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Bashir’s Uncle Arrested over 'Threat of Violence' to Topple Transitional Govt

File photo: Ousted Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir (Ashraf Shazly, AFP)
File photo: Ousted Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir (Ashraf Shazly, AFP)
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Bashir’s Uncle Arrested over 'Threat of Violence' to Topple Transitional Govt

File photo: Ousted Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir (Ashraf Shazly, AFP)
File photo: Ousted Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir (Ashraf Shazly, AFP)

The Sudanese authorities arrested leader in the former regime Al-Tayeb Mustafa on several charges including threatening to use violence to overthrow the transitional government.

The committee formed to dismantle the regime of 30th June 1989 and eliminate corruption filed a lawsuit against Mustafa. The indictment included threats to release the so-called jihadists to topple the transitional government, “incite hatred against the state, undermine the constitutional order and question members of the dismantling committee.”

These charges could lead to sentences that amount to up to 10 years in prison.

Ousted President Omar al-Bashir’s uncle has consistently belittled the revolution, questioned its prominent figures by taking advantage of the column he writes in a daily newspaper.

Although Mustafa announced his resignation from the dissolved National Congress Party and the establishment of the Just Peace Forum (JPF) party, however, he won a seat in the parliament appointed by Bashir.

Mustafa chaired Bashir’s information committee with the rank of minister until the regime was toppled on April 11, 2019.

Spokesman of the Committee for Dismantling Ingaz (Salvation) Regime and Removing Empowerment Salah Manna told Asharq Al-Awsat that Mustafa was handed over to the Public Prosecution for investigation.

Manna explained that the arrested leader had published an article in Al-Intibaha newspaper in which he insulted the state.

According to Manna, Mustafa accused the committee members of receiving bribes, and he called for undermining the constitutional system.

“He is talking about the law, and we filed lawsuits against him under the law,” the spokesman stressed, adding that he will face all the laws he had breached.

Mustafa is expected to face charges that do not exceed 10 years in prison, according to the “Dismantling of the regime of 30th June 1989” law.

Mustafa appeared in the Sudanese political life suddenly after his nephew assumed the presidency with the Islamists' coup in June 1989. This allowed him to hold many posts without enjoying competence.

He was also known for his hostility and racist stances against citizens of South Sudan and is said to be one of the godfathers of South Sudan’s secession.

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Arab World

Israel Says Ready for More Strikes on Hezbollah after Tunnel Detonation

Ali Al-Taher Heights east of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, with the towns of Kfar Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa visible below (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat).
Ali Al-Taher Heights east of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, with the towns of Kfar Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa visible below (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat).
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Israel Says Ready for More Strikes on Hezbollah after Tunnel Detonation

Ali Al-Taher Heights east of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, with the towns of Kfar Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa visible below (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat).
Ali Al-Taher Heights east of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, with the towns of Kfar Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa visible below (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat).

Israel said Friday that it was prepared for more strikes on Hezbollah after demolishing tunnels built by the Iran-backed group in southern Lebanon with a massive explosion.

"We are ready and prepared to continue the campaign, to continue striking Hezbollah and at additional locations," Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a video message, Reuters reported.

Israel late Thursday blew up what it described as a vast network of tunnels under the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge where Hezbollah kept a command center, living quarters and stocks of weapons with which to strike northern Israel and invading Israeli troops.

A huge fireball was seen in the area, with the US Geological Survey recording a tremor equivalent to a 4.1 magnitude earthquake.

The blast came a week after Israeli troops said they had seized the strategic highlands as they solidified control of a "security zone" in southern Lebanon.

"We promised protection to the residents of the north, and we delivered," Katz said in his message, which came on the Jewish new year and weeks ahead of tight elections.

"Now there is a strong security zone, stronger than ever before, which protects the communities from attack and direct fire, and enables us to maintain control and threaten Hezbollah deep inside the area."

Israel said the tunnel network was built over two decades with the help of Hezbollah's patron Iran, whose clerical government has also backed Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israel and the United States attacked Iran in late February, sparking the Middle East war.

Hezbollah, founded to oppose an earlier Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon that began in 1982, dragged the country into the wider conflict when it fired rockets at Israel in solidarity with Iran.

Lebanese authorities say Israeli military operations in the country have killed more than 4,300 people since March.

The Israeli army said that the Ali al-Taher network comprised tunnels extending for more than two kilometres that held dozens of Iranian-made rockets, missiles and drones, as well as other weapons.

