Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] A total of 15 women returned from Syria to Azerbaijan. According to the country's Foreign Ministry, 393 Azerbaijani women and children have been returned from Syria and Iraq in recent years.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 10, 12 citizens of the country were repatriated to Azerbaijan , who were kept in the Amerna camp in the Syrian city of Jerablus. Among them were two children - a brother and sister, aged 7 and 10, who lost both parents. On May 28, two adults and nine children, including two sisters who had lost their parents, were returned to their homeland from a refugee camp in the Syrian city of Jerablus.
On October 6, 15 citizens of the country, held in the Amerna camp in the Syrian city of Jerablus, were repatriated to Azerbaijan, the press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said tonight.
The return of 15 women was the result of gradual and coordinated measures taken by the government of Azerbaijan. First of all, the location, identity and belonging to Azerbaijani citizenship of persons subject to repatriation were established. Further, on the basis of an interstate agreement, their transit to the territory of Turkey was ensured.
After that, members of the interdepartmental working group left for Turkey, where they conducted an initial medical and psychological examination of the repatriates and provided them with the necessary assistance, according to a press release from the Foreign Ministry.
The women arrived on an Ankara-Baku flight. After the necessary procedures are completed, those returned will be handed over to their families. The Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan plans to take all necessary measures for the reintegration and rehabilitation of the persons concerned, the press release further states.
The message of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry also indicates that in recent years, 393 women and children have been repatriated to Azerbaijan, including 290 from Iraq and 103 from Syria.
Tofig Turkel, an observer for the Turan agency on the Middle East, explained earlier to the "Caucasian Knot" that in recent years, the Azerbaijani authorities have been repatriating from Iraq and Syria children and women from the families of people who once went to fight in these countries as part of various armed formations.
"Some created families there, and children were already born in these countries. After the liquidation of these terrorist groups, the death, arrest or flight of militants, women and children of foreigners, including Azerbaijanis, were placed in special camps, shelters or they were kept in places of detention.
"As Azerbaijani citizenship is established, these people are returned back. It often happens that children have lost both parents, and the establishment of their citizenship takes some time. After the return of children without parents, they are usually given to close relatives - on the paternal or maternal side. Usually such children are taken by uncles , aunts or grandparents. If there are none, then children are sent to orphanages," Turkel told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
[JPost] Yair Lapid rejects Lebanese proposal to reverse Israeli security, economic gains from US-mediated agreement
Israel is preparing for a possible confrontation with Hezbollah after rejecting increased demands from Lebanon in maritime border talks on Thursday.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz instructed the defense establishment “to prepare for any scenario in which tensions increase in the northern arena – including defense and offense readiness,” his office said.
The instruction was issued following an assessment of the situation with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi and other senior military officers and defense officials.
Shortly afterwards, the Security Cabinet authorized Prime Minister Yair Lapid, Gantz and Alternate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to take decisions if there were to be an escalation in the North. Gantz warned that Israel will defend its infrastructure regardless of the outcome of negotiations.
“If Hezbollah tries to harm [Israeli infrastructure or sovereignty], the military cost to Lebanon and Hezbollah will be very high,” he said at a memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
PM Yair Lapid rejects Lebanese counter-proposal
Lapid rejected changes proposed by Lebanon to a maritime border agreement drafted by the US, a senior diplomatic source said on Thursday. The prime minister emphasized to US Energy Envoy Amos Hocstein that Israel would not make any more concessions.
Hochstein’s draft, presented to Israel and Lebanon last week, was meant to be close to the final version of an agreement settling the dispute over the countries’ economic waters. Lebanon submitted its comments on the draft on Tuesday.
Lapid assessed some of the demands to be new and significant, and instructed the negotiating team to reject them.
“Prime Minister Lapid made clear that he will not compromise on Israel’s security and economic interests even if it means there will not be an agreement soon,” the source said.
