Region

DUBAI — Iran’s supreme leader vowed to continue nuclear talks resuming with world powers on Tuesday despite some reservations, in his strongest sign of support for moderate President Hassan Rouhani’s push to resolve the conflict peacefully.

Iranian negotiators will hold a second round of talks with the United States and five other world powers aimed at a definitive settlement of the dispute, which led to global economic sanctions against Iran.

Tuesday’s talks look to build on an earlier interim accord binding Iran to suspend some sensitive parts of its uranium enrichment in return for modest sanctions relief.

“What our officials started will continue. We will not renege. I have no opposition,” said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to a crowd in northern city of Tabriz on Monday. “But I will say again: there is no use... it will not lead anywhere.”

US and its Western allies suspect Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons, a charge Tehran has steadfastly denied, insisting that its nuclear programme is peaceful.

The initial deal, reached in Geneva last November, angered Islamic hardliners who accused the government of selling out to the West by making concessions on a matter of national pride.

Khamenei, whose powers transcend all others in the Islamic republic, stopped short of endorsing the hardliners’ charges but warned moderates not to get carried away with talk of better ties with traditional arch-foe, the United States.

Warning against US

Tehran and Washington haven’t had official ties since after the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed Shah, and Khamenei has vetoed any initiative for rapprochement.

“Don’t try to dress up America and erase its past record of terror, violence and ugliness,” Tasnim news agency quoted Khamenei as saying.

“The nuclear issue is just a hype. American officials are already raising other issues like human rights and missile threat.”

Iran’s deteriorating economy and President Rouhani’s landslide election in June has revived efforts to reach out to the West in hopes of easing tension and drawing badly needed foreign investment.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who leads the Iranian delegation at the negotiations, told Iran’s official news agency IRNA before leaving for Vienna that “the path will continue and will bear results, even without US support. If it doesn’t succeed, everything will revert to the old ways...”

“Under the present circumstances, [our] talks with America are solely on the nuclear matter, but we have no fear about addressing other issues,” he said, referring to bilateral ties with Washington.

Zarif, who has been singled out for attacks by hardliners, said he had full mandate to pursue negotiations with the five nuclear powers the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain plus Germany according to guidelines set by the leader.

“We don’t have to pause at every step and ask for permission,” he said.

DAMASCUS — The Free Syrian Army (FSA) has sacked its leader after the Western-backed rebels suffered repeated setbacks, amid signs of an escalation in fighting that has already killed more than 140,000 people.

Activists warned Monday that regime troops are preparing a ground offensive against Yabrud, the last rebel-held stronghold in the strategic Qalamun region near Lebanon’s border, after days of aerial bombardment.

On the diplomatic front, US Secretary of State John Kerry slammed Russia on Monday for “enabling” Syria’s President Bashar Assad to stay in power, after Geneva peace talks broke off without any result at the weekend.

Moscow dismissed the allegation and accused the United States of failing to ensure that a “truly representative opposition delegation” attended the talks.

Key rebel backer Saudi Arabia blamed the Syrian regime’s “obstinacy” for the failure.

The sacking of rebel military commander Selim Idriss was announced Sunday by the FSA, which said he was being replaced by Brigadier General Abdelilah Al Bashir, another army deserter.

Colonel Qassem Saadeddine of the rebel coalition said the decision was taken because of “the paralysis within the military command these past months” and the need to “restructure”.

A Syrian opposition source told AFP that Idriss — who was appointed in December 2012 — had faced criticism for battlefield failings.

These included “errors and carelessness in combat” and “poor distribution of weapons” to rebels, the source said.

The FSA has taken a beating in recent months not only from regime forces but also from Islamist fighters who have joined the battle to unseat Assad.

Considered the “moderate” rebel group, the FSA was once Syria’s strongest armed opposition force but is now increasingly marginalised by Islamists, including Al Qaeda-inspired groups.

Local truce in effect

The official SANA news agency said the army on Monday recaptured an Alawite village in central Hama province where rebels “massacred” civilians earlier this month.

