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Syrian, Israeli officials meet in Paris on de-escalation measures: SANA

By
IFP Media Wire
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The talks centered on reducing tensions, non-interference in Syria’s internal affairs, supporting stability across the region, monitoring the ceasefire in Suwayda province and reactivating the 1974 disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria, according to the report.

The discussions were held under US mediation as part of wider diplomatic efforts to bolster security in Syria and preserve the country’s unity and territorial integrity, the agency added.

While SANA did not specify the identities of the Israeli officials, Israel’s Channel 12, citing two unnamed “informed” sources, stated that Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and US Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack were set to meet al-Shaibani in Paris on Tuesday night to discuss security arrangements on the border between the two sides, without providing further details.

On July 24, Barrack wrote on the US social media platform X that “I met this evening with the Syrians and Israelis in Paris. Our goal was dialogue and de-escalation, and we accomplished precisely that. All parties reiterated their commitment to continuing these efforts.”

The next day, Israel’s Channel 13, quoting a senior Israeli official it did not name, claimed Dermer had met with al-Shaibani in Paris in the presence of Barrack, describing the meeting at the time as “extremely important.”

The US news outlet Axios reported then that the talks were mediated by US President Donald Trump’s administration and constituted “the most high-level official engagement between Israel and Syria in more than 25 years.”

Axios cited unnamed Israeli officials as saying that the goal was “to reach security understandings regarding southern Syria in order to maintain the ceasefire between Israel and Syria.”

On Aug. 12, al-Shaibani met in Amman, Jordan with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Barrack.

The meeting addressed ways to enhance coordination between the three parties, with an agreement reached to form a joint Syrian-Jordanian-US working group to support Syrian government efforts in strengthening the Suwayda ceasefire and pursuing a comprehensive solution to the crisis.

Suwayda has observed a ceasefire since July 19 following a week of deadly armed clashes between Druze groups and Bedouin tribes and Israeli military attacks.

Israel has cited “protection of the Druze” to justify escalations against Syria and expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, which Damascus has denounced as blatant interference. Syria has called for enforcing the 1974 disengagement agreement between the two sides.

Israel also launched hundreds of airstrikes targeting Syrian military sites, including air fields, missile systems and air defense installations.

Syria’s transitional administration, formed after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, is working to restore stability across the country after nearly 25 years of authoritarian rule.

Iran president says Caucasus region must not become theater for geopolitical rivalry

By
IFP Media Wire
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“Iran’s position has always been clear, we do not accept any changes to internationally recognized borders in the Caucasus,” the president said at a joint press conference with Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan, on Tuesday.

“This region should not be transformed into an arena for global power competition,” he asserted.

Pezeshkian reiterated that Iran consistently supports Armenia’s territorial integrity, describing it as a fixed and unchanging policy. “The Caucasus must remain governed by Caucasian nations,” he said, warning that outsourcing conflict resolution to extra-regional powers would only complicate the situation further.

During the meeting with Pashinyan, the Iranian president described the continuation of friendly relations between the two countries as a firm commitment of Iran.

According to a statement by the Iranian presidency, he voiced Iran’s readiness to accelerate the finalization of a strategic long-term cooperation agreement.

He reiterated that the deep historical, cultural, and civilizational ties between Iran and Armenia provide a strong foundation for further strengthening bilateral cooperation based on mutual interests.

Pezeshkian also placed a premium on addressing Iran’s concerns regarding a trilateral deal between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and America to establish a transit corridor connecting Azerbaijan to its exclave Nakhchivan.

“Iran has always sought to stabilize peace and security in the Caucasus region, and will continue to do so.”

Pezeshkian’s visit came less than two weeks after Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a peace deal at the White House in the presence of US President Donald Trump.

That peace deal has escalated concerns about Washington’s interventionist intentions concerning the region.

Pashinyan said Armenia has always been and will remain committed to preserving its friendly and historic relations with Iran.

He said Iran and Armenia possess diverse and complementary capacities that should be harnessed to serve the interests of both nations.

“Cooperation with Iran, under the spirit of good neighborliness and the preservation and enhancement of friendly relations, is of strategic importance to Armenia. Without a doubt, Iran’s concerns regarding the construction of the new corridor will be fully respected.”

He added that Armenia is ready to sign a strategic long-term cooperation agreement with Iran.

Earlier in the day, the delegations of the two countries signed 10 memoranda of understanding on mutual cooperation.

