BAGHDAD: Daesh militants can still launch deadly attacks in northern Iraq, despite the decline of its control over most areas in western and northern parts of the country, Iraqi military commanders told Arab News on Monday.
Iraq in December declared the full liberation of its territories and the end of military operations against the organization that seized vast swathes in the north and west in June 2014.
Since then there have been many vital attacks in western Kirkuk and eastern Salahudeen where most of the militants who fled the fighting in Mosul and Anbar have taken refuge — in areas with difficult terrain such as Hawija, security and local officials said.
Late on Sunday, 21 fighters from the Shiite-dominated paramilitary troops fighting Daesh alongside the government were killed in an ambush set up in Saadounia village, western Hawija, Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) field commanders told Arab News.
“A force from the 16th brigade of the PMF apparently received information from one of its secret sources in the region that there was a senior Daesh leader there, so they entered the area at 7 p.m. (on Sunday) to arrest the target but were surprised by the ambush,” Sheikh Wassifi Al-A’assi, the commander of Kirkuk PMF, told Arab News.
“The initial information that we had about the incident suggested that the informer had led them to the heart of the area where they were surrounded and killed.
“The bodies of 21 fighters were found this morning (Monday), some burned inside cars and others beheaded. All signs indicate that they were attacked while they were inside their vehicles,” Al-A’assi said.
Several military intelligence sources in the area told Arab News that the ambushed unit was looking to arrest a group of prominent militants, including Manhal Al-Humran who was responsible for oil sales within Daesh.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack and said in websites linked to the organization that its fighters had ambushed a “national security force” in western Kirkuk, clashed with the force and killed 30 of them and burned six vehicles.
Hawija town, 300 km north of Baghdad, was liberated from Daesh by Iraqi security forces in October, but the area’s rugged terrain and its large, dense agricultural land turned it into a safe haven for militants who fled the fighting in Mosul and Anbar.
Iraqi forces liberated the area militarily, but have not cleaned or inspected it and many of its villages remain uninhabited.
“We have information that dozens of militants have been gathering there (in Hawija). They have been taking advantage of the nature of the area to freely move from one village to another,” a local intelligence officer told Arab News.
“They (the militants) become experts in this area and have been getting help from the people of the area as most of them (militants) belong to these villages.”
Iraqi federal police backed by the PMF have launched a “limited” military operation to look for a further six missing PMF fighters, military commanders said.
Despite this, the formal statement from PMF commanders said that the forces was on a “routine inspection” mission, but the incident has highlighted the mis-coordination and lack of trust between the multiple troops deployed in the area.
“This force came from Tazza town. They were out of their area and have not informed or coordinated with troops deployed in the region or the joint military operation commandership,” a senior PMF commander told Arab News on condition of anonymity.
“Maybe they were afraid of a leak of information. Even if the goal was important, they had to coordinate with the units deployed in the region. The prior coordination would have secured their movement and they would be alive now.”
Daesh still capable of launching attacks in northern Iraq, say commanders
Daesh still capable of launching attacks in northern Iraq, say commanders
Netanyahu says Israeli Gaza proposal allows return of all hostages, elimination of Hamas
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office said on Friday that Israel had authorized negotiators to present a Gaza truce deal after US President Joe Biden revealed details of a three-phased ceasefire plan he said was proposed by Israel.
“The Israeli government is united in the desire to return our hostages as soon as possible and is working to achieve this goal,” the statement said.
“Therefore, the prime minister has authorized the negotiating team to present an outline for achieving this goal, while insisting that the war will not end until all of its goals are achieved, including the return of all our hostages and the destruction of Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities.”
Hamas says it ‘positively’ views Gaza Biden ceasefire proposal; EU chief also finds it to be ‘realistic'
- Hamas’ position signals a change in attitude from the group, which in recent months had accused the US obstructing attempts for a ceasefire
- Rifts between Biden and Netanyahu over red lines in Gaza has set up a potential showdown between the two leaders
GAZA: Hamas on Friday said it had a positive view of the contents of a three-phase ceasefire proposal announced by US President Joe Biden for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
“Hamas confirms its readiness to deal positively and in a constructive manner with any proposal that is based on the permanent ceasefire and the full withdrawal (of Israeli forces) from the Gaza Strip, the reconstruction (of Gaza), and the return of the displaced to their places, along with the fulfillment of a genuine prisoner swap deal if the occupation clearly announces commitment to such deal,” the group said in a statement.
