WASHINGTON: The Gaza ceasefire clinched Wednesday was a bittersweet victory for US President Joe Biden days before he hands over the White House to Donald Trump, who claimed credit — and, most experts say, deserves some.
Biden first proposed the outlines of the deal between Israel and Hamas on May 31 but diplomatic efforts repeatedly came up short, even when Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned in Tel Aviv in August that it may have been the last chance for a deal.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff marched into Netanyahu’s office on Saturday, forcing the Israeli leader to break the sabbath, and pushed to seal the ceasefire.
The timing has echoes of a 1981 deal on US hostages in Iran, freed from 444 days of captivity moments after Republican Ronald Reagan succeeded Democrat Jimmy Carter, although this time the outgoing and incoming administrations worked together.
In scenes unprecedented in recent US history, Witkoff and Biden’s Middle East adviser Brett McGurk met jointly with the emir of Qatar — a key intermediary between Israel and Hamas — when sealing the deal.
Trump quickly boasted that the “epic” deal “could only have happened” due to his election as US president in November.
Asked if Trump deserved credit, Biden quipped: “Is that a joke?“
Speaking hours before a previously scheduled farewell address to the nation, the outgoing president said he included the Trump team in negotiations so that the United States was “speaking with one voice.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it was not unexpected for all sides to seek credit for positive news.
“What I can say is, the president got it done,” she said, referring to Biden.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the Trump team’s presence was about demonstrating “continuity” rather than the Republican exerting new pressure.
Biden faced heated criticism from the left of his Democratic Party during its unsuccessful election year over his staunch support of Israel since Palestinian group Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.
Biden authorized billions of dollars in weapons for Israel’s relentless retaliatory campaign on Gaza, despite criticizing the strategic US ally for the civilian death toll — which authorities in Gaza say is in the tens of thousands.
“The Biden administration was terrified of the political cost of being seen to be pressing Israel in any way,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now.
Trump, while vowing to be even more pro-Israel, was able to make clear to Netanyahu that “I do not want to inherit this,” Whitson said.
“It made me think that all of this would have been possible months ago and we could have saved thousands of Palestinian lives,” she said.
Trump had warned Hamas of “hell to pay” if it did not agree to a deal, which includes in its first phase the release of 33 hostages seized on October 7.
David Khalfa, an expert on Israel at the Jean Jaures Foundation in Paris, said that Trump’s unpredictability likely impacted Hamas.
He also pointed to Netanyahu’s political position heading a hard-right but shaky coalition government.
“There is today an ideological alignment between the American populist right and the Israeli prime minister. So he has very weak room to maneuver against a Trump who doesn’t face the pressures of reelection,” said Khalfa.
Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said a desire by Israel and others for the right optics as Trump takes over could have played a role in sealing the deal.
But a larger factor than Trump was the changing dynamics in the region — the major blows inflicted both on Hamas and its patron Iran, he said.
Israel has devastated Iranian ally Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran’s own air defenses, with Tehran’s main ally in the Arab world, Syria’s Bashar Assad, ousted last month by rebel forces.
“I don’t think any of the threats and bluster that we saw from Trump were a huge factor on either side. I think it’s mostly a baby that’s fathered by Biden and his team,” Katulis said.
“But I think the sense that there were big question marks on what was coming might have motivated those who were stonewalling,” he said.
Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agreed that the uncertainty following Trump’s victory contributed to the deal.
Israel and Hamas were negotiating “under the terms that each side had become familiar with” and knew there was a high risk “that the parameters were about to change.”
And if the deal falls apart?
“Then it doesn’t matter who implemented it; there will be plenty of blame to go around,” Alterman said.
Gaza truce bittersweet for Biden as Trump takes credit
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Gaza truce bittersweet for Biden as Trump takes credit
- Trump had warned Hamas of “hell to pay” if it did not agree to a deal
Bangladesh’s air force chief seeks stronger defense ties with Saudi Arabia, UAE
- Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan will be in the Kingdom until Feb. 13
- Dhaka seeks to take defense relations to ‘next level’ with the Gulf trip
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s Air Force chief began a multi-day visit to Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Sunday, a trip expected to strengthen Dhaka’s defense ties with the Gulf states.
Air Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan arrived in Riyadh on Sunday, where he is due to hold talks with top officials at the Royal Saudi Air Force, including his counterpart, Lt. Gen. Turki bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz.
