US Envoy Says Islamists Are ‘Problem for Us and Sudanese’

US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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US Envoy Says Islamists Are ‘Problem for Us and Sudanese’

US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello stressed on Friday that his country will continue to use sanctions to pressure the Sudanese warring parties to stop the fighting and reach a solution in the country.

He added that sanctions will not be limited to institutions, but will target individuals so that their work will be affected in various countries.

Speaking at a meeting with Sudanese people in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, he stressed that Islamists – supporters of the ousted regime – are a “major problem for us and the Sudanese.”

He stated that Washington is aware that some Islamists are members of the army and that others had come from abroad to Sudan to join the war.

Moreover, the envoy revealed that the American administration was in contact with all countries that support the war in Sudan. It is urging them to take a positive position towards the Sudanese people, not interfere their country’s internal affairs that is only prolonging the war.

The United Arab Emirates needs to be part of the ongoing discussions in Jeddah, Perriello went on to say.

The Sudanese army had accused the UAE of supporting its rival, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in the conflict. Abu Dhabi has denied the claim.

Perriello predicted that the next round of talks in Jeddah would be different due to new factors and to the UAE and Egypt joining the discussions.

The goal is for these countries to play a role in stopping the war, he explained.

The US has also made strong warnings to the RSF against military intervention in al-Fasher, he continued, adding that such a move would have dire consequences.

He underlined the importance of the Jeddah platform because it enjoys the agreement of all parties, including the European Union and African Union. Several countries want to see the end of the war.

On the proposed initiatives to end the conflict, Perriello said the outcomes of the Jeddah and Manama meetings will be examined so that a unified vision can be declared.

Furthermore, the envoy ruled out that the US may intervene militarily in Sudan, but he acknowledged that discussions are ongoing at the African Union and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) for them to play a greater role in protecting civilians in the conflict.

The US and regional countries support these steps, he added, while warning that the spillover of the war into the region will have severe consequences.

The countries are already being affected by the conflict, he noted.



Israeli Army Targets Fatah Commander in South Lebanon

A car burning after the Israeli raid in the city of Sidon (EPA)
A car burning after the Israeli raid in the city of Sidon (EPA)
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Israeli Army Targets Fatah Commander in South Lebanon

A car burning after the Israeli raid in the city of Sidon (EPA)
A car burning after the Israeli raid in the city of Sidon (EPA)

The Israeli army said it targeted in an airstrike in Lebanon on Wednesday Khalil al-Maqdah, a commander in the armed wing of the Palestinian Fatah movement, describing him as having worked for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

“Earlier today... an air force aircraft targeted Khalil al-Maqdah in the Sidon area of southern Lebanon," the army said in a statement, which also claimed that Maqdah and his brother worked for Iran in "directing attacks and transferring funds and weapons to terrorist infrastructure" in the occupied West Bank, AFP reported.

In response, Fatah accused Israel of seeking to “ignite a regional war.”

Al-Maqdah was killed in a strike on his car in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, according to Fatah and a Lebanese security source.

The Israeli military said al-Maqdah was the brother of Mounir al-Maqdah, who heads the Lebanese branch of Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and accused them both of “directing terror attacks and smuggling weapons” to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The attack marks the first such reported attack on a senior member of Fatah, the movement led by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, in more than 10 months of cross-border clashes between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement following the Gaza war.

Fatah said al-Maqdah had been killed “in a cowardly assassination carried out by ... Zionist (Israeli) warplanes on Sidon,” describing him as “one of the leaders” of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in Lebanon, the movement’s armed wing.

In a statement, it said al-Maqdah had “a central role” in “supporting the Palestinian people and its resistance” during the Gaza war and an “important role in supporting resistance cells” for years in the West Bank.

A senior Fatah official in the West Bank city of Ramallah accused Israel of killing him in order to spark a regional war.

The “assassination of a Fatah official is further proof that Israel wants to ignite a full-scale war in the region,” Tawfiq Tirawy, a member of Fatah’s central committee, told AFP in Ramallah.

A Lebanese security source and Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported the same information.

An AFP correspondent at the site of the attack said a car was struck near the Palestinian refugee camps of Ain al-Helweh and Mieh Mieh, adding that rescuers had pulled a body from the charred vehicle.

Dozens of angry Fatah supporters gathered inside the Ain al-Helweh camp, the AFP correspondent said, adding gunshots were fired in the air.