In the Damascus area, meanwhile, a local truce went into effect in the southern suburb of Babbila, the latest in a series of local ceasefires in flashpoints around the capital.

An AFP reporter who visited the area under official escort said talks are taking place to arrange similar agreements in other areas.

Analysts said that with the failure of the latest round of peace talks, the regime and rebels are likely to ratchet up military operations.

“I fear that the failure of the Geneva talks will lead to military escalation — it will probably get worse before it gets better,” said Volker Perthes, director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

“Both sides will try to show that they can change the balance on the ground in their favour, and that they aren’t forced to negotiate out of weakness.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, reported a surge of fighting Monday around Yabrud, on a strategic highway linking Damascus and the central city of Homs.

The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP Syrian warplanes dropped explosive-packed barrels on the town’s outskirts, and that fighting had erupted in the nearby rebel-held towns of Ras Al Maara and Al Sahel.

Pro-regime newspaper Al Watan reported that troops were battling jihadists around Yabrud, including fighters from Al Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria.

Activ

ists say fighters from the Lebanese Shiite movement Hizbollah are helping regime forces in the Yabrud offensive.

Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday vowed that his group would help defeat the rebels, saying in a televised address it was only a “question of time”.

Diplomatic efforts stumble

The flare-up comes as diplomatic efforts to try to end the conflict seem to have ground to a halt.

A second round of US and Russian-backed peace talks between regime representatives and the opposition broke down on Saturday in Geneva with no date set for another.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said in Jakarta that the Damascus regime “stonewalled” in Geneva with “increased support from Iran, from Hezbollah and from Russia”.

“Russia needs to be a part of the solution and not be distributing so much more weapons and so much more aid that they’re in fact enabling Assad to double-down.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hit back, telling reporters in Moscow that the opposition delegation in Geneva did not include some of the most important members of the National Coalition umbrella group.

“They [Washington] assured us that they will be doing everything possible to ensure there is a truly representative opposition delegation,” Lavrov said.

“For now, they have been having trouble doing this.”

BERNE, Switzerland –– After years of trying, South American coaches are finally gaining a foothold in European football and their growing influence will be heavily felt as the Champions League Round of 16 gets underway.

Three of the eight teams in action this week are coached by South Americans, AC Milan’s Clarence Seedorf was born and ended his playing career on the continent and Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola said he was inspired by what he learned during a visit to Argentina.

Two of them meet in the week’s top clash as Manchester City, coached by urbane Chilean Manuel Pellegrini, host Gerardo Martino’s Barcelona on Tuesday.

“I have always been interested in Pellegrini’s career both in Europe and before, when he was coaching in South America,” said Argentine Martino, a surprise appointment by Barcelona before the start of the season.

“He is one of the best coaches in the world. I feel very satisfied to be facing him in this tie.”

Atletico Madrid, revitalised by former Argentina captain Diego Simeone, travel to AC Milan on Wednesday where they seem certain to give Seedorf a baptism of fire as he makes his coaching debut in a competition in which he was immensely successful as a player.

Guardiola’s Bayern Munich visit Arsenal the same evening as the two sides meet at the same stage for the second season in a row.

Overall, the round of 16 has a familiar ring to it after a predictable group stage where the only major surprise was the elimination of Serie A champions Juventus.

Ten of the 16 teams reached the same stage last year and Manchester City are the only knockout phase debutants.

Predictably, the English Premier League and Bundesliga dominate with four teams apiece, while Spain’s La Liga has three.

Bayer Leverkusen, second in the Bundesliga, host big-spending Paris St. Germain in the other of this week’s ties on Tuesday.

The remaining four first legs will all be played the following week with Olympiakos-Manchester United and Zenit St. Petersburg-Borussia Dortmund on February 25 and Galatasaray-Chelsea and Schalke 04-Real Madrid on February 26.

Tough transition

South American players have long been hugely influential in European football but, until recently, coaches have struggled to adapt in the modern era even when their records suggested they had all the right credentials.

