Region

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President Barack Obama will welcome the six leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council kingdoms in mid-May for talks on Iran's nuclear programme and the conflicts in Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

The White House said the May 13 meetings at the White House and May 14 gathering at Camp David "will be an opportunity for the leaders to discuss ways to enhance their partnership and deepen security cooperation”.

The meeting was announced in early April by Obama, who is seeking to reassure Gulf states following a framework accord reached on Tehran's contested nuclear programme earlier in the month.

Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia fears its regional rival Iran, which has a Shiite government, will continue to develop an atomic bomb after the sanctions that are strangling Iran's economy are lifted.

Meanwhile, last month, a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes in Yemen against the allegedly Iranian-backed Shiite rebels fighting Yemeni forces.

The White House will welcome the leaders of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates during the May meetings.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday left open the door to "creative negotiations" in response to Iran's demand that punishing sanctions be immediately lifted as part of a nuclear deal, even though the initial agreement calls for the penalties to be removed over time.

Asked at a White House news conference whether he would definitively rule out lifting sanctions at once as part of a final deal aimed at keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, Obama said he didn't want to get ahead of negotiators in how to work through the potential sticking point. He said his main concern is making sure that if Iran violates an agreement, sanctions can quickly be reinstated — the so-called "snap back" provision.

"How sanctions are lessened, how we snap back sanctions if there's a violation, there are a lot of different mechanisms and ways to do that," Obama said. He said part of the job for Secretary of State John Kerry and the representatives of five other nations working to reach a final deal with Iran by June 30 "is to sometimes find formulas that get to our main concerns while allowing the other side to make a presentation to their body politic that is more acceptable".

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani insisted last week that they would not sign a deal unless it lifts all sanctions on its first day. Obama initially portrayed their comments as a reflection of internal political pressure, while pointing out that the initial framework agreement reached earlier this month allows for sanctions to be phased out once international monitors verify that Tehran is abiding by the limitations.

Obama, speaking Friday at a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, said the sanctions issue "will require some creative negotiations by John Kerry and others”.

Obama also said he would sign legislation expected to pass the Senate and House giving Congress a say on a final deal, calling it a "reasonable compromise" that addresses his previous objections over Congress interference.

The legislation would block Obama from waiving congressional sanctions against Iran for at least 30 days after any final agreement, which would give lawmakers time to weigh in. Obama said he still has some concerns that some lawmakers are treading on his unilateral power as president to enter into a political agreement with another country, but the bill has language that makes it clear that lawmakers' review will be limited to the sanctions imposed by Congress.

"That I think at least allows me to interpret the legislation in such a way that it is not sending a signal to future presidents that each and every time they're negotiating a political agreement, that they have to get a congressional authorisation," Obama said. He said he takes lawmakers who have drafted the legislation at their word that they will not try to derail negotiations.

Obama also weighed in on Russia's announcement earlier this week that it would lift a five-year ban on delivery of anti-aircraft missiles, giving the Islamic republic's military a strong deterrent against any air attack. The White House initially objected, but Obama said, "I'm frankly surprised that it held this long."

Russia signed the $800 million contract to sell Iran the S-300 missile system in 2007, but suspended their delivery three years later because of strong objections from the United States and Israel. "Their economy is under strain and this was a substantial sale," Obama said.

Russia, which also is party to the talks along with China, France, Britain and Germany, said the preliminary nuclear agreement made its 2010 ban on sending missiles to Iran no longer necessary.

SKHIRAT, Morocco — The UN said Friday it was trying to narrow differences between Libya's rival parliaments over an agreement aimed at forming a unity government to end unrest tearing the country apart, as fresh fighting broke out near the capital Tripoli.

The differences emerged in written observations by the two sides on the agreement envoy Bernardino Leon is trying to clinch, said Samir Ghattas, spokesman for the UN mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

"We have received the text from the parties on their remarks. There are differences that we are working to narrow," he said in statement texted to AFP.

"But there are many elements that they are in agreement on," he added, without elaborating.

Leon did not meet the delegates Friday, as he had done since the talks to thrash out an agreement resumed two days earlier in the Moroccan resort of Skhirat.