Khan will also visit RSAF’s bases and establishments as part of his trip to the Kingdom, according to the public relations division of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, ISPR.
“The visit of our air chief marshal will strengthen defense cooperation between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia,” ISPR Director Lt. Col. Sami Ud Dowla Chowdhury told Arab News.
“Khan will discuss opportunities for increasing collaboration in the area of joint exercise and training. The visit will definitely pave the way for closer cooperation between the two air forces in the coming days.”
Dhaka and Riyadh signed in 2019 an agreement to further their military cooperation, which has served as a basis for their collaborations in the field.
From Saudi Arabia, Khan will continue his Gulf trip to the UAE on Feb. 14 to meet his Emirati counterpart, Maj. Gen. Staff Pilot Ibrahim Nasser Mohamed Al-Alawi, and discuss “various bilateral issues of mutual interest.”
Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE are “very important countries” in the Gulf region, Chowdhury said.
“We have been enjoying excellent relationships with both countries. With this visit, we can say our defense cooperation will be further enhanced.”
31 Maoists, two Indian soldiers killed in gunfight— police
- Over 10,000 have been killed in decades-long insurgency waged by rebels
- Maoists demand land, jobs and share of central India’s natural resources for locals
New Delhi: At least 31 Maoist rebels and two Indian commandos were killed in a gunfight in the dense jungles of central India Sunday, as security forces ramp up efforts to crush the long-running insurgency.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in the decades-long insurgency waged by the rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized Indigenous people.
“31 rebels and two security personnel are dead and two other security personnel are injured,” senior police officer Sundarraj P. told AFP.
The official said the toll could be even higher as the police continue to carry out search operations in the area.
“Additional forces have been rushed to the encounter site,” he said.
Police have recovered automatic weapons and grenade launchers from the scene, a police statement said.
The gunfight broke in the forested areas of Bijapur district in the state of Chhattisgarh, considered the heartland of the insurgency.
“This is a big success in the direction of achieving a Naxal-free India,” said Amit Shah, India’s home minister, who last year said the government expected to crush the rebellion by 2026.
A crackdown by security forces has killed some 287 rebels in the past year, an overwhelming majority in Chhattisgarh, according to government data.
The Maoists demand land, jobs and a share of the region’s immense natural resources for local residents.
They made inroads in a number of remote communities across India’s east and south, and the movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s.
New Delhi then deployed tens of thousands of troops in a stretch of territory known as the “Red Corridor.”
The conflict has also seen a number of deadly attacks on government forces. A roadside bomb killed at least nine Indian troops last month.
Trump says he has spoken to Putin about ending the Ukraine war
- Trump said last week that the war was a bloodbath and that his team had had ‘some very good talks’
- US president has repeatedly said he wants to end the war and that he will meet Putin to discuss it
MOSCOW: US President Donald Trump said he has spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone about ending the war in Ukraine, the New York Post reported, the first known direct conversation between Putin and a USpresident since early 2022.
Trump, who has promised to end the war in Ukraine but not yet set out in public how he would do so, said last week that the war was a bloodbath and that his team had had “some very good talks.”
In an interview aboard Air Force One on Friday Trump told the New York Post that he had “better not say,” when asked how many times he and Putin had spoken.
“He (Putin) wants to see people stop dying,” Trump told the New York Post. The White House did not respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the TASS state news agency that “many different communications are emerging.”
“These communications are conducted through different channels,” Peskov said when asked by TASS to comment directly on the New York Post report. “I personally may not know something, be unaware of something. Therefore, in this case, I can neither confirm nor deny it.”
The conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014 after a pro-Russian president was toppled in Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution and Russia annexed Crimea, with Russian-backed separatist forces fighting Ukraine’s armed forces.
Putin sent thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022, calling it a “special military operation” to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine and counter what he said was a grave threat to Russia from potential Ukrainian membership of NATO.
Ukraine and its Western backers, led by the United States, said the invasion was an imperial style land grab and vowed to defeat Russian forces.
Moscow controls a chunk of Ukraine about the size of the American state of Virginia and is advancing at the fastest pace since the early days of the 2022 invasion.
Trump-Putin summit?
Trump, author of the 1987 book “Trump: the Art of the Deal,” has repeatedly said he wants to end the war and that he will meet Putin to discuss it, though the date or venue for a summit is still not publicly known.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are seen by Russia as possible venues for a summit, Reuters reported earlier this month.