Hamas’ position signals a change in attitude from the group, which in recent months had accused the US of siding with Israel and obstructing attempts for a ceasefire.
“Hamas sees Biden’s position now more focused on pressuring Israel to return to negotiations with a different attitude, or they (Israel) could risk clashing with the Americans,” a Palestinian official close to the mediation efforts told Reuters.
Rifts between Biden and Netanyahu over red lines in Gaza has set up a potential showdown between the two leaders, raising questions about whether the US might restrict military aid if Israel continues its offensive in the now-devastated enclave.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Israel had authorized negotiators to present a Gaza truce deal after Biden revealed details of the ceasefire plan.
Palestinian health authorities estimate more than 36,280 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel attacked the enclave in response to an Oct. 7 Hamas assault in southern Israel. The Hamas attack killed around 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
EU chimes in
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen also welcomed the Israeli roadmap toward a ceasefire in Gaza announced by US President Joe Biden as a “significant opportunity” to bring the war to an end.
“I wholeheartedly agree with Biden that the latest proposal is a significant opportunity to move toward an end to war and civilian suffering in Gaza. This three-step approach is balanced and realistic. It now needs support from all parties,” the European Commission president said on social media.
UN demands full aid access in Sudan
- Aid workers continue to face systematic obstructions and deliberate denials of access, committee says
GENEVA: UN agency chiefs have demanded unimpeded humanitarian access to deliver aid throughout war-torn Sudan, saying time was running out to prevent widespread famine.
In a joint statement, the heads of multiple UN agencies urged all parties in the conflict to immediately stop denying and obstructing humanitarian actions.
“Let us be clear: If we are prevented from providing aid rapidly and at scale, more people will die,” the statement from the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee said.
“Without an immediate and major step change, we will face a nightmare scenario: A famine will take hold in large parts of the country. More people will flee to neighboring countries in search of sustenance and safety. More children will succumb to disease and malnutrition.”
The joint statement was penned by the UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, along with the heads of the UN agencies for food, health, human rights, refugees, migration, agriculture and children, among others.
The committee is the highest-level humanitarian coordination forum in the UN system, bringing together the heads of 19 organizations, some of which are from outside the UN.
Fighting in Sudan broke out in April last year between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has killed thousands and sparked a humanitarian disaster.
The statement said 18 million people were acutely hungry, 3.6 million children were acutely malnourished and famine was closing in on millions of people.
Nearly 2 million people have escaped to neighboring countries while millions more are displaced within Sudan.
FASTFACT
The joint statement was penned by the UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, along with the heads of the UN agencies for food, health, human rights, refugees, migration, agriculture and children, among others.
“Despite the tremendous needs, aid workers continue to face systematic obstructions and deliberate denials of access by parties to the conflict,” said the statement from the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee.
“Aid workers are being killed, injured and harassed, and humanitarian supplies are being looted.”
The statement said movement across conflict lines to parts of Khartoum, Darfur, Al-Jazira and Kordofan had been all but cut off since mid-December.
The UN agency chiefs made a series of demands, including an immediate ceasefire, protection for civilians and an end to human rights violations.
“Facilitate unimpeded humanitarian access through all possible crossline and cross-border routes to allow civilians to receive humanitarian aid. Immediately cease all acts denying, obstructing and interfering with, or politicizing, humanitarian action,” they said.
“Simplify and expedite administrative and bureaucratic procedures related to the delivery of humanitarian aid.”
Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told a media briefing in Geneva that the conditions for aid delivery were “very, very poor, and it’s very, very dangerous.”
“We want these generals to find a way to solve their differences not by violence that kills, maims, rapes hundreds of thousands of people,” he said.
The UN also said it was concerned by limited donor support, having received only 16 percent of the $2.7 billion it needs for Sudan.
In conflict-torn Libya, artist’s family turns home into museum
TRIPOLI: A seemingly ordinary villa in the heart of Tripoli holds a lifetime of works by the late Libyan artist Ali Gana, whose family has turned his house into a unique museum.
In the North African country still grappling with divisions and conflict after the fall of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, “art comes last,” said Hadia Gana, the youngest of the artist’s four children.
