Sudan's Hemedti Visits Moscow

The deputy head of Sudan's ruling council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Reuters
The deputy head of Sudan's ruling council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Reuters
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Sudan's Hemedti Visits Moscow

The deputy head of Sudan's ruling council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Reuters
The deputy head of Sudan's ruling council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. Reuters

The deputy head of Sudan's ruling council, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is widely known as Hemedti, was in Moscow on Thursday for talks with the Russian government.

The official visit comes at a testing time for both countries. Russia is facing new Western sanctions after ordering troops into eastern Ukraine, while the United States has threatened Sudan's military with sanctions after the coup.

"Through this visit, we hope to advance relations between Sudan and Russia to broader horizons, and strengthen the existing cooperation between us in various fields," Dagalo said in a tweet.

The Sudanese delegation's visit to Moscow fell "within the framework of exchanging views and discussing ways to develop and strengthen cooperation between Sudan and Russia," the ruling Sovereign Council said.

The delegation, which also includes Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim as well as senior energy and trade officials, would hold a series of talks with Russian counterparts during the visit, it said in a statement.

Russia was due to send a shipment of wheat to Sudan as humanitarian aid, Sputnik News reported in January.

Military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who visited Russia in 2019, said in December that relations with Russia were strong and that an agreement on a Russian naval base on the country's Red Sea coast was under discussion.

The visit is the latest in a string of diplomatic trips Hemedti has made this year, including to the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and South Sudan.

Sudan has found itself increasingly isolated since an October 25 coup that has seen foreign aid cut as part of the international community's response to the military takeover.



Syria Arrests Officer Linked to Notorious ‘Death Checkpoint’ Near Damascus

Maj. Gen. Mowaffaq Nazeer Haidar, a former commander of the Syrian army’s Third Armoured Division (Interior Ministry) 
Maj. Gen. Mowaffaq Nazeer Haidar, a former commander of the Syrian army’s Third Armoured Division (Interior Ministry) 
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Syria Arrests Officer Linked to Notorious ‘Death Checkpoint’ Near Damascus

Maj. Gen. Mowaffaq Nazeer Haidar, a former commander of the Syrian army’s Third Armoured Division (Interior Ministry) 
Maj. Gen. Mowaffaq Nazeer Haidar, a former commander of the Syrian army’s Third Armoured Division (Interior Ministry) 

Syrian authorities said on Tuesday they had arrested Maj. Gen. Mowaffaq Nazeer Haidar, a former commander of the Syrian army’s Third Armored Division, over allegations of war crimes and abuses committed at a notorious checkpoint near Damascus.

Haidar, who oversaw the Qutayfah checkpoint along the Damascus-Homs highway north of the capital, is accused of playing a direct role in the disappearance of thousands of Syrians during the country's civil war.

The checkpoint, located near the Third Division’s headquarters, one of Syria's most powerful military units, was widely known among Syrians as a site of torture and arbitrary detention.

In a statement, the Internal Security Directorate in the coastal city of Latakia said Haidar had been detained and described him as a “criminal responsible for the so-called ‘death checkpoint’ at Qutayfah,” and a leading figure in raids carried out by pro-government forces across various parts of the country.

He has been referred to the counter-terrorism unit for interrogation on charges including war crimes and grave violations against civilians, the statement added.

The Qutayfah checkpoint, located at the northern entrance to Damascus, was one of the most notorious and feared military checkpoints during Syria’s civil war, widely associated with the regime’s crackdown on dissidents and army deserters.

Once operated by the Syrian army’s powerful Third Armored Division, the checkpoint was known by Syrians under grim monikers such as the “Death Checkpoint,” the “Checkpoint of Fear,” the “Checkpoint of Horror,” and the “Checkpoint of Arrests and Executions.”

It became a symbol of terror, particularly for residents of the Qalamoun region, but also for Syrians across the country.

According to earlier media reports, thousands of Syrians vanished at the Qutayfah checkpoint during the height of the conflict, many detained without formal charges or due process, often on mere suspicion of opposition sympathies or draft evasion.