{"id":18636,"date":"2018-10-16T03:24:21","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T03:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=18636"},"modified":"2018-10-16T03:24:21","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T03:24:21","slug":"uae-to-try-british-student-on-spying-charges-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=18636","title":{"rendered":"UAE to try British student on spying charges: reports"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nBEIRUT: The Assad regime renewed its threat on Monday to launch an offensive in Idlib province in northwest Syria after militants defied a Russia-Turkey deal for them to pull out.<\/p>\n

\nThe fighters failed to meet the Oct. 15 deadline for them to withdraw from a planned buffer zone around Syria\u2019s last opposition stronghold.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cOur armed forces are ready around Idlib to eradicate terrorism if the Idlib agreement is not implemented,\u201d Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem said at a press conference in Damascus with the Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIdlib, as any other province, has to return to Syrian sovereignty. We prefer to have it through peaceful means, through reconciliation, but if not there are other options.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAl-Moualem said it was now up to Russia to judge whether the agreement, which averted a regime offensive last month, was being fulfilled. \u201cWe have to wait for the Russian reaction. Russia is monitoring and following the situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\nWhen Idlib was recaptured from the opposition, the regime would turn its attention to territory held by the Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, the minister said. \u201cAfter Idlib, our target is east of the Euphrates,\u201d which must also return to Syrian sovereignty, he said.<\/p>\n

\nCivilians in Idlib said they were concerned about an increase in violence if the Russian-Turkish accord collapsed. \u201cWe fear the deal\u2019s sponsors will fail to implement all its points, and that the bombardment and battles will return,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n

\nThe deal provides for a 15-20 km horseshoe-shaped buffer zone around opposition-held areas in Idlib and the neighboring provinces of Latakia, Hama and Aleppo.<\/p>\n

\nThe dominant militant force in the region is Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), an alliance led by Al-Qaeda\u2019s former Syrian branch. The group has signaled that it would abide by the terms of the deal, although it has not explicitly said so.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe value the efforts of all those striving \u2014 at home and abroad \u2014 to protect the liberated area and prevent its invasion and the perpetration of massacres in it,\u201d HTS said.<\/p>\n

\nElsewhere in Syria, the Assad regime on Monday reopened a vital border post with Jordan and a crossing into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.<\/p>\n

\nTwo white jeeps crossed into Israeli-occupied territory during a low-key ceremony to mark the reopening of the Quneitra crossing in the Golan, four years after it was closed when Syrian opposition forces seized nearby territory.<\/p>\n

\nIn the south, and three years after it too was closed, a black metal border gate opened at the Nassib crossing into Jordan as police and customs officials stood nearby.<\/p>\n

\nThe Jordan crossing was previously a major trading route, while the remote Quneitra post is used primarily by a UN force that monitors a cease-fire line separating Israeli-occupied parts of the Golan Heights from Syria.<\/p>\n

\nSyrian businessman Hisham Falyoun, who lives in Jordan with his wife and children, was the first person to cross the border in his black Mercedes SUV.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI wanted to be the first person to cross to show everyone that Syria is safe, Syria is back,\u201d said Falyoun, who was hoping to surprise his parents in Damascus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT: The Assad regime renewed its threat on Monday to launch an offensive in Idlib province in northwest Syria after militants defied a Russia-Turkey deal for them to pull out. The fighters failed to meet the Oct. 15 deadline for them to withdraw from a planned buffer zone around Syria\u2019s last opposition stronghold. \u201cOur armed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":18637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}