But he reportedly spent the day reviewing written observations to try to find common ground.

The impasse comes as forces of the internationally recognised government attacked a base controlled by the rival administration near the capital Tripoli, with at least 21 people killed in the clashes, including three civilian women.

The fighting marks a new front to the east of Tripoli as pro-government forces attempt to regain the capital, under the control of the rival Islamist-based alliance since August.

Libya has been divided since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed dictator Moamer Qadhafi, with the two opposing governments and parliaments and armed groups now battling to control its cities and oil wealth.

On March 24, UNSMIL unveiled a six-point plan to end the crisis, including the formation of a transitional unity government until a new constitution is adopted and elections held.

SAN FRANCISCO — Hackers have managed to penetrate computer networks associated with the Israeli military in an espionage campaign that skillfully packages existing attack software with trick e-mails, according to security researchers at Blue Coat Systems Inc.

The four-month-old effort, most likely by Arabic-speaking programmers, shows how the Middle East continues to be a hotbed for cyber espionage and how widely the ability to carry off such attacks has spread, the researchers said.

Waylon Grange, a researcher with the Blue Coat [PRJCBB.UL who discovered the campaign, said the vast majority of the hackers' software was cobbled together from widely available tools, such as the remote-access Trojan called Poison Ivy.

The hackers were likely working on a budget and had no need to spend much on tailored code, Grange said, adding that most of their work appeared to have gone into so-called social engineering, or human trickery.

The hackers sent e-mails to various military addresses that purported to show breaking military news, or, in some cases, a clip featuring "Girls of the Israel Defence Forces”. Some of the e-mails included attachments that established "back doors" for future access by the hackers and modules that could download and run additional programs, according to Blue Coat.

Using standard obfuscation techniques, the software was able to avoid detection by most antivirus engines, Blue Coat said. At least some software lodged inside government computers, because Blue Coat detected it "beaconing", or sending signals to the hackers that it was in place.

An Israei defence ministry spokeswoman referred questions to the military. Military officials said they were "not aware of hacking on IDF operational networks”.

Blue Coat provided Reuters with an advance look at its findings and intends to publish a paper later. The security firm, based in Sunnyvale, California, is set to be acquired by private equity firm Bain Capital LLC.

Citing confidentiality agreements with clients, Blue Coat declined to say exactly where the campaign worked, and Grange said he did not know if any vital data had been stolen.

Blue Coat surmised that the attackers spoke Arabic because some of the data recovered in the investigation showed that was the default language setting in one of the programming tools.

"Not all targeted attackers need advanced tools," Blue Coat wrote in a draft paper. "As regional conflicts continue, cyber threats from groups of various skill levels will also accompany the conventional armed conflicts."

Last month, Israeli security firm Check Point Software Technologies said it had found spying programmes in 10 countries that probably originated with a governmental or political group in Lebanon that deployed them over three years.

In February, Kaspersky Lab researchers said they found what they considered the first "advanced" Arabic-speaking hacking group, which they dubbed Desert Falcons. Kaspersky said the group operated from Palestine, Egypt and Turkey and claimed about 3,000 victims in 50 countries, especially targeting military, government, media, and activist computers.

UNITED NATIONS — The UN Security Council went into a closed-door meeting on Thursday to hear first-hand accounts of chemical attacks unleashed in Syria as it weighed possible action against those responsible.

The 15 ambassadors were to hear a report by Syrian doctor Saher Sahloul on the alleged use of chlorine gas in the fighting in Idlib last month that activists say left at least six dead, including children.

Qusai Zakarya, a Syrian survivor of the August 2013 chemical weapons attack in Ghouta, outside Damascus, was also to speak to the council.

That attack sparked an international outcry and prompted the Security Council to adopt a resolution on the destruction of Syria's chemical stockpiles and production sites.

Jordanian Ambassador Dina Kawar, who chairs the council this month, said it was time to consider action to stop the attacks but also to re-launch the peace process in Syria.

