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WASHINGTON, LELEMUKU.COM - The Wall Street Journal reported Friday the U.S.-allied Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has been selling oil from fields that it controls in the east of Syria, despite U.S. economic sanctions. The Syrian government and the Kurds have been discussing possible autonomy conditions with Damascus in light of the expected U.S. pullout from the north of the country in April, and Arab media reports that oil resources are one of the main topics of negotiation.

Arab media reports say Kurdish negotiators from the U.S.-allied SDF in the north of Syria and Syrian government officials, including intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk, have been holding autonomy talks since mid-January, in Damascus and at the Russian Hmeimem Airbase in Latakya.

The Syrian government is reportedly discussing control of oil fields in the northeast of the country, now under Kurdish control, along with Kurdish demands to continue an education program in Kurdish, which Damascus rejects.

The U.S. daily Wall Street Journal reported Friday the Syrian-owned Qatirji Group is purchasing oil from the SDF and refining it for use in areas of the country that it controls. The head of the group was recently placed under U.S. economic sanctions.

University of Paris Professor Khattar Abou Diab tells VOA he thinks the oil sales are mostly "black market" deals and the Islamic State group had also sold oil from the same fields to the Syrian government when they controlled them.

He says U.S. forces are planning to complete their withdrawal by April, and that (all parties) are preparing for that moment in order to fill the void to the east of the Euphrates River. In this race against the clock, he stresses, Turkey is negotiating with both the United States and Russia, while the Kurds are negotiating with the United States and the Syrian government.

American University of Beirut Political Science Professor Hilal Khashan said the parties in the Syrian conflict are involved in "pragmatic business dealings", rather than issues of "morality."

"The war in Syria is a proxy war and everyone there is fighting on behalf of someone else. The Kurds need cash. If they do not get it from the Syrian government through the sale of oil, then they might be asking the United States for the money. So, I do not see any ideological issue for the United States. Politics is about pragmatism. These people are selling oil. If Assad does not get oil from the Kurds, he will get it from another source," said Khashan.

Lebanese economist and former finance minister Georges Corm told VOA he believes the Kurds in the north of Syria have an "interest in establishing a constructive dialogue with the Syrian government," given the "threats by Turkish President Erdogan to set up a security zone in northern Syria."

He said Syria is being aided by powerful countries with economic resources like China, Russia and Iran, so he does not think U.S. economic sanctions will have a major effect on the Syrian government. He also argues the Syrian economy has traditionally been self-sufficient, so it is less dependent on outside forces.

Arab media, however, reported in recent weeks the Syrian currency has lost more of its value to the dollar, currently trading on the black market at between 600 and 700 Syrian lira to the dollar, causing increasing economic hardships for many people.. (VOA)

BAGHDAD, LELEMUKU.COM - Lamia al-Gailani, an Iraqi archaeologist who lent her expertise to rebuilding the National Museum's collection after it was looted in 2003, has died at age 80.

Her daughter, Noorah al-Gailani, said Sunday that her mother died Friday in Amman, Jordan. She didn't give a cause of death.

A devotee of Iraq's heritage and its museums, al-Gailani selected artifacts to display at the reopening of the National Museum in Bagdad in 2015, more than a decade after it was looted in the wake of the U.S. invasion.

The restored collection included hundreds of cylinder seals, which had been used to print cuneiform impressions and pictographic lore onto documents and surfaces in ancient Mesopotamia, now present-day Iraq. The seals were the subject of al-Gailani's 1977 dissertation at the University of London.

"She was very keen to communicate on the popular level and make archaeology accessible to ordinary people," said her daughter, who is curator of the Islamic civilizations collection at the Glasgow Museum in Scotland.

Al-Gailani also championed a new museum for antiquities in the city of Basra, which opened in 2016.

But she bore the grief of watching her country's rich archaeological sites suffer looting and destruction in the years after the U.S. invasion. Thousands of items are still missing from National Museum's collection.

"I wish it was a nightmare and I could wake up," she told the BBC in 2015, when Islamic State militants bulldozed relics at the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud near present-day Mosul.

Born in Baghdad in 1938, al-Gailani was one of the first Iraqi women to excavate in her country.

Fresh from her undergraduate studies at the University of Cambridge in Britain, al-Gailani was hired as a curator at the National Museum in 1960, her daughter said. It was al-Gailani's first job in archaeology.

She returned to Britain in 1970 to pursue advanced studies, and she made her home there. Still, she kept returning to her native country, connecting foreign academics with an Iraqi archaeological community that was struggling under the isolation of Saddam Hussein's autocratic rule and the U.N. sanctions against him.

In 1999, she published "The First Arabs," in Arabic, with the Iraqi archaeologist Salim al-Alusi, on the earliest traces of Arab culture in Mesopotamia, in the 6th through 9th centuries.

