Sudan Peace Negotiations to Resume in Jeddah Thursday

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, receiving Deputy Commander of SAF, Shamseddine al-Kabashi (Sudanese Armed Forces)
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, receiving Deputy Commander of SAF, Shamseddine al-Kabashi (Sudanese Armed Forces)
TT

Sudan Peace Negotiations to Resume in Jeddah Thursday

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, receiving Deputy Commander of SAF, Shamseddine al-Kabashi (Sudanese Armed Forces)
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, receiving Deputy Commander of SAF, Shamseddine al-Kabashi (Sudanese Armed Forces)

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) said Sunday it will resume Thursday the peace talks with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The Deputy Commander of SAF, Shamseddine al-Kabashi, announced that the army was invited to Jeddah to resume negotiations.

"Our delegation will go to Jeddah and begin negotiations on coming Thursday," he told army officers at Wadi Seidna military base in Omdurman.

The negotiations, which stopped in June, are scheduled to discuss a permanent ceasefire throughout the country, paving the way for the start of a political process with the participation of political and civil forces.

Saudi Arabia and the US are meditating on talks between the two warring parties in Sudan to end the war that has been ongoing since mid-April.

On Saturday, Kabashi left the headquarters of the Army General Command in the center of Khartoum, which the Rapid Support Forces have claimed to besiege since the outbreak of the war.

The media office of the Transitional Sovereign Council reported on Facebook that the Chairman of the Council and Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, met with Kabashi in Port Sudan, which has almost become the country's alternative capital due to the ongoing war.

After Kabashi left the General Command, he went directly to the Wadi Seidna military base in the Karari region, north of Omdurman.

He told the forces at the military base that the army would defeat the rebellion all over the country and not just in Khartoum, stressing that the Karari military region would stand against rebellion.

He reassured the army forces deployed across the country that "the situation is getting better day by day."

Earlier, Burhan announced in several interviews on the sidelines of his participation at the UN General Assembly meetings in September that the army was prepared to respond to any mediation to resume talks in Jeddah.

The Saudi-US mediation suspended talks in early June after the Sudanese parties failed to adhere to the second ceasefire and facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid to civilians stranded in areas of clashes in Khartoum.

High-ranking sources informed Asharq Al-Awsat that the Director of Sudanese General Intelligence, Lieutenant General Ahmed Ibrahim Mufaddal, met RSF's legal advisor Mohammad al-Mukhtar in Addis Ababa earlier this month.

According to the sources, the meeting addressed opening new communication channels between the two parties to return to the Jeddah-sponsored talks.



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
TT

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.


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)
TT

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 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)
TT

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.