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Arab World

Sudan’s Burhan Refers Senior Officer to Retirement

Army Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. (AFP)
Army Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. (AFP)
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Sudan’s Burhan Refers Senior Officer to Retirement

Army Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. (AFP)
Army Commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. (AFP)

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, chairman of the Sudanese ruling Sovereign Council and army commander, referred on Saturday Major General Mohamed Alawi Koko to retirement after the latter joined the Rapid Support Forces.

Burhan also exempted Koko from the position of Chairman of the Joint Supervisory Committee for Abyei which is a disputed area between Sudan and South Sudan, according to the spokesman of the Armed Forces, Nabil Abdullah.

The RSF announced on Thursday that hundreds of honorable members of the armed forces under Major General Mohamed Alawi Koko sided with the people’s choice and responded to the call by Sudanese paramilitary leader General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, known as Hemedti.

Koko announced in a video published on the X platform defecting from the army and joining the RSF in order to support the Sudanese cause and establish democracy.

The RSF added in a statement that the forces in West Darfur received 236 individuals from the 15th Infantry Division in El Geneina in addition to 300 officers and individuals from the 10th Division Abu Jubayhah and 50 individuals from the police in South Kordofan.

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Arab World

Jordan, Iraq Stress Importance of Implementing Basra-Aqaba Oil Pipeline Project

A view of the Shuaiba oil refinery southwest of Basra, Iraq (Reuters)
A view of the Shuaiba oil refinery southwest of Basra, Iraq (Reuters)
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Jordan, Iraq Stress Importance of Implementing Basra-Aqaba Oil Pipeline Project

A view of the Shuaiba oil refinery southwest of Basra, Iraq (Reuters)
A view of the Shuaiba oil refinery southwest of Basra, Iraq (Reuters)

Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Iraqi President Nizar Amidi have stressed the need to proceed with implementation of the Basra-Aqaba oil pipeline project, in service of the two countries and their peoples.

The king received a phone call from Amidi on Monday, during which they discussed the deep-rooted ties between Jordan and Iraq, as well as ways to enhance cooperation across various sectors.

The pipeline project, which has been stalled for years, would allow oil to be transported from Basra, on the Arabian Gulf coast, to the port of Aqaba in southern Jordan, bypassing the export route through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iraqi Parliament Speaker Haibat al-Halbousi described the project during a visit to Amman on June 7 as a “strategic option” for Iraq amid restrictions on oil exports through the strait.

The two countries signed a framework agreement in April 2012 to build a 1,700-kilometer pipeline with a capacity to transport one million barrels of oil per day. However, the project, whose cost is estimated at around $18 billion, has yet to be implemented.

The pipeline is expected to provide Jordan with about 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The project also includes the construction of storage facilities with a capacity of seven million barrels, as well as an oil export terminal.

Iraq has lost around $60 billion during the Middle East war, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said last week.

Iraq was producing about four million barrels of oil per day before the conflict, exporting about 3.5 million bpd -- mostly shipped from the country's south via the strait.

Iraq's foreign currency reserves have shrunk by 20 billion dollars and consumer prices have risen sharply.

Arab World

West Bank on Verge of ‘Explosion’, Says Senior Palestinian Official

Israeli soldiers take positions during an army raid in the Rafidia area of Nablus, West Bank, 19 October 2026. (EPA)
Israeli soldiers take positions during an army raid in the Rafidia area of Nablus, West Bank, 19 October 2026. (EPA)
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West Bank on Verge of ‘Explosion’, Says Senior Palestinian Official

Israeli soldiers take positions during an army raid in the Rafidia area of Nablus, West Bank, 19 October 2026. (EPA)
Israeli soldiers take positions during an army raid in the Rafidia area of Nablus, West Bank, 19 October 2026. (EPA)

Israeli settler attacks risk setting off an "explosion" in the occupied West Bank, a senior Palestinian leader told AFP, while urging that the response remain peaceful.