"Of course it's time to take action, on everything, especially on the political part, because at the end of the day if we don't solve the political part, we will be ending up with more deaths and more problems," Kawar told reporters.

The world chemical watchdog OPCW is carrying out a fact-finding mission in Syria on the use of toxic chemicals during the attacks last month and their report will be key to guiding the council on the next steps.

The council has threatened further measures as the United States, Britain and France have pressed the case that only President Bashar Assad's regime has such weaponry.

US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said it investigated six reported attacks in Idlib and villages outside, collecting evidence from rescue workers and civilians that provided a compelling case in three of them.

The rights group urged the Security Council to push for a full investigation of the attacks.

"So far, the Syrian government has paid no price for committing a war crime with banned chemical weapons. Security Council members, including Russia, should promptly ensure a credible investigation to uncover responsibility for the use of toxic chemicals," said HRW's UN director Philippe Bolopion.

UN peace envoy Staffan de Mistura is due to brief the council next week on his plans to revive peace talks after his proposed freeze on fighting in Aleppo failed to materialise.

VIENNA — Important talks between the UN atomic watchdog and Iran appeared Thursday to have failed to produce any breakthrough on a stalled probe into Tehran's alleged past efforts to develop nuclear weapons.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a short statement Thursday a day after a meeting in Tehran that the two sides would "continue this dialogue and agreed to meet again in the near future".

It said only that there was a "constructive exchange" about Iran answering questions about two suspect areas of activities — eight months after an agreed August deadline to do so passed.

Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Reza Najafi, went slightly further, telling the INSA news agency late Wednesday that the two sides would "wind up the discussions [on the two issues] at the next meeting."

"We hope to reach this stage at the next session", he said, without giving a date for the next round of talks.

The Vienna watchdog conducts regular inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities and these will become tighter if world powers and Iran can finalise an outline agreement struck on April 2 by a June 30 deadline.

The European Union said Thursday that Iran and the powers — the US, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany — would begin putting together the potentially historic accord in Vienna on April 22-23.

However, the IAEA also wants to investigate claims that prior to 2003, and possibly since, Iran conducted research into how to make a nuclear weapon including through explosives tests.

Iran rejects the allegations and says that the supposed bomb-making evidence, including a trove of suspicious documents reportedly found on a laptop in 2004, are forgeries provided to a gullible IAEA by Tehran's enemies.

Analysts say some of the "possible military dimensions" claims may not hold water but that Iran still has a case to answer. A probe by the IAEA made some tentative progress in early 2014 but ground to a halt last August.

The issue looks set to be a tricky one as Iran and world powers seek to nail down their final accord, with Western officials insisting sanctions on Iran will not be lifted unless Tehran cooperates with the IAEA's investigation.

WASHINGTON — Iraq's Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi on Thursday welcomed Iran's assistance in the fight against Daesh jihadists, but warned Tehran to respect Baghdad's sovereignty.

"Everything must be done through the government of Iraq," Abadi told an audience of US policy experts at a Washington think tank on the third day of a visit to the United States.

"We welcome the Iranian government's support for us," Abadi added, on the third day of a visit to the United States aimed at shoring up US support for his fledgling government as it battles the jihadists.

Washington says Iranian officers provided advice and artillery to Shiite militias involved in the operation to retake the city of Tikrit from the Daesh group in recent weeks.

But Abadi insisted: "Iraqi sovereignty is of utmost importance."

The Iraqi prime minister met Tuesday with US President Barack Obama, having said that he intended to ask for a "marked increase" in heavy weapons for his forces to repel Daesh, which has captured a swathe of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Speaking at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Abadi said that he had come to Washington with a shopping list of weapons.

And he said he had received assurances that a number of F16 planes would be delivered on time.

Abadi also said two Iraqi brigades were to start training to retake Anbar province from the jihadists and would need heavy weapons for the fight.

THE HAGUE — The contempt of court trial of a Lebanese journalist and her television station opened Thursday before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), set up to try the killers of slain former premier Rafiq Hariri.

Karma Khayat and Al Jadeed TV have been charged with two counts of contempt and obstruction of justice for publishing details of alleged witnesses in the trial of five men accused of murdering the billionaire Hariri in 2005.

