Hemedti to Visit Qatar in First Sudanese Official Trip Since Bashir's Ouster

The Vice President of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (file photo: Reuters)
The Vice President of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (file photo: Reuters)
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Hemedti to Visit Qatar in First Sudanese Official Trip Since Bashir's Ouster

The Vice President of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (file photo: Reuters)
The Vice President of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (file photo: Reuters)

Sudanese Vice President of the Transitional Sovereignty Council Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, arrived Saturday in Doha marking the first visit of a Sudanese top official after the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir.

Hemedti was accompanied by Foreign Minister Omer Gamereldin and head of the General Intelligence Service Gamal Abdel-Majid to hold talks with Qatari officials on bilateral relations and Sudan's position on the border dispute with Ethiopia.

The VP announced his arrival to Doha on his Facebook page, indicating that the visit will address the bilateral ties and promotion of cooperation in a way that serves the interests of both states.

The visit aims to highlight the Sudanese position on the border dispute with Ethiopia and the negotiations concerning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), as part of a government’s diplomatic campaign to explain its stance to brotherly and friendly countries.

The Sudanese-Qatari relations were strained after the Transitional Military Council, which took power after Bashir, refused to receive the Qatari Foreign Minister in April 2019.

The Council did not grant permission to the official's plane to land after it arrived in Sudanese airspace. The incident took place less than a week after the Sudanese revolution which toppled the Islamist regime.

Earlier, the Sudanese delegation visited Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Chad, South Africa, and Kenya, and discussed with the participating states in the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), the dispute with Ethiopia after Sudan retrieved control over al-Fashagah area.

The ICGLR is an inter-governmental organization of African countries in the African Great Lakes Region and was established in 1994 to resolve peace and security issues.

In 2020, ICGLR held its ordinary summit of heads of state and government meeting in Angola via video link.



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.

Heavy Israeli airstrikes killed 12 people, including five Hezbollah fighters, in eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, a security source in Lebanon said, in what Israel said was a warning to the Iran-backed group against trying to re-establish itself.

The Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted training camps used by elite Hezbollah fighters and warehouses it used to store weapons in the Bekaa Valley region of eastern Lebanon.

The airstrikes were the deadliest on the area since a US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel last November. Bachir Khodr, governor of the Bekaa region, said seven of the dead were Syrian nationals.

Israel dealt Hezbollah heavy blows in last year's conflict, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah along with other commanders and destroying much of its arsenal.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday's strikes sent a "clear message" to Hezbollah, accusing it of planning to rebuild the capability to raid Israel through the elite Radwan force, Reuters reported.

Israel "will respond with maximum force to any attempt at rebuilding", he said. He added that strikes were also a message to the Lebanese government, saying it was responsible for upholding the ceasefire agreement.

There was no immediate public response from Hezbollah or from the Lebanese government to the latest Israeli strikes.

The United States has submitted a proposal to the Lebanese government aimed at securing Hezbollah's disarmament within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from positions they still hold in south Lebanon.

Under the terms of the ceasefire brokered by the US and France, Lebanon's armed forces were to confiscate "all unauthorized arms", beginning in the area south of the Litani River - the zone closest to Israel.