The ridge lies on the edge of Israel's self-styled security zone just a few kilometres from the UNESCO-listed Beaufort castle, another strategic site that Israel captured in recent months.

Arab World

Syria Arrests Nine Former Assad-Era Pilots

The Internal Security Forces arrested the nine former military pilots following a series of operations in Latakia. (SANA)
The Internal Security Forces arrested the nine former military pilots following a series of operations in Latakia. (SANA)
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Syria Arrests Nine Former Assad-Era Pilots

The Internal Security Forces arrested the nine former military pilots following a series of operations in Latakia. (SANA)
The Internal Security Forces arrested the nine former military pilots following a series of operations in Latakia. (SANA)

Syrian authorities said Thursday nine former pilots, including three generals, who are accused of having taken part in lethal bombings of towns and villages under the former rule of Bashar al-Assad, had been arrested.

For more than 13 years of a civil war that claimed over half a million lives, Syrian forces relentlessly shelled areas held by the opposition before Assad was toppled in December 2024 and the current government came to power.

Following a series of operations in Latakia in the country's west, the Internal Security Forces arrested nine former military pilots "involved in war crimes against the Syrian people... in several regions", news agency SANA reported, citing authorities.

Among them are generals Menhel Anwar Saleh, Sami Ibrahim Mahmoud, and Ghayath Ali Rehye.

"Their crimes caused a large number of casualties... and inflicted extensive damage on towns and villages, in addition to displacing residents and destroying homes and civilian infrastructure," SANA added.

Since al-Assad was overthrown, the new authorities have arrested dozens of former security officials, and trials began in April.

Syrian authorities said Monday they had arrested a former general accused of involvement in the bloody repression of protests in 2011 that sparked the country's civil war and the 1982 Hama massacre.

Syria sentenced Assad, his brother Maher al-Assad, and five other security officials to death in absentia in August for atrocities committed during the civil war, the first such ruling under the new authorities.

The former president fled Syria as his government fell and is believed to be living in Russia.

Arab World

Israel Assassinates Qassam’s Commander of the Khan Younis Brigade

Mohammad al-Yazouri, also known as "Abu Al-Haitham," commander of Gaza's Khan Younis Brigade in the Qassam Brigades.
Mohammad al-Yazouri, also known as "Abu Al-Haitham," commander of Gaza's Khan Younis Brigade in the Qassam Brigades.
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Israel Assassinates Qassam’s Commander of the Khan Younis Brigade

Mohammad al-Yazouri, also known as "Abu Al-Haitham," commander of Gaza's Khan Younis Brigade in the Qassam Brigades.
Mohammad al-Yazouri, also known as "Abu Al-Haitham," commander of Gaza's Khan Younis Brigade in the Qassam Brigades.

The Israeli army assassinated Mohammad al-Yazouri, also known as "Abu Al-Haitham," commander of Gaza's Khan Younis Brigade in the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement.

He and Hudhaifa Abu Muammar, an engineer in the Qassam Brigades, were killed in an Israeli drone strike while they were walking in the Al-Mawasi area at midnight Thursday-Friday.

Field sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that al-Yazouri was not quickly identified, as he was in pieces and his body, including his face, was disfigured.

The sources revealed that the sudden loss of contact with him prompted some of those close to him to try to find out if he was the target, and it became clear in the early hours of dawn that he was among the victims.

According to two sources, Al-Yazouri assumed responsibility for the Khan Younis Brigade shortly after the assassination of the brigade leaders Ezzedine al-Haddad and Mohammad Oudeh, who were assassinated within ten days in May.

Al-Yazouri was the commander of central and western Khan Younis, before becoming the general commander of the brigade.

He worked for years in other positions within the Qassam leadership, including the intelligence apparatus, which was one of the agencies that worked on gathering security information in preparation for the October 7, 2023, attack.

A third source said al-Yazouri escaped several assassination attempts, whether during the current war or years before it.

One of the most prominent attempts occurred when he was with Rafe Salama, Mohammad Sinwar, and Yahya Sinwar in a tunnel in Khan Younis in 2021. Israeli planes bombed the site with several missiles during what was known as the battle of the "Sword of Jerusalem," which Israel named "Guardian of the Walls." Everyone survived the attack.

Al-Yazouri was one of the leaders who supervised the October 7 attack, and he also played a role in the operations of handing over the abducted Israelis during the exchange deals.

Abu Muammar was an engineer in the Qassam Brigades who was responsible for developing the military capabilities of the brigades and was close to its prominent leaders.

He was responsible for several attacks against Israeli forces during the Gaza war and others before it.