"Their conduct continues to put people and their lives and their families at risk," prosecutor Kenneth Scott told the Hague-based tribunal.

"Freedom of speech comes with responsiblities," Scott added, as the hearing started at the STL's fortress-like building located in a leafy suburb of the Dutch city.

Khayat's Al Jadeed station — which had been critical of Hariri — broadcast five programmes in August 2012 on alleged witnesses due to testify at the trial, with the STL later saying "11 witnesses were approached".

The witnesses' faces were hidden and names were not mentioned, but "nobody was fooled" as to who they might be, Scott told the judge.

He said witnesses' voices were not masked and information such as initials, occupations, the businesses where they worked and even their vehicles' licence plates were mentioned, or appeared in camera shots.

'Shooting messenger' 

The broadcasts undermined the public's confidence in the tribunal to protect witnesses, said Scott who added "if witnesses do not come to this tribunal and present their evidence, this tribunal is finished... we can all go home."

"They [Al Jadeed] wanted a big scoop and were willing to do whatever it took to get it," he said.

Khayat, who faces a maximum seven-year prison sentence, and/or a fine of up to 100,000 euros ($106,000) if found guilty, has denied the charges.

"We wanted to show the public how taxpayers' money is being used, in this case to finance a court that does not work well," she told AFP in an interview ahead of the hearing.

Speaking in Arabic, she told the court: "It's our right to ensure that this money [to fund the tribunal] is spent correctly."

She said there was a large contrast between the STL and its "luxury building" and courtroom "stars" and that of the limited means of the Lebanese judiciary.

"We dare to reveal its errors," Khayat said.

Her lawyer Karim Khan told the court the prosecutor was "shooting the messenger" because Al Jadeed was not responsible for leaks of the witnesses' identities.

Set up in 2007, the STL is the only international ad hoc tribunal with the jurisdiction to try an act of terror, specifically dealing with Hariri's death.

Its budget is around 60 million euros of which 49 per cent is funded by Lebanon and the rest by the international community, roughly half of that of the nearby permanent International Criminal Court, which is investigating more than 20 cases.

Hariri and 22 others, including a suspected suicide bomber, died in a massive car bomb blast on the Beirut waterfront on February 14, 2005.

Five suspected members of the powerful Shiite movement Hizbollah have been indicted by the court and their trial in absentia opened in January 2014 last year. Despite international warrants, the five are yet to appear in court.

Hizbollah accused the court of being part of an "Israeli-US" plot and vowed the suspects will never be found.

The pro-Hizbollah Al Akhbar newspaper and its editor in chief Mohamed Al Amin have been charged with a similar offence. That trial is scheduled to open at a date still to be set.

SANAA — Al Qaeda seized control of a major airport, a sea port and an oil terminal in southern Yemen on Thursday, consolidating its hold on the country's largest province amid wider chaos pitting Shiite rebels against forces loyal to the exiled president and a Saudi-led air campaign.

Military officials and residents said Al Qaeda fighters clashed briefly with members of one of Yemen's largest brigades outside Mukalla, a city the militants overran earlier this month and where they freed prison inmates. The militants then seized control of Riyan Airport and moved to secure their hold on the city's main sea port, which is also an oil terminal.

The security officials, speaking from Sanaa on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the press, said the leaders of the brigade in charge of protecting the entire area fled.

The latest advance marks a major gain for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemeni affiliate is known, which has been linked to several failed attacks on the US and is widely seen as the global network's most dangerous franchise. The group claimed responsibility for the attack on a French satirical magazine earlier this year.

The group has exploited the chaos in Yemen, where Shiite rebels, along with allied military units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, captured the capital in September and have been advancing despite a three-week Saudi-led air campaign.

The rebels are staunch opponents of Al Qaeda but are currently locked in fierce battles with forces loyal to Yemen's internationally recognised President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled to Saudi Arabia last month.

The southeastern city of Mukalla is the capital of Yemen's largest province, Hadramawt, where Al Qaeda has long maintained a presence despite US drone strikes and Yemeni counterterrorism operations.

