US Sanctions Target 3 Former Sudanese Officials

Sudanese warring parties signing the Jeddah Talks agreement (Reuters)
Sudanese warring parties signing the Jeddah Talks agreement (Reuters)
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US Sanctions Target 3 Former Sudanese Officials

Sudanese warring parties signing the Jeddah Talks agreement (Reuters)
Sudanese warring parties signing the Jeddah Talks agreement (Reuters)

The US Treasury imposed sanctions on three former Sudanese officials for their role in undermining the country's peace, security, and stability.

The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said the designations support diplomatic efforts by the international community to end the conflict and demonstrate the US commitment to achieve a civilian government and a transition to democracy.

Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson, the Treasury continues its efforts to "identify and take action against individuals contributing to the instability in Sudan and undermining prospects for a peaceful resolution."

"The United States will not tolerate the continuing exploitation of the Sudanese people by those who seek to extend and deepen the conflict."

The sanctions include Taha Osman Ahmed al-Hussein, a former State Minister and Presidential Office Director to former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Hussein was pivotal in managing the relationship between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and regional actors to advance the RSF's warfighting efforts.

They also include Salah Abdallah Mohamed Salah, a former high-ranking Sudanese government official who left his position following the fall of the al-Bashir regime and, since that time, has undertaken efforts to destabilize Sudan.

The Treasury also included Mohamed Etta Elmoula Abbas, a former Sudanese Ambassador and leader of Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Service under the al-Bashir regime.

Meanwhile, sources revealed new details regarding disputes and mutual accusations between the Sudanese army and the RSF, threatening the second round of negotiations in Jeddah, sponsored by Saudi-US mediation.

The sources explained that negotiations may be resumed later without an official announcement, noting that the army delegation had previously agreed to a proposal submitted by an Intergovernmental Development Organization (IGAD) expert.

The sources reported that the IGAD expert proposed freezing all movements and each force remaining in its area of control, which would be done immediately after signing the cessation of hostilities agreement that both parties approved.

The army later rejected the proposal.

The sources, who asked to remain anonymous, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the army negotiating delegation also rejected another item that called for a comprehensive political dialogue 15 days after agreeing to cease hostilities.

The army also rejected the Joint Center tasked with monitoring the ceasefire. The center includes four countries and is chaired by Saudi Arabia.

The army also insisted on the exit of the RSF from the capital, Khartoum.

- Confidence-building measures

The RSF accused the army of not committing to implementing the "confidence-building" measures agreed upon in the Jeddah Platform.

The Arab World News Agency quoted a source familiar with the course of the negotiations as saying that the Sudanese army's attempts to involve "members of the former regime" were one of the reasons for the failure of the Jeddah talks.

The source, who asked not to be identified, said that the army sought to "fail the negotiating platform" by including two members of the former regime, Ambassador Omar Siddiq and Brigadier General Saleh al-Mubarak.

Both figures were rejected by the RSF, delaying the talks for three days before they agreed to dismiss them and retain them as experts.

- Negotiations suspended without any progress

The source confirmed that the second round of negotiations had faltered, and mediation was suspended without progress, especially in the humanitarian and ceasefire issues.

Last November, the second round of the Jeddah negotiations began with two main items: humanitarian aid and confidence-building measures.

On November 7, the two parties signed commitments to deliver humanitarian aid and confidence-building measures, which included four essential items, namely arresting the Islamists who escaped from prisons.

The source confirmed that the agreement set ten days to arrest the wanted persons.

The Rapid Support delegation handed over a list of wanted persons, and the army delegation requested five days, but it did not implement its pledges even after extending the deadline ten more days.

According to the same source, the army delegation refused to send humanitarian aid to the affected areas in Darfur and other regions around the country.

He also refused to open the airports of Nyala, el-Geneina, and el-Fasher for humanitarian purposes and insisted on delivering aid through Port Sudan airport.

- Controlling the capital

The Rapid Support Forces controlled large areas of the capital, forcing the army to retreat in Darfur and Kordofan.

Last month, the RSF took control of significant army strongholds in Nyala, Zalingei, and el-Geneina in the Darfur region.

The source told the Arab World News Agency that the army delegation asked Doctors Without Borders and the Italian and Norwegian organizations to stop their work in Khartoum, refusing to grant visas to humanitarian and medical workers.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Sudan said on Friday that it was forced to make the difficult decision to reduce the number of employees to the minimum in al-Ban al-Jadeed Hospital.

The organization noted that the measures come from the strict restrictions imposed on employees' movements and the authorities' delay in issuing travel permits.

- Umma Party: Disappointment

The head of the National Umma Party, Fadlallah Burma Nasser, said on Monday that the collapse of the Jeddah negotiations disappointed the Sudanese people.

In a statement, he stated that the National Umma accuses the extremist forces of the negotiations' failure, pointing out that the irresponsible statements and spreading of accusations confirm the lack of national will to reach an agreement.



