Sudanese Opposition Leader: No Rapprochement with Army's Allies

Protests in Khartoum demanding the return of civilian rule (AP)
Protests in Khartoum demanding the return of civilian rule (AP)
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Sudanese Opposition Leader: No Rapprochement with Army's Allies

Protests in Khartoum demanding the return of civilian rule (AP)
Protests in Khartoum demanding the return of civilian rule (AP)

A leader in the opposition Forces of Freedom and Change coalition in Sudan ruled out any rapprochement with the factions that supported the army's assumption of power last October and overthrew the civilian-led government.

Member of the Central Council of the Forces Sherif Muhammad Othman said that this group disavowed the outcomes of the workshop organized by the Lawyers Association on the conceptual framework of the constitutional declaration.

The Leader of the Umma Party, Maryam al-Mahdi, revealed in recent press statements that the civil forces could soon form a transitional government to end the political stalemate in the country.

Al-Mahdi stated that the forces that will participate in the transitional government include the Forces of Freedom and Change, the Central Council, and the National Accord, which includes armed movements, Popular Resistance Committees, and civil society.

Othman told Asharq Al-Awsat that a consensus could have been reached between the opposition and the forces allied to the army in the National Accord to establish a political agreement.

However, some factions disavowed the outcomes of the workshop in which they participated.

He said that Freedom and Change seek to unite the revolutionary forces within a large bloc that includes resistance committees and civil parties to isolate the military government while maintaining contacts with other forces to agree on the formation of the civilian-led government.

Othman believes the military holding power in the country will not form an executive government after they could not find popular and political support.

"They cannot take this step because these groups supported the coup, including the national consensus forces. They will not form a good political and popular base for governance," said the official, adding that the military component does not want a genuine democratic transition.

The opposition leader stated that the military does not show any willingness to the process of civil democratic transformation.

The Freedom and Change coalition formed a committee to draft the new constitutional declaration, which will be completed soon.

The new constitutional declaration is based on removing the army from political work and the transitional authority, while the National Accord aims to make amendments to the constitutional document to maintain the military as a ruling partner.

Freedom and Change include the National Accord, the Justice and Equality Movement, the Sudan Liberation Army movement, the governor of the Darfur region, and other factions that signed the Juba Peace Agreement.

The factions supported the military measures that overthrew the civilian rule under which the army seized power on October 25.

On July 04, the head of the Transitional Sovereign Council, Lt-Gen Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, announced the withdrawal of the armed forces from the political process led by the UN tripartite mechanism to allow the civil forces to form an independent government.



Mossad Reportedly Hired Iranian Agents to Plant Bombs in Haniyeh’s Residence

Iranians follow a truck, center, carrying the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Wednesday, during their funeral ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iranians follow a truck, center, carrying the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Wednesday, during their funeral ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
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Mossad Reportedly Hired Iranian Agents to Plant Bombs in Haniyeh’s Residence

Iranians follow a truck, center, carrying the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Wednesday, during their funeral ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iranians follow a truck, center, carrying the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Wednesday, during their funeral ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, hired Iranian security agents to plant explosives in three separate rooms of a building where Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was staying, Britain’s the Telegraph reported.

The original plan was to assassinate Haniyeh in May when he attended the funeral of Iran’s former president Ebrahim Raisi, it said.

The operation didn’t go ahead due to the large crowds inside the building and the high possibility of its failure, two Iranian officials told The Telegraph.

Instead, the two agents placed explosive devices in three rooms of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) guesthouse in north Tehran where Haniyeh might stay.

The agents were seen moving stealthily as they entered and exited multiple rooms within minutes, according to the officials who have CCTV footage of the building.

The operatives are then said to have snuck out of the country but had a source still in Iran. At 2am on Wednesday, they detonated the explosives from abroad in the room where Haniyeh was staying.

The explosion killed Haniyeh, who was in Tehran for the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“They are now certain that Mossad hired agents from the Ansar al-Mahdi protection unit,” an official within the IRGC told the Telegraph from Tehran, referring to an IRGC unit responsible for the safety of high-ranking officials.

He said: “Upon further investigation, they discovered additional explosive devices in two other rooms.”

A second official within the elite military forces of the IRGC told the Telegraph: “This is a humiliation for Iran and a huge security breach.”

Haniyeh's death was one in a series of killings of senior Hamas figures as the war in Gaza between the Palestinian militants and Israel nears its 11th month and concern grows that the conflict is spreading across the Middle East.
Hamas and Iran have both accused Israel of carrying out the assassination and have pledged to retaliate against their foe.

Israel has neither claimed nor denied responsibility for the death.