Sudan’s warring sides commit abuses, including strikes on fleeing civilians, UN report says

Sudan’s warring sides commit abuses, including strikes on fleeing civilians, UN report says
Thousands of people have been killed and over six million forced to flee their homes, making Sudan with the largest displaced population in the world. (AFP)
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Updated 23 February 2024
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Sudan’s warring sides commit abuses, including strikes on fleeing civilians, UN report says

Sudan’s warring sides commit abuses, including strikes on fleeing civilians, UN report says
  • Efforts have so far failed to end the 10-month-old conflict that pits Sudan’s regular armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces

GENEVA: Both sides in Sudan’s civil war have committed abuses that may amount to war crimes including indiscriminate attacks on civilian sites like hospitals, markets and even camps for the displaced, the UN human rights office said on Friday.
Efforts have so far failed to end the 10-month-old conflict that pits Sudan’s regular armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Thousands of people have been killed and over six million forced to flee their homes, making it the country with the largest displaced population in the world.
“Some of these violations would amount to war crimes,” Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement accompanying the report. “The guns must be silenced, and civilians must be protected.”
The US has already formally determined that the warring parties have committed war crimes and said the RSF and allied militias were involved in ethnic cleansing in West Darfur. Both sides have said they would investigate reports of killings and abuses and prosecute any fighters found to be involved.
The United Nations report covers the April-December period and is based on interviews with over 300 victims and witnesses as well as footage and satellite imagery.
It says that sometimes those fleeing for their lives or displaced by the violence became victims of explosive weapons attacks.
In one incident, dozens of displaced people were killed when their camp in Zalingei, Darfur was shelled by RSF between Sept. 14-17, the report said. Some 26 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed on Aug. 22 by shells reportedly fired by the Sudanese Armed Forces while sheltering under a bridge.
The report also says the RSF had adopted a military strategy of using human shields, citing testimonies of victims involved.
It describes incidents in the capital Khartoum where dozens of individuals were arrested and placed outside near RSF military posts to deter air strikes from Sudanese fighter jets.
UN investigators have so far documented cases of sexual violence affecting 118 people, including one women who was detained and repeatedly gang-raped for weeks. Many of the rapes were committed by RSF members, it said.
Reuters has also documented cases of gang rape in ethnically targeted attacks by RSF forces and allied Arab militia.
The war erupted last April over disputes about the powers of the army and the RSF under an internationally-backed plan for a political transition toward civilian rule and free elections.


Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria

Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria
Updated 12 sec ago
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Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria

Turkiye pressing US to rethink Kurdish alliance in Syria
ANKARA: Turkiye is pressing the United States to reconsider its support for Kurdish militants in Syria, according to comments by its leaders including President Tayyip Erdogan, who has again floated the possibility of a new cross-border offensive.
“We are constantly reminding our American counterparts that they need to stop the cooperation they have with the terrorist organization in Syria,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was quoted on Monday as telling the Milliyet newspaper.
“Our contacts on this issue have increased. We see that the US side is keen on more talks and negotiations too,” he added.
On Sunday, Erdogan said Turkiye could mount a new offensive into northern Syria to create new safe zones along its border, after saying on Friday that he would discuss a possible US troop withdrawal from Syria with President-elect Donald Trump.
Strains in US-Turkiye ties include US support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, Washington’s main ally against Islamic State in Syria. Ankara calls it a terrorist organization and extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the United States also deems a terror group.
NATO member Turkiye has carried out several cross-border operations against the YPG in recent years and has since threatened more.
Erdogan said on Sunday these moves established safe zones in Syria that had “thwarted attempts to surround” it from the southern borders, and Turkiye was determined to “completely cut off contact between terrorist organizations.”
“God willing, we will complete the missing links of the safe zone we have established along our borders in coming period,” he said.
In recent months Erdogan has also made overtures to repair severed ties with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government after a decade of animosity.
Ankara has complained that Damascus has not reciprocated its attempts at rapprochement, after Erdogan said in July he wanted to invite Assad for talks. Assad said those attempts have yielded no results and Damascus wants Turkish troops to withdraw from Syrian territories.

Israeli fire kills 11 Palestinians as tanks roll into central Gaza camp

Israeli fire kills 11 Palestinians as tanks roll into central Gaza camp
Updated 38 min 51 sec ago
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Israeli fire kills 11 Palestinians as tanks roll into central Gaza camp

Israeli fire kills 11 Palestinians as tanks roll into central Gaza camp
  • Overnight strikes kill at least 11, as Israeli tanks push into central Gaza
  • Israel is focusing its operations in the north and center

