https://arab.news/jetua
ALGIERS: Syria’s chief diplomat has started a visit to Algeria and Tunisia as part of efforts to revive diplomatic relationships in the Arab world, more than a decade after his country was globally isolated amid President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on mass protests against his rule.
Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad was welcomed on Saturday in the lounge of Algiers airport by his Algerian counterpart Ahmed Attaf.
In remarks broadcast by Algerian public television. Mikdad insisted that “relations between the two brotherly countries exist and will continue to exist … beyond the vicissitudes of the situation.”
He added: “My visit will be an opportunity for discussions between the two countries on the latest developments in the region. We need to strengthen this bilateral relationship.”
Algeria is one of the few Arab countries that did not cut off relations with Syria during the civil war that followed the 2011 uprising.
Mikdad notably praised Algeria’s help after the devastating Feb. 6 earthquake that killed tens of thousands in Syria and Turkiye.
He was also bearing a message from Assad to his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the Algerian official APS news agency reported.
Assad consolidated control over most of the country in recent years and Syria’s neighbors have begun to take steps toward rapprochement.
Mikdad also made a recent trip to Egypt in a step toward normalizing ties.
He is scheduled to head to Tunisia on Monday, where he is to reopen Syria’s embassy.
Tunisian President Kais Saied announced earlier this month that he had directed the country’s Foreign Ministry to appoint a new ambassador to Syria.
His move was reciprocated by the Syrian government, according to the SANA news agency.
DUBAI: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has facilitated the transfer of 104 former detainees that Saudi Arabia unilaterally released after three days of prisoner exchanges between the Yemeni government and the Houthis.
The Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen confirmed Saudi Arabia’s unilateral release of 104 Houthi prisoners, Saudi state TV has reported.
An initial batch of 48 individuals have been flown out to Sanaa and Aden in Yemen accompanied by two ICRC staff, the humanitarian organization said.
Update: Today@ICRC
is facilitating the unilateral release of 104 former detainees from #Abha #SaudiArabia to #Sanaa & #Aden in #Yemen. The first flight for 50 former detainees has departed. Stay tuned for more updates. pic.twitter.com/O9KOh6Xmqw
A three-day operation overseen by the ICRC last week returned nearly 900 prisoners, which was seen as a significant boost to efforts to promote a longer truce between the warring factions and eventually peace in the conflict-ridden country.
The prisoner exchange was widely welcomed, particularly by the Arab world, amid hopes for regional stability and security.
KHARTOUM: Explosions rocked the Sudanese capital Khartoum Monday as fighting between the regular army and paramilitaries raged for a third day with the death toll rising to nearly 100.
The violence erupted Saturday after weeks of power struggles between Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The raging battles triggered a wide international outcry with appeals for an immediate cease-fire and dialogue.
“The death toll among civilians in clashes since it began on Saturday … has reached 97,” the doctors’ union said in a statement early Monday, noting the figure does not include all casualties as many could not reach hospitals due to difficulties in movement.
It said hundreds of civilians were wounded in the clashes.
Loud gunfire and deafening explosions echoed across the streets of Khartoum Monday morning as clashes continued, according to AFP journalists.
A stench of gunpowder lingered as plumes of thick black smoke emanated from damaged buildings, according to witnesses.
The fighting broke out after bitter disagreements between Burhan and Daglo over the planned integration of the RSF into the regular army — a key condition for a final deal aimed at ending a crisis since the 2021 military coup they orchestrated together.
The coup has already derailed a transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ouster of president Omar Al-Bashir and piled on a spiraling economic crisis in Sudan.
The clashes forced Sudanese to hunker down in their homes with fears of a prolonged conflict that could plunge the country into deeper chaos, dashing hopes for return to civilian rule.
Since Saturday, the two sides have traded blame over who started the fighting.
Each has claimed the upper hand by declaring control of key sites, including the airport and the presidential palace but none of their claims could be independently verified.
Fighting also raged in other parts of Sudan including the western Darfur region and in the eastern border state of Kassala.
The Saturday killing of three staff from the World Food Programme in North Darfur clashes prompted the agency to suspend all operations in the impoverished country.
Medics have pleaded for safe corridors for ambulances and a cease-fire to treat the victims because the streets are too dangerous for transporting casualties to hospital.
The RSF was created under Bashir in 2013, emerging from the Janjaweed militia that his government unleashed against non-Arab ethnic minorities in Darfur a decade earlier, drawing accusations of war crimes.
The latest violence sparked by the two generals has reflected the deep-seated divisions between the regular army and the RSF.
Despite the wide calls for a cease-fire, the two generals appeared in no mood for talks.
Burhan, who rose through the ranks under the three-decade rule of now-jailed Bashir, has said the coup was “necessary” to include more factions in politics.
Daglo later called the coup a “mistake” that failed to bring about change and reinvigorated remnants of Bashir’s regime ousted by the army in 2019 following mass protests.
ADEN: Arab nations and organizations have praised the successful three-day prisoner exchange between the Yemeni government and the Houthis amid renewed efforts from Saudi Arabia to mediate a lasting peace between the warring factions.
Mohammed Al-Jaber, the Kingdom’s envoy to Yemen, and delegation from Oman went to Sanaa last week to discuss with the Houthis ‘stabilize the truce and ceasefire’ and, eventually, end conflict in the war-torn country.
The multi-day humanitarian operation transferred nearly 900 detainees into and out of several cities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia under the auspices of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Arab Parliament, in a statement, welcomed the prisoner exchange operation and stressed that these ‘efforts were part of the Arab’s continuous efforts to calm the situation in Yemen and reach a comprehensive political solution that ends the Yemeni crisis.’
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) secretary general Hissein Brahim Taha also lauded the prisoner exchange as an important humanitarian operation, which took place during the holy month of Ramadan.
The OIC leader expressed hope that the prisoner swap would give a new boost to efforts of achieving peace in Yemen through the mediation efforts of Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Egypt’s foreign affairs ministry meanwhile described the prisoner transfer as “a positive and significant step towards renewing the Yemeni truce and achieving comprehensive and sustainable peace.
Cairo also expressed full support for efforts to restore security and stability in Yemen and alleviate the humanitarian crisis that Yemenis are facing.
The Jordanian foreign affairs ministry meanwhile praised the important role the UN and ICRC played in sponsoring the prisoner exchange operations and hailed the efforts made by Saudi Arabia and Oman’s delegations with regard to the agreement.
Both sides are optimistic of more prisoner exchanges in the future, with the Houthi side planning to propose exchanging 1,400 people during the next round of discussions while Yemeni government ‘dedicated to exchanging all detainees with the Houthis as well as clearing jails of those who had been kidnapped or forcefully vanished during the war.’
ISTANBUL: Four Turkish soldiers were wounded in artillery and rocket attacks by Kurdish militants on bases in northern Syria, prompting a counter attack, Ankara said on Sunday.
Turkiye’s defense ministry said the attacks were carried out by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which spearheads the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and also the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkiye and Western nations deem a terrorist group.
Turkiye has carried out several cross-border military incursions into northern Syria in recent years and has dozens of bases there.
The four soldiers were sent to hospital, the ministry said. “Ample response is given to the terrorists with strong attacks on targets,” it added.
Earlier on Sunday Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said “we could never be safe while there is an armed terrorist organization” in the north of Syria and Iraq.
“Hopefully in the upcoming term we will increasingly continue our efforts in this direction,” he added in a speech in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa, referring to elections set for May 14.