A decade in the making and with the help of volunteers, she had transformed the classic-style Tripolitan villa her father had built, before passing in 2006 at age 70, into “the first and only museum of modern art in Libya,” Gana said.
Bayt Ali Gana — “Ali Gana’s House” in Arabic — finally opened this year, and seeks to offer both retrospection and hope in a country constantly threatened by violence and where arts and culture stand largely neglected.
“It is seen as something superfluous,” Gana said, adding that galleries in the country often focus solely on selling pieces rather than making art more accessible.
Once past a lush garden, visitors reach the museum’s permanent exhibition of paintings, sculptures and sketches by the masterful Ali Gana.
Other rooms include temporary exhibitions, and offer space for seminars and themed workshops.
Set on a wall, an old shipping container houses an artist residency for “curators and museologists” whose skills are scarce in Libya, said Hadia Gana.
Libyan artists had long been subject to censorship and self-censorship under Qaddafi’s four-decade rule, and “we could not express ourselves on politics,” recalled Gana, 50, a ceramic artist.
Art “must not have barriers,” she said, proudly standing in the family-owned space for artistic freedom.
Bayt Ali Gana appears timeless, though the villa bears some signs of the unrest that followed the overthrow and death of Qaddafi.
A road sign riddled with bullets hangs from the gate that separates the museum from the private residence.
Mortar shells turned upside down sit among flowers in the garden, where visitors are offered cold drinks or Italian espressos in a setting that replicates Cafe Said, once owned by Ali Gana’s father in the old medina of Tripoli.
During the unrest that began in 2011, Hadia Gana said she feared “losing everything if a rocket hit the house.”
Then came the idea of creating a museum in the hopes of conserving her father’s precious works and archives.
Sporadic fighting, water or electricity cuts, and forced isolation due to the Covid pandemic have piled challenges on the family’s mission, while the Ganas steered clear of state funding or investors to maintain the independence of their nascent institution.
Gradually, the house morphed into a cultural center celebrating Ali Gana’s calling to “teach and educate through art,” said his daughter.
It “is not a mausoleum,” but a hub of creativity and education, she said.
Gana’s archives also document traditional crafts and trades, some of which have completely disappeared by now.
After taking power in a 1969 coup, Qaddafi had imposed a ban on all private enterprise, and “for 40 years, crafts became an outlawed activity,” said the late artist’s oldest son Mehdi, who now lives in the Netherlands.
He said that in his lifetime, Ali Gana took on a mission to “build archives in order to link Libya’s past to a possible future.”
It is “the nature of the family” to preserve and share knowledge, said matriarch Janine Rabiau-Gana, 84.
Hadia Gana lamented that while museums should be educational spaces, “here in Libya, we don’t have that notion yet.”
She said she wanted to avoid “making it a museum where everything is transfixed.”
Instead, “I wanted something lively, almost playful, and above all a place that arouses curiosity in all its beauty.”
Iran denies using Swedish gangs to target Israel
STOCKHOLM: Iran’s Embassy in Stockholm has denied accusations it was recruiting criminal gang members, some of them children, as proxies to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli interests in Sweden.
“Paying attention to the source of this information clearly shows that it is false,” the embassy said in a statement on its website, adding that media coverage based on documents from Israel’s secret services was “false and baseless.”
Tensions have flared between Israel and Iran since the start of the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, and the two states have fought a shadow war of killings and sabotage attacks for years.
On Thursday, Sweden’s intelligence agency said Iran was “using criminal networks in Sweden to carry out acts of violence against other states, groups or people in Sweden that it considers a threat.”
The service, commonly known as Sapo, said these were particularly aimed at “Israeli and Jewish interests, targets and operations in Sweden.”
Several hours before Sapo’s announcement, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter or DN cited documents from Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad as saying that the heads of two Swedish gangs had both been recruited by the Iranian regime.
“Unfortunately, some Swedish media have quoted the false and baseless claims of media and institutions affiliated with this brutal regime (Israel) and published false and fabricated reports against Iran,” the Iranian Embassy’s statement added.
The embassy said it “expects the Swedish media not to trust the claims and reports published by the Israeli regime” and to work for “an end to the crimes of the Zionist regime in Palestine.”
The diplomatic spat comes two weeks after night-time gunfire was reported outside Israel’s embassy in Stockholm, and three months after police found a live grenade lying on the grounds of the Israeli compound.
