عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Tunisia: Conflict at the Country’s Top Leadership Breaks Cover

Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi | Photo: EPA
Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi | Photo: EPA
TT
TT

Tunisia: Conflict at the Country’s Top Leadership Breaks Cover

Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi | Photo: EPA
Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi | Photo: EPA

Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi on Tuesday sacked Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine, who is reputed to be close to President Kais Saied, a move underscoring tensions at the top of the country’s executive leadership.

Although it is Mechichi’s constitutional right as prime minister to appoint and dismiss all cabinet members except for foreign and defense ministers, who need to be assigned after holding consultations with the president, many said that Charfeddine’s firing was political and had nothing to do with performance.

Last September, President Saied attempted overthrowing Mechichi’s government, but the Islamist Ennahda movement, the Heart of Tunisia party, and Coalition de la Dignité party stepped in alongside some independent lawmakers to prevent that from happening.

Reacting to the president’s move, Mechichi is believed to be pursuing the removal of seven ministers who are close to Saied.

Charfeddine’s attempts to replace many high-ranking security officials, including police and intelligence district and department heads as well as senior National Guard figures are among the undeclared reasons behind his sacking.

On New Year’s Eve, Charfeddine met with Saied to discuss the replacements without the presence of Mechichi, who was visiting France at the time. Speculators say that the meeting was a deciding factor in Charfeddine’s dismissal.

A cabinet statement said Mechichi would supervise the interior ministry on an interim basis pending the appointment of Charfeddine’s successor.

Another theory attributes the new tensions to statements made by Saied during a visit to the interior ministry on New Year’s Eve. The president claimed full control of the internal security forces, which he considers to be part of the armed forces he is the supreme leader of, as per the constitution.

Mechichi apparently interpreted the president’s statements as yet another attempt to grab more power and encroach on his prerogatives, considering that his interior minister was no longer reliable, having aligned himself with the president.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Syria War Monitor Says More than 130 Dead in Army-Extremist Clashes

Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
TT
TT

Syria War Monitor Says More than 130 Dead in Army-Extremist Clashes

Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)
Fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ride in military vehicles in the eastern outskirts of the town of Atarib, in Syria's northern province of Aleppo on November 27, 2024, during clashes with the Syrian army. (Photo by Abdulaziz KETAZ / AFP)

A Syria war monitor on Thursday said clashes between the army and extremists killed more than 130 combatants in the worst fighting in the country's northwest in years, as the government also reported fierce battles.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said extremist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions launched a surprise attack on the Syrian army in the northern province of Aleppo on Wednesday.
The toll "in battles ongoing for the past 24 hours has risen to 132, including 65 fighters from HTS", 18 from allied factions "and 49 members of regime forces", said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.
Some of the clashes, in an area straddling Idlib and Aleppo provinces, are less than 10 kilometers (six miles) southwest of the outskirts of Aleppo city.
HTS, led by Al-Qaeda's former Syria branch, controls swathes of much of the northwest Idlib area and slivers of neighboring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces.
An AFP correspondent reported heavy, uninterrupted clashes east of the city of Idlib since Wednesday morning, including air strikes.
A military statement carried by state news agency SANA said that "armed terrorist organizations grouped under so-called 'Nusra terrorist front' present in Aleppo and Idlib provinces launched a large, broad-fronted attack" on Wednesday morning.
It said the attack with "medium and heavy weapons targeted safe villages and towns and our military sites in those areas".
The army "in cooperation with friendly forces" confronted the attack "which is still continuing", inflicting "heavy losses" on the armed groups, the military statement said, without reporting army losses.
Key highway
The Observatory said HTS was able to advance in Idlib province, taking control of Dadikh, Kafr Batikh and Sheikh Ali "after heavy clashes with the regime forces with Russian air cover".
"The villages have strategic importance due to their proximity to the M5 international highway", the monitor said, adding the factions, which already took control of two other locations, were "trying to cut the Aleppo-Damascus international highway".
The Observatory said that "Russian warplanes intensified air strikes", targeting the vicinity of Sarmin and other areas in Idlib province, alongside "heavy artillery shelling" and rocket fire.
Syria's conflict broke out after President Bashar al-Assad repressed anti-government protests in 2011, and spiraled into a complex conflict drawing in foreign armies and extremists.
It has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions and battered the country's infrastructure and industry.
The Idlib region is subject to a ceasefire -- repeatedly violated but still largely holding -- brokered by Türkiye and Damascus ally Russia after a Syrian government offensive in March 2020.