The Wall Street Journal - 21.08.2019

LONDON—The U.S. warned

Greece against assisting the

Iranian tanker released by Gi-

braltar as it continues efforts

to block the vessel and further

drags its allies into escalating

tensions between Washington

and Tehran.

“Wehaveconveyedour

strong position to the Greek

government on the matter, as

well as all ports in the Medi-

terranean that should be fore-

warned about facilitating this

vessel,” the State Department

said.

A Greek Foreign Ministry

official said the country had

received the warning. He also

said that Greece’s maritime

authorities had received no re-

quest for mooring at its ports

or any other communication

from the vessel.

Another Greek official said,

“Any decision will be in line

with European Union rules on

Iran.” The official didn’t elabo-

rate.

But while Athens usually

follows the EU line on foreign

policy, a diplomat involved in

the matter said the govern-

ment is seriously considering

the U.S request. “Once the

ship’s path is clear, a decision

will be taken on what to do

with this vessel,” he said.

The Iranian tanker Adrian

Darya 1, previously called the

Grace 1, is moving eastward

toward Kalamata, Greece, and

is expected to arrive there on

Monday, according to shipping

tracker MarineTraffic. It re-

mains unclear if the vessel

would be forced to reroute af-

ter the latest U.S. threat.

The tanker left Gibraltar’s

waters late Sunday after the

territory’s Justice Ministry re-

jected a warrant from the U.S.

Justice Department seeking its

seizure for alleged violations

of American sanctions.

BYBENOITFAUCON

U.S. Urges

Greece Not

To Help

Iran Ship

supportfor the right to peaceful

protest. The next day, a Chinese

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman

said it was wrong for Mr. Raab

to directly call Mrs. Lam, adding

that China urged the U.K. to

“stop its interference in China’s

internal affairs.”

On his Facebook page, Mr.

Cheng has a photo of himself

dated June 9 stamped with the

words “opposed to the law

amendment, revoke the evil law”

and calling for a march. His girl-

friend said he was in London

that day. Mr. Cheng’s page also

has posts on his attendance at

trade-and-investment events.

The Guangzhou Railway Po-

lice, which has jurisdiction over

the Chinese side of the railway

station where Mr. Cheng was

last seen, declined to comment.

Mr. Cheng’s last message to

his girlfriend, sent twice, said

“Pray for me,” to which she re-

plied, “It’ll be fine.”

“Every Hong Kong person

would be nervous going through

that border now,” she said.

Medicscarried a man injured by a building that collapsed during a

Tuesday airstrike by pro-Assad forces in a village in Idlib province.

OMAR

HAJ KADOUR/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

tions, means he can be held up

to 15 days without charge.

It isn’t known whether the

disappearance of Mr. Cheng,

which was earlier reported by

Hong Kong media outlet HK01,

is related to the protests. But

his disappearance without offi-

cial explanation underscores

the opacity of China’s legal sys-

tem, an issue that lies at the

center of opposition protests in

Hong Kong against a proposed

law allowing people to be ex-

tradited to mainland China.

Hong Kong, a former British

colony that was handed back to

China in 1997, has been rocked

by 11 weeks of demonstrations

against Beijing’s increasing en-

croachment. Chinese officials

have condemned the protests

and exchanged barbs with Brit-

ish counterparts who have sup-

ported the rights of Hong

Kongers to stage peaceful rallies.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Domi-

nic Raab called Hong Kong’s

leader, Carrie Lam, on Aug. 9 to

raise concerns andto express

HONGKONG—Simon Cheng,

an employee of the British Con-

sulate in Hong Kong, texted his

girlfriend at a border check late

on Aug. 8 to say he was almost

home from a conference in the

neighboring Chinese city of

Shenzhen.

He never arrived.

Mr. Cheng’s girlfriend on

Tuesday said she has since

learned from a lawyer his family

hired in China that the trade-

and-investment officer with the

British Consulate General’s of-

fice had been detained by Chi-

nese border police and trans-

ferred back to Shenzhen, adding

she didn’t know why or where.

The U.K.’s Foreign Office said

it was extremely concerned by

reports that a member of its

team had been detained and

was seeking further informa-

tion from Chinese authorities.

The consular employee had

been worried about crossing

the border after reading reports

of increased controls because of

the long-running antigovern-

ment protests in Hong Kong, his

girlfriend said in an interview.

She said that as far as she

knew, Mr. Cheng hadn’t taken

part in any street protests and

that—aware of reports that

Chinese border guards were

more thoroughly checking some

travelers’ phones and bags—he

had deleted communication

apps from his phone before en-

tering Shenzhen that day and

reinstalled them in Shenzhen.

