Region

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel's election brought a surprise when a conservative Islamic party crossed the threshold to enter parliament and its leader emerged Wednesday as a possible kingmaker.

Mansour Abbas and his Raam Party — unlike other Arab political groups before it — have not ruled out joining an Israeli government.

"We are prepared to engage" with either Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's camp or his rivals, Abbas told Israeli radio while stressing that "I'm not in anyone's pocket".

On Wednesday the party was on track to win five seats in Israel's 120-member Knesset, with roughly 90 per cent of the vote counted.

Israel's latest inconclusive election left no clear path for Netanyahu or his rivals to form a government, setting the stage for protracted coalition talks.

When Israel last voted a year ago, Raam had been part of the mainly Arab Joint List. But that alliance fractured earlier this year amid ideological divisions between Abbas and his former partners.

The conservative Abbas long had frictions with other Arab Israeli factions, including those with communist roots.

Weeks before Tuesday's vote, Abbas indicated an openness to dealing with Netanyahu, even though the premier has demonised Arab-Israelis at various points through his political career.

But Abbas argued that Arab leaders have a responsibility to partner with whoever is in power in order to tackle a crime epidemic rocking Arab communities.

'No red lines' 

Analysis by state broadcaster Kan vote showed that the combined strength of the declared pro-Netanyahu parties was 52 seats while those seeking to end his long reign commanded 56.

For Netanyahu, that means securing a 61-seat majority could require an alliance with his estranged former protege, the religious nationalist Naftali Bennett, who is projected to control seven seats, as well as with Abbas.

Such alliance would however be plagued by bitter divisions.

The pro-Netanyahu bloc following Tuesday’s vote also includes the far-right extremist Religious Zionism bloc whose members have spouted incendiary anti-Arab rhetoric.

The prospects for Raam and Religious Zionism to sit a stable coalition under Netanyahu appear dim.

For the ideologically divided anti-Netanyahu camp, bringing Abbas on board could also prove complicated.

BENGHAZI, Libya — Libya's eastern administration on Tuesday officially handed over power to a new executive that is meant to unify the war-torn country and steer it towards elections late this year.

The Government of National Unity (GNU), selected through a UN-supported process, is the latest internationally backed bid to end a decade of chaos in the North African nation and unite rival administrations.

Led by interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the GNU replaces both the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) and a parallel Cabinet headquartered in the Cyrenaica region and not recognised by the international community.

The key eastern region has been under the de facto control of forces of military strongman Khalifa Haftar.

Tuesday's handover of power took place at the seat of the parallel eastern government, headed until now by Abdallah Al Thani, in Libya's second city Benghazi.

Hussein Attiya Al Gotrani, one of Dbeibah's two deputy premiers, and several ministers who had come from the capital Tripoli, including Interior Minister Khaled Mazen, represented the GNU, an AFP correspondent said.

"The period of division is over," Gotrani was quoted by local media as saying. "The Government of National Unity is at the service of all Libyans, whatever their region."

Libya descended into conflict after dictator Muammar Qadhafi was toppled and killed in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, with an array of forces battling to fill the void.

Dbeibah was sworn in last week after parliament approved his cabinet in a move hailed by key leaders and foreign powers as "historic".

The interim executive faces daunting challenges to unify the country's institutions, end a decade of fighting marked by international interference and prepare for elections on December 24.

The handover came a week after Fayez al-Sarraj, the outgoing head of the western-based GNA, formally ceded power to the new unity administration.

Sarraj and his UN-recognised GNA had never won the support of the eastern-based authorities.

Strongman Haftar has not officially taken part in the political negotiations.

By Delil Soleiman
Agence France-Presse

AL OMAR, Syria — Daesh  forces remain as dangerous today as when they were ousted from their last Syrian bastion two years ago, Kurdish forces warned on  Tuesday as they marked the anniversary.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said counter-terrorism efforts today were “more difficult than face-to-face fighting with terrorists, and are considered more dangerous”, in a statement to mark their victory in March 2019.

“The fall of the last patch of Daesh territory in northeast Syria does not mean complete defeat,” the SDF added.

On Tuesday, Kurdish authorities, local tribal leaders and members of the US-led coalition who pushed Daesh from their Syrian stronghold, marked the anniversary with a military parade in the US-protected Al Omar oil field, in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.

The Daesh defeat in the eastern riverside hamlet of Baghouz marked the end of a cross-border “caliphate” declared in 2014 across swaths of Iraq and Syria.