The source said that one of the Lebanese demands that Lapid rejected was that Total Energy, the French petroleum giant that holds the license to develop the Kana gas field, buy out the portion of the reservoir in Israeli waters, whereas the proposal that Israel agreed to accept stated that Total would pay royalties to Israel for the gas extracted from its waters.
Lebanon refuses to accept 'buoy line'
Exploration has not yet begun in Kana and the amount of gas in the reservoir is unknown so an immediate buyout could fall short of the actual value of the gas in Israeli waters.
Another element that Lapid rejected was Lebanon’s refusal to accept the “buoy line” as a border. The line in question is an obstacle extending 5 km. into the sea from Rosh Hanikra, along the border with Lebanon. The government has argued the line was vulnerable because Israel had established it unilaterally as a zone necessary for it to have freedom of action for its security, and the agreement with Lebanon would enshrine that line in international law.
The “buoy line” is what Lapid’s government has presented as the primary achievement of the negotiations over Israeli security. However, in the ensuing days, Lebanon asked to change the language describing the “buoy line” to avoid accepting it as an international border.
Even as Israel rejects those demands, it “will extract gas from the Karish rig at the moment that it will be possible,” the source stated.
The Security Cabinet, which discussed the latest developments in the talks with Lebanon concurred that progress at Karish should continue as planned.
Karish, an Israeli gas field, is adjacent to Kana, a reservoir that spans Lebanese and Israeli waters, as well as the area in dispute. Energean, which holds the Israeli license for Karish, set up a rig about 70 km off Haifa in June and has worked towards extracting gas, while Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah threatened to attack if Karish becomes operational.
“If Hezbollah or someone else tries to harm Karish or threaten us, the negotiations on the maritime line will stop immediately and [Hezbollah leader] Hassan Nasrallah will have to explain to the citizens of Lebanon why they don’t have a gas rig and an economic future,” the source added.
The White House said a deal is still possible, despite the disagreements.
“Special Presidential Coordinator Amos Hochstein continues his robust engagement to bring the maritime boundary discussions to a close. We remain in close communication with the Israelis and Lebanese,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson said. “We are at a critical stage in the negotiations and the gaps have narrowed. We remain committed to reaching a resolution and believe a lasting compromise is possible.”
Gantz spoke in favor of a deal earlier Thursday, saying that it harms Iran’s interests.
“We constantly remember the lesson of the Yom Kippur War,” Gantz said. “We must not sin by being arrogant, we must be ready for every scenario… In this context, our biggest immediate operative challenge is on our northern border. These days, the government is promoting an agreement to divide economic waters between us and Lebanon, which has economic and security impact, including harm to Iran and Lebanon’s interests in the region.”
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, however, continued to say that Lapid had surrendered to Nasrallah, and claimed credit for the prime minister’s rejection of the latest demands.
“Only the heavy pressure that my friends and I put on [Lapid] led him to back off from his surrender agreement, for now,” Netanyahu said. “Israel needs different leadership… We will not let Israel surrender to Nasrallah.”
The opposition leader also repeated his refrain that the agreement would not be legal until it is authorized by the Knesset, and therefore he will not be bound by it if he returns to the Prime Minister’s Office.
However, Israeli law only requires that international agreements be submitted to the Knesset for review, not approval, though historically, agreements involving territorial matters have been brought to the legislature for a vote.
At the Security Cabinet meeting, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked also called for the Knesset to vote on the agreement.
Hochstein’s draft would have had Israel concede the entire triangle of economic waters that had been in dispute with Lebanon between 2012-2021, up to what is known as line 23, but not the extended triangle that Lebanon demanded in early 2021, known as line 29. It would, however, allow Lebanon to develop the entire Kana Field that extends beyond line 23.
The deal would include international recognition of the “buoys line.”
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[JPost] Yair Lapid rejects Lebanese proposal to reverse Israeli security, economic gains from US-mediated agreement