On June 14, Putin set out his opening terms for an immediate end to the war: Ukraine must drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw its troops from the entirety of the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed and mostly controlled by Russia.
Reuters reported in November that Putin is open to discussing a Ukraine peace deal with Trump but rules out making any major territorial concessions and insists Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO.
The Kremlin has repeatedly urged caution over speculation about contacts with the Trump team over a possible peace deal.
Leonid Slutsky, head of the Russian parliament’s international affairs committee, was cited by the state RIA news agency on Thursday as saying that preparations for such a meeting were at “an advanced stage” and that it could take place in February or March.
Putin last spoke to former US President Joe Biden in February 2022, shortly before Putin ordered thousands of troops into Ukraine. The two leaders spoke for about an hour then, the Kremlin said.
Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, in his 2024 book “War,” reported that Trump had direct conversations as many as seven times with Putin after he left the White House in 2021.
Asked if that were true in an interview to Bloomberg last year, Trump said: “If I did, it’s a smart thing.” The Kremlin denied Woodward’s report.
On Friday, Trump said he would probably meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky next week to discuss ending the war.
Trump told the New York Post that he has “always had a good relationship with Putin” and that he has a concrete plan to end the war. But he did not disclose further details.
“I hope it’s fast,” Trump said. “Every day people are dying. This war is so bad in Ukraine. I want to end this damn thing.”
One dead, dozens missing in China landslide
- China has been hit with extreme weather in recent months, with dozens of people killed in floods last year
- Scientists say climate change is making extreme weather events more frequent
SHANGHAI: A landslide in China’s southwestern Sichuan province triggered by heavy rain has killed at least one person, with nearly 30 more missing, state media said Sunday.
China has been hit with extreme weather in recent months, with dozens of people killed in floods last year, its warmest on record.
Scientists say climate change is making extreme weather events more frequent.
Saturday’s landslide hit Jinping village in the city of Yibin at around 11:50 a.m. (0350 GMT).
As of Sunday morning, “one person has been killed and 28 people are missing,” state news agency Xinhua said.
Two people were saved on Saturday and more than 900 rescuers are attempting to find the rest of the missing people, Xinhua said.
Video footage published by state broadcaster CCTV earlier on Sunday showed rescuers with flashlights searching through debris in the dark.
“A preliminary study shows this disaster occurred due to the influence of recent prolonged rainfall and geological factors,” CCTV said, citing local authorities.
President Xi Jinping ordered authorities on Saturday to do “everything possible to search for and rescue missing people, minimize casualties, and properly handle the aftermath.”
Bangladesh crackdown on ex-regime loyalists
DHAKA: Bangladesh on Sunday launched a major security operation after protesters were attacked by gangs allegedly connected to the ousted regime of ex-leader Sheikh Hasina.
A government statement said the operation began after gangs “linked to the fallen autocratic regime attacked a group of students, leaving them severely injured.”
Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, head of the interior ministry in the interim government that took over after Hasina was ousted in the August 2024 student-led revolution, has dubbed it “Operation Devil Hunt.”
“It will continue until we uproot the devils,” Chowdhury told reporters.
The sweeping security operations come after days of unrest.
On Wednesday, six months to the day since Hasina fled as crowds stormed her palace in Dhaka, protesters smashed down buildings connected to her family using excavators.
Protests were triggered in response to reports that 77-year-old Hasina — who has defied an arrest warrant to face trial crimes against humanity — would appear in a Facebook broadcast from exile in neighboring India.
Buildings destroyed included the museum and former home of Hasina’s late father, Bangladesh’s first president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The interim government blamed Hasina for the violence.
On Friday, interim leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus also pleaded for calm.
“Respecting the rule of law is what differentiates the new Bangladesh we are working together to build, from the old Bangladesh under the fascist regime,” Yunus said in a statement.
“For the citizens who rose up and overthrew the Hasina regime ... it is imperative to prove to ourselves and our friends around the world that our commitment to our principles — respecting one another’s civil and human rights and acting under the law — is unshakable.”
Hours later, members of the Students Against Discrimination — the protest group credited with sparking the uprising against Hasina — were attacked in the Dhaka district of Gazipur.
The vocal and powerful group — whose members are in the government cabinet — had since demanded action.
