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UN Security Council to Discuss GERD Dispute on Thursday

A view of the Nile River flowing through Cairo, Egypt. (Getty Images)
A view of the Nile River flowing through Cairo, Egypt. (Getty Images)
    Washington, Khartoum - Ali Barada and Mohammed Amin Yassin
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UN Security Council to Discuss GERD Dispute on Thursday

A view of the Nile River flowing through Cairo, Egypt. (Getty Images)
A view of the Nile River flowing through Cairo, Egypt. (Getty Images)

The United Nations Security Council will likely meet next week to discuss a dispute between Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt over the mega dam Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile, French UN Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said on Thursday.

De Riviere, council president for July, pointed out that there was little the Security Council could do other than bring the parties together to express their concerns and then encourage them to return to negotiations to reach a solution on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) dispute.

“I don’t think the council can do much more than that,” he told reporters.

“Frankly, I do not think that the Security Council has the logistical expertise to decide how much water should go to Egypt or Sudan, this matter is outside the scope and capacity of the Security Council,” he responded when asked about the GERD’s second scheduled filling.

Addis Ababa had requested that the council refer the matter to the African Union, de Riviere noted.

Ethiopia’s UN Ambassador Taye Atske Selassie Amde said his country trusts the AU-led process to resolve the dispute.

Addis Ababa finds it inappropriate to discuss issues related to cross-border resources in the Security Council.

The Sudanese government welcomed Saturday the council’s approval of its request.

Spokesman for the Irrigation and Foreign Ministries stressed Khartoum’s keenness to continue with the negotiations to reach a legally binding agreement on the dam’s filling and operation.

Last month, Sudan’s Foreign Minister Mariam Sadiq al-Mahdi called on the Security Council to hold a session as soon as possible to discuss the dam and “its impact on the safety and security of millions of people,” the government statement said.

In a letter to the council head, she urged Ethiopia to stop the “unilateral” filling of the dam “which exacerbates the dispute and poses a threat to regional and international peace and security.”

The government reiterated its commitment to the AU-sponsored talks and renewed its proposal to form an international quartet led by the UN, AU, United States and the European Union to tackle the issue.

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Arab World

Iraq’s Asaib Ahl Al-Haq Says It Will Start Handing Its Weapons to the State

Members of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces parade of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq, participate in a Quds Day march in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, July 1, 2016. (AP)
Members of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces parade of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq, participate in a Quds Day march in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, July 1, 2016. (AP)
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Iraq’s Asaib Ahl Al-Haq Says It Will Start Handing Its Weapons to the State

Members of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces parade of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq, participate in a Quds Day march in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, July 1, 2016. (AP)
Members of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces parade of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq, participate in a Quds Day march in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, July 1, 2016. (AP)

One of Iraq’s most powerful Iran-backed armed groups said Tuesday it would begin putting its weapons under government control, a major step in the new government’s effort to bring armed factions that have long operated on their own under state command.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq said it had formed a committee to oversee the move, including an inventory of its fighters, weapons and equipment, and to coordinate with the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The group cast the decision as a response to calls by Iraq’s top Shiite religious authority and the Iran-aligned Coordination Framework, the largest bloc in parliament that dominates Iraqi politics.

The war in the Middle East has exposed the fragility of Iraq’s state institutions and their limited ability to restrain these groups. A parallel confrontation between Washington and the factions has deepened the crisis, with factions acting as an extension of Iran’s regional campaign and escalating attacks on US assets in Iraq before a tenuous ceasefire deal was reached in April.

The first significant move came a week ago, when the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said his Saraya al-Salam faction would split from his political movement and integrate into state institutions.

Under pressure from Washington, Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has been working to assert state authority over weapons.

Zaidi, a 40-year-old banker sworn in last month has made a state monopoly on arms a centerpiece of his program. The Trump administration has warned against any government influenced by Iran-linked factions and tied defense cooperation and funding to efforts to curb them.

Many Iran-backed factions are funded through the Iraqi state budget and embedded within the security apparatus, although not under the government's control. This has drawn criticism from the United States and other countries that have borne the brunt of their attacks and say Baghdad has failed to take a tougher stance.

Several armed factions aligned with Iraq’s Coordination Framework have taken a different stance on efforts to bring weapons under state control. Two important groups, Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba, have rejected disarmament, tying the issue to Iraq’s sovereignty and the presence of foreign troops.

