
UK foreign secretary visits Syria, renewing ties after 14 years of conflict
Syria has been improving relations with Western countries following the fall of President Bashar Assad in December in an offensive led by al-Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Islamist group.
Al-Sharaa's office said Lammy and the president discussed mutual relations and ways of boosting cooperation and the latest regional and international developments. Lammy later met his Syrian counterpart, Asaad al-Shibani, state media reported.
A statement issued by Britain's foreign office said the visit showed London's commitment to support Syria as the new government seeks to rebuild the country's economy, deliver an inclusive political transition and forge a path to justice for the victims of the Assad government.
It added that there will be new U.K. funding to assist with the removal of Assad-era chemical weapons and provide urgent humanitarian assistance in Syria, to bolster U.K. and Middle East security and tackle irregular migration. The statement said the British government wants to ensure that the Islamic State group's territorial defeat 'endures, and they can never resurge.'
IS once controlled large parts of Syria and Iraq, where it planned attacks worldwide. It was defeated in Syria in March 2019 when the extremists lost the last sliver of land they once controlled.
The statement said Britain's support for Syria is set to continue, with the additional 94.5 million pounds ($129 million) package announced Saturday. It will provide urgent humanitarian aid to Syrians, support Syria's longer-term recovery through education and livelihoods, and support countries hosting Syrian refugees in the region.
In April, the British government lifted sanctions against a dozen Syrian entities, including government departments and media outlets, to help the country rebuild after Assad's ouster. Weeks earlier, the U.K. had dropped sanctions against two dozen Syrian businesses, mostly banks and oil companies.
Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending many American economic sanctions on Syria, following through on a promise he made to al-Sharaa.
Syria's new leaders have been struggling to rebuild the country's decimated economy and infrastructure after nearly 14 years of civil war that has killed half a million people. In recent months, al-Sharaa visited oil-rich regional countries and France in May in his first visit to the Europe Union.
Also on Saturday, Lammy met in Beirut with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and they discussed the situation along the Lebanon-Israel border following the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.
A statement issued by Aoun's office, quoted the Lebanese leader as telling Lammy that Beirut plans to raise the number of Lebanese troops along the border with Israel to 10,000. Aoun added that the only armed sides on the Lebanese side of the border will be Lebanon's national army and U.N. peacekeepers.
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The Guardian
16 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Monday briefing: What Zarah Sultana's new breakaway party could mean for Labour and the left
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BBC News
17 minutes ago
- BBC News
Needham Market student says he is helping teenagers escape crime
After moving to the UK from Zimbabwe in 2022, DJ Mudziviri started "hanging around with the wrong groups" and doing things he "can't mention".But, three years on, he says he is now helping steer others away from crime, drugs, and gang violence, having left behind what he describes as a "horrific" way of summer, the 18-year-old from Needham Market founded Better Youth UK - to give teenagers with limited opportunities the chance to make money trying to make a difference to the lives of young people, DJ won a community champion award from the Eastern Education Group, which runs Suffolk One, where he studies. "It felt amazing and it was a very happy moment for me. I was jumping and me and the family celebrated," said the health and social care student."I was really happy because people hadn't seen that side of me because they had a bad interpretation of me, so, I am very, very grateful." DJ and his team identify young people who may require support through their outreach programme, which sees them visit cities across the says he then provides them with an opportunity."I say, 'If you were to make the same amount of money you're making illegally, legally, would you choose the legal way?', and they always say 'yes'," he said."They want money quick, but they don't know who to reach out to in order to make a legal income."We actually help young people and give them more opportunities to express themselves." Those who decide to take up DJ's offer of a life away from drugs and gang violence are tasked with selling the Better Youth UK copy costs £10, with £6 going to the person who sells it. The remaining £4 is put back into funding more outreach programmes and and his team also offer mental health support and hold monthly workshops to inspire people to set up their own have helped a young woman set up as a hairdresser and another become the boss of her own nail business."Whilst out working they are working for themselves," said DJ."The benefit is they are not looking behind their back for the police trying to nick them or the competition that might steal their products."They can work without fear of harm or prosecution." 'Real life stories' DJ, who moved to the UK with his "proud" mum Anna, says he started the organisation with "a lot" of his own money – but he says he was "determined" to provide the younger generation with a way out."I was having sleepless nights trying to design the website," he said."But I set it up because I didn't want other young people to go through [what I had] - because the things I saw were very horrific."Following the success of Better Youth UK's first award-winning year, DJ is now looking towards the future."We want to go into schools and hold talks, because young people don't like listening to a 30-year-old man who has no experience [of youth crime]", he said."They want real life stories with people who have been through it."I am not the solution, but I am part of the solution to help reduce these issues among young people." Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.


