America considers Astana as closed path, deep divisions among countries in 20th Summit

NEWS DESK

On Saturday morning, the Arab newspapers touched upon the developments in the Syrian file and the renewing of the Israeli bombardment on sites inside Syria.

Al-Sharaq al-Awsat: Washington: «Path of Astana» in a locked way

On Saturday, the Arab newspapers touched upon the Syrian issue and dealt with several topics, the most important of which was the Syrian path of Astana. In this context, al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper said, "The United States considered that the path of Astana sponsored by Russia, Iran and Turkey in Syria would be closed in terms of drafting a new Syrian constitution, stressing the need to reach a solution by the end of this year."

And it added, "The UN special envoy to Syria, Stephane de Mistura regretted a "missed opportunity" in the efforts to reach a political solution in Syria with the conclusion of the talks of "Astana" which had not made any progress towards ending the conflict in this country, in a statement. The US State Department also expressed regret that no progress had been made. The spokeswoman on behalf of the Foreign Office, Heather Naort, said that for ten months, Astana-Sochi initiation led to a dilemma with regard to the Syrian constitutional commission and considered that the establishment of this constitutional committee and its convening in Geneva by the end of this year is vital in order to reduce tension and to find a political solution to the conflict."

Naort noted, "Russia and Iran continue to use this path to hide Assad regime's refusal to participate in the political process" under the auspices of the United Nations.

Al-Arab: Russian interest in returning the Israeli bombardment on Syria

On the Israeli bombardment of the Syrian positions, al-Arab newspaper said, "Israel renewed its bombardment of sites inside Syria after a cease lasted for weeks against the background of the crisis that broke out between it and Russia because of the downing of a Russian aircraft of "El-20" type during its flight over the Mediterranean on 17 September, where Moscow held Tel Aviv the responsible for that at the time."

It added, "Analysts saw that the renewing of the Israeli bombardment may be an indication of the resumption of coordination between Moscow and Tel -Aviv in the Syrian airspace after the talk of differences between the two sides because of Russia's request for amendments to the terms of the coordination agreement reached to after Moscow's direct intervention in the Syrian crisis in 2015. The Syrian army has not used the sophisticated AS-300 system supplied by Moscow a few days after the downing of El-20 aircraft, and the army has used in its last response to the hostile aircrafts on its conventional arsenal."

Al-Hayat: The Turkish politician Demîrteş is still held in detention despite the decision of the European Court of Human Rights

About the Turkish file, al-Hayat newspaper said, "Lawyers who defend the Turkish politician Salah Uddin Demîrteş told Reuters on Friday that the Turkish court still keeps him in jail despite of the European Union's senior officials' calling for his release. Two years ago, the authorities arrested Demîrteş, the former leader of the Kurdish Democratic People's Party who advocates the Kurds and one of Turkey's most famous politicians on charges related to terrorism, and sentenced him to more than four years in prison for a speech that he delivered in 2013. He has actually been saved from the sentence, but still faces other terrorism-related charges could be punished by being prisoned for up to 142 years if convicted."

Al-Sharq al-Awsat: The 20th Summit is held with an unprecedented division

"The activities of the 20th Summit was launched in Buenos Aires on Friday with deep divisions among the member states, especially between the United States and China because of the trade war between them and between Russia and the Western countries on the back of more than a crisis. The most heated crisis takes place in Ukraine. Information was received on Friday evening on the progress in the negotiations on the item of climate and trade in the final statement amid fears that this item and the item of free exchange may prevent reaching a unified final statement of the Summit which would end on Saturday.

(T/S)

ANHA