Experts overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal hope to begin on-site inspections and the initial disabling of equipment "within the next week", the United Nations has said.
The joint mission of the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on Thursday it had made good initial progress, adding that documents handed over by Damascus on Wednesday were promising.
"The team hopes to begin on-site inspections and the initial disabling of equipment within the next week," the groups said in a statement.
The two organisations, however, warned that "further analysis, particularly of technical diagrams, will be necessary and some more questions remain to be answered".
The OPCW-UN team of 19 disarmament experts arrived in Damascus on Tuesday.
They are overseeing the implementation of a UN resolution which orders Syria's chemical arsenal destroyed.
Resolution 2118 was passed after gas attacks on the outskirts of Damascus killed hundreds of people on August 21, an atrocity that prompted the United States to threaten military strikes on Syria.
President Bashar al-Assad's regime is understood to have more than 1,000 tonnes of the nerve agent sarin, mustard gas and other banned chemical weapons.
Several prominent Syrian rebel groups called on two armed opposition factions, one linked to al-Qaeda and the other to the more moderate Western-backed opposition, to end days of deadly infighting in northern Syria.
The clashes between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the Northern Storm Brigade around the town of Azaz near the Turkish border have been among the worst instances of rebel-on-rebel violence in Syria's civil war.
The infighting threatens to undermine the opposition as it seeks to achieve its main goal of overthrowing President Bashar Assad's regime.
Six rebel groups urged ISIL and the Northern Storm Brigade to "cease fire immediately" and resolve their differences before an Islamic court.
The appeal also called on the al-Qaeda-linked ISIL to withdraw its fighters to areas where they were before the clashes in Azaz erupted late last month.
The area is part of vast swath of territory that rebels seized from government troops over the past year.
Saudi Arabia's frustration at international inaction over Syria and the Palestinians led it to cancel its speech at the United Nations General Assembly for the first time ever this week, a diplomatic source said.
Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal had been scheduled to deliver an address to the general assembly on Tuesday afternoon.
By the standards of the world's top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam, which usually expresses diplomatic concerns only in private, the decision represented an unprecedented statement of discontent.
"The Saudi decision... reflects the kingdom's dissatisfaction with the position of the UN on Arab and Islamic issues, particularly the issue of Palestine that the UN has not been able to solve in more than 60 years, as well as the Syrian crisis," said the source.
The conservative Islamic kingdom is one of the main backers of rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people in two and a half years.
It has repeatedly called for the international community to intervene on behalf of the rebels, whom it provides with weapons, and has said Assad must be toppled because Syrian government forces have bombarded civilian areas.
[Reuters]
Al Qaeda-linked fighters fought rival Syrian rebels near the border with Turkey on Wednesday, activists said, in an outbreak of violence driven by the divisions between factions battling President Bashar al-Assad.
The al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took control of the northern border town of Azaz last month, kicking out rival rebels and prompting Turkey to shut the crossing about 5 km away.
ISIL, which wants to merge Syria into a larger state ruled by Islamic law, has maintained control of the town since then and clashes have periodically erupted between it and fighters of the Northern Storm brigade that they had expelled to its outskirts.
Activists said the latest fighting broke out on Tuesday night after a deadline ISIL had set for Northern Storm fighters to surrender their weapons came to an end.
"There are very fierce clashes on the outskirts of Azaz. ISIL cut all roads leading to Turkey and the situation is very tense," said one rebel source, speaking from Turkey.
Another activist from Azaz said ISIL had seized two checkpoints and a base from Northern Storm and had advanced toward the border. He said some ISIL fighters had been killed, but he did not know how many.
[Reuters]
The UN Security Council on Wednesday agreed on a statement calling on the Syrian government to improve humanitarian aid access, diplomats said.
The statement, which also includes a call for cross-border aid operations, is to be officially released later Wednesday, the diplomats told AFP news agency.
[AFP]
Global powers are "on the right track" with a plan to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, Russian President Vladimir Putin told an investment conference on Wednesday. [Reuters]
UN asks Kuwait to host second donors meet for Syria
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has called on the emir of Kuwait to host a second donors' conference to raise aid for Syrian refugees, the official KUNA agency said on Wednesday.
Kuwait hosted the first donors' conference in January, when participating nations pledged $1.5bn for Syrian refugees.
Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, who is on a private visit to the United States, received a phone call late on Tuesday from Ban who "expressed hopes... for Kuwait to host the second donors' conference to support the humanitarian situation in Syria," KUNA said.
The United Nations launched a record $5.2bn aid appeal in June to fund operations in Syria and neighbouring countries, warning the number of Syrians needing help because of the conflict could rise to over 10 million by the end of 2013.
The aid is for food, which accounts for one-fifth of the sum, clean water, medical care and schooling, as well as to build refugee camps.
The UN appeal aims to raise $3.8bn for refugees and $1.4bn for operations in Syria.
[Source: AFP]
Syria's foreign reserves crashed by more than a third in the year to the end of 2011, figures published by the central bank showed, giving a rare glimpse into the war-stricken country's finances.
An undated report on Syria's central bank website showed foreign reserves fell to about 158 billion Syrian pounds at the end of 2011 from around 242 billion a year earlier - the most up-to-date figures published since the crisis started.
The figures were converted to pounds at an old official rate the report listed as 11.2 pounds to the dollar, vastly different from the current unofficial rate of around 167 to the dollar.
While the numbers are too old to indicate Syria's current reserve levels, they suggest reserves were dropping at a rapid pace even during the conflict's early days when fighting was relatively limited.
Economists estimated foreign reserves at about $16-18bn before the crisis, when Syria was earning some $2.5bn a year from oil exports. Most of the oil revenues dried up in late 2011 when the European Union imposed sanctions on Syrian crude purchases.
[Reuters]
Syria's currency has recovered some of the heavy losses inflicted over two years of civil war and sanctions, helped by a US decision not to pursue military action against Damascus.
Traders said the pound, which traded at 47 to the dollar before protests against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in March 2011, was trading at 167 to the dollar on Tuesday, its strongest level since June - partly due to the return of some refugees with dollars to change.
That has helped make the pound worth nearly twice as much as in July when it briefly hit record lows of around 300 per dollar.
"There is less psychological pressure because the scare about a strike has gone," said a Damascus based banker, adding that the central bank's readiness to inject more dollars was also supporting the pound.
The pound's value has also revived somewhat after the arrest of dozens of dealers and the closure of several exchange houses which officials blamed for its wild fluctuations, dealers said.
It sank to 235 after President Barack Obama announced that Washington wanted to strike Syrian targets in response to a deadly chemical attack but has appreciated again helped by central bank intervention in the market and, dealers say, by the return of some refugees who have bought pounds.
"A lot of people who had left were returning and there is more demand because they are bringing dollars and spending in Syrian pounds. We are feeling their presence," said a dealer in a licensed firm located in one of the main Damascus trading areas.
Other moves such as eased restrictions on banks selling dollars was helping to bolster the pound, one banker said, adding that the central bank was meeting most of their foreign currency needs.
Dealers said the central bank was expected to announce plans in the next few days to lift a $10,000 ceiling on dollar purchases by ordinary Syrians for non-trading purposes.
(Reuters)
Photo credit: Reutersby Philippa Stewartby Philippa Stewart 3:23 AM
Members of the Jund al-Rahman Brigade (The soldiers of the Merciful) load a home made canon on the front lines of Syria's northeastern city of Deir Ezzor [AFP]by Philippa Stewart 2:13 AM
Abu Ali praying in a rubble-strewn room in Deir al-Zor [Reuters]by Philippa Stewart
Activists say the 84-year-old is the oldest fighter in the Free Syrian Army [Reuters]by Philippa Stewart
Abu Ali is a member of the 'Al-Ikhlas' brigade [Reuters]by Philippa Stewart
Activists say he leads one of the brigade's groups [Reuters]by Philippa StewartPreviousNext1of 4by Philippa Stewart 12:06 AM
Global powers are "on the right track" with a plan to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, Russian President Vladimir Putin told an investment conference on Wednesday. [Reuters]by AJE Staff October 2 at 9:15 PM
by AJE Staffby AJE Staff October 2 at 6:45 AM
Fighting rages on in Syria's southern city of Deraa and other flashpoint areas.Videos posted by rebels appear to show bodies of government soldiers killed while trying to launch attacks on Barzeh, a suburb of Damascus.The rebels set up new training units to consolidate their gains in Damascus.Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reports.Syria rebels seek to consolidate their gainsby AJE Staff October 2 at 1:36 AM
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