But two years on, Daesh has shown that it does not need a stronghold to pose a potent threat, with the militants carrying out regular attacks and ambushes, including setting off roadside bombs and machine-gunning vehicles.

They are also feared to be recruiting fresh fighters, including among tens of thousands of suspected Daesh relatives detained in overcrowded displacement camps.

“We are currently at the most difficult stage of our counterterrorism efforts,” the SDF added.

‘Safe haven’ 

Daesh retains some 10,000 active fighters in both Syria and Iraq, although the majority are reported to be in Iraq, the United Nations said in a recent report.

Syria’s vast desert near the Iraqi border has emerged as a key “safe haven” for Daesh operatives and a springboard for attacks, the UN said.

The Daesh group is “building and retaining a cellular structure which allows it to carry out terrorist attacks”, General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US Central Command that oversees troops deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, said last month.

At Al Omar, SDF banners were raised to mark the anniversary, alongside posters carrying pictures of fighters killed during the years-long battle against militants.

Fighters in fatigues marched in a show of strength.

“In the spirit of the liberation of Baghouz... we will liberate all our lands,” one poster read, referring to the village where Daesh made its last stand.

Kurdish fighters joined ranks with Arab forces to form the US-backed SDF alliance in 2015.

They would go on to oust Daesh from key areas, including their de facto capital Raqqa in 2017.

In October 2019, a US strike on Syria killed Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi and several other prominent figures.

But Baghdadi’s successor, Mohammed Said Abd Al Rahman Al Mawla, has been able to direct and inspire new attacks.

Danger ‘lives on’ 

The tens of thousands of extremists in Kurdish jails and suspected Daesh relatives held in displacement camps have emerged as an extremist powder keg.

Syria’s Kurds hold nearly 43,000 foreigners with links to the jihadist group in jails and informal displacement camps, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.

They include 27,500 children, at least 300 of whom are in squalid prisons, while the rest are kept in rehabilitation centres or locked camps, HRW said.

Repeated calls for Western countries to repatriate their nationals have largely fallen on deaf ears, with just a handful of children and a few women being brought home.

“Men, women, and children from around the world are entering a third year of unlawful detention in life-threatening conditions... while their governments look the other way,” HRW’s Letta Tayler said.

The SDF reiterated calls on Tuesday for countries to boost repatriation efforts, and establish international tribunals to prosecute those in detention accused of being terrorists.

Most suspected Daesh relatives are being kept in the Al Hol camp, the largest of the settlements controlled by Kurdish authorities.

Al Hol holds almost 62,000 people, mostly women and children, including Syrians, Iraqis and thousands from Europe and Asia accused of family ties with IS fighters.

Some detainees see the camp as the last vestige of the cross-border “caliphate”.

“The danger of the Daesh group lives on in the thousands of prisoners held in jails as well as... their relatives detained in camps,” the SDF added.

In a report published last month, the UN said it had documented instances of “radicalisation, fundraising, training and incitement of external operations” at Al Hol.

It also warned of the fate of around 7,000 children living in a special annex designated for foreign Daesh relatives.

They are “being groomed as future ISIL operatives” the UN said.

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia on Monday offered Yemen's Houthi rebels a "comprehensive" UN-supervised ceasefire, as part of a series of new initiatives aimed at ending a catastrophic six-year conflict.

But the Iran-backed Houthis, who have recently stepped up attacks on the kingdom, including its oil facilities, dismissed Riyadh's initiatives as "nothing new".

The insurgents have also been pushing to seize the Saudi-backed Yemeni government's last northern stronghold, in an escalation of the country's six-year conflict.

The initiative includes "a comprehensive ceasefire across the country under the supervision of the United Nations", a Saudi government statement said.

Riyadh also proposed reopening the airport in Sanaa, the rebel-held capital, and restarting political negotiations between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, the statement added.

"We want the guns to fall completely silent," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan told reporters in Riyadh.

"The initiative will take effect as soon as the Houthis agree to it."

The Houthis dismissed the Riyadh initiatives as "nothing new" and reiterated their demand that a Saudi-led air and sea blockade on Yemen be lifted first.

"Saudi Arabia must declare an end to the aggression and lift the blockade completely," said Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam, according to the rebel's Al Masirah television.

In April last year, the Saudi-led military coalition battling the rebels began a temporary ceasefire in war-wracked Yemen to prevent the spread of coronavirus, but the Houthis dismissed the initiative as political manoeuvering.

The latest proposal follows a renewed push by the US administration of President Joe Biden to revive stalled peace talks.

