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Iraq, Oman Call for Halt to the Spread of Regional Conflict

Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq welcomes Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani at Al-Hosn Palace (Oman News Agency)
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq welcomes Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani at Al-Hosn Palace (Oman News Agency)
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Iraq, Oman Call for Halt to the Spread of Regional Conflict

Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq welcomes Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani at Al-Hosn Palace (Oman News Agency)
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq welcomes Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani at Al-Hosn Palace (Oman News Agency)

Iraq and Oman signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) covering multiple sectors during Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani’s visit to Muscat, as both countries emphasized the need to halt the spread of conflict in the region.

Al-Sudani met Sultan Haitham bin Tariq at Al-Hosn Palace in Salalah on Wednesday. In a statement from his office, the Iraqi premier said he stressed Baghdad’s desire to strengthen bilateral ties and reaffirmed his government’s commitment to contributing to regional stability.

Al-Sudani praised Oman’s stance advocating an end to aggression and the promotion of stability, while Sultan Haitham highlighted Muscat’s intent to expand cooperation with Iraq across all sectors. He instructed Omani ministers to translate the MoUs into concrete, collaborative projects.

The Omani ruler also expressed support for Iraq’s regional initiatives, commending Baghdad’s efforts to curb the spread of conflict and consolidate peace in the region.

According to Oman News Agency, the two leaders “reviewed avenues for cooperation and partnership in diverse fields, particularly energy and investment, with the aim of benefiting the peoples of both countries.”

A senior Iraqi diplomatic source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Al-Sudani’s visit was part of Iraq’s effort to chart a new course in regional diplomacy, aiming to lower tensions in consultation with regional and international partners.

Bilateral relations between Baghdad and Muscat have remained largely unaffected since 2003, despite Iraq’s shifting geopolitical landscape. Both governments have sought to enhance partnerships through the Iraq-Oman Joint Committee, which last met in Baghdad in 2024.

Expanding a Multi-Sector Partnership

Ahead of his departure from Baghdad, Al-Sudani told reporters that preparatory meetings had paved the way for MoUs in energy, tourism, oil storage and refining, industry and defense localization, maritime transport and port management, scientific research, education, tax avoidance, urban planning, housing, youth and sports, trade, export development, competition promotion, and anti-monopoly measures.

Since taking office, the Iraqi government has focused on strengthening ties with neighboring states through bilateral and multi-polar partnerships and productive diplomacy, Al-Sudani said, praising Oman’s consistent official and public support for Iraq during times of challenge.

He added that Iraq is enjoying a period of relative stability, clear regional positions, urban and economic development, and is keen to involve Oman and other Arab countries in long-term investment and development partnerships.

Sources familiar with the visit said discussions in Muscat would also address regional security and ways to prevent war between Iran and Israel amid ongoing tensions. Iraqi officials are particularly concerned about the potential impact of any new regional conflict on the upcoming elections scheduled for Nov. 11.

Iranian Envoy Visits Baghdad Amid Regional Tensions

Meanwhile, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit, meeting Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and National Security Adviser Qasim Al-Araji.

According to sources, Khatibzadeh discussed regional developments following the recent 12-day conflict with Israel, underscoring threats posed by Israel and the United States and calling for joint measures to address shared risks facing Iran and Iraq.

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Arab World

UN Considers Response to Israeli Move to Build a Military Compound on Site of Relief Agency

The front gate of the east Jerusalem compound of UNRWA is seen in east Jerusalem, May 10, 2024. (AP)
The front gate of the east Jerusalem compound of UNRWA is seen in east Jerusalem, May 10, 2024. (AP)
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UN Considers Response to Israeli Move to Build a Military Compound on Site of Relief Agency

The front gate of the east Jerusalem compound of UNRWA is seen in east Jerusalem, May 10, 2024. (AP)
The front gate of the east Jerusalem compound of UNRWA is seen in east Jerusalem, May 10, 2024. (AP)

The United Nations is considering how to respond to Israel's announcement that it will build a military complex on the former headquarters of the UN relief agency for Palestinians in east Jerusalem, an official said Tuesday.

Israel at the weekend announced the government's approval for a defense ministry complex at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency ’s compound in Sheikh Jarrah, including a museum and enlistment office.

“The matter is currently under consideration at the level of the legal council, the highest legal authority of the United Nations in New York,” UNRWA Deputy Commissioner General Natalie Boucly told The Associated Press during a visit to Syria.

“These are UN premises and, at a minimum, this is a breach of the 1946 UN Convention on privileges and immunities,” she said.

