Hamas armed wing says Israeli army besieged location of hostage Matan Zangauker
The spokesperson of Hamas's armed wing said on Saturday that the Israeli army besieged the location where Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker was held in Gaza.
The Israeli army would not be able to retrieve him alive, he said.
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Arab News
44 minutes ago
- Arab News
Libya once again in the abyss of despair
On May 12, Tripoli experienced widespread clashes between rival militias as Libya became the arena for the type of blood-letting and public disorder that recalled the horrors of civil conflicts and war that have devastated the country for more than a decade. Both parts of the divided country, led by rival authorities in Tobruk and Tripoli, are overrun by militias. The administration in the east, headed by the House of Representatives in Tobruk, is supported by the Libyan Arab Armed Forces, commanded by Khalifa Haftar. His army controls political and financial institutions. Haftar's forces also control Libya's oil-producing areas in the east that produce 1.2 million barrels a day. Oil revenues, which are deposited in the Central Bank of Libya, account for 97 percent of the government revenues required to pay for official expenses, salaries, and imports. The latest turbulence has occurred in the west of the country, which is administered by the Government of National Unity headed by acting Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. Tripoli is home to three powerful militias: the Stability Support Authority; the Special Deterrence Force, also known as Radaa; and the 444 Brigade. In early May, Dbeibah called for the dismantling of these militias. On May 12, after heavy fighting, the head of the Stability Support Authority, Abdulghani Kikli, was killed. He was the most powerful militia chief in Tripoli, controlling internal security and managing cash transfers from the central bank. Following his death, militias affiliated with Dbeibah, in particular the 444 Brigade, took over the assets of the Stability Support Authority, consolidating Dbeibah's hold on power. Beginning on May 16, however, popular protests started to take place in Tripoli demanding Dbeibah's resignation. The demonstrators held him responsible for the power enjoyed by the militias, and for their own dire security and living conditions. After the protests were quelled by the security forces, Dbeibah took credit for 'ending the rule of militia and building a state of law.' The latest violence in Tripoli has highlighted the fragility of a binary political order in Libya that has enfeebled state institutions, weaned predatory political leaders, and encouraged lawlessness and violence in the broken polity. It has also placed Libya at the center of regional human-trafficking networks. The International Organization for Migration estimates that in January and February this year more than 700,000 migrants from 44 countries were waiting in Libya to make perilous sea journeys to Europe. The latest violence in Tripoli has highlighted the fragility of a binary political order in Libya that has enfeebled state institutions. Talmiz Ahmad The rival leaders in Tripoli and Tobruk enjoy the support of one of two major external powers: Turkiye backs Tripoli, while Russia backs Tobruk. Turkiye has provided the Government of National Unity with armored vehicles, air defense systems, armed drones, and artillery. Meanwhile, during a military parade in Benghazi on May 26, Haftar flaunted Russian-supplied weaponry that included air defense systems, helicopters, tanks, military trucks, rocket systems, and infantry fighting vehicles. The parade served to showcase his military prowess, and supported the Libyan Arab Armed Forces' claim to be the legitimate national army. While Libya's leaders enrich themselves and feud with each other, their backers, Turkiye and Russia, are reaping strategic and economic benefits. Russia already has airbases at Al-Khadim and Al-Shatti, and is said to be looking to establish a Mediterranean naval base, possibly at Tobruk itself. Turkiye's agreement with the Tripoli-based government in 2021 strengthened its claims to the energy resources of the Eastern Mediterranean. Since then, the country has obtained lucrative infrastructure contracts from the Tobruk government as well. Russia views Libya as a strategic bridge to the Mediterranean and Africa. In the aftermath of the regime change in Syria, Moscow has targeted Libya as its principal geopolitical center for political, economic, and military outreach in Africa. Its interests on the continent, particularly in the Sahel, are being promoted by the Africa Corps, the successor to the Wagner Group, and are well-served from bases in Libya, particularl Maettan Al-Sarra close to the borders with Chad and Sudan. So far, Turkiye and Russia have been pursuing a policy of 'managed rivalry,' as they have done previously in relation to Syria and the South Caucasus. A recent analysis in an Arabic newspaper contrasted the current lawlessness and violence in western Libya with the unity, discipline, and security provided by Haftar in the east through the elimination of extremists and militias. The author suggested that before seeking free elections and a democratic government, Tripoli needs to establish law and order through a takeover by Haftar's forces and unite the country. Possibly concerned by the corrosive effect of the national divide, Russia and Turkiye just might agree to unify Libya under Haftar. In September last year, there were reports that he was moving his troops to Ghadames, a strategically located oasis with an airport near the border with Tunisia and Algeria. This movement of his armed forces was seen as a precursor to the siege of Tripoli. However, recent history tells us that although in times of disorder and violence military rule might seem alluring, once in power such rule rarely makes way for free and fair elections; instead, it remains entrenched for decades and grows increasingly autocratic, intolerant, and harsh. Libya, sadly, is likely to be the latest example of this historical truth.
