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Syrian leader Sharaa pledges to form inclusive government

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Syria’s newly appointed president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said on Thursday he will form an inclusive transitional government representing diverse communities that will build institutions and run the country until it can hold free and fair elections.

Sharaa addressed the nation in his first speech since being appointed president for the transitional period on Wednesday by armed factions that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive last year, Reuters reported.

The armed group that led the offensive, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has since set up an interim government that has welcomed a steady stream of senior Western and Arab diplomatic delegations keen to help stabilize the country after 13 years of civil war.

Sharaa in his speech said he would form a small legislative body to fill the parliamentary void until new elections were held, after the Syrian parliament was dissolved on Wednesday.

He said he would also in the coming days announce the formation of a committee that would prepare to hold a national dialogue conference that would be a platform for Syrians to discuss the future political programme of the nation.

That would be followed by a “constitutional declaration,” he said, in an apparent reference to the process of drafting a new Syrian constitution.

Sharaa has previously said the process of drafting a new constitution and holding elections may take up to four years.

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Russia’s foreign minister in Tehran for talks with Iranian counterpart

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Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov landed in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with Iranian officials, Iranian state media reported.

This comes days after Moscow held initial talks with the US just a month after Donald Trump returned to the White House.

Lavrov will discuss regional and bilateral topics with his Iranian counterpart during his one-day trip to Iran, Russian state media reported.

The visit comes a day after the United States imposed a fresh round of sanctions targeting Iran’s main source of income, the oil industry.

Trump earlier this month had restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that includes efforts to drive the country’s oil exports to zero, reimposing Washington’s tough policy on Iran that was practiced throughout his first term, Reuters reported.

Russia’s media reported that the main focus of their discussions is expected to be on expanding trade and economic cooperation, particularly in the energy and transportation sectors.

The ministers are also however planning to exchange views on a number of international issues, including the situation in Syria, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Yemen, the Persian Gulf region, the Caspian Sea issue, and the prospects for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear program.

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Bangladesh and Pakistan resume direct trade after more than 50 years

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Bangladesh has resumed direct trade with Pakistan for the first time since its independence in 1971, with the first shipment of 50,000 tonnes of rice leaving Port Qasim under a government-to-government deal, officials said.

The deal follows an improvement in diplomatic relations since an interim government in Bangladesh led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus taking over in the wake of the protests that drove then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina out of the country, Reuters reported.

Previously known as East Pakistan, Bangladesh won independence following a nine-month war.

The new agreement, finalized earlier this month, sees Bangladesh purchasing white rice from Pakistan at $499 per ton through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan. The shipment will be delivered in two phases, with the remaining 25,000 tonnes expected in early March.

However, the price of rice is higher than that of rice from Vietnam, which Bangladesh has been importing at $474.25 per ton.

The government has been battling to stabilize the rice market, as prices have risen by 15-20% in recent months, with medium-quality rice selling at around 80 taka ($0.66) per kilo.

To control rice prices, the government is importing more rice from international markets, including through tenders, and has scrapped import duties.

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Tens of thousands mourn Hezbollah’s slain leader Nasrallah in mass funeral

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Tens of thousands of people bid farewell to Hezbollah’s slain leader Hassan Nasrallah at a mass funeral in Beirut on Sunday, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike in a stunning blow to the Iranian-backed group.

Carrying pictures of Nasrallah and Hezbollah flags, supporters from Lebanon and other countries in the region filled the 55,000-seat Camille Chamoun Sports City stadium in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, Reuters reported.

The killing of Nasrallah, who led the Shi’ite Muslim group through decades of conflict with Israel and oversaw its transformation into a military force with regional sway, was one of the opening salvos in an Israeli escalation that badly weakened Hezbollah.

But the group’s current leader, Naim Qassem, whose remote address to the mourners was broadcast on screens from an undisclosed location, said Hezbollah remained “strong”.

“We will not submit and we will not accept the continuation of our killing and occupation while we watch,” Qassem said.

Though Israel’s military has largely withdrawn from southern Lebanon, its air force is still striking on what it says are Hezbollah positions across Lebanon and troops still hold five hilltop positions along the border.

Israeli warplanes carried out strikes in Lebanon’s south and east on Sunday morning and flew low over Beirut twice during the funeral, prompting shouts of “Death to Israel” from the crowds.

Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said in a post on X that the planes flying “above Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral are conveying a clear message: whoever threatens to destroy Israel and attacks Israel – that will be the end of him. You will specialize in funerals – and we will specialize in victories.”

Qassem said Hezbollah considered Israel’s five positions an occupation and was relying on the Lebanese government to secure a full withdrawal through diplomacy.

“We choose to fire when we see fit and are patient when we see fit,” he said.

‘CLINGING ON’

Among those in attendance were Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, an Iraqi delegation including Shi’ite politicians and militia commanders, and a delegation from Yemen’s Houthis.

The mass funeral is aimed at showing strength after Hezbollah emerged battered from last year’s war with Israel, which killed most of its leadership and thousands of fighters, and wreaked destruction on south Lebanon.

Its weakened stature has been reflected in Lebanon’s post-war politics, with the group unable to impose its will in the formation of a new government and language legitimising its arsenal omitted from the new cabinet’s policy statement.

The impact on Hezbollah was compounded by the ousting of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria, severing a key supply route.

“We may have lost a great deal as a man, but we have not lost the value of the resistance because the resistance is clinging on,” said Hassan Nasreddine, a Lebanese man headed to the ceremony from the south.

Before the funeral, Araqchi and other Iranian officials met Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, who was invited but did not attend the ceremony.

According to a statement from Aoun’s office, he told the Iranian delegation that Lebanon was “tired of the war of others” and that it had “paid a heavy price for the Palestinian cause”.

The conflict spiralled after Hezbollah opened fire in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.

The funeral was also being held for Hashem Safieddine, who led Hezbollah for a week after Nasrallah’s death. He was killed in an Israeli strike before he had been publicly announced as Nasrallah’s successor.

After his death, Nasrallah was buried temporarily next to his son, Hadi, who died fighting for Hezbollah in 1997. His official funeral was delayed to allow time for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon under the terms of a U.S.-backed ceasefire which ended last year’s war.

He is set to be buried on Sunday near the stadium. Safieddine is set to be buried on Monday in southern Lebanon.

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