She would bring copies of the book with her to Baghdad and sell them through a vendor on Mutanabbi Street, the literary heart of the capital, her daughter said.

After the U.S. invasion, al-Gailani continued to travel to Iraq, determined to rescue its heritage even as the country convulsed with war.

At the time of her death, she was working with the Basra Museum to curate a new exhibit set to open in March, said Qahtan al-Abeed, the museum director.

"She hand-picked the cylinder seals to display at the museum," said al-Abeed.

A ceremony will be held for al-Gailani at the National Museum on Monday. She is survived by her three daughters. (VOA)

WASHINGTON, LELEMUKU.COM - The U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) Friday denied it was blocked by Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) from conducting a military inspection in Iraq's Anbar province near the Syrian border.

In an email to VOA, the U.S.-led international coalition's Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) said the operation in western Anbar earlier this week was coordinated with the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and the purpose of it was to survey Iraqi border security posts with Syria as a part of the ongoing effort to defeat IS.

"This survey was planned, coordinated and conducted with the ISF, and occurred without incident," CJTF-OIR told VOA.

"Coalition forces and the ISF work together to secure the borders of Iraq, protecting the people of Iraq and supporting security that ensures the lasting defeat of ISIS," it added, using an acronym for the militant group.

The response from the coalition comes as Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in a statement Tuesday said it prevented the U.S. forces with the anti-IS coalition from carrying out a "suspicious reconnaissance" operation on the Iraqi border with Syria.

"The Anbar command of the Mobilization Forces prevented the American forces from completing the survey, forcing them to return to their base and not to approach the units of Popular Mobilization Forces," Qasem Musleh, the PMF field operations commander in Anbar, said in the statement.

Musleh accused the U.S. of violating Iraqi sovereignty, claiming the U.S.-led coalition collected "dangerous" information about the Iraqi border patrol, the number of combat points, the quantity of ammunition, the type of weaponry and the number of personnel present at each border point.

"American provocations have come to reveal secret information about our troops stationed at the border," he said, adding, "This information reveals the secret of the forces stationed there, making it easy to target."

Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)

The PMF is an umbrella organization of several Shiite militias formed in 2014 after the Iraqi army fled the area following IS attacks. The group includes U.S. terror-designated militias, such as Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq and the Badr organization, and Iranian-friendly parties such as the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

Empowered by Iran, the group played a key role in driving U.S.-backed Kurdish peshmerga forces out of Kirkuk and other disputed territories in northern Iraq following a Kurdish referendum for independence in late 2017.

U.S. officials in the past have stated the group works as a regional proxy to Iran and is increasingly threatening and provoking American troops in Iraq and Syria.

An assessment of the U.S. anti-IS operations by the Pentagon's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) last November warned that the PMF's increased military and political power, along with their willingness to act independently of the Iraqi security forces, could further Iran's influence in Iraq.

The Pentagon report said the Iranian proxies continued their threatening rhetoric against the U.S. presence in Iraq. It added Iran-backed militias were likely behind two attacks targeting U.S. facilities in Iraq last September, including mortar attacks that targeted Baghdad's Green Zone and landed near the U.S. embassy, and rocket attacks that targeted the Basra Airport, near the U.S. consulate.

The mortar fire on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad then prompted the White House's National Security Council to ask the Pentagon for plans to attack Iran, according to aWall Street Journalreport.

The U.S. consulate in Basra has been closed since Sept. 28, when U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the U.S. would be relocating diplomatic personnel from the city following increasing threats from Iran and Iran-backed militia. (VOA)

BAGHDAD, LELEMUKU.COM - Iraqi Christians quietly celebrated Christmas on Tuesday amid improved security, more than a year after the country declared victory over Islamic State militants who threatened to end their 2,000-year history in Iraq.

Christianity in Iraq dates back to the first century of the Christian era, when the apostles Thomas and Thaddeus are believed to have preached the Gospel on the fertile flood plains of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.

Iraq is home to many different eastern rite churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, traditionally a sign of the country's ethnic and religious diversity.
But war and sectarian conflict shrank Iraq's Christian population from 1.5 million to about 400,000 after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Following the onslaught of Islamic State in 2014 and the brutal three-year war that followed their numbers have fallen further, though it is not known exactly by how much.

In Baghdad, Christians celebrated mass on Tuesday morning – declared a national holiday by government -- in churches decorated for Christmas. Once fearful, they said they were now hopeful, since conditions had improved.

"Of course we can say the security situation is better than in previous years," said Father Basilius, leader of the St. George Chaldean Church in Baghdad where more than a hundred congregants attended Christmas mass.

"We enjoy security and stability mainly in Baghdad. In addition, Daesh was beaten," he said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

Iraq declared victory over the militants more than a year ago, but the damage done to Christian enclaves on the Nineveh Plains has been extensive.
In Qaraqosh, a town also known as Hamdaniya which lies 15 km(10 miles) west of Mosul, the damage is still visible.

