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Syria: Pro-Iranian Militias Launch Campaign Against 'Tiger Forces'

Syrian regime force (AFP)
Syrian regime force (AFP)
    Damascus, London - Asharq Al-Awsat
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Syria: Pro-Iranian Militias Launch Campaign Against 'Tiger Forces'

Syrian regime force (AFP)
Syrian regime force (AFP)

Pro-Iranian Syrian militias intensified on Monday their campaign against the commander of the elite “Tiger Forces,” Suheil Salman al-Hassan, who is backed by Russia and had attended meetings with President Vladimir Putin at the Hmeimim base in late 2018.

The National Defense Forces, a pro-government militia formed by Iran to fight in Syria during the past years, posted Monday on its Facebook page a report entitled, “Tiger Forces Commander… the godfather of stealing.”

The page quoted the network “Nahno al-Balad” as saying that “one of the Tiger Forces commanders has turned from a person who barely owns the price of one-bedroom house to a millionaire and one of the most prominent warlords.”

The NDF also published another report about Rami al-Tabel, a commander affiliated with the Tiger. It described al-Tabel as a truck driver who became a fuel warhead dealer.

The report explained that Fouad Adnan, the head of Tiger’s office is the brother-in-law of al-Tabel.

Last summer, the Tiger Forces have been renamed Division 25 Special Mission Forces and placed under the command of the army’s central command.

Meanwhile, the Damascus Securities Exchange said Monday that trading in Syriatel shares would be suspended from Tuesday until further notice.

The Syrian Telecommunications Ministry had demanded Syriatel to pay $180 million as part of its measures against Rami Makhlouf, a maternal cousin of the Syrian government President, Bashar Assad.

Since the decision, disagreements between Makhlouf and Syrian authorities have escalated.

Last month, the Ministry of Finance had also announced the seizure of Makhlouf’s assets. The Damascus Securities Exchange froze $15.2 million shares owned by Makhlouf in 12 banks, in addition to a court in Damascus issuing a travel ban against the business tycoon.

The decision affected his shares in Lebanon’s Audi Bank, Byblos Bank and Fransabank, the Jordan-based Arab Bank, and others.

The Syrian regime has also stripped Makhlouf of his privileges, such as security detail, which protected him and his palace.:

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Arab World

Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
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Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)

Geneva has hosted a third “roundtable” of meetings involving Sudanese political and civil groups aimed at bridging the gap between the country’s warring parties. These talks, coordinated by the French organization Promediation, follow similar meetings held previously in Cairo and Geneva. The primary goals are to negotiate a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians.

The two-day meetings, which began on Monday, include representatives from the Coordination of Democratic Civil Forces (Tagadum), the pro-army Democratic Bloc coalition, and armed movements aligned with the bloc. However, some groups have announced their boycott of the meetings.

The Democratic Bloc has shown conflicting stances on attending the Geneva talks. Mohammed Zakaria, spokesperson for the bloc and a member of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), announced his group’s decision not to participate.

Omar Khalafallah, a leader in the Democratic Unionist Party and another bloc spokesperson, refuted Zakaria’s statement, insisting that the bloc would attend the meetings to promote a national vision.

A source within the Democratic Bloc told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meetings revealed significant internal divisions in the coalition. The JEM, led by current Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, appears to be charting its own course, which the source described as a form of defection.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sharif Mohammed Osman, a leader in Tagadum and the political secretary of the Sudanese Congress Party, explained that the meetings seek to achieve consensus on ending the war through negotiated solutions, starting with a humanitarian truce to ensure aid delivery and the opening of safe corridors.

These measures are considered preliminary steps toward a ceasefire and a peaceful resolution to the conflict, he underlined.

A wide array of civilian leaders are participating in the talks, including key figures from Tagadum, such as Sudanese Congress Party leader Omar Al-Dukair, Federal Gathering Party leader Babiker Faisal, and head of the Sudan Liberation Movement – Transitional Council Al-Hadi Idris.

Osman expressed optimism that the participants would issue a unified final statement addressing the peaceful resolution of the war and agreeing on a humanitarian truce to facilitate aid delivery.

In October, Cairo hosted a similar meeting, which resulted in a final statement signed by the participating groups, except for the Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi faction and the JEM – Jibril Ibrahim faction, which refused to endorse the Cairo declaration despite attending the discussions.

Promediation, a French organization supported by the French and Swiss foreign ministries, has played a consistent role in Sudanese affairs. Since June 2022, it has organized roundtable discussions, initially focusing on negotiations between Darfuri armed movements before expanding its scope to include Sudanese political and civil forces in the wake of the war.