Carlos Alberto Parreira lasted only a few months at Spanish club Valencia after leading Brazil to World Cup victory in 1994 while the hugely successful Boca Juniors and Velez Sarsfield coach Carlos Bianchi fared just as badly, with short spells at AS Roma and later Atletico Madrid.

Argentina’s Ramon Diaz and Colombia’s Francisco Maturana were others who failed to make it on the other side of the Atlantic.

The new generation has proved far more adaptable, although there is little connection between Pellegrini, Martino and Simeone who took very different routes to Europe.

Pellegrini, a qualified engineer and former Chile defender, coached five clubs in his homeland then worked in Ecuador and Argentina before carving out his reputation in a five-year spell at Spain’s Villarreal, leading them to the Champions League semifinals in 2006.

Martino, whose only major title as a coach was Argentina’s Final championship with Newell’s Old Boys last season, took an even more unlikely route, coaching modest clubs in Argentina and then Paraguay’s Cerro Porteno and Libertad before making a positive impression during five years as coach of the Paraguay national team.

Martino is widely regarded as a disciple of former Argentina, Chile and Athletic Bilbao coach Marcelo Bielsa, who also inspired Guardiola when he visited Argentina before his hugely successful spell in charge of Barcelona.

Simeone, often describing as playing with a knife between his teeth, is a former Atletico Madrid player strongly identified with the club which he has revitalised since coming back as coach at the end of 2011.

Seedorf, his opposite number on Wednesday, was born in the former Dutch colony of Suriname and ended his career in Brazil with Botafogo, where he commanded enormous respect.

“The Brazilian league is very different and it gave me a lot to be able to face this new adventure,” Seedorf, who won the Champions League four times as a player, told Milan’s website (www.acmilan.com).

“My experience with Botafogo helped me to prepare for this new job,” added Seedorf, who took over in January with the club in disarray..

“The match against Atletico will be a great chance to take a big step forward. We’ll play our game since Milan always have something extra in the Champions League.”

GAZA CITY — Hamas-run authorities in the Gaza Strip are investigating a senior member of the Palestinian Islamist movement over unspecified “irregularities”, a source in the office of another senior Hamas official said Sunday.

The implication of a high-ranking Hamas member in misdeeds could potentially tarnish the reputation of the Islamist group, which won a landslide victory in Palestinian elections in 2006 largely because of its reputation for honesty and incorruptibility.

An official in the office of senior Hamas member Ahmad Bahar did not provide further details on the allegations or the state of the investigation into Ayman Taha, who also served as a spokesman for Hamas.

But he confirmed remarks made by Bahar to Al Ghad Al Arabi, a pan-Arab broadcaster based in London which first reported that Taha was under investigation.

“With regard to Ayman Taha there are some irregularities and the brothers are investigating and he will be held accountable like any other ordinary citizen.”

In a videotaped statement posted on social media, Hassan Mohammed Taha, Ayman’s brother, condemned rumours of allegations as “libel and slander”, saying his brother had “perhaps made mistakes, but not to the extent of the rumours”.

He did not say whether his brother had been detained or not.

Other Palestinians sources said Taha had gone missing two weeks ago. Hamas has declined to comment on the matter.

TEHRAN — Iran is turning to environmentally friendly Euro-4 emissions standard petrol in major cities to battle worsening air pollution which claims thousands of lives every year, media reports said Monday.

“Some eight million litres of clean gasoline was distributed to 90 gas stations in Tehran on Saturday,” the Ettelaat daily reported Morteza Abedini, head of Tehran’s Oil Products Distribution Company, as saying.

“In order to reduce environmental pollution... all petrol stations are expected to distribute clean gasoline by February 20,” he said.

Pollution is a constant woe for Tehran’s more than eight million residents.

It is caused by bumper-to-bumper traffic and the city’s location between two mountains, ensuring that fumes from both cars and factories blanket the city.