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
MWL chief meets Syria's Awqaf minister
RIYADH: Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League and chairman of the Organization of Muslim Scholars, met with the Syrian Arab Republic's Minister of Awqaf Mohammad Abu Al-hair Shukri to discuss 'a variety of topics of common interest,' the MWL wrote in a post on X on Saturday. Meanwhile, Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance Dr. Abdullatif Al-Alsheikh recently met with the Malaysian delegation of Islamic leaders participating in the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Guests Program for Hajj, Umrah, and Visit, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Saturday.
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
This Israeli government thrives on provoking the global community
Some prefer to hear the good news first, others the bad, but does it really matter? The good news about the Israeli government is that it no longer tries to hide its true intentions regarding the Palestinians. The bad news is that the ruling coalition is ill-intentioned to the core. There is no longer any pretense of a desire for peaceful coexistence through a historic compromise agreement that would divide the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea so that it could accommodate a Jewish state and a Palestinian state. In an act of sheer defiance of the international community and international law, and demonstrating a complete absence of common sense, Israel's Security Cabinet has approved a motion, put forward by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, for the establishment of 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank. Not all of these settlements are entirely new; some are while others are existing outposts that were built illegally, even according to Israeli law. Two of the planned settlements, Homesh and Sa-Nor, were evacuated in 2005 during the Israeli disengagement from Gaza, as part of a wider plan to also disengage from some parts of the West Bank and create space for what should have become a Palestinian state. But that was then. Now, Katz has been explicit in his assertion that the latest move 'prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel.' No hiding now of this government's true objective: to bury once and for all the prospect of a two-state solution, and with it the right of Palestinians to self-determination. A quick glance at a map of the West Bank and East Jerusalem reveals the extent of settlement expansion since 1967. From not a single Jewish community there to — according to Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now — 141 settlements which were officially established by the government, and a staggering 224 outposts, including farms, that have been established since the 1990s without government approval and so are illegal under Israeli law. The number of settlers in these communities, together with Jewish neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem, exceeds 700,000. All of the proposed new settlements are deep within the West Bank, to prevent the establishment of a future, contiguous Palestinian state. Much has been said about the illegality of all the settlements in the eyes of international law because they are built on occupied land, and an occupying power is forbidden from transferring its own population to such areas or, in the context of what is being said by some Israeli Cabinet ministers, removing indigenous people from them. However, you can rely on Smotrich to tell it like it is when he states: 'Settlement in the land our ancestors inherited is a protective wall for the State of Israel, and today we have taken a huge step for its strengthening. The next step — sovereignty!' Or, in other words, annexation. What makes this decision even more extraordinary than previous decisions to build settlements — and in less than three years the government has decided to build 49 of them, since taking power in December 2022 — is that ministers appear to be completely oblivious to the fact that this act of sheer folly brings Israel ever closer to international sanctions and its becoming a pariah state. The current Israeli government, led by Netanyahu, has no respect for human rights. Yossi Mekelberg At a time of mounting international criticism, including from close allies, of the way Israeli authorities are conducting the war in Gaza — which has so far resulted in the killing of 54,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians and including at least 16,500 children — and for preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid to the territory, despite repeated warnings that the population there is on the verge of starvation, the best that Israel can do to try to improve its image in the world is to announce the building of new illegal settlements. Most observers of the conflict between Israel and Palestine agree that the single most damaging issue that is hindering a peace agreement based on a two-state solution is the Israeli settlement project in its entirety. The situation is made worse when settlements are built in the heart of large Palestinian population centers or close by. For the government to legalize the outposts, which are home to some of the most extreme Jewish supremacist settlers, is to encourage one of the most lawless segments of Israeli society, one that rather than abide by the law of the country prefers to adhere to the rulings of their rabbis, or to their distorted religio-nationalist version of Judaism while becoming increasingly violent, verbally and physically, toward Palestinian neighbors. Legalizing the outposts will only encourage Israel to continue in this vein and so it is an act of sheer provocation, against the Palestinians and the international community, that can only result in further condemnation while legitimizing the calls to impose sanctions on Israel. This development is also a further illustration of the unchecked power accumulated by the messianic ultra-right within Israel's governing coalition, in the face of a weak prime minister who looks like he will be sticking with them all the way to what will probably be his very bitter political end. Consequently it would be next to impossible, even for the most ardent supporters of the Jewish state, to fend off demands for sanctions while Israel under Benjamin Netanyahu continues to treat the international community, and its values and institutions, with utter contempt and complete disdain, as if begging to be punished. Much of the support Israel has enjoyed in the international arena through the years has stemmed from a perception that it was a thriving liberal democracy, even if at times this aspect has been somewhat exaggerated considering the oppressive occupation of land that is home to millions of Palestinians, and a state that desired peace and was prepared to make painful concessions in order to achieve it. This state of affairs was already long gone and is now officially history. The current government has no respect for human rights, and insufficient common sense to see that its defiance of the international norms of behavior at a time when it is still at war, and desperately needs international support, is self-harming. Given that on the issues of building settlements, annexing occupied Palestinian land, and depriving Palestinians of their right to self-determination, this Netanyahu government likes to say what it means and means what it says, with no nuance, it will have very little reason to complain when the response of the international community is equally honest and robust. This response is likely just around the corner. • Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. X: @YMekelberg
