Region

SAMARRA, Iraq — Iraqi forces faced tough resistance from Daesh militants around Tikrit Saturday but the top US military officer said ahead of a visit to Baghdad victory was only a matter of time.

Iran has actively and visibly supported Baghdad's biggest operation yet against the Daesh terror group but General Martin Dempsey insisted US air strikes north of Tikrit had been key.

"The Tikrit operation is only possible because of the air campaign we've been running around Baiji," a town further north, he said.

Daesh’s footprint in Iraq has been shrinking steadily since federal and Kurdish troops went on the counteroffensive roughly six months ago, with foreign military backing.

The US military announced that a string of 26 air strikes over two weeks had succeeded in forcing Daesh out of Al Baghdadi, a small town near a large Iraqi base in western Iraq where US advisers are stationed.

"Iraqi security forces and tribal fighters from the Anbar region have successfully cleared Al Baghdadi of Daesh, retaking both the police station and three Euphrates River bridges," it said.

An offensive was also launched last week to recapture Gurma, another town in Anbar which is located only 10 kilometres from the Daesh stronghold of Fallujah and less than 30 kilometres from Baghdad airport.

"Gurma will soon be liberated totally; our forces are on the edge of town," a statement from Baghdad operations command said late on Friday.

It claimed that 73 militants were killed in the first two days of fighting and a number of bombs defused.

Hospital sources told AFP that dozens of government forces wounded in the operation had been brought in but that the bodies of those killed were being handed over to their families directly.

Overwhelming numbers 

The government has provided no casualty toll for the much larger operation aimed at retaking Tikrit, which was launched on March 2.

Residents living on the road between Samarra, where the operation’s command centre is located and Baghdad further south, say convoys bringing back bodies have been passing regularly.

Daesh used several devastating truck bombs in the early hours of the operation, targeting the army, police, Shiite militias and volunteer units.

Undated footage surfaced on the Internet Saturday of the bodies of eight men described as pro-government volunteers hanging from a bridge in Hawija, 75 kilometres north of Tikrit.

Iraqi forces spent the first days of the operation clearing outlying areas and are now closing in on Tikrit itself, as well as the towns of Al Alam and Ad Dawr.

Tikrit is the hometown of executed dictator Saddam Hussein and Ad Dawr that of Izzat Ibrahim Al Duri, the most senior member of his regime still at large.

Fighting raged in Ad Dawr on Friday but Dempsey, speaking to reporters aboard his plane en route to Bahrain and Iraq, said it was only a matter of time before Daesh was defeated in Tikrit.

“The numbers are overwhelming,” he said, adding that “hundreds” of IS fighters were facing an estimated 23,000 government and allied forces.

Columns of Iraqi military trucks and armoured vehicles were lined up along the main road to Tikrit, and it resembled a rush hour traffic jam in Washington, “bumper to bumper”, he said.

He spoke of the role of Iran, which with the United States has been Iraq’s other key foreign partner in the fight to reclaim the land lost last summer but is not a member of the 60-nation US-led coalition.

Dempsey said he is “trying to get a sense for how our activities and their activities are complementary”.

The militants have been responding by ramping up a campaign of what UNESCO has called cultural cleansing, destroying heritage treasures one after the other.

A week after releasing a video showing its militants smashing priceless statues inside Mosul museum, Daesh bulldozed the archaeological site of Nimrud just south of the city on Thursday, according to the antiquities ministry.

The destruction sparked a fresh round of global outrage but experts said little could be done to save other heritage sites under Daesh control short of defeating the jihadists militarily.

Cairo — Egypt on Saturday carried out the first death sentence handed down over the violence that erupted after the army’s 2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, the interior ministry said.

Hundreds of Morsi supporters have been sentenced to death after speedy mass trials, which the United Nations has described as “unprecedented in recent history”.

Mahmoud Ramadan, who was hanged at 7 am (0500 GMT), was the “first to be executed of those involved in violent clashes”, ministry spokesman Hani Abdel Latif said.

A court in Egypt’s second city Alexandria sentenced Ramadan and another Morsi supporter to death in 2014 after convicting them of throwing youths off an apartment block, killing one of them.

They were among dozens of people put on trial over deadly violence in the city’s Sidi Gaber neighbourhood on July 5, 2013, two days after Morsi’s ouster by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.

The violence came as supporters and opponents of the elected president held rival demonstrations across the city.

