De-escalation zones in Syria will be closed for warplanes of US-led international coalition, Russian envoy says.

With the air space closed over the safe areas, they would become de facto no-fly zones [Antonio Parrinello/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The safe zones that regional powers have agreed to create in Syria will be closed for military planes of the international US-led coalition, Russia’s envoy to Syria talks said.

Turkey and Iran agreed on Thursday to Russia’s proposal for “de-escalation zones”, a move welcomed by the United Nations but met with scepticism from the United States and Syrian rebel groups.

Speaking from the Syria summit in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on Thursday, Russian envoy Alexander Lavrentyev said that Syrian government fighter jets are also not expected to fly over the “de-escalation” zones for six months.

Russian military aircraft will refrain from flying over such areas, he added, unless there are what he described as attempts to destabilise the situation.

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal said the “de-escalation zones” are likely to be created in Idlib, the Turkmen mountains, parts of Homs governorate, areas on the outskirts of Damascus – including Ghouta – and in Deraa in the south.

With the air space closed over these so called safe areas, they would become de facto no-fly zones. Calls for such a measure have been made numerous times by opposition members, but it has never been imposed until now.

Previous regions considered for no-fly zones were the border areas with Jordan and Turkey.

Military analysts estimated that the no-fly zone imposed over Iraq in 1991 helped save countless lives. It is unclear though who will be responsible for policing the air space and what the consequences would be for breaking the interdiction.

The latest round of Syrian peace talks in Astana is sponsored by opposition supporter Turkey and Syrian government backers Russia and Iran.

Neither the Syrian government, nor the opposition had signed the de-escalation zones agreement. Representatives of several rebel groups say they cannot accept Iran as a guarantor of the deal.

Syria’s civil war, currently in its seventh year, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and has drawn in world powers on all sides.

The negotiations in Astana are viewed as complementary to broader United Nations-brokered talks in Geneva on a political settlement, but neither have yielded real progress as of yet.

Self-taught Egyptian man spent three years reproducing the Muslim holy book on a huge paper scroll.

Mohammed wants to submit his Quran for inclusion in Guinness World Records [Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

An Egyptian self-taught artist has spent three years creating what he hopes is the world’s biggest Quran and wants to submit it for inclusion in Guinness World Records.

Saad Mohammed, who has hand-painted Islamic motifs on the walls and ceilings of his home in the town of Belqina, north of the capital, Cairo, has reproduced the Muslim holy book on a paper scroll 700 metres long.

He displays the intricately decorated manuscript in a large wooden box with rollers at each end.

Mohammed spent three years reproducing the Quran on a huge paper scroll [Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters]

“This Quran is 700 metres long, and of course that’s a large amount of paper,” Mohammed told Reuters Television.

“I self-funded this project for the past three years – and I’m an average person. I don’t have assets or anything.”

Guinness says that while there is a record for the world’s biggest printed Quran, there is so far no record holder for the largest handwritten version.

Mohammed says he is hoping for help with the costs of applying to Guinness from the government or any other interested party.

Mohammed says he is hoping for help with the costs of applying to Guinness [Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters]

Talks ‘suspended’ after rebels protest new barrage of air strikes on areas they hold in Syria.

The Syrian opposition delegation attended talks in Astana in January [File: Mukhtar Kholdorbekov/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Syrian rebels have suspended their participation in the latest round of Russian-backed talks in Kazakhstan in protest against ongoing air strikes in the war-torn country.

Syrian rebel and government delegations were discussing a Russian plan for “de-escalation zones” on Wednesday when the opposition walked out, citing the bombardment of rebel-held areas.

“The opposition delegation, that is the military delegation, has announced they are ‘suspending’ their participation in these talks,” Al Jazeera Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from the capital Astana, said.

“They aren’t fully withdrawing participation, they’ve walked out of the meetings but they haven’t left – at least not yet,” he said.

No progress

Syria’s six-year civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and has drawn in world powers on all sides.

The two sides are in the Kazakh capital for a new round of talks sponsored by opposition supporter Turkey and Syrian government backers Russia and Iran.

The Astana negotiations are viewed as complementary to broader UN-brokered talks in Geneva on a political settlement, but neither have yielded real progress so far.

A source close to the opposition provided AFP news agency with an Arabic-language version of a proposal drafted by Russia, which an opposition official confirmed was being discussed on Wednesday.

It calls for the creation of “de-escalation zones” in rebel-held territory in the northwestern province of Idlib, in parts of Homs province in the centre, in the south, and in the opposition enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus.

The aim is to “put an immediate end to the violence” and “provide the conditions for the safe, voluntary return of refugees”.