Jibril Rajoub, the secretary general of the central committee of the Palestinian Authority's ruling Fatah faction, said he called for "peaceful confrontation" as he took part in meetings in Cairo with other Palestinian movements including Gaza-based rival Hamas, which led the October 7, 2023 attacks against Israel.

"The terrorism carried out by the army and settlers, under the supervision of the Israeli government... is a prelude to a coming reaction and explosion," Rajoub told AFP in Cairo.

But he said that a "peaceful, nonviolent struggle is a necessity and a strategic choice for all Palestinians".

"Bloodshed is no longer an acceptable option," he said, calling for "peaceful confrontation with the occupation, despite the crimes it commits".

Settlers have carried out daily physical attacks, thefts and other attacks against Palestinians, with the violence intensifying in the run-up to October 27 elections, in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, governing with the fiercely pro-settlement far-right, is seeking a new mandate.

Violence has picked up as extremist settlers seek to stop the Palestinian olive harvest, an annual season with cultural resonance for the community.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law, surrounded by around three million Palestinians.

The talks in Cairo came after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who has ruled since 2005, delayed elections slated to start next month until September 2027.

Rajoub said the talks called for "unified political representation" with the principle of a "single authority" and "only one legitimate armed force".

Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, dividing the two Palestinian territories. Israel has vowed to obliterate Hamas after the October 7, 2023 attack, the deadliest day in Israel's history. The Hamas attack resulted in 1,221 deaths.

At least 1,125 Palestinians have died in the West Bank since October 2023, mostly by the Israeli military, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.

Settler attacks have killed 23 Palestinians in that timeframe, according to the United Nations.

Palestinian attacks have killed at least 49 Israelis in the same period, according to Israeli figures.

In Gaza, the Israeli offensive has killed 74,459 Palestinians since October 2023, according to figures under the health ministry run under Hamas. The United Nations generally considers the figures reliable.

Arab World

Israel to Resume Commercial Shipments to Gaza After Hamas Fee Dispute

Tents are pictured by the rubble of collapsed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on October 19, 2026. (AFP)
Tents are pictured by the rubble of collapsed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on October 19, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel to Resume Commercial Shipments to Gaza After Hamas Fee Dispute

Tents are pictured by the rubble of collapsed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on October 19, 2026. (AFP)
Tents are pictured by the rubble of collapsed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on October 19, 2026. (AFP)

Israel said on ‌Monday it would resume allowing commercial goods shipments into Gaza after a days-long halt over a tax dispute involving Hamas and merchants, restoring a key route for food and other essentials to the aid-dependent enclave.

COGAT, the Israeli military agency overseeing humanitarian affairs in Gaza, said it made the decision after merchants reported that Hamas authorities had withdrawn demands for payments of 10,000 shekels ($3,225) per truck.

"The resumption of coordination is being carried ‌out in accordance ‌with Israel's commitment to the ‌humanitarian provisions ⁠of the ceasefire agreement," ⁠it said.

COGAT said the merchants' accounts had not been independently verified and shipments would resume gradually, with priority given to essential goods ahead of winter.

Oversight would be tightened to ensure payments are made and received only through documented bank transfers, with any merchant ⁠found to have paid Hamas facing ‌exclusion from the system.

Hamas said ‌the 10,000-shekel fee was a voluntary contribution by better-off Gazans ‌to a national fund supporting people in need in ‌the war-ravaged territory.

Most Gazans remain dependent on aid after three years of war, repeated displacement and severe restrictions on aid deliveries. While last year's US-brokered ceasefire halted the heaviest ‌fighting, it has not ended Israeli attacks.

Local health officials said on Monday ⁠that at ⁠least five Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in separate Israeli strikes in Gaza City and Khan Younis. The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

Israel says Hamas has continued to rearm and carry out attacks in violation of the ceasefire, while Hamas accuses Israel of undermining the agreement.

Gaza health officials say about 1,500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the October 2025 ceasefire, while Israel says four of its soldiers have been killed by fighters in Gaza over the same period.