Region

TEHRAN — Iran said on Monday that a Venezuelan airplane grounded in Argentina is part of a "propaganda" campaign against Tehran, amid tensions with Western countries over negotiations to revive a 2015 nuclear deal.

The Venezuelan Boeing 747 cargo plane, reportedly carrying car parts and with 14 Venezuelan and five Iranian crew members, has been held in Argentina's Ezeiza airport after the authorities questioned its reasons for landing last week.

The grounding came days before Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro visited Tehran on Saturday, where Iran and Venezuela signed a 20-year deal on cooperation between the allies that are both subject to US sanctions.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters on Monday that the incident was part of efforts aimed to "cause a feeling of insecurity".

The plane was sold by Iran's Mahan Air to a Venezuelan company last year, he said, noting that "its crew members are not Iranians only" but included others of different nationalities.

"These recent weeks are filled with propaganda, are full of psychological operations, these wars of words that want to infiltrate the minds and composure of the people... this news is one of those," Khatibzadeh said.

On Sunday, Argentinian authorities said no personnel had been detained and that the crew had been accommodated in hotels with temporary residence permits.

The Iranians' passports were taken, but Argentinian authorities said they would be returned if they left the country on a scheduled flight while investigations are ongoing.

The incident came as a resolution was adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors censuring Iran for its lack of cooperation.

Talks in the Austrian capital, which began in April last year, aim to return the US to the nuclear deal, including through the lifting of sanctions on Iran, and to ensure Tehran's full compliance with its commitments under the agreement.

The deal known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme to guarantee that it could not develop a nuclear weapon -- something Tehran has always denied wanting to do.

KHARTOUM — Clashes in Sudan's Darfur between Arab and non-Arab groups have killed more than 100 people, adding to a toll of hundreds in the region over recent months.

The latest fighting broke out last week between the Arab Rizeigat and non-Arab Gimir tribes in the district of Kolbus, about 160 kilometres from El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state.

It started as a land dispute between two people, one from the Rizeigat and another from the Gimir, before morphing into broader violence involving other members from both tribes.

"The fighting has so far killed 117 people and left 17 villages burnt," including three on Monday, Ibrahim Hashem, a leader in the ethnic African Gimir tribe, told AFP by phone.

Hashem said the deaths counted so far were largely among the Gimir tribe. He added that "many people" from his tribe have gone missing since the violence broke out and which was continuing.

It was not immediately clear how many were killed among the Arab tribe.

The latest violence highlighted a broader security breakdown in Darfur which was exacerbated by last year’s military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan.

The October coup derailed a fragile transition put in place following the 2019 ouster of president Omar Bashir.

In April alone, more than 200 people were killed in clashes between an Arab community and the non-Arab Massalit minority in the Krink area of West Darfur.

The United Nations estimated 125,000 people were displaced in that unrest.

A month earlier, fighting in South Darfur between the ethnic Fallata and the Arab Rizeigat tribes killed at least 45 people.

On Monday, UN special representative Volker Perthes said he was “appalled” by the violence in Kolbus.

“The cycle of violence in Darfur is unacceptable & highlights root causes that must be addressed,” he said on Twitter.

Perthes called on the fighting sides to “de-escalate”.

Sudan’s western Darfur region was ravaged by a bitter civil war that erupted in 2003.

The conflict pitted ethnic minority rebels who complained of discrimination against the Arab-dominated government of then-president Bashir.

Khartoum responded by unleashing the Janjaweed, mainly recruited from Arab pastoralist tribes, who were blamed for atrocities including murder, rape, looting and burning villages.

The scorched-earth campaign left 300,000 people dead and displaced 2.5 million, according to the United Nations.

Many Janjaweed have since been integrated into the feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, de facto deputy leader of Sudan, according to rights groups.

In 2020, Sudan signed a peace deal with key rebel groups including from Darfur.

The main conflict has subsided over the years, but the region remains awash with weapons and deadly clashes often erupt over access to pasture or water.

TUNIS — A Tunisian military court has placed a journalist in custody after he made comments about the army during a television broadcast, his lawyer told AFP on Sunday.

The military prosecutor's office opened an investigation after Salah Attia, who works for a local daily, made the remarks to Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera on Friday, his lawyer Samir Ben Amor said.

Attia said Tunisian President Kais Saied had "officially asked the military to intervene against the Tunisian General Labour Union" — a powerful body known as the UGTT — and to surround its offices ahead of a general strike called for June 16.

Attia, who opposes a power grab by Saied that began in July last year, said the army told the UGTT it had refused the president's request.

"It seems as if we're in the final days of the regime of Ben Ali," Attia said, referring to former Tunisian dictator Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali who was ousted in a 2011 uprising.

The military court called Attia in for questioning and decided on Saturday to place him in custody after he refused to reveal his sources, Ben Amor said.

Attia is being accused of "harming the army" and "inciting Tunisians to violence", the lawyer added.

The journalist is set to appear Monday before a military judge, who could place him in pre-trial detention.

The UGTT on Saturday denied Attia's "false statements".

Attia is not the first Tunisian journalist pursued by a military court.

In April, television presenter Amer Ayad was sentenced to four months in prison for “insulting” the head of state after delivering a heated monologue against Saied.