The designated zones would also see the immediate delivery of relief supplies and medical assistance.

US-backed forces say they have advanced in Tabqa as they eye the ISIL stronghold of Raqqa, a spokesperson says.

The SDF has more than 40,000 fighters, according to Pentagon estimates [Rodi Said/Reuters]

by Diana Al Rifai, Al Jazeera

Kurdish forces are reported to have taken 90 percent of Tabqa city in Syria’s Raqqa province from ISIL amid clashes that have left an estimated 19 people dead.

The claim was made by the official spokesperson for Ghadab al-Furat, a Kurdish group fighting under the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which launched a campaign in October 2016 to retake Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, in northern Syria.

“After taking the old city, we now control around 90 percent of Tabqa … we advanced against the ISIL and pushed further to the other parts of the city,” Jihan Sheikh, of the Ghadab al-Furat (dubbed Wrath of the Euphrates), told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

Talal Silo, an SDF spokesman, told Al Jazeera that the Euphrates dam – also known as Tabqa dam – and some neighbourhoods are still controlled by ISIL but ongoing clashes are taking place to fully recapture the city.

“The first, second and third neighbourhoods that make up al-Thawra city, in addition to the Euphrates dam are still under ISIL control, but the battle continues to liberate them,” Silo said.

Tabqa city is made up of two parts, the old city and al-Thawra city, which is also known as the new city.

According to Pentagon estimates from last year, the SDF has more than 40,000 fighters.

“Clashes are still taking place, at least 19 ISIL fighters have been killed in the fighting. We managed to recover their weapons, cars and a tank,” Sheikh said.

Ahmad, a Tabqa-based activist, told Al Jazeera that at least 131 civilians have been killed in Raqqa in the past 44 days.

“Our city is destroyed. One of the main hospitals in Tabqa was destroyed in an air raid and many field hospitals too.

“What people should know is that south of Tabqa there are oil fields producing millions of pounds a day. Why else would the US back these Kurdish fighters to this extent?”

The Rojava Defence units, another Kurdish group taking part in the campaign, said at least 5,000 civilians fled the fighting and reached safe areas but are in the need of urgent humanitarian aid.

In Rajm Salibi, in the northern Syrian province of Hasakah, at least 24 civilians and SDF fighters have been killed in fighting between the SDF and ISIL, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The SDF is trying to retake Raqqa province after capturing the south of Tabqa last week.

ISIL captured Raqqa in January 2014, and took Tabqa’s airbase from the Syrian government in August the same year.

It lost the strategic Tabqa airbase , about 45km west of Raqqa, to the SDF last month.

The SDF was founded in Syria’s mainly Kurdish northeastern region in October 2015 and is made up of at least 15 armed factions, mostly fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units and the Free Syrian Army.

The United Nations recently said in a press release that at least 39,000 newly displaced people fled to the Jib Al-Shaair makeshift camp in Raqqa, where four out of five people are staying in the open air without appropriate shelter.

As the Syrian conflict enters its seventh year, more than 400,000 people have been killed in the fighting and over 12 million Syrians – half the country’s prewar population – have been displaced from their homes.

Khaled Meshaal presents a new document in which Hamas accepts 1967 borders without recognising state of Israel.

The new Hamas positions were made official on Monday in Qatar’s capital, Doha [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Hamas has presented a new political document that accepts the formation of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, without recognising the statehood of Israel, and says that the conflict in Palestine is not a religious one.

The positions were made official on Monday in Qatar’s capital, Doha, by Khaled Meshaal, the leader-in-exile of the Palestinian group that runs the besieged Gaza Strip.

“We shall not waive an inch of the Palestinian home soil, no matter what the recent pressures are and no matter how long the occupation,” Meshaal said as he revealed the document to the public after two years of work.

“Hamas rejects any idea except liberating the home soil entirely and completely, although it does not necessarily mean we recognise the Zionist entity or give up any of our Palestinian rights.”

While Hamas’ 1988 founding charter called for the takeover of all of mandate Palestine, including present-day Israel, the new document says it will accept the 1967 borders as the basis for a Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital and the return of refugees to their homes.

The 1967 borders refer to those that existed before the war in which Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

But it does not go as far as to fully recognise Israel and says Hamas does not relinquish its goal of “liberating all of Palestine”.

“Hamas considers the establishment of a Palestinian state, sovereign and complete, on the basis of the June 4, 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital and the provision for all the refugees to return to their homeland is an agreeable form that has won a consensus among all the movement members,” Meshaal said.

