U.N. Specialist Could Oversee Prisoner Exchange
The United Nations may appoint a specialist to manage negotiations aimed at a prisoner exchange between warring sides in Syria, a step identified as a priority during peace talks last week in Geneva, the Guardian reports.
The specialist would also be tasked with ensuring that the naming of detainees does not lead to them or their relatives being harmed.
The opposition High Negotiation Committee (HNC) has repeatedly demanded the release of prisoners as a confidence-building measure in the lead up to face-to-face negotiations, but little progress has been made.
The immediate focus will be on women, children and the injured. While it’s unclear how many pro-Assad troops have been detained by rebel groups, a report released by Amnesty International last November found that at least 65,116 people had been “forcibly disappeared” by government forces since the uprising began in the spring of 2011.
Although peace talks in Geneva were adjourned last week until April 9, U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura is set on maintaining momentum during the break.
The release of detainees is the third part of a three-part confidence-growing strategy that includes the extension of humanitarian aid across the country and the preservation of the shaky cessation of hostilities.
Rich Nations Must Take In More Syrian Refugees, Oxfam Says
Oxfam Great Britain has urged the U.K. and other wealthy nations to drastically increase the number of Syrian refugees they take in, the BBC reports.
The charity has said it wants 10 percent of the 4.8 million Syrians displaced by the war in their country to be resettled by the end of the year.
Before peace talks in Geneva last month, figures released by the charity showed that only 1.4 percent of Syrian refugees had been resettled.
Oxfam blasted the U.K., saying that its plans to resettle 20,000 Syrians by 2020 were “not good enough.”
The 10 percent of Syrian refugees Oxfam wants to see resettled by the end of 2016 represents the proportion, according to the U.N., who are vulnerable and in need of resettlement.
Only Canada, Germany and Norway have made resettlement pledges that exceed their “fair share,” a measure based on the size of their economies, Oxfam said.
Five other nations – Australia, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and New Zealand – have pledged to take in more than half of their “fair share.” While in contrast, the U.S. has taken just 7 percent of its share, France only 4 percent and the U.K. about 22 percent.
“It’s shocking that while people continue to flee Syria most countries have failed to provide a safe home for the most vulnerable,” said Oxfam GB’s chief executive Mark Goldring.
Government Troops Move East After Taking Palmyra
After retaking the ancient city of Palmyra from the so-called Islamic State group (ISIS) over the weekend, pro-government forces pressed northeast toward the ISIS-controlled provinces of Deir Ezzor and Raqqa.
The loss of Palmyra is one of the largest setbacks for the extremist group since it declared an Islamic caliphate in 2014 across large swathes of Syria and Iraq.
The Syrian army said that once it clears ISIS militants from the area, the ancient city would become a “launchpad” for assaults on the ISIS strongholds in Raqqa and Deir Ezzor.
As government troops work to clear ISIS-planted mines in and around the city, the Syrian military pushed eastward toward the town of al-Qaryatain and other ISIS-held towns in the area.
“They also have their eyes on Sukhnah,” an anonymous Syrian military source in Palmyra told AFP.
Russia played a “decisive role” in the government advance, a Russian military analyst told AFP, indicating that Moscow is still heavily involved in the fight in Syria despite its announcement of a major military withdrawal weeks earlier.
The U.S. government cautiously welcomed the government takeover of Palmyra, but warned against the possibility of it allowing President Bashar al-Assad to expand his “ability to tyrannize the Syrian people.”
Members of the Syrian opposition told Reuters they feared Assad’s forces were using the fragile truce to make strategic territorial gains.
“I fear one thing,” said Riad Nassan Agha, a member of the HNC, “that the period of the truce will allow the Assad regime to gobble up what remains of Syria by liberating areas that are controlled by Daesh (ISIS) and Nusra.”
Recommended Reads
- International Crisis Group: Russia’s Choice in Syria
- Foreign Policy: The Eagles of the Whirlwind
- War on the Rocks: Are CIA-Backed Syrian Rebels Really Fighting Pentagon-Backed Syrian Rebels?
- Syria:Direct: A Central Bank for Rojava: A Sign of Prudence or Posturing?
- BBC News: U.S.-Turkey: The Strained Alliance
- Al-Monitor: Will Syrian Kurdish Self-Rule Succeed?
- National Post: Syria Secretly Worked to Convince ISIL Against Destroying all of Palmyra’s Ancient Ruins
- The Daily Beast: Putin and Assad Score a Major Victory Against ISIS, After Hitting Syrian Rebels for Months
- Reuters: Iran’s Answer to Pop Stars: Religious Singers Serenade Syria War
Top image: A Syrian antiquities official said Monday, March 28, 2016, that de-mining experts have removed 150 bombs planted by ISIS inside the historic city of Palmyra. Syrian troops captured the town from ISIS fighters on Sunday after three weeks of intense fighting. (SANA via AP)