Fall of Raqqa, Mosul Kindles Hopes of Finding Some Paris, Brussels Attacks Ringleaders

Damage is seen inside the departure terminal following the March 22, 2016 bombing at the Brussels airport. Reuters photo
Damage is seen inside the departure terminal following the March 22, 2016 bombing at the Brussels airport. Reuters photo
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Fall of Raqqa, Mosul Kindles Hopes of Finding Some Paris, Brussels Attacks Ringleaders

Damage is seen inside the departure terminal following the March 22, 2016 bombing at the Brussels airport. Reuters photo
Damage is seen inside the departure terminal following the March 22, 2016 bombing at the Brussels airport. Reuters photo

For French and Belgian investigators, the fall of ISIS group's strongholds in Syria and Iraq kindles hopes of ensnaring some of the ringleaders of the 2015-16 terror attacks in Paris and Brussels, Agence France Presse reported.

Among the most wanted ISIS figures sought for their suspected involvement in the slaughter, three are at the top of the list -- though their whereabouts are unknown and they may even have been killed in the offensives to free the ISIS strongholds of Raqqa, Syria, and Mosul in Iraq.

Belgian and Moroccan national Oussama Atar, 32, is a veteran militant who spent seven years in various US prisons in Iraq where he is thought to have been radicalized, AFP said.

Investigators suspect him of masterminding the attacks that claimed 130 lives in Paris in November 2015 and left 32 dead in Brussels in March last year.

Belgian police found a computer near a hideout used by the Brussels attackers containing evidence that they were in close contact with Atar, who was based in Raqqa at the time.

An Algerian arrested in late 2015 in Austria as he returned from Syria identified Atar from a photograph as the man who ordered the attacks.

The United States placed Atar, whose nom de guerre was Abu Ahmed, on a list of "specially designated global terrorists" in June this year, describing him as a "leading coordinator" of the attacks in Europe, AFP said.

According to the European arrest warrant for Atar, he is the uncle of Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui, brothers who blew themselves up in the Brussels attacks of March 22, 2016, one at the airport and the other in the metro.

Ahmad Alkhald, thought to be an alias, is a 25-year-old Syrian from Aleppo who is suspected of making the bombs and suicide belts used in the Paris and Brussels attacks, AFP said.

His other aliases include Yassine Noure and Mohammed Alqhadi.

His DNA was found on a suicide vest worn by one of the assailants who blew themselves up outside Paris' Stade de France stadium on November 13, 2015, when a string of restaurants and bars in the French capital also came under attack. 

Investigators have established that Alkhald arrived in Europe via the Greek island of Leros posing as a migrant in September 2015, then returned to Syria two weeks before the Paris attacks. 

According to the news agency, he is also on the US list of "global terrorists", described as the "explosives chief" of the Paris and Brussels attacks.

Abdelilah Himich, 27, is a Franco-Moroccan who served in France's Foreign Legion in Afghanistan before deserting from the prestigious force in 2010.

Nicknamed "Abdel the Legionnaire" as well as Abu Sulayman al-Faransi ("the Frenchman"), he is also on the US terror watchlist, described as a "senior foreign terrorist fighter and external operations figure,” AFP said.

Washington says he created "a European foreign terrorist fighter cell" with up to 300 members at its height that carried out attacks in Iraq and Syria as well as planning the Paris and Brussels attacks.

Born in Morocco, he grew up in the small town of Lunel near Montpellier in southern France, which became a breeding ground for militants, AFP added.



Crops Wither in Sudan as Power Cuts Cripple Irrigation

FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa
FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa
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Crops Wither in Sudan as Power Cuts Cripple Irrigation

FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa
FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa

Hatem Abdelhamid stands amid his once-thriving date palms in northern Sudan, helpless as a prolonged war-driven power outage cripples irrigation, causing devastating crop losses and deepening the country's food crisis.

"I've lost 70 to 75 percent of my crops this year," he said, surveying the dying palms in Tanqasi, a village on the Nile in Sudan's Northern State.

"I'm trying really hard to keep the rest of the crops alive," he told AFP.

Sudan's agricultural sector -- already battered by a two-year conflict and economic crisis -- is now facing another crushing blow from the nationwide power outages.

Since the war between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began in April 2023, state-run power plants have been repeatedly targeted, suffering severe damage and ultimately leaving farms without water.

Like most Sudanese farms, Abdelhamid's depends on electric-powered irrigation -- but the system has been down "for over two months" due to the blackouts.

Sudan had barely recovered from the devastating 1985 drought and famine when war erupted again in 2023, delivering a fresh blow to the country's agriculture.

Agriculture remains the main source of food and income for 80 percent of the population, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Now in its third year, the conflict has plunged more than half the population into acute food insecurity, with famine already taking hold in at least five areas and millions more at risk across conflict-hit regions in the west, center and south.

The war has also devastated infrastructure, killed tens of thousands of people, and displaced 13 million.

A 2024 joint study by the United Nations Development Programme and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) found that nearly a third of rural households have lost irrigation and water access since the war began.

Without electricity to power his irrigation system, Abdelhamid -- like thousands of farmers across the country -- was forced to rely on diesel-powered pumps.

But with fuel scarce and prices now more than 20 times higher than before the war, even that option is out of reach for many.

"I used to spend 10,000 Sudanese pounds (about four euros according to the black market rate) for irrigation each time," said another farmer, Abdelhalim Ahmed.

"Now it costs me 150,000 pounds (around 60 euros) because there is no electricity," he told AFP.

Ahmed said he has lost three consecutive harvests -- including crops like oranges, onions, tomatoes and dates.

With seeds, fertilizers and fuel now barely available, many farmers say they won't be able to replant for the next cycle.

In April, the FAO warned that "below average rainfall" and ongoing instability were closing the window to prevent further deterioration.

A June study by IFPRI also projected Sudan's overall economic output could shrink by as much as 42 percent if the war continues, with the agricultural sector contracting by more than a third.

"Our analysis shows massive income losses across all households and a sharp rise in poverty, especially in rural areas and among women," said Khalid Siddig, a senior research fellow at IFPRI.