Region

TEHRAN — Iran’s supreme leader on Sunday reiterated the Islamic republic’s “definite policy” that Washington must lift all sanctions before Tehran returns to its commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal.

“The country’s policy regarding interaction with JCPOA parties and the JCPOA itself has been clear,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech, referring to the accord by its official name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

It “entails that the Americans must lift the sanctions, all the sanctions, and then we will verify and if they are truly lifted, then we will return to our JCPOA commitments”.

Khamenei stressed that lifting sanctions “on paper is not acceptable” and had to be implemented “in practice”.

The deal was meant to provide Iran with international sanctions relief in exchange for limitations on its controversial nuclear programme.

But it has been on life-support ever since former US president Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018 and reimposed sanctions as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.

Joe Biden, who defeated Trump at the ballot box in November, has signalled his readiness to revive the accord, but his administration insists Iran must first return to its nuclear commitments, most of which Tehran has suspended in response to US sanctions.

Tehran has insisted Washington make the first move by scrapping the sanctions.

“If they accept and implement the policy we have announced then everything will be fixed. And if they don’t, things will continue as they are now, and it is not an issue,” Khamenei said.

He also repeated Tehran’s stand that “maximum pressure has failed” and warned if the Biden adminstration “wants to continue maximum pressure, they will fail as well”.

Call to ‘manage’ social media 

On upcoming presidential and municipal elections, Khamenei said intelligence services of Iran’s “enemies”, mainly the US and Israel, had been trying to utilise social media to discourage voters and “reduce participation”.

“They either accuse those holding it, [saying] the elections have been rigged or whatever, or they accuse the respected Guardian Council,” a vetting body, he said.

“Or they discourage the people, saying: ‘Your vote has no impact, it will not help improve the situation, [so] why bother?’”

Voters are on June 18 to elect a successor to President Hassan Rouhani, who is in his final four-year term.

Under Iranian law, candidates must be vetted by the powerful Guardian Council watchdog before being allowed to run.

Voter turnout hit a historic low of less than 43 per cent in 2020 parliamentary polls after thousands of reformist candidates were barred from running, leading to a conservative landslide.

Khamenei also said Iranian social media “must not be left to the enemy that they would conspire” against Iran, calling for them to be “managed”.

His warning comes after a report in Israeli media that a “No to Islamic Republic of Iran” campaign was gaining traction on social media.

The hashtags #NoVote and NoToIslamicRepublicOfIran have spread on Twitter, in both Farsi and English.

DUBAI — Yemen's Houthi rebels have admitted their forces caused a fire that killed 45 people at a migrant centre earlier this month, saying more than a dozen soldiers and officials face punishment.

Houthi security forces had responded to a protest at a Sanaa holding facility on March 7 by launching three teargas canisters without obtaining permission from their command, according to a statement carried by the rebels' Saba news agency late Saturday.

"One of the three landed on a foam mattress, resulting in a fire that spread rapidly," it said.

The statement said 11 security personnel had been detained, along with a number of senior officials, and that they would be tried in court.

The rebels said that 45 migrants — most of them Ethiopian — were killed and more than 200 injured in the incident.

The Houthis, who are locked in a six-year conflict against the internationally recognised government, had last week expressed "deep regret" over the incident at the Sanaa holding facility and vowed to investigate.

The United Nations had also called for an independent probe into the blaze.

The UN envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, told the Security Council that the "extraordinary, horrific fire" had reminded the world "of the plight of the migrant community".

Human Rights Watch said the detainees had been protesting against overcrowding at the centre when camp guards rounded up hundreds of them into a hangar before two projectiles were fired into the building.

Footage of the aftermath, which AFP obtained from a survivor, showed dozens of charred bodies piled on top of one another and strewn across the ground. One person was heard crying out in prayer.

The Iran-backed rebels control much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa which was captured from the Saudi-backed government in 2014, sparking the devastating conflict.

Despite warnings, migrants from the nearby Horn of Africa continue to transit through war-torn and impoverished Yemen, seeking a better life in wealthy neighbouring Gulf Arab states.

BEIRUT — Kurdish-led fighters were fending off Turkey's Syrian proxies in violent clashes on Sunday near the Kurdish-held town of Ain Issa in northern Syria, a Britain-based monitor said.

Pro-Ankara fighters have been stationed to the north of Ain Issa Turkish soldiers and their Syrian proxies seized a 120-kilometre stretch of territory along the border from Kurdish fighters in 2019.

Since then, pro-Turkish forces have engaged in sporadic skirmishes with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The latest fighting came as Syria's Kurds, who for years led the US-backed battle against the Daesh terror group in Syria, celebrated Nowruz to mark the advent of spring and Kurdish new year.

The clashes erupted as pro-Ankara fighters tried to advance north of Ain Issa on Friday after the SDF had cleared two villages of landmines to allow civilians to return, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"But the SDF have until now prevented the pro-Ankara fighters from gaining any ground," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

There was no immediate death toll for the clashes.

SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel said the Ain Issa area was under heavy attack, including by Turkish mortars, shelling and air strikes, but the Kurdish-led fighters had so far thwarted "infiltration attempts".

Turkey's defence ministry said Sunday its troops had retaliated after Kurdish fighters "opened fire on our special forces" from the south of the Turkish-held border strip.

Turkish air strike? 

The observatory, which relies on sources inside Syria, late Saturday reported a Turkish air strike on the village of Saida north of Ain Issa, saying it was the first in the area since 2019.

But Turkish security sources denied carrying out any air raid, accusing the Kurds of trying to spread misinformation.

Ankara considers Syrian Kurdish fighters to be a "terrorist" extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is outlawed in Turkey.

Syria's civil war has evolved into a complex conflict involving world powers and extremists since it started in 2011.

In the north of the country, Turkey and its Syrian proxies control several pockets of territory following three military incursions since 2016 against Daesh and Kurdish fighters.

They also include the northwestern region of Afrin, and an area around the city of Al Bab in northern Syria.

Almost two years ago, the SDF expelled Daesh from their last scrap of territory in the eastern riverside hamlet of Baghouz, taking thousands of alleged extremists and families members into their custody.

The extremist group however maintains a presence in eastern Syria and continues to carry out sporadic attacks.

THE HAGUE — The International Criminal Court has given Israel and the Palestinians one month to ask the tribunal to postpone its war crimes investigation, provided they can prove they are carrying out their own probes.

The ICC's chief prosecutor announced on March 3 that she had opened a full investigation into the situation in the Israeli-occupied territories — infuriating Israel, which is not a member of the Hague-based court.

A deferral notice was "sent on March 9 to all member states of the ICC, including all states that would normally exercise jurisdiction — including Israel and Palestine," an official in the prosecutor's office told AFP Friday.

The notice, sent under Article 18 of the court's founding document, the Rome Statute, gives countries a month to tell judges they are investigating crimes similar to those being probed by the ICC, the official said.

States may then reply to the ICC detailing whether they are in fact carrying out their own probe into alleged perpetrators, and can ask the chief prosecutor for a deferral.

The Palestinians, who have been a state party to the ICC since 2015, have welcomed the investigation and said they will not seek any deferral.

The world's only permanent war crimes tribunal, the ICC was set up in 2002 to try the humanity's worst crimes where local courts are unwilling or unable to step in.

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has said her investigation will cover the situation in the blockaded Gaza Strip along with the Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since 2014.

It will mainly focus on the 2014 Gaza War but also look at the deaths of Palestinian demonstrators from 2018 onwards.

There is "reasonable basis" to believe crimes were committed by both sides — by the Israeli Defence Forces and Israeli authorities, and by Hamas and Palestinian armed groups, Bensouda said after concluding a five-year preliminary probe in 2019.

Israel has rejected the investigation, saying the court has no jurisdiction over its citizens.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a vocal critic of the ICC, has said the decision to open the probe was the “essence of anti-Semitism” and declared Israel was “under attack”.

However, Netanyahu has not made clear whether Israel would fight back through diplomacy and public opinion — or by engaging directly with the ICC.

The United States has also criticised the ICC investigation and voiced support for its ally Israel.

RIYADH — The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said Saturday it had launched air strikes in support of pro-government forces battling a quickening Houthi rebel advance on the northern city of Marib.

The move came after a drone strike set a Riyadh oil refinery ablaze on Friday, in an attack claimed by the Houthis, as the rebels made major advances on Marib, seizing a strategic mountain.

The dawn strike on the refinery was the second major assault this month on Saudi energy installations, highlighting an escalation of Yemen's six-year conflict between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and the Houthis, who are supported by Iran.

The European Union and Russia on Saturday joined Saudi ally the United States in condemning the attack and calling for an end to strikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

The air strikes launched by the coalition were designed to "thwart the Houthi militia's attempt to advance towards Marib in Al Kasrah", the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Al Kasrah is one of the lines of defence to the northwest of the city, which is the government's last remaining stronghold in the north and the capital of an oil-rich region.

The coalition, which entered the Yemen conflict in 2015 to defend the beleaguered government, said it had succeeded in destroying Houthi military equipment, including tanks, and inflicting "heavy losses".

Rebel-controlled Al Masirah television reported 38 air strikes across various parts of Marib, while a government official told AFP that the coalition had launched at least 20 strikes.

“At least 70 fighters were killed, including 22 from the government forces, and dozens were injured in clashes in the past 48 hours,” the source told AFP.

“The rebels launched a violent attack, including with tanks, in Al Kasrah and the attack was thwarted with aerial support from the coalition.”

