Iran: No agreement on Syria ahead of New York talks

Foreign Minister Zarif tells Al Jazeera it is unclear which Syrian opposition groups should take part in negotiations.

 

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said hours before a conference on Syria takes place in New York that there is still no agreement on which groups should comprise the "opposition" and which groups should be on a list of "terror" organisations.
Foreign ministers from more than a dozen countries - including Russia, the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other European and Middle Eastern powers - are set to discuss ending Syria's civil war in New York on Friday.
While there is agreement to end the war, there are a number of sticking points that are expected to prevent a breakthrough, including the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"There has been no agreement on two important aspects; one is the opposition groups and the composition of the opposition groups and second is the list of terrorist organisations," Zarif told Al Jazeera's Diplomatic Editor James Bays on Thursday evening.

"I believe the opposition should be serious and inclusive so that they can engage in serious talks. We suggested a national unity government a long time ago and we hope that this can in fact become a serious exercise, including various opposition groups, not just one inclination within the opposition.
"At the same time we should exclude people with official affiliation with Daesh (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), al-Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham, or other al-Qaeda affiliates."
US and Russia to lead talks
The US and Russia are heading the talks on Friday. Countering the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) will be one of the major issues on the agenda.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in Moscow this week to continue what they called a final stage on listing terrorist organisations and on providing assistance to the UN in forming the opposition delegation which should be representative and ready for negotiations with the Syrian government.
Syria's main opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, will not attend the talks.

Turkey says its patience with Russia 'has a limit'

Foreign minister says Moscow "exaggerated" its reaction in a naval incident by firing warning shots at a fishing vessel.

 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says Russia has put itself in a 'ridiculous position' [Andrej Cukic/EPA]

Turkey's foreign minister said Ankara's patience with Russia "has a limit" after Moscow's "exaggerated" reaction to a weekend naval incident between the two countries, an Italian newspaper reported on Monday.
A Russian warship fired warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the Aegean Sea on Sunday to avoid a collision and summoned the Turkish military attache in Moscow over the incident.

"Ours was only a fishing boat. It seems to me that the reaction of the Russian naval ship was exaggerated," Mevlut Cavusoglu told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview.

The incident is likely to heighten tensions between the two nations, which are at odds over Syria and Turkey's downing of a Russian fighter jet last month.
"Russia and Turkey certainly have to re-establish the relations of trust that we have always had, but our patience has a limit," the Turkish foreign minister said.

Cavusoglu said Russia had already "put itself in a ridiculous position" with accusations by President Vladimir Putin that Turkey had shot down the jet to protect oil supplies from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
"No one believed it," he said.
He also criticised Russia's military intervention in Syria, saying it was aimed at propping up the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, not combating ISIL.
"Unfortunately Russia is not in Syria to fight terrorists," he said, adding only eight percent of its air strikes had been aimed at ISIL, while 92 percent were against other groups hostile to Assad.
Cavusoglu also said air strikes were not sufficient to defeat ISIL and soldiers on the ground were necessary, according to the interview.

French teacher admits inventing ISIL school 'attack'

After claiming he was attacked and wounded by an ISIL supporter, Paris teacher now admits he made up the story.

 

The claimed attack set off a manhunt in Aubervilliers, northeast of Paris [Charles Platiau/Reuters]

A French teacher who claimed he was attacked in his classroom by an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) supporter admitted to prosecutors on Monday that he invented the story.
Earlier on Monday, sources in the police and prosecutor's office told the media the teacher had been attacked by a balaclava-wearing man wielding a box-cutter and scissors.
"This is Daesh. This is a warning," the man was said to have shouted, according to the local prosecutor. Daesh is another name for ISIL.
The claimed attack by the 45-year-old nursery school teacher set off a manhunt in Aubervilliers, northeast of Paris.
Both the Paris prosecutor's office and the local prosecutor said the teacher - who was hospitalised with light wounds to his side and throat - was being questioned on why he lied about the attack. It was unclear how the man sustained his injuries.
"He is being interviewed with a view to establishing the reasons for this invented story," an official told Reuters news agency.
ISIL claimed responsibility for the November 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds of others.

Russian warship fires warning shots near Turkish vessel

Unresponsive ship came within 600 metres of Russian destroyer before it opened fire with small arms: defence ministry. 

 

Warning shots with small arms were fired at the Turkish ship after it failed to respond [AP]

Russia's defence ministry says one of its warships fired warning shots at a Turkish vessel in Aegean Sea on Sunday to avoid a collision.
A ministry statement says the destroyer Smetlivy was unable to establish radio contact with the approaching Turkish ship, which also failed to respond to visual signals and flares.

When the vessel was 600 metres away, the destroyer fired with small arms and the Turkish vessel quickly changed course.

