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Ship Carrying First Ukraine Grain Cargo Nears Syria

The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni, carrying Ukrainian grain, is seen in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul, Turkey August 3, 2022. (Reuters)
The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni, carrying Ukrainian grain, is seen in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul, Turkey August 3, 2022. (Reuters)
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Ship Carrying First Ukraine Grain Cargo Nears Syria

The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni, carrying Ukrainian grain, is seen in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul, Turkey August 3, 2022. (Reuters)
The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni, carrying Ukrainian grain, is seen in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul, Turkey August 3, 2022. (Reuters)

The first ship to depart Ukraine under a deal to resume grain exports from the country two weeks ago was approaching the Syrian port of Tartus on Sunday, two shipping sources said, after the vessel had been sailing with its transponder off.

The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni set sail from Ukraine's Odesa port on Aug. 1 under the deal between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, but its location had not been clear in the past days without the transponder.

The cargo of 26,000 tons of corn had originally been destined for Lebanon, which has been suffering an economic crisis that has plunged about half of its population into food insecurity.

However, the original buyer refused the delivery over quality concerns and the ship sailed to Turkey, docking in Mersin on Aug. 11.

When it set sail again the following day, it did not keep its transponder on. Two shipping sources, one of them in Tartus, confirmed to Reuters on Sunday that the ship was approaching the northwest Syrian port.

Ukraine has previously accused Syria of importing at least 150,000 tons of grain it said was plundered from Ukrainian warehouses after Russia's invasion in February. Russia has denied stealing Ukrainian grain.

Ukraine cut off diplomatic ties with Syria in June after Damascus recognized the independence of the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Lebanon sent Reuters a statement from the Ministry of Transport, which said it was "not responsible for vessel and cargo after it has left the Ukraine, moreover after vessel's departure from (a) foreign port".

"Our task has been to reopen seaports for grain cargo and it has been done," the statement said, adding it had no information about the position of the vessel or cargo destination.

Meanwhile, the UN-chartered ship Brave Commander will depart Ukraine for Ethiopia in the coming days, a UN official said. It will be the first humanitarian food aid cargo bound for Africa since Russia sent troops into Ukraine and under the framework of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

And the first ship carrying Ukrainian wheat to be exported under the deal arrived in Istanbul on Sunday, the Joint Coordination Center based in the Turkish city, said.

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Arab World

Former Syrian President Assad Sentenced to Death in Absentia

A woman uses her mobile phone near a damaged picture of ousted Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad as people celebrate, after the Syrian opposition announced that they have ousted President Bashar al-Assad, in Qamishli, Syria December 8, 2024. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
A woman uses her mobile phone near a damaged picture of ousted Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad as people celebrate, after the Syrian opposition announced that they have ousted President Bashar al-Assad, in Qamishli, Syria December 8, 2024. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
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Former Syrian President Assad Sentenced to Death in Absentia

A woman uses her mobile phone near a damaged picture of ousted Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad as people celebrate, after the Syrian opposition announced that they have ousted President Bashar al-Assad, in Qamishli, Syria December 8, 2024. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman
A woman uses her mobile phone near a damaged picture of ousted Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad as people celebrate, after the Syrian opposition announced that they have ousted President Bashar al-Assad, in Qamishli, Syria December 8, 2024. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman

A Syrian court sentenced in absentia ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad along with his younger brother to death on Tuesday for crimes against humanity and war crimes during Syria’s 14-year conflict that left about half a million people dead. 

Also sentenced to death in the same case was Assad’s maternal cousin Atef Najib for leading the crackdown in the southern province of Daraa that led to the uprising and later the civil war. 

Amid tight security, Najib stood inside a cage wearing a prisoner’s uniform as the judge read the sentence. 

Assad and his brother Maher fled to Russia after insurgents marched into Damascus in December 2014. 

Najib was later detained and became one of the highest-ranking officials to be put on trial. 

Najib is a former Syrian army brigadier general who was head of the Political Security Branch in southern Syria’s Daraa province under Assad in 2011. 