Israel bulldozed part of the UNRWA compound in January, capping off a decades-long campaign against the agency, which became acute following the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel has accused the UN agency of harboring staff members affiliated with Hamas, accusing some of taking part in the attacks. UNRWA leaders have said they took swift action against the employees accused of taking part in the 2023 attacks, and have denied allegations that the agency tolerates or collaborates with Hamas.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said the plan to build a defense complex on the former UNRWA headquarters was “a decision of sovereignty, Zionism and security.”

“In a place where an organization that became part of the terror and incitement mechanism against Israel operated, institutions will be established that will strengthen Jerusalem, the (Israeli army), and the State of Israel,” Katz said in a statement on Sunday.

The decision came on Jerusalem Day, which marks Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem, including the Old City and its holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel considers the entire city of Jerusalem its capital, while the Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as the capital of their future independent state.

The UNRWA compound was shut down in May 2025 after far-right protesters, including at least one member of parliament, overran its gate in view of the police.

UNRWA’s mandate is to provide aid and services to some 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Its operations were curtailed last year when Israel’s Knesset passed legislation severing ties and banning it from functioning in what it defines as Israel — including east Jerusalem.

Boucly said the humanitarian situation in Gaza “remains absolutely dire.” While UNRWA international staff have been barred by Israel from entering Gaza, about 10,000 local staff continue to work in the enclave, including teachers, health workers and sanitation workers, she said.

Despite a tenuous ceasefire, “there are issues with insufficient aid coming in,” she said. “It is not coming in at scale and reconstruction is not starting fast enough for the people to see a real change on the ground.”

Boucly spoke to the AP from Syria's Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, where the situation is somewhat more hopeful as former residents who fled during the country's 14-year civil war have been gradually returning.

Taken over by a series of armed groups then bombarded by the military of then President Bashar al-Assad, the camp was all but abandoned after 2018. The buildings that were not destroyed by bombs were demolished by the government or stripped by thieves.

After Assad's ouster in 2024, former residents began to trickle back and repair their damaged homes. As of April, some 60,000 people had returned to the camp, of which 80% are Palestinian refugees, Boucly said.

Assistance to those returning to the camp has been limited, she acknowledged. UNRWA has received donor aid to rehabilitate schools and health centers, but has been unable to provide more than minor assistance to people needing to repair their damaged homes, she said.

Despite anxieties about shrinking funding, she said, “I think there is a situation of hope for Palestine refugees” in Syria.

Arab World

Sudan's RSF Denies Reports of Abu Lulu's Release

This handout picture released by the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on October 30, 2025, shows RSF members reportedly detaining a fighter known as Abu Lulu (L) in al-Fashir in war-torn Sudan's western Darfur region. (RSF / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on October 30, 2025, shows RSF members reportedly detaining a fighter known as Abu Lulu (L) in al-Fashir in war-torn Sudan's western Darfur region. (RSF / AFP)
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Sudan's RSF Denies Reports of Abu Lulu's Release

This handout picture released by the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on October 30, 2025, shows RSF members reportedly detaining a fighter known as Abu Lulu (L) in al-Fashir in war-torn Sudan's western Darfur region. (RSF / AFP)
This handout picture released by the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on October 30, 2025, shows RSF members reportedly detaining a fighter known as Abu Lulu (L) in al-Fashir in war-torn Sudan's western Darfur region. (RSF / AFP)

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) denied on Tuesday reports about the release of RSF Brigadier General al-Fateh Abdullah Idris, known as Abu Lulu, who was arrested late last year following global outrage over videos of him executing unarmed people in al-Fashir.

In a statement, the RSF “categorically” denied the reports, slamming them as “baseless” and being part of a “campaigns of incitement.”

Two sources – a Sudanese intelligence official and a commander with the RSF – said they personally saw Abu Lulu on the battlefield in Kordofan in March, said a Reuters report on Monday.

The RSF stressed that Abu Lulu and a number of individuals, accused of violations against civilians in al-Fashir, have been detained since their arrest in October.

“They remain in prison and have never left,” it added.

RSF officers had pleaded for Abu Lulu to be returned to the field to boost the morale of forces engulfed in heavy fighting there, a Chadian military officer told Reuters.

Reuters spoke with 13 sources who said they knew of Abu Lulu’s release. They include three RSF commanders, an RSF officer, a relative of Abu Lulu, a Chadian military officer close to RSF command and seven other sources with contacts in RSF leadership or access to intelligence on RSF field operations.

The RSF-led coalition government, in response to questions from Reuters, issued a statement on Monday denying the group had released Abu Lulu.

A special court will try him and others accused of violations during the al-Fashir offensive, according to the statement from Ahmed Tugud Lisan, spokesman for the RSF-led Tasis government.

The RSF imprisoned Abu Lulu in late October 2025, a few days after its bloody takeover of al-Fashir, a large city in North Darfur.