A government crackdown on Morsi’s supporters left hundreds dead and thousands detained and put on trial.

Hundreds were killed in a single day on August 14, 2013, when police stormed two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo.

The ousted president is himself facing multiple trials on charges that carry the death penalty.

The leader of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, Mohamed Badie, has already been sentenced to death in one trial.

Many of the prosecutions have been in mass trials, which then UN human rights chief Navi Pillay described last June as “obscene and a complete travesty of justice”.

The government crackdown has triggered retaliatory attacks by Islamist militants targeting security forces in Cairo and other major cities, but mostly in the Sinai Peninsula where troops are battling a raging insurgency.

Scores of policemen and soldiers have been killed in the attacks, most of them claimed by Ansar Beit Al Maqdis, the Egyptian affiliate of Daesh.

Late on Friday a bomb blast in the textile town of Mahallah, north of Cairo, killed one person and wounded 11.

The interior minister who oversaw the crackdown on Morsi’s supporters, Mohamed Ibrahim, was replaced on Thursday amid mounting criticism of the failure by police to halt the attacks.

His successor Magdy Abdel Ghaffar appointed 25 new commanders on Friday in a major shake-up.

ADEN — Beleaguered Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled to Aden after escaping from Shiite militia controlling Sanaa, considers the southern port city the country's capital, an aide said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, tensions were high in the city, as special forces suspected of links to the militia, known as Houthis, readied defences against an anticipated assault by Hadi loyalists.

"Aden became the capital of Yemen as soon as the Houthis occupied Sanaa," the aide quoted Hadi as saying in reference to their takeover of the city several months ago.

Hadi's claim is purely symbolic, as moving the capital would require a change to the constitution, but it reflects the president's determination to hold out against Houthi efforts to extend their sway.

Several Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, have already moved their embassies to Aden after an exodus of foreign diplomats from Sanaa in February over security concerns.

But the United States, the first to close its mission in Sanaa, has said it will not do so.

The southern city, the country's second largest, was capital of a once independent south Yemen.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) continues to support Hadi, as does Washington. The GCC states, ruled by Sunni Muslim regimes, are deeply suspicious of the Houthis, fearing they will take Yemen into the orbit of Shiite Iran.

The Houthis named a "presidential council" after Hadi and Prime Minister Khalid Bahah tendered their resignations in January in protest at what critics branded an attempted coup.

Hadi fled house arrest in Sanaa and resurfaced in Aden, where he retracted his resignation. Bahah remains trapped in the capital.

Meanwhile, special forces commander Abdel Hafez Al Saqqaf has defied a decree by Hadi sacking him and said he will only follow orders coming from the presidential council in Sanaa.

His men have cut roads leading to their headquarters near Aden's international airport and set up barricades, saying they fear an assault by fighters from the Popular Resistance Committees, loyal to Hadi.

TORONTO — A Canadian special forces soldier was killed and three others wounded in a friendly fire incident in northern Iraq, Canada's defence department said Saturday.

Canadian troops training local forces had just returned to an observation post at the front line Friday when they were mistakenly fired upon by Kurdish fighters, the military said.

The slain soldier was identified as Sgt. Andrew Joseph Doiron, from the Canadian Special Operations Regiment, based at Garrison Petawawa, Ontario.

The four soldiers were transported to a coalition medical facility for treatment, where one of them died of his wounds, said a statement released by the Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve, the US-led coalition conducting air strikes and training local forces to fight Daesh terror group. The statements from the coalition and Canada's defence department did not indicate the extent of the three soldiers' injuries.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed "deep sadness" over the death of Doiron, but also stressed that it is imperative that the coalition efforts against the Daesh group continue.

"Part of that duty requires us to stand tall and shoulder our share of the burden in the fight against ISIL [Daesh]," Harper said, using another acronym for the group which has taken control over vast swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria.

The incident comes as the Canadian government is actively debating whether to extend the country's combat mission against Daesh which is due to expire at the end of the month. Canadian Foreign Minister Rob Nicholson said this past week that Canada would be in Iraq for the long term.

PRAGUE/TRIPOLI — Around 10 foreigners are missing after an attack on a Libyan oil field and there is a possibility they have been taken hostage, Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said on Saturday.

Zaoralek said the workers missing from Al Ghani field included a Czech and an Austrian and others from Bangladesh and the Philippines.