Arab World

Lebanon’s Ali al-Taher Back at Center of Escalation

The Ali al-Taher Heights, located east of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, with the towns of Kafr Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa in the foreground. (Asharq Al-Awsat).
The Ali al-Taher Heights, located east of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, with the towns of Kafr Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa in the foreground. (Asharq Al-Awsat).
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Lebanon’s Ali al-Taher Back at Center of Escalation

The Ali al-Taher Heights, located east of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, with the towns of Kafr Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa in the foreground. (Asharq Al-Awsat).
The Ali al-Taher Heights, located east of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, with the towns of Kafr Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa in the foreground. (Asharq Al-Awsat).

Intensified Israeli operations have thrust the Ali al-Taher Heights back to the forefront of tensions in southern Lebanon, days after the town of Mansouri came under Israeli attack.

Repeated artillery fire and strikes have targeted the heights and surrounding areas amid Israeli claims of underground military facilities in the area.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that his army was carrying out a “highly important operation” in Lebanon, specifically citing the targeting of operatives at Ali al-Taher.

Some assessments link the intensity of Israeli operations to the area’s strategic importance and the possibility that Israel may seek to expand its control there. Others view the developments within the broader issue of Hezbollah’s weapons, while the US position remains a key factor in determining the scope and timing of any wider Israeli action.

Heavy shelling

Ali al-Taher came under intense Israeli artillery fire overnight Sunday into Monday, continuing until dawn. Local reports said that more than 70 shells struck the area. The attacks continued Monday morning with drone strikes, while shelling hit the area between Zawtar and Mayfadoun.

Netanyahu adviser Dmitry Gendelman maintained that “Israel would remain in the security zone and act independently to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure.

Gendelman said Ali al-Taher contained a Hezbollah command center, and claimed the destruction of a tunnel complex beneath Beaufort Castle, along with operations targeting the group’s infrastructure, personnel and weapons.

Israeli claims of having seized the hill come amid conflicting accounts over the nature of its presence there and underground facilities in the area. Reports have suggested that operatives remain inside a facility and that efforts are underway to encircle them and cut supply routes.

Missed opportunity

Retired Brig. Gen. Yaarob Sakher said Lebanon missed a “golden opportunity” at Ali al-Taher, arguing that Hezbollah could have handed the area over to the Lebanese Army as an additional pilot zone.

“There was a golden opportunity for Lebanon at Ali al-Taher,” Sakher told Asharq Al-Awsat. “Hezbollah could have handed it over to the Lebanese Army, which would enter and take control, but the party refused.”

In his assessment, the refusal gave Israel an opportunity to harden its position. He added that Hezbollah is unlikely to surrender the area because of its military significance.

“We do not know everything that is there, but Ali al-Taher appears to contain what could be described as a major operations room, alongside an extensive tunnel network believed to connect with other areas,” he explained.

Sakher added that circulating information points to the possible presence of weapons and ammunition depots and senior personnel, noting that Hezbollah’s determination to hold the area suggests it carries considerable importance.

Beyond Ali al-Taher

Retired Brig. Gen. Khaled Hamadeh, by contrast, cautioned against reducing the escalation to the fate of the heights, viewing the intensified bombardment as part of a broader Israeli course of action.

“The issue goes beyond Ali al-Taher, and we are heading toward further escalation,” Hamadeh told Asharq Al-Awsat, linking the developments to Israeli operations in other southern areas, including Mansouri and Zawtar.

In his view, Israel “will not allow any security or military surprise in areas it considers sensitive,” and the operations are intended to send a message beyond any single position on the ground.

“The fundamental issue is not Ali al-Taher or any particular military position, but Hezbollah’s weapons,” he stressed.

Israel is acting on the premise that the framework agreement with Lebanon requires the weapons to be addressed and that the current situation will leave the door open to further strikes, he remarked.

“The main problem lies in the lack of political will to disarm Hezbollah,” he added.