CAIRO: Israeli forces sent tanks into the western side of Gaza’s Nuseirat camp on Monday in a new incursion into the enclave’s central area, and Palestinian medics said Israeli military strikes had killed at least 11 people since Sunday night.
Residents said Israeli tanks opened fire as they rolled into that sector of the camp, one of the Gaza Strip’s eight historic refugee sites, causing panic among the population and displaced families.
One resident, Zaik Mohammad, said the tanks’ advance was a complete surprise.
“Some people couldn’t leave and remained trapped inside their homes, appealing to be allowed out, while others rushed out with whatever they could carry as they fled,” Mohammad, 25, who lives one kilometer away from the targeted area, told Reuters via a chat app.
With the war in Gaza now in its 14th month, Israel is focusing its operations in the north and center in what it says is a campaign to stop Hamas militants waging attacks and to prevent them from regrouping.
Tens of thousands of Palestinian residents have been told to evacuate the areas, fueling fears that they may never be allowed to return.
The already slim chances of a ceasefire receded further at the weekend when mediator Qatar said it was suspending its efforts until both Israel and Hamas showed greater willingness to reach an agreement.
In attacks overnight and into Monday, medics said seven people were killed in Nuseirat in two separate Israeli airstrikes, one that hit a tent encampment.
In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, where Israeli forces have operated since Oct. 5, medics said four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
At Kamal Adwan Hospital near Beit Lahiya, medics said Israeli fire from a drone wounded three medical workers in the facility.
There was no Israeli comment on Monday’s violence.
The Israeli military said it killed a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad group, an ally of Hamas, Mohammad Abu Skhail, in a strike on Saturday at a command center inside a compound that previously served as a school in Gaza City. Palestinian medics said the attack killed six people.

Hospital Siege
Israeli forces have besieged the three hospitals in and around Jabalia for several weeks and hospital officials have refused orders to evacuate the facilities or leave their patients unattended despite the lack of food, medical, and fuel supplies.
The Israeli military accuses Hamas of exploiting Gaza’s civilian population for military purposes, a charge the militant group denies.
The army sent tanks into Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and Jabalia camp in northern Gaza over a month ago. It said it had killed hundreds of militants in Jabalia and around it since the raids began.
The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said their fighters carried out ambushes, mortar fire, and anti-tank rocket attacks, claiming to have killed many Israeli soldiers in recent weeks.
On Monday, the Israeli military said it had expanded the “humanitarian zone” in the enclave. It also said it would allow more tents, shelter materials, food, water, and medical supplies to enter.
Its forces “will continue to work to achieve the war’s objectives, including dismantling Hamas and returning all the abductees,” it said.
Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas in the enclave, home to more than 2.1 million people and now largely in ruins.
The war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen attacked Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and seizing another 253 hostages, by Israeli tallies. Israel’s military campaign has leveled much of Gaza and killed around 43,500 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say.


Israel says ‘certain progress’ on Lebanon ceasefire

Israel says ‘certain progress’ on Lebanon ceasefire
Updated 55 min 6 sec ago
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Israel says ‘certain progress’ on Lebanon ceasefire

Israel says ‘certain progress’ on Lebanon ceasefire

JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Monday said there had been “certain progress” on a ceasefire in Lebanon after the Israeli army launched an operation in the country targeting Hezbollah.
“There is certain progress,” Saar said in response to a question about a possible ceasefire. “We are working with the Americans on the issue,” he told reporters in Jerusalem.


Syria state media says Israel strikes near Homs

Syria state media says Israel strikes near Homs
Updated 30 min 8 sec ago
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Syria state media says Israel strikes near Homs

Syria state media says Israel strikes near Homs

DAMASCUS: Syrian state media on Monday reported an Israeli strike on a village near the city of Homs, a day after a deadly strike on a building in the Damascus area.
“An Israeli aggression” targeted the “surroundings of the Shinshar region south of Homs,” state news agency SANA said, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike targeted a Hezbollah munitions warehouse.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported  that Syria’s main Homs-Damascus highway is temporarily cut off after strike targeted an aid gathering center for displaced Lebanese south of the city of Homs.
 


Iran aware of reports about Iranian-American journalist’s arrest, ministry says

Iran aware of reports about Iranian-American journalist’s arrest, ministry says
Updated 11 November 2024
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Iran aware of reports about Iranian-American journalist’s arrest, ministry says

Iran aware of reports about Iranian-American journalist’s arrest, ministry says
  • Iran does not recognize second nationalities and treats dual nationals solely as Iranian

DUBAI: Iran’s foreign ministry is aware of reports about the arrest of Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh in Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday.
Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that Reza Valizadeh, an Iranian-American journalist who once worked for a US government-funded broadcaster, was believed to have been detained by Iran for some months.
“We are aware of reports regarding the arrest of one Iranian national, he is an Iranian national and I do not have information on his second citizenship. We are in contact with relevant institutions to follow up on the case,” Baghaei said when asked about Valizadeh in a press conference.
Iran does not recognize second nationalities and treats dual nationals solely as Iranians.
The US State Department had earlier acknowledged the imprisonment of Valizadeh, who previously worked for Radio Farda, an outlet under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that is overseen by the US Agency for Global Media.