The Houthis and the internationally recognised government have been locked in a power struggle since 2014, when the rebels overran the capital Sanaa. Since last month, the rebels have been pushing to seize Marib.

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.

Despite the latest rebel advance, analysts say the city may not fall any time soon, given the coalition’s overwhelming firepower.

The rebels have been stepping up their cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia despite a renewed push by the US administration of President Joe Biden to revive stalled peace talks.

Also on Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed a drone carrying explosives over the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, SPA reported.

The coalition said it was taking “all operational measures to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure against terrorist attacks”, SPA added.

The European Union said “these aggressions must stop” in a statement Saturday condemning the strike on the Saudi oil refinery.

“The ongoing escalation in and around Yemen is undermining the efforts of the UN Special Envoy, delaying the prospect of a solution to the conflict, and increasing regional instability,” it added.

Russia also slammed the attack on Saturday, urging “all parties to the conflict in Yemen to strictly abide by the provisions of international humanitarian law” in a statement from the foreign ministry.

Moscow called on all sides to “immediately and completely abandon military operations that lead to the destruction of civilian infrastructure and casualties among the civilian population”.

By Alice Hackman
Agence France-Presse

BEIRUT — US-trained emergency doctor Nour Al Jalbout wanted desperately to serve her fellow Lebanese, but less than two years after returning home she says the country’s catastrophes are forcing her to leave.

“I gave everything I had to Lebanon for these two years, but Lebanon is not giving back,” she says, her eyes welling up above three face masks, inside a top Beirut hospital.

“So I applied for immigration to the US,” she said, to take up a job offer at Harvard.

As soon as her visa is approved, she will join hundreds of doctors who are fleeing Lebanon’s political and economic crises, even during a pandemic.

Doctors warn a country once dubbed “the hospital of the Arab world” is haemorrhaging its best and brightest.

Hair tied back into a floral surgeon’s cap, the 32-year-old medic rushes around the bustling emergency department at the American University of Beirut Medical Centre (AUBMC).

Her white coat streaked with blood from treating one patient’s gunshot wounds, she holds up an X-ray to understand the pain of another visiting from a nearby Arab country.

In the corridor between the emergency and coronavirus wards under her watch, trainee doctors repeatedly approach her for a second opinion.

The decision to leave, she says, “eats you up every day”.

But “you’re doing what’s best for you and your kids if you want to have a family.”

Since starting work in September 2019, she has treated wounded protesters, witnessed economic freefall, fought a pandemic, and helped treat hundreds after a massive explosion in Beirut.

‘Catastrophic’ -

She was at the hospital on August 4 when hundreds of tonnes of fertiliser exploded at the port, killing more than 200 people and sending shockwaves through the capital.

“The ceiling fell on us,” she says, pausing between tears.

Up to 500 wounded streamed in, followed by desperate relatives looking for their loves ones.

Hours later, her husband told her their flat had been badly hit.

“Beirut is like opium,” says Jalbout, whose anaesthetist sister will also emigrate. “It’s so good, but it’s so bad for you.”

Lebanon’s worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war has hit even the top echelons of the population.

Doctors have seen their salaries or fees plummet in value, and their dollar savings trapped in the bank, all the while being overwhelmed by a deadly pandemic. Even basic medication has gone out of stock.

Many say they are far better off than most, but still see no future for their children.

Meanwhile, a deeply divided political class — accused by many on the street of being useless and corrupt — has for seven months been unable to form a government.

The head of the doctor’s syndicate, Charaf Abou Charaf, says 1,000 doctors have left since 2019, while a similar number of nurses have departed as well, according to their representative.

“If it continues like this, it’ll be catastrophic,” Abou Charaf said.

Many of those departing are specialist experts in their fields, and essential for both patient care and training the next generation.

They “are mostly aged 35 to 55, and form the backbone of the healthcare sector,” he said.

‘No end in sight’ 

Many are going to work in the Gulf, and could one day return.

But others are heading to Europe, Australia and the United States, likely for good.

Abou Charaf said it was devastating to watch the brain drain.

“We paid to educate our children, and the West is plucking them up to benefit from them, when we are the ones who desperately need them,” he said.

The head of the parliamentary health committee, Assem Araji, has said the exodus was unprecedented — even worse than during the civil war.

“When I was a doctor training at the AUB [American University of Beirut] in the 1980s, the smell of death clung to the streets... but only very few doctors left,” he wrote on Twitter.

“The outflux of doctors today is not just due to economic reasons, but also despair at the political class.”

Psychiatrist Francois Kazour, 40, said he was moving to France with his wife, a dermatologist, and two young children.

The French-Lebanese doctor and university lecturer said his life was rooted in Lebanon.

“We have our home, our practices, we work at the hospital”, he said.

He too had wanted to raise his family in Lebanon, but next month he and his wife will start the long process to convert their Lebanese qualifications to settle in France for good.

“We feel like there’s no end in sight,” he said.