate defender of Lebanon’s sovereignty,” Hale said.

Lebanon’s army has publicly requested international assistance to bolster its poorly-equipped troops as they battle the violence spilling over from the war in neighboring Syria.

Last December, Saudi Arabia pledged to buy the army $3 billion worth of weapons and equipment from France, but the items to be provided have yet to be finalized and nothing has been delivered so far.

Riyadh also pledged an additional $1 billion to pay for immediate needs, delivering it through their close ally, former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri.

That additional aid was announced during the fighting in Arsal that left dozens of militants and civilians dead, raising new fears about the effects of Syria’s war on Lebanon’s stability.

AFP Photo/STR

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