Israel Says No Israelis Among Owners or Crew of Ship Seized by Houthishttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/4677951-israel-says-no-israelis-among-owners-or-crew-ship-seized-houthis
Israel Says No Israelis Among Owners or Crew of Ship Seized by Houthis
A ship in the Red Sea. Reuters file photo
The Israeli military said on Sunday that Yemen's Houthis had seized a cargo ship in the southern Red Sea as it was sailing from Türkiye to India, calling this "a very grave incident on a global level.”
In a social media post, the military added that the vessel was not Israeli-owned and had no Israelis among its crew.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said 25 crew members of various nationalities, including Bulgarians, Filipinos, Mexicans and Ukrainians but no Israelis, had been on board the hijacked Bahamas-flagged ship.
Netanyahu's office condemned the seizure of the Galaxy Leader, a vehicle carrier, as an “Iranian act of terror."
Israeli officials insisted the ship was British-owned and Japanese-operated. However, ownership details in public shipping databases associated the ship’s owners with Ray Car Carriers, which was founded by Abraham “Rami” Ungar, who is known as one of the richest men in Israel.
The visit aimed to review the economic and investment potential offered by the free zone and the opportunities available for cooperation and partnership. Photo: Misurata Free Zone
The visit aimed to review the economic and investment potential offered by the free zone and the opportunities available for cooperation and partnership. Photo: Misurata Free Zone
Libyan officials have discussed with a high-ranking Russian economic delegation mechanisms to strengthen investment and trade cooperation, as well as the reactivation of the Libyan-Russian joint committee.
Chairman of the Management Committee of the Misurata Free Zone (MFZ) in Libya Mohsen Al-Suqutri met on Monday with Russia’s Ambassador to Libya, Aydar Aganin, in the presence of Libya’s ambassador to Moscow, Emhemed Almaghrawi.
The visit aimed to review the economic and investment potential offered by the free zone and the opportunities available for cooperation and partnership.
The Russian delegation included several businessmen, as well as heads and representatives of companies and institutions active in industrial, commercial, investment, and scientific research sectors.
The Russian ambassador praised the strategic geographic location of the Misurata Free Zone, considering it an important hub connecting regional and international markets, and highlighting its attractiveness for investment in light and heavy industries and other sectors.
Both sides discussed opportunities for economic and investment cooperation and the possibility of establishing partnerships and projects that would contribute to boosting economic development and expanding areas of collaboration between the two countries.
The Minister of Transport and financial adviser to the prime minister in the Government of National Unity (GNA), Mohamed Al-Shahoubi, met with the Russian economic delegation in Tripoli.
The meeting was attended by several ministry officials, the Libyan and Russian ambassadors, as well as representatives from the ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation.
The meeting addressed several issues of mutual interest, particularly in the sectors of transportation, infrastructure, and logistics services. It also explored opportunities for economic and investment cooperation that would serve shared interests and strengthen the partnership between the two countries.
The two sides also discussed mechanisms for reviving the Libyan-Russian joint committee, in a way that would help advance cooperation and activate agreements and memoranda of understanding previously signed between Libya and Russia.
The conferees stressed the importance of continued coordination, consultation, and exchange of expertise in support of development efforts, and to enhance the transport sector and economic relations between the two states.
Sudanese Army Welcomes RSF Defectorshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5287412-sudanese-army-welcomes-rsf-defectors
Sudanese Army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan receives Major General Al-Nour Qubba, who defected from the Rapid Support Forces. (Sovereignty Council)
Sudan’s army is increasingly absorbing defectors from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), betting that growing divisions within the paramilitary group can help consolidate military gains in a civil war that has become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The latest sign of that strategy came last month when authorities in Khartoum granted a military rank to Ali Rizqallah, a former RSF commander who defected alongside several other senior figures. The army-backed government welcomed the move as evidence of widening cracks within the RSF.
The conflict erupted on April 15, 2023, after a power struggle between the army and RSF spiraled into open warfare. Since then, the war is believed to have killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions, and fueled famine and disease across large parts of the country.
Some of the worst violence has unfolded in Darfur, an RSF stronghold where the force has been accused of committing atrocities. Alleged abuses during the group’s assault on al-Fashir last October were documented in a Reuters investigation.
Halima, a resident of Darfur now living in the town of Tawila, said she was forced to flee repeatedly as RSF fighters raided villages surrounding al-Fashir. She recounted that she witnessed women being raped and was herself whipped by RSF personnel.
