JEDDAH: Ret. Gen. Mahmoud Mansour, the founder of Qatari Intelligence, said he believes it is impossible for Doha to implement its aim to have Iranian and Turkish soldiers deployed in its territory.
In a phone interview with Makkah newspaper, Mansour said the US will not allow fighters of other nationalities to be deployed in Qatar territories near its large base, adding that talks of foreign soldiers (to be used by Qatar) are no more than “vocal waves that will disappear.”
The statement comes in response to official and media reports about Qatar’s intention to host military personnel from Iran, Turkey and Pakistan in response to the fact that 16 Arab and Islamic countries have severed relations with it.
He said a list that named 59 individuals and 12 entities, issued jointly by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt, “is only the first step and will be followed by others.”
“In the coming days, many terrorist persons and entities will be added, especially those who Qatar has funded in the Arab world, Africa, Asia and Europe.”
He said it is time to bring the Qatari regime to account whether by the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Arab League or the UN.
The general said that former Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa and his government executive head Hamad bin Jasim turned Doha “to a department for the execution of operations aimed at achieving the goals of previous US administrations in the region.” They supported armed and terrorist groups in Asia, Africa, the Arab world and some European regions.
He said arrogance made them (the Hamads) think they could outsmart the US and seek the creation of a huge Islamic state with Doha as its capital.
Doha looking for agents
During that period (under the two Hamads), Qatar started looking for agents to recruit in Somalia, Eretria, Central and Western Africa, Egypt, some of the Gulf states “if not all of them,” in addition to the Levant region and even Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Philippines.
They started providing the funds and arms for those agents, while deceiving the Qatari people who thought the funds were for humanitarian purposes at those societies.
“The truth is, their goal was to create unrest in the countries they succeeded in penetrating using their (the then-Qatar government) vast amounts of money.”
Gen. Mansour said he was confident that the US is fully aware of the recent Qatari financial support for organizations and activities inciting against other societies.
Al-Baghdadi in Qatar?
He said he would not be surprised if Qatar was found to be hosting Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
“Was he smuggled into Qatar? Where is he? Is he one of those who turned their countries to hell and are hosted in Doha’s large hotels?”
Founder of Qatari Intelligence: US will never allow Iranian, Turkish presence in Doha
Founder of Qatari Intelligence: US will never allow Iranian, Turkish presence in Doha
UN rights chief shocked by ‘unbearable’ Darfur atrocities
- Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur
PORT SUDAN: Nearly three years of war have put the Sudanese people through “hell,” the UN’s rights chief said on Sunday, blasting the vast sums spent on advanced weaponry at the expense of humanitarian aid and the recruitment of child soldiers.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that has left tens of thousands of people dead and around 11 million displaced.
Speaking in Port Sudan during his first wartime visit, UN Human Rights commissioner Volker Turk said the population had endured “horror and hell,” calling it “despicable” that funds that “should be used to alleviate the suffering of the population” are instead spent on advanced weapons, particularly drones.
More than 21 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and two-thirds of Sudan’s population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid, according to the UN.
In addition to the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis, Sudan is also facing “the increasing militarization of society by all parties to the conflict, including through the arming of civilians and recruitment and use of children,” Turk added.
He said he had heard testimony of “unbearable” atrocities from survivors of attacks in Darfur, and warned of similar crimes unfolding in the Kordofan region — the current epicenter of the fighting.
Testimony of these atrocities must be heard by “the commanders of this conflict and those who are arming, funding and profiting from this war,” he said.
Mediation efforts have failed to produce a ceasefire, even after international outrage intensified last year with reports of mass killings, rape, and abductions during the RSF’s takeover of El-Fasher in Darfur.
“We must ensure that the perpetrators of these horrific violations face justice regardless of the affiliation,” Turk said on Sunday, adding that repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute “war crimes.”
He called on both sides to “cease intolerable attacks against civilian objects that are indispensable to the civilian population, including markets, health facilities, schools and shelters.”
Turk again warned on Sunday that crimes similar to those seen in El-Fasher could recur in volatile Kordofan, where the RSF has advanced, besieging and attacking several key cities.
Hundreds of thousands face starvation across the region, where more than 65,000 people have been displaced since October, according to the latest UN figures.