At the city's Immaculate Church, which belongs to the Syrian Catholic denomination and has not yet been rebuilt since the militants set it on fire in 2014, Christians gathered for midnight mass on Monday, surrounded by blackened walls still tagged with Islamic State graffiti.

Dozens of worshipers prayed and received communion, and then gathered around the traditional bonfire in the church's courtyard.

Before the militant onslaught, Qaraqosh was the largest Christian settlement in Iraq, with a population of more than 50,000. But today only a few hundred families have returned.

Faced with a choice to convert, pay a tax or die, many Christians in the Nineveh Plains fled to nearby towns and cities and some eventually moved abroad.

Some have since returned, Father Butros said, adding: "We hope that all displaced families will return." (VOA)

BAGDAD, LELEMUKU.COM - More than one year after its recapture from Islamic State (IS) militants, Raqqa, Iraq, the former de facto capital of the Islamic State’s so-called caliphate, is still struggling to recover from a war that devastated all aspects of normal life. Efforts are underway, though, to rebuild the city’s major bridges.

Raqqa was liberated from the terror group by U.S.-backed forces in October 2017.

During the 3-month-long battle, the city’s infrastructure was mostly destroyed, including dozens of bridges vital for traffic and transportation of goods.

Reconstruction efforts are focusing on one major bridge over the Euphrates River, which will reduce traffic congestion by more than 50 percent, experts said.

“The project is expected to be completed on Jan. 1, 2019,” Abdulrahman Hasan, an engineer who oversees the reconstruction progress of al-Hukoumiya Bridge, told VOA.

“Hopefully by then the bridge will be safe for pedestrians and traffic. It will carry loads up to 4 tons,” he added.

Boats and makeshift bridges

Raqqa residents hope that other bridges also will be rebuilt soon. But for now, they rely on boats and makeshift bridges to cross the river and channels.

“Most people go to the other side of the city through the river,” Mohammed Saho, a Raqqa resident, told VOA as he was preparing to get on a small boat with other passengers. “But crossing the Euphrates with these old boats is very risky. A lot of people have drowned in the past few months.”

He added that “transportation fees are expensive, especially since most people don’t work so they can’t afford these fares.”

Local officials say the damage that has been done to the bridges is so severe that it will take a long time to rebuild them.

“Repairing the bridges is actually beyond the capabilities of our council,” said Abdullah al-Aryan of the Raqqa Civil Council, the civilian body that is now responsible for running the city.

“There are about 37 bridges across the city over channels and two big ones over the Euphrates River,” Aryan told VOA.

Infrastructure damage

While rebuilding bridges is seen as an important step, it is not the only obstacle hindering Raqqa’s recovery, according to experts.

“Nearly 80 percent of Raqqa’s infrastructure was destroyed during the liberation battle,” said Jowan Hemo, a Syrian economist who closely follows the stabilization process in the city.

“It could be possible to implement projects, such as rebuilding residential houses, hospitals and schools, in a relatively short period. It would be a lot harder to take on bigger projects such as the power sector,” Hemo said.

The United States in August announced that it was cutting about $230 million in stabilization funding to northeast Syria, saying it would instead rely on financial contributions from countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE and other members of the anti-ISIS global coalition.

But despite those cuts, the U.S. remains one of the main donors in the recovery of Raqqa. U.S. stabilization efforts have helped 150,000 Raqqa residents return to their homes, U.S. officials say.

Mahmoud A., a program coordinator at the Early Recovery Team, U.S.-funded organization that operates in Raqqa, said his group hasn’t been affected by the U.S. funding cuts, “although many local organizations panicked when the announcement was first made.

“Our projects are still ongoing in many parts of Raqqa. We have three main priorities at the moment, which include purifying drinking water, repairing the sewage system, and improving the environment for the education system to recover,” he told VOA.

Long-term stabilization

As the war on IS dwindles, the focus in Raqqa and elsewhere should be on long-term stabilization efforts, U.S. officials say.

“We talked about transitioning to a new phase, really focusing on the stabilization and sustainment effort,” Brett McGurk, U.S. special envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, told reporters in October during an annual meeting in Washington on countering violent extremism.

In November, the Syria Recovery Trust Fund (SRTF), a multidonor initiative that includes the U.S. and several European, Asian and Middle Eastern countries, approved a $3 million project as part of its stabilization efforts in Raqqa.

“The assistance will benefit beneficiaries in Raqqa Governorate, complementing ongoing SRTF support to farmers in the same area,” the SRTF said in a statement.

“The intervention will benefit 2,000 households in the targeted area, increasing health and WASH services to the civilians recovering from the destruction caused during the conflict with Daesh,” the group added, using an Arabic acronym for IS. (VOA)