He has appealed and has been released pending further proceedings.

Western governments and human rights groups have criticised Tunisia’s use of military courts to try civilians, especially since Saied’s power grab, which began in July last year when he dismissed the government and suspended an elected parliament.

Members of the dissolved parliament have also found themselves in the military court’s cross hairs.

OSLO — Israel on Saturday condemned Norway's decision to label products from Israeli settlements with their place of origin.

A statement from Israel's foreign ministry said the position "will adversely affect bilateral relations between Israel and Norway, as well as Norway's relevance to promoting relations between Israelis and the Palestinians".

The ministry was referring to Norway's longstanding role as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Norway's social democrat government announced its new policy on Friday, saying it was not enough to label products coming from the occupied territories as Israeli.

The measure mainly concerns imports of wine, olive oil, fruits and vegetables and will apply to products from the occupied West Bank "including East Jerusalem" and occupied areas of the Golan Heights, Oslo said.

Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt stressed in an interview with Norwegian news agency NTB that this in no way constituted a boycott of Israel.

"Norway has good relations with Israel," she added. "That must continue."

The European Commission recommended its member states follow this practice in 2015, a decision confirmed by the European Court of Justice in 2019.

Norway said that the principle behind its decision, as set out in the 2019 ruling, is that consumers should not be deceived by misleading labelling on the origin or products.

During the Trump administration, the United States announced that goods made in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories could be labelled Israeli.

The settlements in the occupied territories are illegal under international law, but have continued under successive Israeli governments since 1967.

DAMASCUS — Syria has confirmed major damage including to runways at Damascus International Airport, which was closed for a second day Saturday for repairs after Israeli air strikes.

The transport ministry said in a statement that runways were out of service.

Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against its neighbour, targeting government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and fighters from Lebanon's Shiite group Hizbollah.

But rarely have such attacks caused major flight disruptions. The ministry said air traffic would remain suspended until repair work is finished and airport security can be assured.

"Civil aviation and national companies are working... to repair the sizeable damage at the airport," the ministry said, adding a terminal building was also hit.

Syria's official SANA news agency said the Israeli bombardment wounded a civilian.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the missile strike before dawn on Friday hit the only runway still in service at the airport, as well as several adjacent buildings. Israeli bombing last year had disabled another runway, it said.

“The runway, the control tower, three hangars, warehouses as well as reception rooms were badly damaged by the Israeli strikes,” the observatory said.

Some of the reception rooms were used to receive Iranian officials and Hizbollah members while the warehouses stored weapons from Iran, it said.

The Britain-based observatory, which relies on a network of sources within Syria, said the strikes wounded an undetermined number of people.

Satellite images posted on Twitter by the Israeli firm ISI showed three separate areas of what it said was “extensive damage to both military and civilian runways” caused by the strikes.

The airport is in a region south of Damascus where Iran-backed groups, including Lebanon’s Hizbollah, regularly operate.

The area has been repeatedly targeted by Israel, which has launched 15 aerial attacks on Syria this year alone and regularly accuses Iran of using the airport to send weapons shipments to its allies.

Syrian state media had reported that a volley of missiles was fired from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights at around 4:20am (01:20 GMT) on Friday.

Syria’s ally Russia strongly condemned “the provocative Israeli attack against essential civilian infrastructure”.

A spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry called such attacks “an absolutely unacceptable violation of international norms”.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian spoke by phone and also condemned the attack, SANA reported.

Syria “will defend itself by all legitimate means” against Israeli attacks, Mekdad said.

On May 20, Israeli surface-to-surface missiles from the Golan Heights killed three people near Damascus, state media said at the time, quoting a military source. Those strikes targeted Iranian positions and weapon depots near Damascus, starting a fire near one of the positions close to the airport, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

While Israel rarely comments on individual strikes, it has acknowledged carrying out hundreds in Syria, which Israel’s forces says is necessary to prevent its arch foe Iran from gaining a foothold on its doorstep.

The conflict in Syria started with the brutal repression of peaceful protests and escalated to pull in foreign powers and global terrorists.

The war has killed nearly half a million people and forced around half of the country’s pre-war population from their homes.

Russia’s military intervention in 2015 helped turn the war in favour of Syria’s President Bashar Assad. Moscow maintains military bases in the country.

ISTANBUL — Turkey's president said Thursday he hoped Ankara's allies would "understand and respect" its announced operation against Kurdish militants in northern Syria, after Washington denounced the planned offensive.

Ankara has for weeks threatened to target the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria, deemed a "terrorist group" by Turkey.

At the beginning of June, Erdogan renewed the pledge, sparking warnings from the United States and Russia to refrain.

On Thursday, Erdogan said he hoped his allies would support the country's ambition.

"We hope that none of our real allies will object to our legitimate concerns," he said in a televised address.

"We expect our allies and friends to understand and respect our legitimate concerns."

He repeated Turkey's determination to create a "safe zone" inside Syria near the Turkish border.

The comments come a day after Turkey's NATO ally the United States renewed warnings against the operation, which it believes risks destabilising the region.

Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf said Washington was "deeply concerned by recent increased rhetoric", and that diplomatic engagement was under way to stop a possible offensive.