Mr. Cheng, a Hong Kong citi-

zen, was being held under ad-

ministrative detention, which

signifies a breach of rules

rather than criminal activity,

the man’s girlfriend said she

had been told by immigration

authorities in Hong Kong and

Mr. Cheng’s Chinese lawyer. An

administrative offense, such as

violating immigration regula-

BYWENXINFAN

ANDNATASHAKHAN

China Detains British Trade Aide

HongKong citizen

never returned from

Aug. 8 trip across the

border in Shenzhen

citiesthat are under govern-

ment control. Khan Sheikhoun

was the site of a 2017 chemi-

cal weapon attack blamed on

the Syrian regime that killed

more than 80 people and

prompted the U.S.’s first air-

strike on the Assad regime.

Mr. Assad’s regime, backed

also by Iran, has in recent

years steadily retaken most of

the opposition-held areas it

lost since the uprising began

in 2011. Diplomatic efforts led

by the United Nations have

stalled after failing to find a

political solution to the

conflict.

Numerous cease-fire deals

have been reached in recent

years but the truces haven’t

translated into any lasting

peace, instead allowing the

Assad regime to attack areas

using a piecemeal approach

and extend its control.

Idlib province, and small

parts of three neighboring

provinces, is home to about

three million people—half of

whom have been displaced

from elsewhere in Syria be-

cause of the conflict.

The months of airstrikes

which paved the way for the

Assad regime’s ground ad-

vance there have killed hun-

dreds, including many chil-

dren, and forced some half a

million people to flee their

homes, according to the U.N.

But with nowhere else to

go, those fleeing their homes

are amassing in ramshackle

tent encampments or in olive

groves and orchards near the

Turkish border, which for

years has been closed to

refugees trying to escape the

conflict.

The advance by forces loyal

to Mr. Assad came a day after

airstrikes near a Turkish mili-

tary convoy killed several

civilians.

Turkey has maintained a

military presence in Idlib for

nearly a year as part of a de-

militarization agreement last

September between Ankara

and Moscow to maintain a

cease-fire in the area.

Turkey’s Defense Ministry

condemned the Assad regime’s

airstrike on its convoy, saying

it “violates existing agree-

ments, cooperation and dia-

logue with Russia,” according

to state-run Anadolu Agency.

“The Assad regime and its

allies must return to the

cease-fire in #Idlib now,” U.S.

State Department spokes-

woman Morgan Ortagus

tweeted Monday. “Today’s

reckless airstrike on a Turkish

convoy follows ongoing vi-

cious attacks against civilians,

humanitarian workers, and in-

frastructure. We condemn this

violence and it must end.”

The agreement required the

militant group Hayat Tahrir al-

Sham to withdraw from the

demilitarized zone along the

front line.

But the group, which was

formerly a branch of al Qaeda,

never withdrew and the Syrian

government has used this as a

pretext to launch a military

assault on the opposition-held

province.

BEIRUT—Syrian forces cap-

tured a strategically important

town in the northwest of the

country, as the Russian-backed

Assad regime pushed to retake

the last opposition stronghold

after more than eight years of

conflict.

Antigovernment rebels and

militants formerly linked with

al Qaeda withdrew from Khan

Sheikhoun ahead of the re-

gime’s capture of the town in

the opposition stronghold of

Idlib province, according to

pro-regime media and the

U.K.-based Syrian Observatory

for Human Rights.

The Assad government has

yet to make a statement con-

firming it has captured the

town. Earlier Tuesday, Dmitry

Sablin, a Russian member of

Parliament, said the Syrian

army had reached the vicinity

of Khan Sheikhoun and mili-

tants were fleeing into neigh-

boring Turkey. Mr. Sablin cited

Syrian President Bashar al-

Assad, who he met in Damas-

cus, according to Russian news

agency Interfax.

Syrian rebels took control

of the town about five years

ago. It lies along the main

road connecting Damascus and

Aleppo, two of Syria’s biggest

BYRAJAABDULRAHIM

Syria Takes Crucial Town

In Last Rebel Stronghold

The Assad regime,

backed by Russia and

Iran, is cementing

control in the country.

Activists gathered in Hong Kong on Tuesday to support the pro-democracy movement. Below, British consular officer Simon Cheng.

ROMAN

PILIPEY/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

BeijingDecries

Social-Media Curbs

China’s government pushed

back against moves by Twitter

Inc. and Facebook Inc.

to curb accounts the companies

said were part of a state-spon-

sored disinformation campaign

against Hong Kong protesters,

saying the posts were simply

Chinese citizens overseas ex-

pressing their views.

These citizens, including

students, “have the rights to

express their opinions and

viewpoints,” China’s Foreign

Ministry spokesman Geng Sh-

uang said on Tuesday.

Twitter on Monday said it

took down 936 accounts linked

to a “significant state-backed

information operation” originat-

ing in China. “These accounts

were deliberately and specifi-

cally attempting to sow politi-

cal discord in Hong Kong, in-

cluding undermining the

legitimacy and political posi-

tions of the protest movement

on the ground,” Twitter wrote

in a blog post.

Facebook said that following

a tip from Twitter, it removed

five accounts along with seven

pages, with a reach of more

than 15,000 accounts, as well

as three groups that included

more than 2,000 members.

—WSJ staff

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