"We are examining the possibility that a kidnapping has taken place," Zaoralek told Reuters.

Libya's oil security forces said on Friday they had retaken control of the oil field after militants attacked the facility, killing seven guards.

The Czech minister said there had been no contact from any group claiming responsibility. He added the ministry was convinced the Czech citizen had not been killed in the attack.

Libya's state oil company, meanwhile, said at least seven foreigners including an Austrian, a Czech, Filipinos and a national of an African country were missing.

"Foreigners from an Austrian oil services company, operating in the field, are still missing since the time of the attack, we do not know their fate," National Oil Corporation spokesman Mohamed El Hariri said.

The Czech ministry said a crisis committee including Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and secret services had met to discuss the situation, and a foreign ministry representative would be dispatched to the region as soon as possible.

In Vienna, a foreign ministry spokesman said a 39-year-old Austrian working for an oil field management company had gone missing after an attack in Libya.

The spokesman declined to give the name of the missing Austrian or his company.

Austria's Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz has put together a crisis group of interior ministry and defence ministry experts to deal with the situation. Austrian authorities are in touch with Libyan officials, the spokesman said.

Four years after the civil war that ousted Muammar Qadhafi, the North African country is caught up in conflict between two rival governments and their armed forces fighting to secure control over the OPEC member's oil wealth.

The chaos has allowed Daesh and Ansar Al Sharia militants to gain a foothold in the country.

RABAT, Morocco — The representatives of Libya's rival governments headed back to their home bases to consult on proposals to end the crisis in the country, which were made during three days of UN-sponsored talks in Morocco that ended Saturday.

Since overthrowing Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi with Western help in 2011, the country has fragmented into different warring militias and now has two rival governments — one in the east, the other in the west.

UN efforts to bring the sides together have been given extra urgency by the rise of groups allied to the radical Islamic State organisation as well as a steady flow of African migrants setting sail to Europe from Libya's coast.

"The parties are determined to bridge their differences and have been working on concrete proposals," a UN statement on the talks said.

While this is the fourth round of these talks, it is the first time representatives from each of the rival parliaments are actively negotiating with each other and they have discussed the form of the national unity government and security arrangements to pull the militias out of the cities and airports.

While each delegation was still meeting separately with negotiators, UN envoy Bernardino Leon said the two sides had a symbolic face to face meeting Saturday.

Proposals will now be presented to the respective governments and the talks will reconvene by mid-week, UN spokesman Samir Ghattas said.

The parties will likely return to Morocco with suggestions for who should head the new government.

According to a US diplomat familiar with the talks, the deteriorating security situation, including attacks on oil fields in the last few days has pushed the participants to reach a deal.

"We must make a deal. We must move on," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authorisation to speak to the media.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A former chief of Israel's Mossad spy agency on Friday rejected claims made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his contentious address to Congress about Iran's nuclear programme.

In an interview aired on Channel 2 TV, Meir Dagan questioned Netanyahu's claim that the deal under negotiation with world powers would allow Iran to create a nuclear weapon within a year or less.

"The time is longer than what he describes," Dagan said.

Dagan also rejected Netanyahu's assertion that Iran's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile programme could allow it to deliver a nuclear arsenal to "every part of the United States".

"The missiles cannot reach the US," Dagan said. When asked if Netanyahu does not know that, Dagan replied: "He knows. So what?"

Channel 2 showed Dagan making the comments as he watched Netanyahu's televised speech to Congress.

When Netanyahu said that "the Jewish people can defend ourselves", Dagan said: "That is a threat of attack."

Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz, of Netanyahu's Likud Party, told Channel 2 that he rejected many of Dagan's assertions.

Dagan has been a fierce critic of Netanyahu's approach to Iran, emerging as a key opponent of a potential Israeli military attack against its nuclear facilities. He has said Netanyahu's trip to Washington, over White House objections, was pointless and counterproductive.

Dagan directed the Mossad from 2002 to 2010, a period when it reportedly carried out covert attacks against Iranian nuclear scientists and unleashed cyberattacks that delayed Iran's progression towards a bomb.

Last week, Dagan told an Israeli daily that "the person who has caused the greatest strategic damage to Israel on the Iranian issue is the prime minister."

PARIS — The United States and France sought on Saturday to play down any disagreements over nuclear talks with Iran, saying they both agreed the accord now under discussion needed to be strengthened.