The Independent
21 minutes ago
- The Independent
With sanctions lifted, Syria looks to solar power as more than a patchwork fix to its energy crisis
Abdulrazak al-Jenan swept the dust off his solar panel on his apartment roof overlooking Damascus. Syria's largest city was mostly pitch-black, the few speckles of light coming from the other households able to afford solar panels, batteries, or private generators. Al-Jenan went thousands of dollars in debt to buy his solar panel in 2019. It was an expensive coping mechanism at the time, but without it, he couldn't charge his phone and run the refrigerator. Syria has not had more than four hours of state electricity per day for years, as a result of the nearly 14-year civil war that ended with the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in December. Syria's new leaders are hoping renewable energy will now become more than a patchwork solution. Investment is beginning to return to the country with the lifting of U.S. sanctions, and major energy projects are planned, including an industrial-scale solar farm that would secure about a tenth of the country's energy needs. 'The solution to the problem isn't putting solar panels on roofs,' Syria's interim Energy Minister Mohammad al-Bashir told The Associated Press. 'It's securing enough power for the families through our networks in Syria. This is what we're trying to do.' Restoring the existing energy infrastructure Some of the efforts focus on simply repairing infrastructure destroyed in the war. The World Bank recently announced a $146 million grant to help Syria repair damaged transmission lines and transformer substations. Al-Bashir said Syria's infrastructure that has been repaired can provide 5,000 megawatts, about half the country's needs, but fuel and gas shortages have hampered generation. With the sanctions lifted, that supply could come in soon. More significantly, Syria recently signed a $7 billion energy deal with a consortium of Qatari, Turkish, and American companies. The program over the next three and a half years would develop four combined-cycle gas turbines with a total generating capacity estimated at approximately 4,000 megawatts and a 1,000-megawatt solar farm. This would 'broadly secure the needs' of Syrians, said Al-Bashir. While Syria is initially focusing on fixing its existing fossil fuel infrastructure to improve quality of life, help make businesses functional again, and entice investors, the U.N. Development Program said in May that a renewable energy plan will be developed in the next year for the country. The plan will look at Syria's projected energy demand and determine how much of it can come from renewable sources. 'Given the critical role of energy in Syria's recovery, we have to rapidly address energy poverty and progressively accelerate the access to renewable energy,' Sudipto Mukerjee, UNDP's resident representative in Syria, said in a statement announcing the plan. Sanctions crippled the power grid While the war caused significant damage to Syria's infrastructure, crippling Washington-led sanctions imposed during the Assad dynasty's decades of draconian rule made it impossible for Syria to secure fuel and spare parts to generate power. 'Many companies over the past period would tell us the sanctions impact matters like imports, implementing projects, transferring funds and so on,' al-Bashir said. During a visit to Turkey in May, the minister said Syria could only secure about 1700 megawatts, a little less than 20%, of its energy needs. A series of executive orders by U.S. President Donald Trump lifted many sanctions on Syria, aiming to end the country's isolation from the global banking system so that it can become viable again and rebuild itself. The United Nations estimates the civil war caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damages and economic losses across the country. Some 90% of Syrians live in poverty. Buying solar panels, private generators or other means of producing their own energy has been out of reach for most of the population. 'Any kind of economic recovery needs a functional energy sector,' said Joseph Daher, Syrian-Swiss economist and researcher, who said that stop-gap measures like solar panels and private generators were luxuries only available to a few who could afford it. 'There is also a need to diminish the cost of electricity in Syria, which is one of the most expensive in the region.' Prices for electricity in recent years surged as the country under its former rulers struggled with currency inflation and rolling back on subsidies. The new officials who inherited the situation say that lifting sanctions will help them rectify the country's financial and economic woes, and provide sufficient and affordable electricity as soon as they can. 'The executive order lifts most of the obstacles for political and economic investment with Syria," said Qutaiba Idlibi, who leads the Americas section of the Foreign Ministry. Syria has been under Washington-led sanctions for decades, but designations intensified during the war that started in 2011. Even with some waivers for humanitarian programs, it was difficult to bring in resources and materials to fix Syria's critical infrastructure — especially electricity — further compounding the woes of the vast majority of Syrians, who live in poverty. The focus is economic recovery The removal of sanctions signals to U.S. businesses that Trump is serious in his support for Syria's recovery, Idlibi said. 'Right now, we have a partnership with the United States as any normal country would do," he said. Meanwhile, Al-Jenan is able to turn on both his fans on a hot summer day while he watches the afternoon news on TV, as the temperature rises to 35 degrees Celsius (95 F). He doesn't want to let go of his solar panel but hopes the lifting of sanctions will eventually bring sustainable state electricity across the country. 'We can at least know what's going on in the country and watch on TV,' he said. 'We really were cut off from the entire world.' ___ Chehayeb reported from Beirut.