Since the last Iranian year began in March 2013, residents have endured polluted air for 143 days, media reports said.

The poor air quality is made worse by reliance on domestic production of lower quality and therefore more polluting petrol, blamed on Western sanctions against Iran’s fuel imports.

Daily petrol consumption in Tehran is around nine million litres, according to official figures.

Iran currently produces 16 million litres of Euro-4 gasoline daily.

Euro-4 fuel has also been distributed in other major cities including Karaj west of Tehran and in the central province of Arak.

Other major cities such as Mashhad, Isfahan and Tabriz also suffer from air pollution caused by lower emissions standard Euro-2 fuel.

In 2012, air pollution contributed to nearly 4,400 premature deaths in Tehran alone and nearly 80,000 nationwide, according to health ministry figures. 

JENDOUBA, Tunisia — More than a thousand protesters gathered on Monday in the Tunisian town of Jendouba to condemn the weekend killings of four people by suspected Islamist militants.

“Tunisia is free, terrorism out,” and “Faithful to our martyrs”, were among the slogans chanted by the protesters outside the governor’s office in the town in northwestern Tunisia, before marching down the main street, an AFP journalist reported.

Tunisia has been rocked by sporadic attacks blamed on militant jihadists since the 2011 revolution that toppled a decades old dictatorship and touched off Arab Spring uprisings across the region.

The protesters expressed their support for the security forces, stopping before two police posts, chanting the national anthem and shouting “we are with you”.

On Saturday, a group of armed men who had set up a roadblock in the Jendouba area, some 40 kilometres from the Algerian border, shot dead a civilian and a prison warden as their car approached, the interior ministry said.

When a national guard patrol was sent to investigate, the militants again opened fire, killing two policemen and wounding another two.

The armed group consisted of three Tunisians and two Algerians, according to the police.

Much of the deadly violence witnessed in Tunisia since the January 2011 uprising has been blamed on Ansar Al Sharia, a hardline Salafist movement accused of having links to Al Qaeda.

The government has said Ansar Al Sharia was behind the separate assassinations last year of two secular politicians, killings that plunged Tunisia into political turmoil, but the group never claimed responsibility for those or any other attacks.

For more than a year, the security forces have been battling Islamist militants hiding out in the remote border regions of western Tunisia, notably in the Chaambi mountains.

KIRKUK, Iraq — Iraqi soldiers and police backed by helicopters and tanks on Monday battled militants for control of a northern town that has repeatedly changed hands in recent days, officials said.

Militants on Thursday took part of Sulaiman Bek and nearby areas in Salaheddin province, north of Baghdad, setting off a cycle of clashes with security forces.

Accounts of the death toll vary, but officials say that dozens of people have been killed, including security personnel, militants and civilians.

Local official Talib Al Bayati told AFP on Monday that security forces had succeeded in regaining control of Sulaiman Bek and surrounding areas.

But another official, Shallal Abdul Baban, said that only about 60 per cent of the area was back in government hands.

Baban said security forces were advancing slowly, searching house by house, and that there were sporadic clashes as well as sniper fire from militants.

After initially seizing territory on Thursday, militants were pushed back the following day.

But security forces then withdrew for unknown reasons, Bayati said, and the militants regained control of part of the town on Saturday and later made further gains.

The situation in Sulaiman Bek is a small-scale version of the crisis playing out in the mostly Sunni Anbar province west of Baghdad, where anti-government fighters have held the city of Fallujah and part of Ramadi for weeks.

The takeovers in Anbar mark the first time anti-government forces have exercised such open control in major cities since the bloody insurgency that followed the US-led invasion of 2003.

More than 370,000 people may have been displaced by the Anbar violence, according to the United Nations.

Sulaiman Bek has been hit by numerous attacks over the past year, and was briefly seized by militants in late April.

In July, some 150 militants struck with mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, and executed 14 Shiite truck drivers on a nearby highway.

Violence in Iraq has reached a level not seen since 2008, when the country was just emerging from a period of brutal sectarian killings.

