Latest news with #destabilisation
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Turkey says it will intervene against any attempt to divide Syria
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey will directly intervene to stop any attempt to fragment Syria and will prevent any attempts by militants to obtain autonomy after clashes in southern Syria, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Tuesday. His warning against fragmentation, in comments to reporters in Ankara, appeared aimed at Israel as Turkey considers this to be Israel's ultimate aim in Syria. Turkey has condemned Israeli strikes on Damascus last week as an attempt to sabotage Syria's efforts to establish peace and security, and sees clashes between Druze fighters and Syrian Bedouin tribes in the southern province of Sweida as part of an Israeli policy of regional destabilisation. NATO member Turkey supports Syria's new government and has called for a ceasefire between the Bedouin and Druze fighters. Fidan said Israel wanted a divided Syria to make the country unstable, weaker and a liability to the region, and added that Kurdish YPG militants were looking to take advantage of the chaos. "God willing, we will prevent this policy from being realised," he said. In an apparent reference to the YPG, he said groups in Syria should not see such chaos as a tactical opportunity to achieve autonomy or independence within Syria and that they faced "a big strategic catastrophe". "This leads nowhere," he said. Ankara sees the YPG, which spearheads the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, as a terrorist organisation, and has carried out several cross-border operations against them. "We are warning you: no group should engage in acts towards division," Fidan said. He said many issues could be discussed via diplomacy "but if you go beyond this and seek fragmentation and destabilising we will consider this a direct threat to our security and intervene." Fidan said Turkey would support efforts to secure peace and stability in Syria, and talks on this, but would not let itself be exposed to threats. Israel did not immediately comment on Fidan's remarks. It said it struck targets in Syria last week to defend the Druze.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Turkey says it will intervene against any attempt to divide Syria
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey will directly intervene to stop any attempt to fragment Syria and will prevent any attempts by militants to obtain autonomy after clashes in southern Syria, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Tuesday. His warning against fragmentation, in comments to reporters in Ankara, appeared aimed at Israel as Turkey considers this to be Israel's ultimate aim in Syria. Turkey has condemned Israeli strikes on Damascus last week as an attempt to sabotage Syria's efforts to establish peace and security, and sees clashes between Druze fighters and Syrian Bedouin tribes in the southern province of Sweida as part of an Israeli policy of regional destabilisation. NATO member Turkey supports Syria's new government and has called for a ceasefire between the Bedouin and Druze fighters. Fidan said Israel wanted a divided Syria to make the country unstable, weaker and a liability to the region, and added that Kurdish YPG militants were looking to take advantage of the chaos. "God willing, we will prevent this policy from being realised," he said. In an apparent reference to the YPG, he said groups in Syria should not see such chaos as a tactical opportunity to achieve autonomy or independence within Syria and that they faced "a big strategic catastrophe". "This leads nowhere," he said. Ankara sees the YPG, which spearheads the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, as a terrorist organisation, and has carried out several cross-border operations against them. "We are warning you: no group should engage in acts towards division," Fidan said. He said many issues could be discussed via diplomacy "but if you go beyond this and seek fragmentation and destabilising we will consider this a direct threat to our security and intervene." Fidan said Turkey would support efforts to secure peace and stability in Syria, and talks on this, but would not let itself be exposed to threats. Israel did not immediately comment on Fidan's remarks. It said it struck targets in Syria last week to defend the Druze. Solve the daily Crossword
BBC News
6 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
UK sanctions Russian spies for 'malicious' cyber activity
A number of Russian spies have been sanctioned for conducting a "sustained campaign of malicious cyber activity" including in the UK, the Foreign Office has military intelligence units from Russia's GRU espionage agency and 18 officers have had sanctions placed on them for "spreading chaos and disorder on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's orders". UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy linked the activity to the UK's continued support of Ukraine, and said GRU spies were "running a campaign to destabilise Europe".Separately, the European Union placed its "strongest sanctions" yet on Russia, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called "essential and timely". The latest EU measures, announced on Friday, included a ban on transactions related to the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline and lowering a cap on the price at which Russian oil can be UK joined the move to lower the price cap, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves saying Europe was "turning the screw on the Kremlin's war chest".They come as European allies hope to ratchet up the pressure on Russia to bring the three-year-long war in Ukraine to an former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of Putin, said his nation's economy would survive the sanctions and that Moscow will continue striking Ukraine "with increasing force".The EU sanctions are the 18th round of such measures since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in UK Foreign Office said one of the intelligence units it had sanctioned - Unit 26165 - had been involved in targeting Mariupol, including a strike that hit the Ukrainian city's theatre, killing hundreds of said it had also placed measures on intelligence officers who placed spyware on the phone of Yulia Skripal, who with her father was targeted by suspected Russian agents in Salisbury with the nerve agent Foreign Office added that Russia had targeted UK media organisations, telecoms companies, energy infrastructure and political institutions."The Kremlin should be in no doubt: we see what they are trying to do in the shadows and we won't tolerate it," Lammy said in a statement. "Putin's hybrid threats and aggression will never break our resolve."People or entities that are sanctioned can face a range of restrictions, including having financial assets leaders are also looking for the US to place further pressure on this week, Donald Trump threatened Russia with severe tariffs if a peace deal was not reached within 50 days. The US president has become increasingly impatient with Putin. The Foreign Office also announced sanctions on three leaders of the "African Initiative", a social media campaign it said was founded, funded and employed by Russia to conduct disinformation operations in West Africa.