Multiple videos had surfaced of him executing unarmed people during the offensive. His actions earned him the nickname “the butcher of al-Fashir,” a moniker noted by the UN Security Council when sanctioning him on February 24 for human rights abuses.

The three-year civil war between the Sudanese army and the RSF is a brutal power struggle to control the country and its financial resources. It has created what aid groups say is the world's largest humanitarian ‌crisis.

Arab World

Blank Ballots Impede Vote for New Hamas Leader

Hamas leaders, from right: Rawhi Mushtaha, Saleh al-Arouri and Ismail Haniyeh, all of whom were assassinated, Khaled Meshaal and Khalil al-Hayya. Hamas media)
Hamas leaders, from right: Rawhi Mushtaha, Saleh al-Arouri and Ismail Haniyeh, all of whom were assassinated, Khaled Meshaal and Khalil al-Hayya. Hamas media)
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Blank Ballots Impede Vote for New Hamas Leader

Hamas leaders, from right: Rawhi Mushtaha, Saleh al-Arouri and Ismail Haniyeh, all of whom were assassinated, Khaled Meshaal and Khalil al-Hayya. Hamas media)
Hamas leaders, from right: Rawhi Mushtaha, Saleh al-Arouri and Ismail Haniyeh, all of whom were assassinated, Khaled Meshaal and Khalil al-Hayya. Hamas media)

While many were waiting to learn who would become the new head of Hamas’s political bureau, the movement issued a rare and surprising statement last Saturday saying the result could not be decided in the first round and that a second would be held.

Asharq Al-Awsat asked Hamas sources inside and outside Gaza why the process of electing a new leader had stalled.

Speaking separately, they cited several factors, including “blank ballots” cast by some voters to show they were not backing either of the two contenders, Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas’s office in Gaza, and Khaled Meshaal, his counterpart abroad.

Hamas is facing its worst crisis since it was founded in 1987. Israeli strikes that began after the October 7, 2023, attack have hit its various wings and leaderships.

Israel assassinated its political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July 2024. He was succeeded by Yahya al-Sinwar in Gaza in October of the same year.

For about a year and a half, a “leadership council” has been running Hamas’s affairs. At the start of this year, a new push began to elect a chief to lead the movement for the remaining period of the current political bureau’s term. The term had been due to end in 2025 but was extended by one year, pending general elections at the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

Two options

Three Hamas sources, including two outside Gaza, told Asharq Al-Awsat that since the result was not decided in favor of either al-Hayya or Meshaal, the movement’s internal regulations offer “two options: either the candidate with fewer votes withdraws in favor of the one with more, or a second round is held within 20 days of the first.”

The vote to elect the head of the political bureau is conducted through the 71-member Shura Council.

The two sources outside Gaza said many voters submitted blank votes, meaning they did not name any candidate. This prevented either contender from winning the first round.

Both sources, who are senior leaders in the movement, said this was “the first time” they had seen such a situation in a vote for the head of the bureau.

One source said the situation suggested “dissatisfaction with the two competing figures, and perhaps a protest against the movement’s policies and an attempt to push toward a younger leadership.”

The other source said: “This is not necessarily a protest against the contenders, as much as it indicates that there is real rejection of some policies on several files, or a desire to postpone the idea of electing an interim chief, wait until comprehensive elections are held, and keep the current leadership council in place.”

Hard-fought contest

Assessments inside and outside Hamas suggest that the competition between al-Hayya and Meshaal reflects diverging trends between two camps within the movement.

Al-Hayya is believed to be closer to support from the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, and to advocates of closer ties with Iran.

Meshaal is seen as representing a current that is more independent from tying the movement’s path to Tehran, as reflected in his dispute over the events of the Syrian revolution and in distancing the movement from involvement in it.

One source outside Gaza described the election as a very tight contest between Meshaal and al-Hayya, saying Hamas’s leadership in Gaza had controlled the movement’s most important files over the past two election cycles.

The source inside Gaza said only that “decisions within the movement are made by consensus, regardless of the standing or historical role of whoever leads Hamas.”

Previous elections

In previous years, elections for the head of Hamas’s political bureau were held as part of broader elections for the entire bureau and its various bodies.

In the last comprehensive elections, held in 2021, Haniyeh secured the leadership of the political bureau for a second term. His closest rivals were Saleh al-Arouri and Mohammed Nazzal, respectively.

In his first term as head of the movement in 2017, Haniyeh ran for the leadership with relative ease after Meshaal, who led Hamas’s political bureau between 2013 and 2017, was unable to run.

In the last election, held in Gaza, there was a fierce contest between Sinwar and Nizar Awadallah. It was heading for a second round before Awadallah withdrew in favor of Sinwar.