"We are on the same page," US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters after talks with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Paris. "If we didn't think that there was further to go, as Laurent said, we'd have had an agreement already," Kerry added.

"The reason we don't have an agreement is, we believe there are gaps that have to be closed. There are things that have to be done to further strengthen this. We know this."

The aim of the negotiations is to persuade Iran to restrain its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from sanctions that have crippled its economy. Iran, a major oil exporter, wants the sanctions scrapped swiftly, the powers only in phases.

France's Fabius said on Friday commitments offered by Iran in the nuclear talks with six world powers do not go far enough and more work needed to be done, notably on what he called "volume, checks and duration".

On Saturday, he made clear that by volume he meant the number and quality of centrifuges Iran might be allowed to operate under any deal. By checks, he meant an inspection and verification regime to ensure Iran does not violate the deal.

"There is still work to be done," said Fabius, who was also hosting his British, German and EU counterparts in Paris.

France, a UN Security Council veto-holder, has long held out for strict terms, linking any loosening of international sanctions on Iran's oil-based economy to commitments by Tehran to demonstrate that its nuclear work is as peaceful as it says.

The discovery in 2013 that the United States was holding secret talks with Iran was an opportunity for Paris, by saying “no” to a deal, to assert itself internationally and to rebuke Washington for backing down on bombing Syria as punishment for using chemical arms.

It also helped France cement new commercial ties with Gulf Arab states hostile to Iran.

‘Solid agreement’ sought

"It is a multilateral negotiation, but we want to make sure that our positions are aired," said Fabius, who stressed several times the need for a "solid agreement".

US officials privately bristle at what they sometimes see as France's effort to insert itself into the diplomacy on Iran and other issues. Some other diplomats close to the talks say Washington is rushing into a deal with Iran.

From the outside, it appears as if the negotiations are fundamentally a US-Iranian bilateral discussion, with the other nations briefed and brought in periodically.

As well as the United States and France, the other world powers involved in the Iran negotiations are Britain, China, Germany and Russia.

Kerry last week held three days of talks with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif.

He plans to meet Zarif again on March 15 ahead of talks with all sides aimed at sealing some form of understanding by the end of March before a final deal in June.

"The next couple of weeks are crucial," said EU policy chief Federica Mogherini.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A driver ploughed into pedestrians in Jerusalem Friday, injuring five people in an attack that further inflamed tensions a day after Palestinians vowed to halt security coordination with Israel.

Israeli-Palestinian relations have been severely strained by last year's war in the Gaza Strip, violence in Jerusalem and Palestinian moves to sue Israel for alleged war crimes.

The Palestinian threat to end security coordination ramped up pressure on Israel ahead of a general election this month, although President Mahmoud Abbas has pledged to negotiate with whomever is elected.

Friday's car ramming bore the hallmarks of a series of "lone wolf" attacks by Palestinians in Jerusalem last year.

"A young man rammed his car [into pedestrians], and then got out and tried to stab people," security spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

Four Israeli soldiers were among those hurt in the attack outside a security base on the line separating west from Arab East Jerusalem.

The driver was shot and seriously wounded by a security guard, police said.

They said the suspect, in his 20s, was a resident of East Jerusalem, which was annexed by Israel after it occupied the West Bank in 1967.

Relatives identified him as Mohammed Salaymeh from the Ras Al Amud neighbourhood.

Gaza City — A Palestinian fisherman was shot dead by Israeli forces on Saturday off the coast of the Gaza Strip, a spokesman for the Palestinian health services said.

The 32-year-old died in hospital in Gaza City after he and two other fishermen in the same boat were fired upon by the Israeli navy.

The two other fishermen were arrested and taken to Israel, spokesman Ashraf Al Qudra said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman told AFP that four Palestinian boats had strayed out of their designated fishing zone overnight Friday.

"Soldiers fired warning shots then targeted the engines of two of the boats, which were then transferred to Israel for investigation," she said. "The two other boats were able to return to Gaza."

The spokeswoman added that the Israeli navy was on alert "to prevent arms transfers into the Gaza Strip" but did not comment on casualties.

Under the terms of Israel's eight-year blockade of the Palestinian territory, Gaza's fishermen have the right to trawl the waters up to six nautical miles off the coast.

But fishermen have said the Israeli navy opens fire before they reach that limit.

Around 4,000 fishermen work in Gaza, more than half of whom live below the poverty line.