Algeria, Russia to Hold Anti-Terror Military Drills

Russian troops. (AFP)
Russian troops. (AFP)
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Algeria, Russia to Hold Anti-Terror Military Drills

Russian troops. (AFP)
Russian troops. (AFP)

The Russian Southern Military District announced on Tuesday that joint anti-terror drills between Russian and Algerian ground forces will take place in Algeria in November, TASS reported.

The first planning conference was held in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz to prepare for the joint Russian-Algerian anti-terror military exercises, which are scheduled to be held at the Hammaguir base in southern Algeria, the press office of the Southern Military District said in a statement.

Both sides coordinated the scenarios of the drill and the logistics.

Maneuvers will consist of tactical moves to search for, detect and destroy illegal armed groups.

About 80 soldiers from the southern military region are expected to participate in the exercises.

“The plan of the combat drills of the forces of the Southern Military District for 2022 stipulates the participation of soldiers from the region in international exercises with units of the armed forces of Algeria, Egypt, Kazakhstan and Pakistan,” TASS added.

Algeria did not issue any official statement about the drills. However, sources interested in the Algerian-Russian military partnership said the objectives and outlines of the drills were discussed during Director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Army Gen. Dmitry Shugaev’s visit to Algeria on March 25.

Shugaev held talks with Chief of Staff of the Algerian army Lieutenant General Said Chanegriha and discussed bilateral military cooperation, the Algerian defense ministry said in a statement, adding that they exchanged views on issues of common interest.

The Russian military official visited Algeria as part of a delegation that participated in a meeting of the “Algerian-Russian Joint Governmental Committee in charge of military and technical cooperation between the two countries.”

Algiers had acquired its military equipment and most of its weapons from the former Soviet Union since its independence in the 1960s.



Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel’s new defense minister said Friday that he would stop issuing warrants to arrest West Bank settlers or hold them without charge or trial — a largely symbolic move that rights groups said risks emboldening settler violence in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Israel Katz called the arrest warrants “severe” and said issuing them was “inappropriate” as Palestinian militant attacks on settlers in the territory grow more frequent. He said settlers could be “brought to justice” in other ways.

The move protects Israeli settlers from being held in “administrative detention,” a shadowy form of incarceration where people are held without charge or trial.

Settlers are rarely arrested in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has spiraled since the outbreak of the war Oct. 7.

Katz’s decision was celebrated by far-right coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. National Security Minister and settler firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir applauded Katz and called the move a “correction of many years of mistreatment” and “justice for those who love the land.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, violence toward Palestinians by Israeli settlers has soared to new heights, displacing at least 19 entire Palestinian communities, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now. In that time, attacks by Palestinian militants on settlers and within Israel have also grown more common.

An increasing number of Palestinians have been placed in administrative detention. Israel holds 3,443 administrative detainees in prison, according to data from the Israeli Prison Service, reported by rights group Hamoked. That figure stood around 1,200 just before the start of the war. The vast majority of them are Palestinian, with only a handful at any given time Israeli Jews, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked.

“All of these detentions without charge or trial are illegitimate, but to declare that this measure will only be used against Palestinians...is to explicitly entrench another form of ethnic discrimination,” said Montell.