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Abadi’s Position Disrupts 'Hezbollah-ISIS' Deal

Buses lined up near the Syria-Lebanon border to take 308 ISIS militants and their families to ISIS-controlled territory. Louai Beshara/AFP
Buses lined up near the Syria-Lebanon border to take 308 ISIS militants and their families to ISIS-controlled territory. Louai Beshara/AFP
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Abadi’s Position Disrupts 'Hezbollah-ISIS' Deal

Buses lined up near the Syria-Lebanon border to take 308 ISIS militants and their families to ISIS-controlled territory. Louai Beshara/AFP
Buses lined up near the Syria-Lebanon border to take 308 ISIS militants and their families to ISIS-controlled territory. Louai Beshara/AFP

A deal reached between Lebanon’s "Hezbollah" and ISIS to transfer militants from east Lebanon and Qalamoun to west Syria at the Iraqi border was seemingly disrupted on Friday after the Iraqi government headed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi rejected to grant them safe passage.

Saad al-Hadithi, a spokesman for the Iraqi government, completely denied on Friday that the cabinet was informed about the Hezbollah-ISIS deal.

“We confirm that Iraq never learned about the deal or was familiarized with it. We have not been asked about the opinion of the Iraqi government in this matter. The whole thing happened completely away from us,” he said in a statement.

Meanwhile, efforts continue in search for another safe passage for the ISIS buses, which had left the Qalamoun Jurud at the Syrian-Lebanese border on Monday night and were later stranded at the administrative border between Homs and Deir Ezzor in the Hmimeh area.

Sources on Thursday announced that the regime was waiting for the approval of Iraq to allow the buses to reach the Boukamel town.

However, the Iraqi position means that the Syrian regime must look for other options to transfer the militants to Deir Ezzor.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday: “The convoy carrying ISIS militants is still moving within the regime-held area in al-Sukhnah desert, looking for a new path towards the countryside of Deir Ezzor province, after the Iraqi side refused its passage through Iraqi territories, and after the international coalition shelled its original path.”

For its part, Iraq's Joint Operations Command (JOC) denied on Friday Iraqi Vice President Nouri al-Maliki’s claims in which he defended the Hezbollah-ISIS deal by alleging that a similar agreement had been reached between several Iraqi forces and ISIS in Tal Afar.

“The Iraqi forces were responsible of expelling the terrorists from the Iraqi provinces,” a statement issued by the JOC said.

On Thursday, al-Maliki criticized the campaign against the deal reached in the Jurud of Lebanon, and said that Tal Afar was not liberated by fighting, but through an agreement.

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Hemedti Aide: Ready for Talks to End Sudan War if Seriousness Shown

Ezz El-Din Al-Safi, senior adviser to the commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Ezz El-Din Al-Safi, senior adviser to the commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Hemedti Aide: Ready for Talks to End Sudan War if Seriousness Shown

Ezz El-Din Al-Safi, senior adviser to the commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Ezz El-Din Al-Safi, senior adviser to the commander of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (Asharq Al-Awsat)

A senior adviser to the commander of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said the group is open to serious negotiations with the government based in Port Sudan to end the country’s devastating conflict, now in its third year, provided there is genuine political will from the other side.

The remarks by Ezz El-Din Al-Safi, who is also a member of the RSF’s negotiating team, come as international actors prepare to meet in Brussels on Thursday in a bid to lay the groundwork for a ceasefire.

The talks are expected to include the European Union, African Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Bahrain.

“Negotiations could begin with confidence-building measures and credible arrangements,” Al-Safi told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Dialogue remains the best path to ending a war that has no winners, only losers, both the people and the nation.”

He said the RSF is ready to discuss the location, timing, and possible mediators for peace talks, but stressed that any engagement must be met with equal seriousness by Sudan’s military-backed government.

However, Al-Safi cautioned that his group would not accept talks that merely allow the opposing side to regroup and secure external support to resume fighting.

“We cannot enter into a dialogue that gives the other party time to reorganize and rearm,” he said, adding that the RSF remains “at its strongest” on the battlefield.

Sudan’s army has conditioned any peace negotiations on the implementation of the Jeddah Declaration, a humanitarian agreement signed in May 2023. The deal, brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States, has since been marred by mutual accusations of violations from both the military and the RSF.

Meanwhile, the RSF is pushing ahead with plans to form a rival administration in areas under its control.

Al-Safi, a senior adviser to RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, said the group is nearing the formation of what he called a “government of unity and peace.”

He added that over 90% of the preparations for the announcement have been completed.

“The delay in announcing the government is due to ongoing consultations among members of the Founding Sudan Alliance [Tasis], which supports this move,” Al-Safi told Asharq Al-Awsat. “It’s not because of internal disagreements, as some have suggested.”

Asked about the planned capital of the parallel government, Al-Safi declined to name the city but suggested it would not be Khartoum.

“There are cities more beautiful than Khartoum,” he said. “From a strategic perspective, I believe the capital should be temporary and capable of accommodating all institutions of government.”

He only noted that the proposed city is located in territory controlled by the Tasis alliance.

The RSF’s moves come amid growing fears that the fragmentation of Sudan will deepen if parallel authorities are entrenched, further complicating efforts to reach a comprehensive peace.