Foreign leaders have urged the Shiite-led government to do more to reach out to the disaffected Sunni Arab minority to undercut support for militants.

But Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has taken a hard line ahead of a general election scheduled for April. 

TRIPOLI — Libyans on Monday marked the third anniversary of their revolt which ousted dictator Muammar Qadhafi fearful for the future of a country plagued by lawlessness.

Putting on a brave face, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, who was briefly abducted last year by militants, said revolution had achieved the goals of “ending tyranny and securing freedom of expression”.

“The February 17 Revolution is a challenge that Libyans must live up to,” he said in a speech to the nation broadcast on television Sunday night, acknowledging the “difficulties” ahead.

Although no official ceremonies were organised for the anniversary, spontaneous celebrations have taken place since Saturday across Libya and were due to culminate in festivities later Monday in the capital Tripoli.

The streets have been decked with Libya’s revolutionary flag, volunteers have cleaned up streets and painted over sidewalks, and multicoloured lights strung across the main roads.

But for many Libyans there is little to celebrate.

“There is noting to be proud about,” one Tripolitanian said on Twitter.

University student Ahmed Fitouri agreed. “Nothing has been accomplished these past three years. We are stuck.”

Three years after the uprising, Libya is still struggling to rebuild an army capable to end waves of unrest blamed largely on well-armed Islamists and ex-rebels.

The government and the interim parliament, the General National Congress, have come under increasing criticism by Libyans who accuse them of corruption and failing to give them a better life.

Common criminals roam the streets, while rival tribes in various parts of the country shoot it out to settle long-standing disputes.

Politicians, security officials, journalists, judges and even the US ambassador have been gunned down in a wave of lawlessness that has grown since Qadhafi was captured and killed in October 2011.

Disgruntled citizens have managed to blockade and shut down Libya’s oil terminals, threatening to bankrupt a government that relies almost exclusively on oil revenues to operate.

Economy taken beating

On the political front, the GNC, the country’s top authority, infuriated Libyans when it decided to extend its mandate by 10 months beyond a February 7 deadline.

But deputies on Sunday said the parliament has reached consensus on holding early elections, apparently yielding to popular pressure and threats that divisions could unleash further unrest.

The economy of oil-rich Libya has also taken a beating due to chronic security problems and industrial actions since the end of Qadhafi’s four-decade autocratic rule.

The oil ministry and the World Bank estimate Libya has lost more than $10 billion in revenues because of the crisis that erupted last July when striking workers and pro-autonomy demonstrators in eastern Libya began blockading the country’s main terminals

Post-war reconstruction has been slow and major infrastructure projects put on the back-burner, while the multinationals have yet to make a return.

The World Bank, in a report issued last month, stressed “the urgent need for economic diversification in order to ensure long-term financial and economic stability”.

“We must set aside out differences on the occasion of this historic event, in memory of the martyrs who fell so that we can enjoy freedom,” said Tripoli University professor Ali Toukabri.

Analyst Soufiene Al Machri blamed the impasse on politicians who are hanging on to power.

DAMASCUS — The evacuation of civilians from Syria’s Homs city has halted, with no new efforts to extend a truce and the governor saying Sunday “armed groups” prevented operations a day earlier.

In a statement, Talal Barazi said “the evacuation of civilians was not carried out yesterday [Saturday] because some of the armed groups prevented the citizens inside from moving to the transit point to leave”.

“The province will continue its efforts with the United Nations to evacuate all those who wish to leave,” he added.

The United Nations and Syria’s Red Crescent began operations to evacuate trapped civilians and deliver aid inside besieged parts of Homs on February 7.

The work was made possible by a deal that included a ceasefire that was extended twice, but expired on Saturday night with no word of attempts to extend it further.

The UN and Red Crescent were able to evacuate some 1,400 of the 3,000 people estimated to be trapped in Homs for more than 18 months by a government siege.

But around 400 men and boys aged 15-55 were detained by authorities for investigation upon leaving.

