Syria claims troop pullout

April 11, 2012

syria


Moscow/Paris/Beirut, April 11: Syria's foreign minister told Moscow yesterday Damascus had started withdrawing troops in line with Kofi Annan's peace plan but Russia said the regime should implement the initiative more decisively.


The rare visit by Foreign Minister Walid Muallem to Moscow coincided with a deadline under the Annan plan for Syria to withdraw forces from protest cities amid Western worries the scheme is in tatters.


"I told my Russian colleague of the steps Syria is taking to show its goodwill for the implementation of the Annan plan," Muallem said after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. "We have already withdrawn military units from different Syrian provinces," he said without giving details on locations.


Muallem also said Syria had freed some prisoners who had been arrested for participating in anti-government riots. He added that a ceasefire should begin "simultaneously" with the arrival of international observers, in another apparent diversion from the Annan peace plan championed by the West.


However, France denounced Syria's assurance that its forces were complying with a UN-backed cease-fire deal as a "blatant lie" and urged foreign governments yesterday to challenge Assad's administration.


In scarcely diplomatic language, the French Foreign Ministry spokesman said: “The Syrian foreign minister's statements, affirming an initial implementation of the Annan plan by the Damascus regime, are a fresh expression of this blatant and unacceptable lie.


“They are indicative of a feeling of impunity against which the international community absolutely must react," the spokesman, Bernard Valero, told reporters in Paris.


Citing Syrian sources and satellite images, Valero said “none of the elements” of Annan's plan had been implemented. “There is what the regime’s representatives are saying and then there is the reality," he said. "On average 100 people are dying each day and it continues. “Today, Syrian security forces are still firing on populated areas and using heavy weapons, armored vehicles and helicopters. That's the reality.”


Syrian rebels are committed to the cease-fire, a rebel spokesman said yesterday. Col. Qassem Saad Al-Deen, spokesman of the joint command of the Free Syrian Army inside Syria, said the rebels would fight on if Assad does not pull back his troops and tanks from in and around cities by tomorrow in line with the plan.


Deadly violence yesterday killed 17 people across Syria, including at least seven civilians, on the day the government is expected to pull out from protest hubs as per a UN-Arab League peace plan, monitors said. Six civilians were killed in shelling that hit the old district of Khaldiyeh, in Homs, and another was shot dead in the neighborhood of Bab Tadmur, also in the central city, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Britain-based center said regime forces shot four people in the village of Kfar Zeita, in the central Hama province, where troops loyal to Assad carried out arrests.


The center had reported earlier that unidentified gunmen killed six soldiers in the northeastern province of Hassakeh, in an attack that occurred between the villages of Masaada and Marqada.


It also reported clashes between Assad forces and rebel fighters in the area of Mzeyreeb, in the southern province of Daraa, the cradle of the dissent movement launched a year ago.


Meanwhile, explosions were heard outside Douma, a northern suburb of the capital, the center said.


The Local Coordination Committees, one of the main opposition groups inside Syria, said "large military reinforcements" had arrived overnight on the eastern outskirts of Rastan, in the central province of Homs.


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News Network
May 20,2020

Cairo, May 20: A senior Kuwaiti lawmaker has called for imposing a tax on expatriates’ remittances to shore up the country’s finances.

MP Khalil Al Saleh, the head of the parliament’s Human Resources Committee, has presented a draft law on the proposed tax to the legislature.

“Imposing fees on expatriates’ transfers will have a role in improving the state's revenues and diversify sources of income,” he told Al Rai newspaper.

Migrant workers transfer about 4.2 billion dinars annually from Kuwait, he added, citing figures from Kuwait’s Central Bank.

“This system is in effect in most countries of the world and in more than one Gulf country. Expats there have not objected to it. Allowing this money to exit the country is very dangerous and has a direct effect on economy,” MP Al Saleh said.

“We do not target brotherly expats because imposing symbolic fees on financial transfers will not affect their money, but will have a positive effect on the state’s sources,” he said. “This has become a necessity after the money transferred outside Kuwait has reached 4.2 billion dinars annually without the state [Kuwait] making any benefit from this.”

Foreign workers make up 3.3 million of Kuwait’s 4.6 million population.

Several Kuwaiti public figures have recently pushed for redrawing the demographic imbalance in the country, accusing expatriates of straining health facilities and increasing the Covid-19 threat.

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News Network
May 5,2020

Dubai, May 5: Saudi Arabian prosecutors have ordered the arrest of a Saudi citizen for insulting an Asian expatriate and abusing him for not embracing Islam.

A video went viral online showing the expat, apparently with little knowledge of the Arabic language, being insulated by an Arabic-speaking man who does not appear in the clip, for having not embraced Islam and for not fasting.

A monitoring centre affiliated with the public prosecution examined the video the content of which “shows the citizen’s use of abusive words against the Asian resident on the pretext of inviting him to Islam,” the prosecution source said.

“The public prosecution closely follows up whatever infringes rights of citizens and residents including harm to their dignity and legal rights regardless of pretexts of such infringement,” the source added.

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Agencies
April 2,2020

Ankara, Apr 2: Saudi Arabia on Thursday declared a 24-hour lockdown in all parts of Makkah and Medina cities as part of measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

"The 24-hour curfew will be imposed in all parts of the cities of Makkah and Medina, with a ban on entry and exit from both cities," the Saudi Interior Ministry said on Twitter.

The lockdown starts from Thursday “until further notice.”

All commercial activities inside the residential neighborhoods of the two cities were also prohibited, except for pharmacies, food products stores, gas stations and banking services, the ministry said.

After first appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the virus has spread to at least 180 countries and regions, according to U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

Its data shows the number of confirmed cases worldwide have surpassed 962,900, with the death toll over 49,100 and more than 202,700 recoveries.

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