Israeli Strike Hits North Lebanon as Raids Pummel Beirut Suburbs

FILED - 29 September 2024, Lebanon, Beirut: A Lebanese man stands among rubble, debris and smoke that is still billowing from the site of the massive Israeli air strike that killed pro-Iranian Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburb. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa
FILED - 29 September 2024, Lebanon, Beirut: A Lebanese man stands among rubble, debris and smoke that is still billowing from the site of the massive Israeli air strike that killed pro-Iranian Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburb. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa
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Israeli Strike Hits North Lebanon as Raids Pummel Beirut Suburbs

FILED - 29 September 2024, Lebanon, Beirut: A Lebanese man stands among rubble, debris and smoke that is still billowing from the site of the massive Israeli air strike that killed pro-Iranian Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburb. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa
FILED - 29 September 2024, Lebanon, Beirut: A Lebanese man stands among rubble, debris and smoke that is still billowing from the site of the massive Israeli air strike that killed pro-Iranian Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburb. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa

An Israeli strike hit Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli for the first time early on Saturday, a Lebanese security source said, after more bombardment hit Beirut's suburbs and Israeli troops sought to make new ground incursions into southern Lebanon.

The source told Reuters a Hamas official, his wife and two children were killed in the strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli. Hamas-affiliated media said the strike killed a leader of the group's armed wing.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike on Tripoli, a port city.

Israel has sharply expanded its strikes on Lebanon in recent weeks after nearly a year of exchanging fire with Lebanon's Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah. Fighting had been mostly limited to the Israel-Lebanon border area, taking place in parallel to Israel's year-old war in Gaza against Hamas.

Israel has been carrying out nightly bombardment of Beirut's once densely populated southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah. Overnight, a military spokesman issued three alerts for residents there to evacuate, and Reuters witnesses then heard at least one blast.

On Friday, Israel said it had targeted Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in the southern suburbs and was assessing the damage after a series of strikes on senior figures in the group.

Israel has eliminated much of Hezbollah's senior military leadership, including Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah in an air attack on Sept. 27.

Lebanon's government says more than 2,000 people have been killed there in the past year, most in the past two weeks. Strikes on medical teams and facilities, including the Lebanese Red Cross, Lebanese public hospitals and rescue workers affiliated to Hezbollah, have also increased.

Lebanon's government says more than 1.2 million Lebanese have been forced from their homes, and the United Nations says most displacement shelters in the country are full. Many had gone north to Tripoli or to neighboring Syria, but an Israeli strike on Friday closed the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric called the toll on Lebanese civilians "totally unacceptable".

IRAN DEFIANT, ISRAEL WEIGHS OPTIONS

Israel has been weighing options in its response to Iran's ballistic missile attack on Tuesday.

Oil prices have risen on the possibility of an attack on Iran's oil facilities as Israel pursues its goals of pushing back Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and eliminating their Hamas allies, also backed by Tehran, in Gaza.

US President Joe Biden on Friday urged Israel to consider alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields, adding that he thinks Israel has not yet concluded how to respond to Iran.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in a rare appearance leading Friday prayers, told a huge crowd in Tehran that Iran and its regional allies would not back down.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi landed in Syria on Saturday for talks after a visit to Lebanon, in which he reiterated support for Lebanon and Hezbollah.

In Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs, many buildings have been reduced to rubble. "We're alive but don't know for how long," said Nouhad Chaib, a 40-year-old man already displaced from the south.

On Friday, Hezbollah fired more than 200 rockets into Israel, according to the Israeli military, and air raid sirens continued to sound in its north on Saturday.

The latest bloodletting in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered by the Palestinian Hamas group's attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 and in which about 250 were taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and displaced nearly all of Gaza's population.

GROUND OPERATIONS

The Lebanese government has accused Israel of targeting civilians, pointing to dozens of women and children killed. It has not broken its total death toll down between civilians and Hezbollah fighters.

Israel says it targets military capabilities and takes steps to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians. It accuses Hezbollah and Hamas of hiding among civilians, which they deny.

Israel, which began ground operations targeting southern Lebanon this week, says they are focused on villages near the border and has said Beirut "was not on the table", but has not specified how long the ground incursion would last.

It says the operations aim to allow tens of thousands of its citizens to return home after Hezbollah bombardments, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, forced them to evacuate from its north.

Iran's missile salvo was partly in retaliation for Israel's killing of Nasrallah, a dominant figure who had turned the group into a powerful armed and political force with reach across the Middle East.

Axios cited three Israeli officials as saying that Hashem Safieddine, rumored to be Nasrallah's successor, had been targeted in an underground bunker in Beirut on Thursday night, but his fate was not clear.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted a photo of Safieddine and Nasrallah on X on Saturday and urged Khamenei to "take your proxies and leave Lebanon."