Houthis limit relief workers’ mobility by requiring authorization between cities

ANKARA: Turkish and British officials will discuss the Syrian Arab Republic’s future during a meeting in Ankara on Monday, with security, sanctions and economic development on the agenda, a Turkish foreign ministry source said on Sunday.
NATO-member Turkiye was a main backer of rebels who fought Bashar Assad for years and it has forged close ties with the new administration in Damascus following Assad’s ouster last year. It has promised to help rebuild Syria and offered assistance to train and equip its security forces.
Britain said last month it would adapt its Syria sanctions regimes after Assad’s fall, but will ensure asset freezes and travel bans imposed on members of the former government remain in place.
The Turkish source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Monday’s talks would be led by Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yilmaz and British junior Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer.
Yilmaz will emphasize the need for sanctions on Syria to be lifted unconditionally for rebuilding and economic development, the source said.
Yilmaz will also stress “the importance of the international community backing the Syrian administration’s steps toward achieving national reconciliation within a central government,” and push “to stop Israel’s actions openly violating and threatening Syria’s sovereignty,” the source added.
Reuters reported on Friday that Israel is lobbying the United States to keep Syria weak and decentralized, including by letting Russia keep its military bases there to counter Turkiye’s growing influence in Syria, according to sources familiar with the efforts.
Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on Sunday Turkiye had completed an initial phase of repairs and maintenance, including installing new equipment, at Damascus airport as part of Ankara’s efforts to help rebuild the transport hub.

CAIRO: Egypt rejected on Sunday attempts aimed at establishing a rival government in Sudan, warning that such moves jeopardized the “unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity” of the war-torn country.
Sudan has been locked in a war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for nearly two years, plunging the country into what the United Nations describes as one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory.
A week ago, the RSF and its allies signed a charter in Kenya declaring the formation of a “government of peace and unity” in areas under their control.
“Egypt expresses its rejection of any attempts that threaten the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of brotherly Sudan, including the pursuit of forming a parallel Sudanese government,” a statement from Cairo’s foreign ministry said Sunday.
It added that such actions “complicate the situation in Sudan, hinder ongoing efforts to unify political visions and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis.”
Egypt also called on “all Sudanese forces to prioritize the country’s supreme national interest and to engage positively in launching a comprehensive political (peace) process without exclusion or external interference.”
Last week, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty voiced the same stance in a press conference alongside his Sudanese counterpart Ali Youssef.
“Sudan’s territorial integrity is a red line for Egypt,” he said, adding that his country “rejects any calls to establish alternative structures outside the current framework.”
The paramilitaries’ move to form a rival government has drawn sharp criticism, including from UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who warned it would “further deepen Sudan’s fragmentation.”
Saudi Arabia, which previously mediated ceasefire talks between the warring sides, also rejected the RSF’s move.
In a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency on Friday, Riyadh’s foreign ministry warned against “any step or illegal measure taken outside the framework of official institutions.”
Kuwait echoed that position on Friday, saying it rejected “any unlawful actions taken outside the framework of legitimate state institutions” in Sudan, calling them “a threat to its territorial unity.”
At a UN Human Rights Council dialogue on Friday, Saudi Arabia’s Gulf neighbor Qatar also expressed its support for “Sudan’s unity and territorial integrity.”