Al Jazeera
6 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
UK sanctions senior Russian intelligence officers over cyberattacks
The United Kingdom says it has sanctioned more than 20 Russian spies, hackers and agencies over what it called a 'sustained campaign of malicious cyber activity' to destabilise Europe. The Foreign Office said on Friday it was sanctioning three units of the Russian military intelligence GRU agency and 18 of its officers. Those sanctioned include officers it said were involved in preparing the attack against Ukraine's Mariupol theatre in the first month of the war in 2022, which killed hundreds of civilians of taking shelter inside the building. It also sanctioned those it accuses of involvement in targeting former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who were the victims of a nerve agent Novichok poisoning attack in 2018 in the UK. 'GRU spies are running a campaign to destabilise Europe, undermine Ukraine's sovereignty and threaten the safety of British citizens,' Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement. The UK also said Russia had targeted media outlets, telecoms providers, political and democratic institutions, and energy infrastructure in the UK. British authorities have repeatedly accused Moscow of orchestrating malign activity, ranging from traditional espionage and actions to undermine democracy, to sabotage and assassinations. Russia denies claims Earlier this month, three men were convicted over an arson attack on a Ukrainian-linked business in London that police said was carried out at the behest of the Wagner mercenary group. Moscow has rejected such accusations, saying they were politically motivated and that it posed no threat to the UK. In addition to the sanctions aimed at GRU, the British foreign ministry said it was sanctioning three leaders of the 'African Initiative,' which it said was a Russian-funded social media content mill conducting information operations in West Africa. The UK has recently ramped up its military spending to help change its approach to defence, partly to address threats from Russia, nuclear risks and cyberattacks. The European Union and NATO also issued statements on Friday condemning what they described as Russia's destabilising hybrid activities. The UK move came on the same day the EU approved a new host of stiff sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine. The EU sanctions package includes a lower oil price cap, a ban on transactions with Nord Stream gas pipelines, and the targeting of more shadow fleet ships.
France 24
7 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
Sharaa's pullout from Syria Druze heartland exposes shaky leadership
Since seizing office in December after ousting longtime autocrat Bashar al-Assad, Sharaa has worked to recast himself from jihadist to statesman, even earning praise from US President Donald Trump as a "tough guy". But in the early hours of Thursday, he was forced to announce the withdrawal of troops from the Druze-majority city of Sweida, framing it as an effort to avoid confrontation with Israel and prevent further destabilisation in a country still reeling from 14 years of war. AFP looks at what drove Syria's interim president to this withdrawal -- and whether his leadership is now fatally undermined. 'Imbalance of power' In his Thursday speech, Sharaa praised the "effective intervention of American, Arab and Turkish mediation, which saved the region from an unknown fate". That followed Israeli air strikes targeting the Syrian military headquarters and the vicinity of the presidential palace in Damascus. It also came amid diplomatic pressure from the United States. Gamal Mansur, a comparative politics researcher specialising in Syrian and Israeli studies at the University of Toronto, said he believed "the withdrawal was imposed on the authorities due to the imbalance of power caused by Israel's presence". Syria "was forced to retreat because its position in Sweida was not that strong and it was unable to retain the land in Sweida without a high price that would force a second Israeli intervention", he said. Sharaa admitted on Thursday that his options to avoid "open war" with Israel were limited. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire in Syria was "obtained by force" and "not by demands, not by pleas". A senior Western diplomat, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic, told AFP that Sharaa "is very aware of the situation that he is in and he is realistic". "He knows Syria is at a weak point and that the best option is to reach a deal with the Israelis." Heiko Wimmen, project director for Iraq, Syria and Lebanon at International Crisis Group, said Sharaa's pullback showed he was "making a further step towards accepting that Israel basically projects power onto the doorstep of Damascus". Since leading the overthrow of Assad, Sharaa has repeatedly said his country does not seek conflicts with its neighbours. Damascus has acknowledged holding indirect talks to reduce tensions with Israel, which has occupied Syria's Golan Heights since 1967. The Israeli army deployed troops into the UN-patrolled zone on the Golan after the fall of Assad and launched hundreds of bombing raids. Mansur believes the Sweida events "will place Israel in a better position and with stronger negotiating terms". The Western diplomat said that while full normalisation was unlikely, Israel could still reach a favourable security agreement with Syria. Internal pressure Sharaa and his government have been pushing for unified control of the country from Damascus, with the various armed factions, often tied to ethnic or religious identities, merged into the state's armed forces. That goal was undermined by the events in Sweida, which remains outside Damascus's direct control, and major sectarian clashes like the coastal massacres in March, during which more than 1,700 mostly Alawite civilians were killed. Sharaa's ability to control armed factions loyal to him, which include extremist groups and foreign jihadists, was heavily questioned following those incidents. Washington had previously demanded that "foreign terrorists" leave Syria. These developments reveal "the weakness of Sharaa's authority", Mansur said, adding the Syrian leader needed to consolidate his authority and secure control over the state's security apparatus. Additionally, the Kurds in northeastern Syria are still demanding a decentralised system despite repeated rejections by Damascus. Bedran Ciya Kurd, a senior official in the autonomous administration, said on Thursday that Damascus should "review" its attitude towards minorities. Syria's Kurds may be in a stronger position after the Sweida clashes, according to Wimmen, who said there was now a "big question mark" over the idea of full integration with Damascus. The Kurds now have "many reasons to be very careful about any form of integration", he said.