Arab World

Iraq Suspects Drone Attack Destroyed Tank Ammunition Stockpile Amid ‘Silent Battle’ With Militias

The Iraqi army takes part in a previous parade featuring US-made Abrams tanks (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office) 
The Iraqi army takes part in a previous parade featuring US-made Abrams tanks (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office) 
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Iraq Suspects Drone Attack Destroyed Tank Ammunition Stockpile Amid ‘Silent Battle’ With Militias

The Iraqi army takes part in a previous parade featuring US-made Abrams tanks (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office) 
The Iraqi army takes part in a previous parade featuring US-made Abrams tanks (Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office) 

Iraqi authorities suspect a drone attack caused an explosion at a strategic ammunition depot at Camp Taji military base north of Baghdad in early August, security and intelligence sources said, inflicting extensive damage on stocks of ammunition for Iraqi army tanks and armored vehicles. Authorities had initially attributed the blaze to high temperatures.

Investigators now believe an unidentified drone was flying over the base shortly before an ammunition depot belonging to the 9th Armored Division exploded, destroying large quantities of ammunition for armored vehicles and US-made Abrams tanks, the sources said.

Two officers told Asharq Al-Awsat that investigators reviewed thermal-camera footage from the base showing a flying object approaching from the south shortly before the depot exploded.

“We lost most of our tank ammunition,” one officer said. “The 9th Armored Division now has no stockpile of shells — not even a single round — apart from the ammunition currently inside the tanks.”

Another intelligence officer said the depot was “most likely targeted by a drone.”

Iraq’s official news agency had quoted Defense and Interior Ministry officials on Aug. 2 as saying that high temperatures had caused a fire at an ammunition depot inside Camp Taji.

Although the initial account ruled out an attack, a senior military official told Asharq Al-Awsat that intelligence agencies were conducting a technical investigation to establish the circumstances.

Officials now view the incident as one of several signs that armed factions are attempting to “strip official security institutions of their weapons advantage.”

The targeted depot contained about 50,000 rounds, according to the sources, forming the main ammunition stockpile for one of the Iraqi army’s most important combat divisions. The full extent of the losses remains unclear.

The 9th Armored Division, based in Taji, is one of the army’s principal intervention units. A significant part of its arsenal is US-made, notably Abrams tanks and M113 armored personnel carriers.

Asharq Al-Awsat learned that Iraq recently sought urgent procurement contracts to replenish ammunition shortages, including rounds for US-made tanks and armored vehicles. The request is believed to be linked to losses from the Taji incident.

Neither the Defense Ministry spokesman nor the head of Iraq’s Security Media Cell responded to requests for comment.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Miqdad Miri, however, told a news conference Monday that “any drone launched without authorization will be treated as terrorism,” stressing that “all weapons must be under state control.”

‘Silent Battle’

An intelligence official told Asharq Al-Awsat that preliminary investigations found that an armed group had used a location south of Baghdad to launch the drone toward Taji.

Security and political officials said the attack pointed to efforts by factions resisting disarmament to deprive regular forces of military assets that give them an advantage over irregular groups.

The sources said armed factions were making contingency plans for any confrontation with Iraqi security forces, seeking to eliminate assets — including tank ammunition — that could tip the balance in favor of government forces.

An official in the Coordination Framework said the Iraqi government was engaged in a “silent and sensitive battle with hard-line groups” but wanted to avoid an open confrontation because of the domestic and regional risks.

A political official quoted the leader of an armed faction opposed to the government’s weapons-control plan as saying his group and others were prepared for a military confrontation if the government or the United States used force to disarm them.

Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has set Sept. 30, 2026, as the deadline for US forces to withdraw from Iraq and for armed factions to place their weapons under state control.

Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada and Harakat al-Nujaba, all aligned with Iran, continue to reject handing over their weapons. Activists close to the groups say the Axis of Resistance will not disarm even after US forces leave, while some have openly called, in a defiant reversal of the government’s policy, for “the state’s weapons to be placed in the hands of the factions.”