The MoUs, signed on the second day of Pezeshkian’s visit, address diplomacy, economy, mines and industries, road and urban development, healthcare, environment, education, culture, social interaction, and tourism.

Yerevan trip leads to productive deals between Iran, Armenia: President Pezeshkian

By
IFP Media Wire
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In a meeting with Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan on Tuesday, Pezeshkian reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to enhancing friendly relations with Armenia. He emphasized that the visit aimed to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two nations and expressed optimism about the significant and beneficial agreements that emerged from their discussions.

The Iranian president also expressed gratitude to Armenia for its condemnation of the Israeli regime’s aggression against the Islamic Republic, highlighting the hypocrisy of those who accuse Iran while overlooking the atrocities committed by the Israeli regime in Gaza and other regions.

Regarding the presence of the United States in the region, Pezeshkian stated that Iran fundamentally opposes US involvement, citing past experiences that illustrate Washington’s failure to uphold its commitments.

In response, President Khachaturyan conveyed confidence that President Pezeshkian’s visit would further solidify bilateral relations. He acknowledged the enduring quality of cooperation between the two nations since Armenia’s independence.

Khachaturyan noted the rich historical, cultural, and civilizational ties that bind Iran and Armenia, spanning thousands of years of shared experiences. He highlighted the ongoing constructive engagement of Iranian businesses in various sectors within Armenia, suggesting abundant opportunities for further collaboration.

He affirmed Armenia’s commitment to peaceful coexistence and expressed hope that the three republics in the Caucasus could cultivate friendly relations alongside Iran and Turkey, ensuring mutual benefits for all parties involved.

The Armenian president remarked that Israel’s aggression has only strengthened Iranian unity. He said that international principles are easily violated, and unilateralism and bullying have spread across the global stage.

Bipartisan US lawmakers meet with Syria’s president in Damascus

By
IFP Media Wire
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Ahmad Al Sharaa

The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday posted photos of the lawmakers, the delegation included Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), and Reps. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.)

The lawmakers met with al-Sharaa and other senior officials in the administration, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Assad Hassan Al-Shaibani and Minister of Interior Anas Khattab.

Trump has moved to significantly ease sanctions on Syria in the wake of the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December. But Congress is split over whether to permanently repeal the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, a comprehensive sanctions regime against Syria that was meant to isolate and bankrupt Assad. Trump only has a six-month waiver to suspend those sanctions.

The divide is bipartisan. Some Republicans and Democrats are arguing for a cautious approach to lifting sanctions, to closely watch how al-Sharaa follows through on key commitments to counterterrorism, justice for victims of Assad and protection of minorities.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) put his support behind an initiative from Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) that would amend Caesar to give the president more flexibility on suspending sanctions yet retain the ability to implement them if needed. The debate in Congress came shortly after an American citizen was killed among a group of Syrian-Druze in an outbreak of sectarian violence in Suwayda, in southern Syria.

“We cannot expect perfection, we are not looking for Jeffersonian democracy in Syria, but we are also looking for a government to do all it can to prevent seven Druze, including one U.S. citizen, from being executed,” Sherman said last month, referring to the violence.

Still, there seems to be bipartisan consensus for engagement with al-Sharaa and his government. The delegation including Ernst and others follows trips by other lawmakers to Syria in the wake of the ousting of al-Assad, who fled the country in December amid a lightning takeover by al-Sharaa as head of the former-designated terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

Another Republican lawmaker, Arizona Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, who is of Syrian-Druze heritage, traveled to Damascus earlier this month to advocate for the return of Americans killed in Syria, in particular for Kayla Mueller, who was killed in 2015 while she was a hostage of Daesh (ISIS or ISIS) in Syria. Her family are his constituents. The Trump administration has also pushed for the Syrian government to help locate Austin Tice, an American journalist kidnapped by the Assad regime in 2012. The family believes he is alive.

Hamadeh traveled to Damascus after meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and urged Syria’s inclusion in the Abraham Accords, to normalize ties with Israel. Netanyahu has ordered airstrikes on Syria in what he says are counterterrorism actions and protections of Syria’s Druze minority. Hamadeh lobbied al-Sharaa to provide for the safe delivery of medical and humanitarian aid to Suwayda.

In April, a pair of Republican lawmakers also traveled to Syria, Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) and Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.).

Gaza shelters turned into ‘places of death’ as 540 children killed monthly by Israel: UN

By
IFP Media Wire
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Gaza War

“In Gaza, UNRWA schools have become shelters for hundreds of thousands of people,” UNRWA said in a statement on the US social media company X.