Barazi said on Saturday that 390 male evacuees had left Homs, with 211 released so far.

On Thursday, the UN said 430 men and boys had been detained with just 181 released.

The fate of the male evacuees has prompted concern at the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross, whose chief warned Saturday that they “must be treated humanely at all times and be allowed to contact their families”.

Peter Maurer also lamented the chaotic evacuation process, which saw aid convoys come under fire and shelling kill more than a dozen people despite the nominal truce.

On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said several besieged neighbourhoods of Homs came under regime shelling, and government forces battled rebels in the outskirts of the districts.

Regime forces also shelled the Waer neighbourhood, a Homs district under opposition control but not subject to the army siege, where most of the evacuees fled.

RAMALLAH — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday he was not looking “to flood Israel” with returning Palestinian refugees, at a rare meeting with 250 Israeli students at his West Bank headquarters.

He also said there was no need to “re-divide” Jerusalem in order to have a Palestinian capital in the Arab eastern sector, a central demand of the Palestinians in US-brokered peace talks relaunched last year that have shown little sign of progress.

“Propaganda says Abu Mazen wants to flood Israel with five million refugees to destroy the state of Israel,” he told the group at his Muqataa presidential compound in Ramallah, referring to himself by his nickname.

“All we said is that we should put the refugee file on the table because it is an issue we must solve to end the conflict,” he told them, adding that any solution must be “just and agreed upon”.

“But we will not seek to flood Israel with millions of refugees to change its social character. This is a lie,” said Abbas, who is himself a refugee.

Resolving the question of the right of return for Palestinian families who fled or were forced out of their homes during the war which accompanied Israel’s creation in 1948 is one of the most bitterly-disputed issues in the conflict.

The Palestinians have always demanded that Israel recognise their right of return to homes in modern-day Israel in keeping with UN General Assembly Resolution 194.

But Israel rejects the idea, saying it would erode the country’s Jewish majority. It is, however, prepared for the refugees to live in a future Palestinian state.

There are approximately five million registered Palestinian refugees, mostly descendants of the original 760,000 people who fled or were forced out in 1948. Most refugees now live in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

‘Leave Jerusalem open’

Abbas also stressed he did not want to “re-divide” Jerusalem, saying both peoples could live under their own authorities, which would be overseen by coordinating body.

“We do not want to re-divide Jerusalem, [we want to] leave Jerusalem open,” he said.

Israel captured East Jerusalem during the 1967 war and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community, but the Palestinians want the eastern sector as capital of their promised state.

“We will build a municipality in addition to the Israeli municipality and we have a superior body to coordinate between them. What’s wrong with this?” Abbas said, winning a round of applause.

“This is the beginning of coexistence, the beginning of real coexistence.”

But he warned that Israel’s ongoing settlement building would complicate peace efforts.

“How do you want me to make peace with you when you’re building here in Beit El [settlement] and saying ‘This is my land’? Where do you want us to build our Palestinian state?” he asked.

“There is no other solution in this region but peace,” Abbas said, prompting another round of applause.

“This solution will bring recognition for Israel from all Arab and Islamic countries.”

The Israelis, most of them masters students in their 20s, were brought to Ramallah by an international grassroots movement called OneVoice that facilitates dialogue between the two sides in a bid to coax the political echelon towards a two-state solution.

Laura Talinovsky, executive director of OneVoice Israel, said they had invited participants through Facebook, asking them to explain why they wanted to come.

“We had over 1,000 people who wanted to come but we only had places for 250 students,” she said, describing the visit as “very fruitful and successful”.

“I came to hear what president Abu Mazen has to say, and to show him and the Palestinians that there are young Israelis that believe in peace and want peace,” said 32-year-old Mizrahi, a student at Haifa University.

“It was a big opportunity to be here and to see the president himself speaking,” said Hadar, a 21-year-old from Sderot near the Gaza border, who said it was her first time in Ramallah.

“It was very exciting”.