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Iraq’s Kurds: Independence Referendum will not be Postponed… Except with Guarantees

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu meets with Iraq's Kurdistan region's President Massoud Barzani in Erbil, Iraq, August 23, 2017. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu meets with Iraq's Kurdistan region's President Massoud Barzani in Erbil, Iraq, August 23, 2017. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari
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Iraq’s Kurds: Independence Referendum will not be Postponed… Except with Guarantees

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu meets with Iraq's Kurdistan region's President Massoud Barzani in Erbil, Iraq, August 23, 2017. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu meets with Iraq's Kurdistan region's President Massoud Barzani in Erbil, Iraq, August 23, 2017. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari

Iraq’s Kurds have expressed their commitment to hold the independence referendum on September 25, despite repeated demands by the United States to postpone such a move to prevent the deterioration of relations with the central government in Bagdad.

The Higher Council for the Referendum in Kurdistan, during a meeting on Wednesday chaired by President Masoud Barzani, reviewed the results of the recent visit conducted by the Kurdish delegation to Baghdad, as well as the outcome of Barzani’s talks with US Defense Secretary James Mattis in Erbil on Wednesday.

The council’s meeting was held ahead of the arrival of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to Erbil, following a visit to Baghdad, where he met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to discuss developments of the battle to liberate Tal Afar, relations between Erbil and Baghdad and the deadline set by the Kurdistan region to hold the referendum on September 25.

Sources in the higher council noted that the Kurdish delegation held a series of meetings with the different Iraqi parties in Baghdad on the process of the referendum and presented a detailed report on the results of these meetings to Barzani and the council’s members.

While Washington, Baghdad, Ankara and Tehran have called on the Kurdish leadership to postpone the independence referendum, Barzani and the region’s political leaders have reiterated their adherence to decide on the fate of the region on September 25.

“The response is very clear: the referendum will not be postponed even for one minute except by an alternative, and the alternative is international guarantees signed by all parties, especially the main parties, represented by Baghdad, the United States, and even Turkey and Iran”, Kurdish president’s media advisor Kifah Mahmoud told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“These guarantees must be made in writing, and will set another date for the referendum, and undertake to respect its results,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Turkish foreign minister visited Iraq on Wednesday to warn Iraqi and Kurdish leaders against next month’s independence referendum.

“The decision to hold this referendum is a mistake,” Cavusoglu was quoted by AFP as saying, during a joint news conference with Jaafari.

“We have said it before (to Iraqi Kurdish leaders) and today during my visit to Erbil I will repeat that it is a mistake,” he added.

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Arab World

Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
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Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

At least two people were killed and four rescued from the rubble of a multistory apartment building that collapsed Sunday in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, state media reported.

Rescue teams were continuing to dig through the rubble. It was not immediately clear how many people were in the building when it fell.

The bodies pulled out were of a child and a woman, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Dozens of people crowded around the site of the crater left by the collapsed building, with some shooting in the air.

The building was in the neighborhood of Bab Tabbaneh, one of the poorest areas in Lebanon’s second largest city, where residents have long complained of government neglect and shoddy infrastructure. Building collapses are not uncommon in Tripoli due to poor building standards, according to The AP news.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry announced that those injured in the collapse would receive treatment at the state’s expense.

The national syndicate for property owners in a statement called the collapse the result of “blatant negligence and shortcomings of the Lebanese state toward the safety of citizens and their housing security,” and said it is “not an isolated incident.”

The syndicate called for the government to launch a comprehensive national survey of buildings at risk of collapse.

Arab World

Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
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Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)

Israel's security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Citing statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israeli news sites Ynet and Haaretz said the measures included scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank, The AP news reported.

They were also reported to include allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offences and damage to archaeological sites.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and tantamount to de-facto annexation.

The Israeli ministers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new measures come three days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet in Washington with US President Donald Trump.

Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel's accelerated settlement building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.

Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.

His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.

The United Nations' highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view.

Arab World

Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
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Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit strongly condemned the attack by the Rapid Support Forces on humanitarian aid convoys and relief workers in North Kordofan State, Sudan.

In a statement reported by SPA, secretary-general's spokesperson Jamal Rushdi quoted Aboul Gheit as saying the attack constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law, which prohibits the deliberate targeting of civilians and depriving them of their means of survival.

Aboul Gheit stressed the need to hold those responsible accountable, end impunity, and ensure the full protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and relief facilities in Sudan.