Kataib Hezbollah welcomed moves by other factions to place weapons under state authority but said its own armed activity will continue as part of what it describes as “resistance work." In a recent statement attributed to its Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, the group said it would offer coordination with the Popular Mobilization Forces rather than surrendering arms.

The PMF, a state-backed umbrella of armed groups, was formed in 2014 to fight the ISIS group. Many of its groups still keep their own command and ties to Iran.

Arab World

Lebanon’s Berri to Guarantee Hezbollah Respect for ‘Global’ Truce with Israel, Says Adviser

Rescue workers use excavators, as they search for victims under the rubble of a building that was hit Monday in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP)
Rescue workers use excavators, as they search for victims under the rubble of a building that was hit Monday in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP)
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Lebanon’s Berri to Guarantee Hezbollah Respect for ‘Global’ Truce with Israel, Says Adviser

Rescue workers use excavators, as they search for victims under the rubble of a building that was hit Monday in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP)
Rescue workers use excavators, as they search for victims under the rubble of a building that was hit Monday in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP)

Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a key Hezbollah ally, will guarantee the Iran-backed group's adherence to a "global ceasefire" with Israel, his adviser told AFP on Tuesday.

Berri, who heads the Hezbollah-allied Amal party, has long acted as an intermediary between the group and the United States, which considers Hezbollah a "terrorist" organization.

US President Donald Trump said late Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to call off a military raid on Beirut while Hezbollah agreed "all shooting will stop".

Despite the announcement Israeli drone strikes on southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed eight people, including a father and his son and daughter.

Adviser Ali Hamdan told AFP that "speaker Berri's main demand is a global ceasefire. If a global ceasefire deal is reached, he will guarantee Hezbollah's respect for it."

Hamdan said a "global ceasefire means a halt to Israeli strikes by air, land or sea, and that it will not carry out detonations or demolitions" in the south, where Israel is accused of razing entire villages.

Trump had said that "through highly placed Representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop -- That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel."

Netanyahu said late Monday that he had told Trump "that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our towns and our citizens, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut".

Hezbollah has not released a statement on the announcement.

Lebanon's embassy in the United States said on Monday that Hezbollah had accepted a US proposal on a "mutual cessation of attacks".

"Under the proposed arrangement, Israeli strikes on Dahieh would cease in exchange for Hezbollah refraining from launching attacks against Israel, with the ceasefire framework to be expanded to encompass all Lebanese territory," the embassy statement released by the Lebanese presidency added, referring to Beirut's southern suburbs.

Iran has insisted that a ceasefire in Lebanon remains a key condition for any deal with the United States to end the Middle East war.

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is also the country's chief negotiator, said on Monday night that he and Berri had spoken by phone.

Ghalibaf told his Lebanese counterpart that "if the Israeli aggression on Lebanon continues, we will not just stop the negotiation process, but we will be in a direct confrontation with the enemy", he said on X, referring to Israel.

Iran's Tasnim news agency reported on Monday that Tehran was no longer engaging in talks with Washington because of Israel's offensive on Lebanon, although there was no official confirmation of this.

Arab World

Israeli Fire Kills Three People in Gaza, Medics Say

Palestinians inspect a vehicle hit by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP)
Palestinians inspect a vehicle hit by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP)
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Israeli Fire Kills Three People in Gaza, Medics Say

Palestinians inspect a vehicle hit by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP)
Palestinians inspect a vehicle hit by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP)

Israeli ‌fire killed at least three Palestinians in separate incidents across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Gaza health officials said.

Medics said at least one person was killed and four were wounded when an Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle east of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. The blast left ‌the vehicle ‌a mangled skeleton.

Another strike earlier ‌in ⁠the day killed ⁠one person and wounded another in the nearby Zawayda town, they added, while Israeli gunfire killed one man in northwest Khan Younis, south of the enclave.

The Israeli military did not immediately ⁠comment on either of the ‌incidents.

An October ceasefire, ‌brokered by US President Donald Trump, has ‌failed to halt Israeli attacks in ‌Gaza.

Israel and Hamas are deadlocked in indirect talks over implementing the second phase of the deal, which includes the group's disarmament ‌and Israeli army withdrawals.

The ceasefire left Israel in control ⁠of ⁠more than half of Gaza, with Hamas controlling a sliver of coastal territory.

Some 930 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the truce came into effect, according to figures from Gaza health officials that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Four Israeli soldiers have been killed by fighters during the same period, the country's military has said.