The document also falls short of accepting the two-state solution that is assumed to be the end product of the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

It also clarifies that Hamas’ fight is with the “Zionist project”, not with the religion of Judaism, making a distinction between those who believe in Judaism and “Zionist Israeli citizens who occupy Palestinian lands”.

It also sidesteps language in the group’s original charter that affirms its connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, and says that Hamas is a fully independent organisation.

Analysts said the release of the document appears to be an attempt by Hamas to seem more pragmatic and help it to avoid international isolation.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mohammad Abu Saada, a professor at Gaza’s al-Azhar University, called the new document a bid to “accommodate Egyptian conditions and calm Egyptian fears” regarding Hamas connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt has classified as a “terror” group since democratically elected president Mohammad Morsi was ousted in a 2013 military coup.

While in the 1988 charter Hamas affirmed its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood by mentioning it six times, the new document asserted Hamas strict Palestinian credentials as a “liberation movement” that uses Islam as its main ideological component.

“Hamas is trying to walk a fine line between its hardliners and its own moderates,” said Abu Saada of al-Azhar University.

“In one way, the moderates can say they accepted a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, but the hardliners can still say they are not recognising Israel.”

Azzam Tamimi, author of “Hamas: A History from Within”, told Al Jazeera that while Hamas leaders were unlikely to say so, the new document would “practically” replace the group’s old charter.

“They would prefer to say that the old charter expressed Hamas in 1988, and that now, Hamas is a different organisation. It has different insight and understanding of the conflict and that today’s document is what speaks for Hamas today.”

Crippling blockade

Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, after winning elections and forcefully pushing its Fatah rivals out. Since then, Gaza has suffered three major Israeli assaults, whick killed more than 3,500 Palestinians, and a crippling 10-year-long siege.

“The question is whether this change will do anything to try and lift the blockade, or anything to get this struggling economy back on its feet,” said Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Gaza City.

Israeli officials rejected the document before it was made official, calling it an attempt by Hamas to trick the world into believing it was becoming a more moderate group.

“Hamas is attempting to fool the world but it will not succeed,” said David Keyes, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

The document’s release comes just days ahead of Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas’ visit to Washington on May 3 and as US President Donald Trump’s administration prepares a new push to forge peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Abbas and his Fatah party have long pushed for a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, and have engaged in talks with Israel on that basis.

But Israel has frequently refused to enter into political talks with Abbas’ PA on the grounds that they do not represent all Palestinians.

Mustafa Barghouti, leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera that this move by Hamas reflected a level of “political maturity”.

“Acceptance of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders … means accepting a two-state solution. In my opinion this is going to embarrass Israel a lot,” said Barghouti.

“We’ve seen the Israeli reaction, which looks very frightened, first of all from the greater possibility of Palestinian unity, but also … of peace and the possibility of peace.”

Online audio message by Zawahiri calls on opposition to prepare for ‘long war against Crusaders and their Shia allies’.

Ayman al-Zawahiri had not spoken publicly for several months, and has not been seen on camera for some time [EPA/SITE Institute]

by Al Jazeera

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has called on the armed Syrian opposition to wage guerrilla warfare against the government of Bashar al-Assad and its allies.

In an audio tape titled “Syria will only bow to God”, released on the internet on Sunday, Zawahiri urged Syrian rebels to “have patience and prepare themselves for a long war against the Crusaders and their Shia allies”.

He urged them to adopt a “guerilla warfare” strategy because it would “weaken and drain the enemy”.

The rebels’ enemies “are targeting them because they are trying to establish an Islamic rule in Syria, as the West and its allies were doing everything they can to stop it”.

Al-Nusra Front, a rebel group, announced in July 2016 that it was ending its formal ties with al-Qaeda and changed its name to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, or the Conquest of Syria Front.

On January 28 of this year, it merged with four other groups to form a new organisation called Hay’et Tahrir al-Sham, or the Assembly for the Liberation of Syria.

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, said that Zawahiri was attempting to throw al-Qaeda into the spotlight.

“Certainly with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) being the star, if you will, in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, al-Qaeda is trying to be relevant at a time when it is no longer relevant,” he said.

“Al-Qaeda itself has changed over the last decade. Once upon a time, it used to be a hierarchical group whereby Zawahiri’s boss, Osama bin Laden, used to give orders and orders used to be carried through. Various organisations joined the franchise because they knew there was some sort of a hierarchy.”

Bishara explained that the organisation has become segmented over the past decade, with ideologically linked al-Qaeda groups from Yemen to Iraq acting with autonomy.

“These are very autonomous groups and they are not taking any instructions from Ayman al-Zawahiri or from any headquarters in Pakistan, Afghanistan … Syria is where there could be a turning point.”