“People sought protection under the UN flag only for these shelters to become a place for death, including for too many children.”

“No place is safe for children in Gaza,” the statement added, calling for an immediate ceasefire.

UN agencies have warned of the devastating impact of Israel’s ongoing military campaign on Gaza’s children, as schools, hospitals, and homes are being relentlessly targeted.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, famine has killed at least 266 Palestinians, including 112 children, since October 2023, amid a worsening blockade and severe aid shortages.

Israel has killed more than 62,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

Iran says will deploy new missiles if confronted by adversaries

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iran Missile

Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, made the remarks during a meeting with foreign military attachés in Tehran on the occasion of “Defense Industry Day.”

He noted that the missiles used in the recent 12-day conflict with Israel were designed several years ago, but Iran now possesses weapons with significantly greater capabilities.

General Nasirzadeh emphasized that during the war, Iran faced not only Israel but also extensive US logistical, intelligence, and support efforts.

He said all weapons used were domestically produced and stressed that Iranian missiles successfully struck their targets, despite Israel’s censorship of battlefield outcomes.

According to him, Israel deployed several advanced air defense systems, including the Iron Dome, Arrow, and US-supplied Patriot and THAAD systems. However, he pointed out these defenses failed to stop most Iranian missiles, with strike accuracy improving as the conflict progressed.

The minister also highlighted defense diplomacy as a key strategy, saying Iran maintains constructive relations with many countries in pursuit of peaceful military cooperation.

Russia says won’t commit to Putin-Zelensky meeting

By
IFP Media Wire
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Putin and Zelensky

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov argued Tuesday that any summit between the leaders should be prepared “step by step, gradually, starting from the expert level and then going through all the necessary stages.”

Lavrov, who attended last week’s summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska, made the remarks in an interview with state-run television Rossiya-24.

The foreign minister said the Kremlin is not turning down negotiations with Ukraine and added that the U.S. president has the invitation from Moscow to visit Russia. Trump was accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff in Anchorage.

Trump spoke with Putin on Monday from the White House, calling the Russian leader as he was hosting Zelensky along with seven European leaders, including the secretary-general of NATO, in Washington. The European officials and Zelensky were not in the room when Trump called Putin.

“I didn’t do it in front of them — I thought that would be disrespectful to President Putin. I wouldn’t do that, because they have not had the warmest relations,” Trump stated Tuesday while on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.”

The conversation between the U.S. president and Putin lasted around 40 minutes, with Trump saying the call was “good” and that he told the Russian leader that “we’re going to set up a meeting with President Zelensky, and you and he will meet.”

“And then after that meeting, if everything works out OK, I’ll meet and we’ll wrap it up,” the president added.

Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, said on Tuesday that Trump and the Kremlin head had a “quite frank and constructive” conversation, discussing the “prospect of exploring opportunities for drawing higher-ranking officials from both Ukraine and Russia into these direct talks.

Trump, who has been pushing to end the three-and-a-half-year Russia-Ukraine conflict, has floated providing air support for Ukraine as part of security guarantees. The president said Washington will assist Europe in forming security guarantees for Kyiv to fortify the potential peace treaty between Russia and Ukraine.

“We’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you talk about by air because nobody has stuff we have,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.

The president has instructed his national security team to “come up with a framework for these security guarantees that can be acceptable to help ensure a lasting peace and end this war,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during Tuesday’s press briefing.

“I won’t, certainly, rule out anything as far as military options that the president has at his disposal, I’ll let him do that,” she stated, adding that Trump has “definitively” ruled out U.S. service members being on the ground in Ukraine.

Trump says no US forces in Ukraine

By
IFP Media Wire
-

Asked during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday what assurances he could provide that US troops would not be deployed to defend Ukraine’s borders, Trump said: “You have my assurance, and I am president. I am just trying to stop people from being killed.”

Trump stated that European countries were willing to provide troops to bolster Ukraine’s security, but the US could provide support “by air”.

“We’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably if you talk about by air, because there’s nobody that has the kind of stuff we have,” Trump told the Fox & Friends programme.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later reiterated that US troops would not be part of any peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv, but that Washington would assist with “coordination” and “perhaps provide other means of security guarantees”.

Trump’s comments came a day after he hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and top European leaders at the White House in his latest push to bring an end to the three-and-a-half-year-long conflict.

While Zelensky and European leaders cast Monday’s meeting as positive and productive, the question of how to ensure Ukraine’s post-war security remains a major sticking point in the negotiations on ending the war.