"The crew of the Russian patrol ship Smetlivy - which was located 22km from the Greek island of Lemnos in the northern part of the Aegean Sea - avoided collision with a Turkish seiner," the defence ministry told the AFP news agency.
Turkey's military attache in Moscow has been summoned by the defence ministry over the incident.
Tensions between Moscow and Ankara have been heightened since a Turkish jet downed a Russian bomber along the Syrian border last month, killing one of the two pilots.
Moscow has imposed a series of economic sanctions against Ankara after the incident, sparking the biggest crisis between the two countries since the Cold War.
Holiday ban
Meanwhile, the Turkish army on Sunday banned staff from taking holidays in Russia, state-run media reported.
The prohibition, which applies to both personnel and military academy students, was described as a "precautionary measure after the Russian warplane, which violated (Turkey's) borders, was downed in accordance with the rules of engagement," Anatolia news agency said.
Army personnel are expected to behave in a way that is "worthy" of the Turkish military while on vacation, Anatolia added.

Sweden closer to questioning Assange after Ecuador deal

WikiLeaks founder could soon be questioned by Swedish authorities after preliminary deal between Stockholm and Quito. 

 

Assange took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy in June 2012 [File pic - Kerim Okten/EPA]

Ecuador and Sweden have reached a deal that could pave the way for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be questioned at the South American country's embassy in London where he has lived for more than three years.
The legal agreement was signed in Ecuador's capital Quito after half a year of negotiations.
"This is essentially a deal on legal assistance on a criminal matter, and when it is finalised later this week it will open the door for the Swedish state prosecutor to question Mr Assange," Swedish Justice Ministry official Cecilia Riddselius told AFP news agency on Sunday.
Assange, 44, took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition by UK authorities to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sexual assault and rape against two women in 2010.

The Australian denies the accusations.

Assange says he fears Sweden will extradite him to the United States, where he could be put on trial over WikiLeaks' publication of classified military and diplomatic documents five years ago - one of the largest information leaks in US history.
Riddselius said the prelimenary agreement with Ecuador was not specifically linked to the Assange case.
She described it as a deal that will allow authorities in the respective countries to help each other, while Ecuadorian officials said it will streamline future collaboration.

"It is without doubt an instrument that strengthens bilateral relations and will facilitate, for example, the fulfillment of judicial matters such as the questioning of Mr Assange," Ecuador's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Syria rebels leave Homs following rare ceasefire deal

Hundreds of Syrians, including rebels, leave last rebel-held area of Homs under rare ceasefire deal with the regime.

 

Hundreds of Syrians, including rebel fighters, have left the last rebel-held area of Homs as part of a rare local ceasefire deal negotiated between the opposition and the government.
The fighters and their families were being moved to rebel-held areas of the northwest near the Turkish border on Wednesday.
Homs was a centre of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
The deal comes after a major Syrian army ground offensive to the north of the city backed by Russian air strikes.
Witnesses saw 15 buses leave the area of al-Waer in Homs. The city's governor Talal al-Barazi told reporters that 300 fighters were on board, together with 400 members of their families.
The fighters took light weapons with them, he said.
The deal echoes a local ceasefire agreed in September elsewhere in Syria under which rebel fighters were supposed to be transferred to Idlib, though it has yet to be fully implemented.
'No one is winning'
Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, said there is a "certain will on both sides to calm things down, especially in places where it's clear that one party has the upper hand over the other".
"The general mood is; no one is winning in Syria, so let's - at least for the time being - settle down, take it easy, until we see if there is a serious transitional process possible."
The evacuation of fighters and their families was the first phase of the agreement.

"They will head to opposition controlled areas further north. The government in turn will lift the siege of the district and end military operations there," Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reported.
"But the warring sides seem to be interpreting other details differently. The government says the deal means al-Waer will return to state control, cleared of weapons, and fighters who chose to stay will have their legal status settled. It also said that all rebels would leave the district within two months," Khodr added.
"The opposition, however, denies the district will return to government control."

Several buses left the al-Waer district early on Wednesday and others were queuing up to leave on its outskirts, witnesses said.

Children on buses waiting to leave peaked around the drawn curtains and aid workers handed out juice.
Barazi said the buses would make a stop in Hama province, where rebels who wished could disembark, before continuing to Idlib, a province held by armed groups, including al-Nusra Front.
He described the rebels who left as "militants who reject the agreement", saying they would leave with their families.
"The Waer neighbourhood arrangement will be completely safe and there will be no weapons in Waer after the implementation of the agreement," he said, adding security forces would go back to work in the area and would be the only ones armed.
Peace talks
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said about 750 people were expected to leave during the day for rebel-held areas in Hama and Idlib provinces.
The United Nations is presiding over implementation of the deal, which was agreed directly between the Syrian sides.

