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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Report: Syrian VP defected to Jordan

2012-08-26

Week after report of failed defection attempt, Al-Arabiya quotes sources as saying that Farouk al-Sharaa has left Syria a few days ago. Opposition: Another top general defected Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa has defected from Bashir al-Assad's regime and has been in Jordan for days, sources told the Al-Arabiya news network Saturday.   A number of reports published last weekend said al-Sharaa, who also served as vice president under Hafez Assad, Bashar's father, may have defected to the Hashemite Kingdom. But official sources in Syria denied the reports and claimed that al-Sharaa was working as usual in his Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... office. The opposition to Assad's regime also said the attempted defection may have failed. Following the reports, Lebanese newspaper al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... said Assad had fired al-Sharaa and named Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar as his replacement. Syria's state-owned television network denied the report of al-Sharaa's dismissal.   Also on Saturday, Syrian opposition sources told Al-Arabiya that senior General Mohammad Musa al-Jairo has defected from the ranks of the army and has relocated with his family to Jordan. Al-Jairo is the commander of the Syrian army's 7th Division. He is the second top Syrian general to defect to Jordan.   Earlier, Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai quoted senior Arab diplomats as saying that the governments of Iran, Russia, China and other Syrian allies have concluded that there is no solution to the Syrian crisis that will see Assad remain in power.   The Arab diplomats said the countries are now trying to advance a proposal by which the president will leave Syria and receive asylum elsewhere. Damascus has denied the report.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Tehran declaration created new front

2010-06-23

[Iran Press TV Latest] President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Tehran declaration on a proposed nuclear fuel swap deal has created a new front against "arrogant" powers of the world. "In fact, the Tehran declaration created a new front against the arrogant [powers] in the world and undoubtedly Iran and Syria will be the nucleus of the front," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a meeting with visiting Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa in Tehran on Tuesday. Foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey, and Brazil signed the declaration in the Iranian capital on May 17, according to which Iran would ship 1200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium to Turkey to be exchanged for 120 kilograms of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel rods to power the Tehran research reactor, which produces radioisotopes for cancer treatment. Ahmadinejad also noted that the unity between Iran and Syria has foiled all "plots" hatched by arrogant powers. Al-Sharaa, for his part, highlighted the importance of "strategic" ties between Iran and Syria, saying that "the goals and plans that the two countries are pursuing will benefit the nations of the [Middle East] region and the world." The Syrian vice president also condemned the "unjust" measures taken by the UN Security Council against Iran, including its latest sanctions resolution against the Islamic Republic.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Qurei says PA will coordinate with Syria

2007-12-04

A visiting envoy for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas promised Monday to continue coordination with Syria as the Palestinians work to reach a peace agreement with Israel before the end of next year. Former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei's comments came after a meeting with Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem to discuss the recent US-sponsored Middle East peace conference, which set the stage for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. "We announce that we will stay in full coordination with Syria and the Arabs" during future negotiations, Qurei said. At the recent summit in Annapolis, Maryland, Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said they would aim to reach a peace deal in 2008. But Olmert told his cabinet Sunday that Israel did not regard the December 2008 peace deal target date as a deadline. "The (Annapolis) joint statement said that by the end of 2008 the final status negotiations should end," Qurei told reporters after Monday's meeting. "If Olmert says other than that, then he is responsible for what he says." The Palestinian envoy added that "we are committed to working seriously to reach an agreement before the end of 2008." The two sides have agreed to hold their first formal negotiating session in the region on December 12. During Qurei's visit Monday, he met with Nayef Hawatmeh, head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or DFLP, one of several radical Palestinian factions based in Syria that are opposed to peace with Israel.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Iran 'regrets' Hamas-Fatah infighting

2007-06-25

An Iranian deputy foreign minister has met with top Syrian and Palestinian officials - including a Palestinian representative to Lebanon. Mohammad Reza Baqeri, Iran's deputy foreign minister in charge of Asia and African countries, told reporters Sunday after meeting with Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa that Iran "extremely regrets their [Hamas and Fatah's] inter-fighting and separation."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Bush plan rejects dialogue with Syria

2007-01-12

President Bush's new strategy on Iraq rejects proposals to enlist Syria's aid in ending Iraq's raging violence - a move Damascus calls a mistake that wrecks an opportunity to benefit both sides. In announcing plans to send 21,000 more troops to Iraq, Bush slammed Syria and its ally Iran, accusing both of supporting Iraqi militants and vowing that the U.S. military will break their lines of support. Bush also called on U.S. Arab allies Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia - which have rocky relations with Syria - to support Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad. The call was seen in the Mideast as a bid to further isolate Damascus and Tehran. "It's an escalation devoid of any signs of peace," Syrian lawmaker Suleiman Hadad said Thursday of Bush's speech the night before. State-run newspapers predicted the new U.S. plan would fail and bring more violence to Iraq. A few hours before Bush's speech, Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa said the American troop surge was "not a positive step" and would only "pour oil on the fire."

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Qurei: Unity gov't to be formed in next few days. Really.

2006-11-21

Former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qurei, who was in Damascus, said Monday that a Palestinian unity government would be established within a few days, Israel Radio reported. Qurei met with Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa, who promised all the aid necessary to establish the new government. Qurei added that after the unity government was established, there would be reforms in the PLO. Qurei's statements seemed to contradict an earlier report by Abbas aide Nabil Amr, who said Monday that talks over the unity government had been suspended due to disagreements between Fatah and Hamas.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria blames Israel for escalation

2006-07-14

Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa denied his country had a role in either the Hamas or Hezbollah abductions. "It's up to the resistance - both the Lebanese and the Palestinian - to decide what they are doing and why are they fighting," al-Sharaa told reporters in Damascus. But he put ultimate blame on Israel for the seizures of the soldiers, saying, "For sure, the occupation (of the Palestinian territories) is the cause provoking both Lebanese and Palestinian people, and that's why there is Lebanese and Palestinian resistance."

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