Sudanese refugees from Darfur walk amidst a sandstorm at the Touloum refugee camp, amid ongoing conflict in their country, on the outskirts of the town of Iriba in Wadi Fira province, eastern Chad, November 30, 2025. (Reuters)
“My arm is covered in scars all the way down to here,” she said, pointing toward her leg as she described the marks left on her body.
Anger toward the RSF is also widespread in neighboring Kordofan. A merchant in the town of Al-Nuhud revealed that he plans to file a lawsuit over the looting of warehouses and food stores.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, he blamed the RSF for the losses. But Mohamed Salah al-Din, a member of the executive council of the Emergency Lawyers group, said such individual cases are unlikely to gain broad traction amid the turmoil of war.
“This issue cannot be addressed piecemeal,” he stated. “It requires transitional justice.”
His comments contrast with efforts already underway to prosecute alleged collaborators. Emergency Lawyers said it has documented 243 cases referred to the courts involving accusations ranging from supplying intelligence to the RSF to cooking for its fighters.
The army is also seeking to exploit tribal tensions within the RSF’s support base. Several of the group’s senior commanders come from the Arab Rizeigat tribe, where rival clans have become increasingly divided, particularly after an RSF raid earlier this year on the hometown of Musa Hilal, a powerful tribal leader aligned with the military.
Hilal belongs to the Mahamid clan, while critics accuse the RSF of operating through a tribal and ethnic hierarchy that disproportionately benefits the family of its commander, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, better known as Hemedti.
“The RSF has become the preserve of a specific group and a single family,” critics said. “The project that builds a state must be a Sudanese national project, not one based on tribal loyalties.”
The Sudanese military is hoping those divisions will trigger further defections, replicating the success it achieved in Al Jazirah State, where the 2024 defection of militia commander Abu Aqla Keikal helped shift momentum decisively in the army’s favor.
Mourners grieve for Palestinian woman Shahd Ashour, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Monday in Gaza City (AP).
Expectations are growing that Hamas and other Palestinian factions will respond positively to revised proposals put forward by Nikolay Mladenov, the senior international mediator for Gaza within the Peace Council framework, despite emerging opposition to the latest amendments he has made to a roadmap first presented to the movement in April.
Hamas and participating factions are reviewing the newest version of Mladenov’s proposals, which are intended to advance a fragile Gaza ceasefire announced in October as part of a plan introduced by US President Donald Trump. Palestinian officials accuse Israel of repeatedly violating the agreement, saying more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the truce took effect.
Two Hamas sources and a third source from another Palestinian faction involved in the negotiations criticized the amendments, arguing that they depart from key provisions of the original agreement. Their objections focus on issues including an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, implementation of the first phase of the deal, the rights of employees affiliated with the Gaza administration, reconstruction guarantees across the enclave, and the broader political framework.
The disagreements have complicated indirect talks between Israel and Palestinian factions over advancing to subsequent stages of the ceasefire agreement. Palestinian negotiators insist that Israel must fulfill first-phase commitments, including withdrawing troops from occupied areas and allowing the entry of aid and commercial goods. Israel, meanwhile, continues to press for the disarmament of Palestinian factions as a central element of the next phase.
A Hamas source based outside Gaza noted that some implementation mechanisms in the roadmap remain unclear. The movement and other factions, he said, will seek additional clarification to ensure Israel fulfills its obligations.
A factional source inside Gaza echoed those concerns, arguing that certain revisions and the removal of previously agreed provisions effectively undermine earlier understandings. “There are attempts to impose a new reality that serves Israel’s interests at the expense of Palestinian rights,” he stated.
Despite the criticism, all three sources said Hamas and the factions are generally inclined to engage constructively with the revised proposal. They are expected to submit comments and additional amendments aimed at strengthening implementation of the original agreement signed in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh in October 2025. A formal response is expected within days.
According to Hamas officials, the movement’s leadership seeks to build on recent understandings reached in Cairo in order to secure a permanent end to the war and alleviate humanitarian suffering in Gaza.
A Hamas source outside the enclave said negotiators are working toward an agreement that would prevent Israel from maintaining long-term security control or creating a security vacuum by limiting weapons while continuing military operations, either directly or through armed groups that Hamas and other factions insist must be dismantled.
Meanwhile, Israeli military operations continued across Gaza. On Monday, Israeli forces killed a paramedic after targeting a vehicle in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Six others were wounded.
Earlier, an Israeli strike in Gaza City’s al-Rimal neighborhood targeted a vehicle with four missiles during the busy morning rush hour. The attack killed an 11th-grade student and wounded at least eight others. A local field source said the intended target escaped after abandoning the vehicle following the first missile strike.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the death toll since the ceasefire began has surpassed 1,026, with more than 3,260 people injured. The ministry says more than 73,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
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