Nasser Baqazouz, an activist in the city, said the troops guarding the airport put up little resistance.

"They are consolidating their hold of the city and will paralyse the whole coast of Hadramawt," he said.

A politician in the city, Ali Al Kathiri, said Al Qaeda and local tribal leaders had been negotiating with the brigade commanders to ensure a peaceful handover. But some fighters, suspected of being loyal to Saleh, clashed with the militants.

A smaller air defence brigade handed over its camp to Al Qaeda, apparently to avoid clashes, Al Kathiri said.

A Saudi-led coalition has been striking the Houthis and their allies from the air since March 26, but has carried out no attacks on Mukalla or other Al Qaeda-controlled areas.

Yemen's exiled Vice President Khaled Bahah said the militants in Mukalla are "sons" of the province who have become extremists, adding that he hopes they don't turn it into an "Islamic province". In other parts of Yemen, local militias have been the main forces fighting against the rebels' advances.

Bahah, speaking from Riyadh, also called on the Houthis and pro-Saleh military units to end their offensive on the southern port city of Aden, saying that ground fighting must halt ahead of any peace initiatives.

He said the rebels and troops should adhere to the UN Security Council resolution passed earlier this week that calls on Yemen's rivals to end the violence and return to UN-led peace talks. Bahah also called on all military units to stop fighting for Saleh and return to the fold of the legitimate government.

The UN resolution makes no mention of an end to the air strikes, now in their fourth week.

"We consider Aden to be the key to peace, the key to the solution," Bahah said. "We will not talk about any initiatives until we see the war machine has stopped in Yemen, and in Aden in particular."

Hadi had set up a temporary capital in Aden, Yemen's largest city, before fleeing to Saudi Arabia last month.

Bahah was speaking for the first time since Hadi appointed him vice president on Sunday. He said Hadi will return to Aden when the security and political situation improves. For now, he said a small government will operate out of Riyadh, focusing on organising and coordinating humanitarian efforts.

The Houthis swept down from their northern strongholds and seized the capital, Sanaa, in September. Iran supports the Shiite rebels, but both Tehran and the rebels deny it has armed them.

SKHIRAT, Morocco — Delegates from Libya's rival parliaments gathered in Morocco Thursday for what UN mediators demanded be a "final" push for a unity government to stem mounting jihadism and a desperate exodus of asylum-seekers.

Rival governments have battled for power in the North African country since last August and just Wednesday an air strike blamed on the internationally recognised administration hit an air base controlled by its opponent.

Jihadists loyal to Daesh terror group which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria have exploited the power struggle to launch increasingly grisly attacks including the videotaped beheadings of 21 Christians in February.

UN envoy Bernardino Leon, who has been shuttling between the warring sides for months, said that the reported drowning of up to 400 would-be asylum-seekers off the Libyan coast earlier this week should be the spur for an agreement.

"I really hope that the negotiators that are coming today are understanding that we cannot wait any more and this will really be the final round," Leon said.

"This is Libya today — terrorism, no control on the borders, people dying every day in the Mediterranean, air strikes... it cannot go on.”

"The patience of Libyans is finished, and the patience of the international community is finished."

The UN envoy called on the rival negotiating teams to thrash out the full details of a unity government, including the names of ministers, to replace the rival administrations in Tripoli and Tobruk.

The internationally recognised government has been based in the eastern town since an Islamist-backed militia alliance seized the capital in August.

Its loyalists have carried out repeated air strikes on Tripoli and third city Misrata while its opponents have attacked the main eastern oil export terminals dealing a heavy blow to Libya's main revenue earner.

Leon slammed the latest air strike on Mitiga Airport, east of Tripoli, on Wednesday.

"It is an extremely negative move and of course it is unacceptable," he said.

"We hope that there will be an investigation on who is behind these attacks."

Libya has been wracked by violence ever since the overthrow of longtime dictator Muammar Qadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.

The multiple rebel forces that defeated him seized what they could of his regime's vast arsenal of heavy weaponry and set up a myriad of militias that have battled for their share of Libya's vast oil resources ever since.