Some diplomats say local ceasefires may be the most effective way of gradually bringing peace to a country where more than 250,000 people have been killed, though one concluded in Homs in 2014 was widely seen as a forced surrender.
Syria peace talks involving world powers in Vienna in October called for a nationwide ceasefire and a renewal of UN-brokered talks between the rival Syrian sides.
Meanwhile, Russia said Moscow, Washington and the United Nations will hold Syria talks in Geneva on Friday as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict are ratcheted up.
"We will be having consultations in the trilateral format - Russia, the United States and the UN," Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told RIA Novosti state news agency on Wednesday.
In another diplomatic track, Syrian opposition groups were meeting in Saudi Arabia to agree on a transitional government that does not include Assad.
The two-day, closed-door talks are seen as the most serious effort yet to unify the opposition, a step considered vital to peace talks sought by world powers but which has angered Iran.
In a separate meeting in Riyadh, Gulf leaders gathered on Wednesday for an annual summit in the face of plunging oil revenues, the war in Yemen and pressure for peace in Syria.
The kings and emirs were expected to voice support for the unification of Syria's opposition.

Lebanese army and al-Nusra Front conduct prisoner swap

Qatari-brokered deal secures release of 16 Lebanese security officers seized by Syrian group in exchange for 13 people.

 

Lebanon - The Lebanese army and Syria's al-Nusra Front have conducted a long-awaited prisoner swap outside the border town of Arsal, where a group of Lebanese soldiers were kidnapped last year.
The deal, brokered by Qatari mediators, entails the release of 16 Lebanese security officers - soldiers and policemen - by al-Nusra Front and, from the Lebanese side, 13 prisoners, including five women.
The Lebanese Red Cross were at the site of the exchange alongside the army as al-Nusra Front fighters sitting on the back of trucks raised their flag, celebrating the deal.
One of the released soldiers told Al Jazeera: "We would like to thank al-Nusra Front for releasing us. We would like to thank everyone who took part in the negotiations that led to our release."
At the initial stage of the exchange, al-Nusra Front handed over the body of a soldier, Mohammed Hamieh, killed by its fighters.
"Of course we are so happy to finally get [his body] back," one of Hamieh's relatives said in Beirut, tears running down her cheeks.
Members of the family had camped out in downtown Beirut for over a year, demanding the release of all the captured soldiers.
Months of negotiations
The 16 Lebanese security officers - plus two soldiers who were killed in captivity - were kidnapped by al-Nusra Front in Syria during deadly clashes in August 2014 in Arsal.

Footage from the prisoner exchange

The prisoner exchange followed months of exhaustive negotiations.
Among the prisoners released by Lebanon are Jumana Hmayed, who was arrested for transporting "terrorists into Lebanon", and Saja Dulaimi, former wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Dulaimi was arrested in November 2014 by Lebanese security forces in northern Lebanon, on charges of belonging to a terrorist group.
In June 2015, she gave birth in prison to a baby girl. Included in the exchange were her children who remained with her during her incarceration.
Dulaimi told Al Jazeera Arabic's correspondent in Arsal that she is planning on going to Turkey.
"I am Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's ex-wife. We have been divorced for over six years now. I will head to Beirut and plan on leaving to Turkey," she said.
News initially broke out on Friday evening that there was a breakthrough in the negotiations and a swap would be imminent. Reports detailed large convoys, said to be carrying the Lebanese prisoners, moved from the prisons towards the Bekaa in preparation for the swap.
But Lebanon's General Security, the agency handling the hostage file, urged local media outlets to refrain from reporting any details until the swap was complete for fear of derailing the deal.
Al-Nusra demands
Previous attempts at completing the prisoner swap had failed in the past.
The same situation nearly transpired over the weekend, when al-Nusra Front included new demands at the 11th hour.

According to Lebanese security sources, al-Nusra Front demanded the inclusion of the file of Mustapha Hujeiri, who has been key in mediating with the terrorist organisation, and has been handed a life sentence in absentia by the Lebanese judiciary.
Security sources said Abbas Ibrahim, head of Lebanon's General Security, ordered aid trucks that had been brought up as part of the deal to turn around and put a halt to the negotiations following the request.
On Monday, the negotiations resumed again and reports signalled positive steps taken to finalise the exchange.
The August 2014 clashes left 19 soldiers killed and a further 35 soldiers and policemen were kidnapped by fighters from both ISIL and al-Nusra Front.
In the immediate aftermath, seven were released. In the following months, two soldiers were beheaded by ISIL, and another two were killed by al-Nusra Front. Currently there are 16 soldiers with al-Nusra Front and nine with ISIL.
Repeated attempts to negotiate with ISIL regarding the hostages in their possession have so far been unsuccessful, and there is no information on their situation.

The families of the hostages have been camping out in Beirut's downtown area, refusing to remove their encampment until the file is resolved and all their sons have been returned.
"Even if they release the 16 hostages [from al-Nusra Front], we will stay down here until all of them have been released," Rima Geagea, sister of Pierre Geagea, one of the kidnapped soldiers, said.
"We will not move until that happens."
The last few days has proven to be an emotional rollercoaster for the families and relatives of the hostages, as every so often the reports regarding the negotiations would take a different turn.
As one relative said, "We are used to this, and we will not give up until they all come home."