The United States, which has pulled support for the kingdom’s offensive operations in Yemen, has condemned a spike in Houthi drone and missile attacks on the kingdom.

A drone strike sparked a fire at a Riyadh oil refinery on Friday, in the second major assault this month on Saudi energy installations claimed by the Iran-backed insurgents.

The Houthis are also battling towards Marib, the government’s last northern stronghold, piling pressure on Saudi-backed forces.

At the weekend, the Saudi-led coalition said it had launched air strikes in support of pro-government forces battling a quickening Houthi rebel advance on Marib, the capital of an oil-rich region.

The loss of the city would be a huge blow for the Yemeni government, but would also threaten catastrophe for civilians, including at least one million displaced people sheltering in the region, many in desolate camps in the surrounding desert.

Riyadh led a military coalition into Yemen in 2015 to prop up the government, but it has struggled to oust the highly motivated rebels.

The coalition enforced a naval and air blockade to prevent the smuggling of weapons to the rebels from Iran — allegations Tehran denies.

The UN, which says Yemen is facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, warned last month of disastrous consequences for civilians if the fight for Marib continues.

Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have already been killed and millions displaced in Yemen’s long war, which has crippled the economy and healthcare system.

BEIRUT — Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun failed again on Monday to agree on a new government line-up after seven months of deadlock, as the country sinks deeper into economic crisis.

"I asked the president to listen to the woes of the people and to give this country its final chance of having a technocratic government capable of reform," Hariri said from the presidential palace after his proposed Cabinet line-up was rejected.

Hariri's remarks crushed hopes for a government breakthrough, as political leaders continued to wrangle over Cabinet shares despite widespread anger at an economic crisis that has reignited street protests against a decades-old ruling class.

Hariri said Aoun and the party he founded are pushing for a third of all Cabinet seats, which would give them veto power over government decisions.

Aoun "sent me last night a line-up that grants his team a third of Cabinet seats", Hariri said.

"This is not acceptable."

The three-time premier, who was selected in October to form a new government, made public an alternative line-up he said he had submitted to the president more than three months ago.

Hariri’s proposal was comprised mainly of experts and included fresh names, such as Firas Abiad, the head of Lebanon’s main coronavirus hospital, Nasser Yasin of the American University of Beirut and prominent political scientist Fadia Kiwan, according to a list published by his office.

He said the line-up was turned down because it didn’t give the president’s set privileged power.

‘No hope’

The outgoing government of premier Hassan Diab resigned in the wake of an August 4 explosion at Beirut’s port that killed more than 200 people and ravaged swaths of the capital.

Lebanon’s leaders have since traded blame for the government delay, with Aoun calling on Hariri to step down if he is incapable of forming a government suitable to all parties.

Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of the powerful Shiite Hizbollah movement and a close ally of Aoun, has also criticised the hold up.

In a speech on Thursday, Nasrallah called on Hariri to abandon his push for a 18-member cabinet comprised entirely of technocrats.

“A government of technocrats that is not backed by political groups won’t save the country,” Nasrallah said, calling for established parties to also be represented.

In a report published ahead of Monday’s meeting, the pro-Hizbollah Al Akhbar daily said there is “no hope for a breakthrough”.

“Nothing has changed”.

Lebanon is in the grips of its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

More than half the population lives below the poverty line and the national currency has lost more than 85 per cent of its value against the dollar on the black market.

The Lebanese pound, pegged at 1,507 to the greenback since 1997, sold for 15,000 to the dollar on the black market last week at an all-time low.

The rapid currency plunge reignited street protests that started in 2019 but were temporarily snuffed out last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Demonstrators criticised officials for wrangling over Cabinet posts instead of coming together to form a government capable of spearheading reforms long demanded by donors and the international community.

“There are no signs indicating we are heading towards a solution,” Lebanon’s French-language daily L’Orient-Le Jour reported on Monday.

“Talks are going in circles.”

The international community has also denounced the performance of Lebanese officials.

“Lebanese authorities should act urgently to halt the deepening crisis and ensure good governance,” United Nations humanitarian coordinator Najat Rochdi told the Security Council last week.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is leading the international charge against Lebanon’s under-fire politicians, said last week he would push for a new approach to “prevent the collapse of the country”.

The European Union and the United States should also ramp up pressure on Lebanese politicians, said a French diplomatic source, who did not rule out the possibility of sanctions.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Monday pressed his European counterparts to take action to stave off Lebanon’s collapse.

“I want us to be able to discuss together the levers that would allow us to put pressure on the Lebanese authorities,” he said in Brussels.