Although Trump has suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin could agree to the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine to uphold a peace deal, Moscow has repeatedly dismissed the idea.

Russia and Ukraine also appear to be far apart on the issue of territorial concessions and implementing a ceasefire in advance of a comprehensive peace deal.

Trump on Tuesday also elaborated on his plans for a bilateral summit between Putin and Zelenskyy, telling conservative radio host Mark Levin that “they’re in the process of setting it up”.

While Zelensky has said he is ready to meet Putin, Moscow has not confirmed that the Russian leader will attend a summit.

On Tuesday, Switzerland’s foreign affairs minister, Ignazio Cassis, told the national broadcaster that his country would be willing to host a Putin-Zelensky summit despite the International Criminal Court’s outstanding arrest warrant for the Russian leader.

After attending Monday’s talks at the White House, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was pushing for Geneva to be the location for a summit between the two leaders.

Iran, Armenia ink 10 MoUs during Pezeshkian’s visit

By
IFP Media Wire
-

The documents were signed by high-ranking officials of the two countries on Tuesday following a private meeting between the chief executive and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

The MoUs, signed on the second day of Pezehskian’s visit, address diplomacy, economy, mines and industries, road and urban development, healthcare, environment, education, culture, social interaction, and tourism.

The trip took place following the conclusion of a United States-mediated agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which triggered warnings about Washington’s interventionist intentions concerning the region.

Additionally, Pezeshkian and Pashinyan issued and signed a joint statement.

Earlier in the day, an official reception ceremony was held in honor of the Iranian president at the Armenian president’s official residence in Yerevan.

The chief executive is being accompanied on the trip by Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi as well as other top figures, including several other ministers.

A day earlier, Pezeshkian had met in Yerevan with elite Iranologists and Armenia-based Iranians, besides partaking in a meeting of the countries’ business leaders.

Upon departing for Armenia, he had identified the purpose of the trip as the enhancement of bilateral ties between the “friendly neighboring” nations. His administration, the president also noted, had accorded priority to the development of cooperation between the Islamic Republic and the countries whose foreign policy standing was aligned with that of Tehran.

The visit came less than two weeks after Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a “peace deal” at the White House in US President Donald Trump’s presence.

The deal has reportedly included a plan to set up a transit road, which could connect Azerbaijan and Armenia.

In reaction to the agreement, the Islamic Republic has welcomed regional peace, but invariably warned about the repercussions of foreign intervention in the region, stressing that it constantly observes ongoing regional developments as a means of guarding against uncalled-for meddling.

Pezeshkian had dismissed media “overstatements” concerning the matter, saying “the demands of the Islamic Republic have been met” as far as the issue was concerned.

At the time, the chief executive identified those demands as respect for regional countries’ sovereignty, respect for their territorial integrity, and opposition to any change in regional borders.

UN says record 383 aid workers killed in 2024

By
IFP Media Wire
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United Nations

The 2024 figure was up 31 percent on the year before, the UN said on World Humanitarian Day, “driven by the relentless conflicts in Gaza, where 181 humanitarian workers were killed, and in Sudan, where 60 lost their lives”.

It said state actors were the most common perpetrators of the killings in 2024.

The UN added most of those killed were local staff, and were either attacked in the line of duty or in their homes.

Besides those killed, 308 aid workers were wounded, 125 kidnapped and 45 detained last year.

“Even one attack against a humanitarian colleague is an attack on all of us and on the people we serve,” said UN aid chief Tom Fletcher.

“Attacks on this scale, with zero accountability, are a shameful indictment of international inaction and apathy.”

“As the humanitarian community, we demand — again — that those with power and influence act for humanity, protect civilians and aid workers and hold perpetrators to account,” he added.

Provisional figures from the Aid Worker Security Database show that 265 aid workers have been killed this year, as of August 14.

The UN reiterated that attacks on aid workers and operations violate international humanitarian law and damage the lifelines sustaining millions of people trapped in war and disaster zones.

“Violence against aid workers is not inevitable. It must end,” stated Fletcher, the UN emergency relief coordinator and under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.

Meanwhile the UN’s World Health Organization said it had verified more than 800 attacks on health care in 16 territories so far this year, with more than 1,110 health workers and patients killed and hundreds injured.

“Each attack inflicts lasting harm, deprives entire communities of life-saving care when they need it the most, endangers health care providers, and weakens already strained health systems,” the WHO announced.

World Humanitarian Day marks the day in 2003 when UN rights chief Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other humanitarians were killed in the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

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