Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti said he accepts the EU proposal, backed by France and Germany, to normalise relations with Serbia, following a meeting with the bloc’s special envoy Miroslav Lajcak on Monday.
Thousands of people in Turkey and Syria are reeling from deadly twin earthquakes that struck the morning of February 6. The first registered at magnitude 7.8—one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the region in 100 years—and the second at magnitude 7.5.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have received many injured and dead people in the hospitals we support in northwest Syria, and our teams have been working since the early hours to respond to the influx. In other locations, we have donated supply kits, and we are in touch with health authorities to provide support.
As an independent, impartial, and neutral nonprofit medical humanitarian organization, we depend on the generosity of individual donors to ensure we can respond to emergencies like this around the world.
Help us save lives in the Turkey-Syria earthquake and other emergencies around the world by making a generous, tax-deductible gift now.
MON, FEBRUARY 6, 2023 • 9:00 AM ET
1030 15TH STREET, NW
12TH FLOOR
WASHINGTON, DC 20005
High-level speakers from the US and Romanian governments discuss efforts to diversify energy sources in the Black Sea region as the war in Ukraine reaches its one-year mark.
Please join the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center on Monday, February 6th, from 9:00 to 10:15 a.m. for a hybrid event on how transatlantic cooperation can bolster energy security and decarbonization in the Black Sea region as it grapples with the repercussions from Russia’s war in Ukraine. Officials from the US and Romanian governments will also explore the Black Sea region’s pivotal role in fortifying Europe’s energy systems against future energy security threats. The conversation will include keynote remarks from Amb. Richard L. Morningstar, founding chairman of the Global Energy Center and former US ambassador to the European Union. Olga Khakova, Deputy Director for European Energy Security at the Global Energy Center, will moderate the discussion.
Fostul premier israelian Naftali Bennett, care a fost mediator între Moscova și Kiev la începutul războiului din Ucraina, în urmă cu un an, a declarat că țările occidentale au blocat negocierile între părțile implicate în conflict. Într-un interviu de 4 ore, fostul premier povestește cum s-au desfășurat lucrurile la acel moment și dezvăluie că au existat „17 sau 18 drafturi” de acord între Rusia și Ucraina în timpul negocierilor.
While sanctions continue to hinder the implementation of the gas deal involving Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, a bus bombing in Damascus wounded 15 police officers. Kurds in Syria also fear a military invasion of the country’s Northeast by Turkey in march.
The council announced the kidnapping on Saturday of one of its activists, according to Shaam News.
The Kurdish National Council in Syria condemned acts that contradict all human values and human rights, which fall within the framework of the policy of silencing voices, preventing freedom of political action, and restricting the Kurdish National Council and the activity of its members.
The Turkish intelligence is trying to reopen the M4 highway in a meeting in Idleb with HTS and the Turkish-backed factions. Meanwhile, ISIS has killed several members of the SDF and the Syrian army, and 15 security service members are injured in an attack with an IED. The IDF says the two armed Syrians who approached the Israeli border in the southern Golan Heights the previous day — one of whom was shot dead by troops — were not combatants, and an Alabama woman who ran away from home to join ISIS and had a child with one of its fighters says she still hopes to return to the United States, serve prison time if necessary, and advocate against the extremists.
The U.S. Envoy to NE Syria met with Arab tribal leaders in the governorates of Hassakeh and Raqqa, according to Orient Net.
The recent visit of U.S. State Envoy Nicholas Granger to northeastern Syria, accompanied by intense meetings with political, tribal, and military parties, has strengthened the belief that the US is preparing to develop the region’s administration and increase the presence of Arabs.
Diplomatic sources in Ankara confirmed to Al-Watan that Moscow is trying to arrange a meeting between the Syrian and Turkish foreign ministers.
Russian mediation, alongside Iran, has been active in recent days to bring the views between Damascus and Ankara closer. The mediation’s aim has been to expedite diplomatic talks between the two countries, noting that there is a scheduled date in mid-2023 for security talks, which may be accompanied by a meeting between the two countries’ defence ministers.
In Mali, the al-Qaeda-linked group JNIM’s non-aggression pact with other armed groups highlights its political legitimacy and may lay the groundwork for negotiations with Bamako, even as security worsens around the capital.