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Sudan: Russia Wants Access to Red Sea

Sudanese Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim (Reuters)
Sudanese Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim (Reuters)
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Sudan: Russia Wants Access to Red Sea

Sudanese Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim (Reuters)
Sudanese Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim (Reuters)

Sudan’s Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim said that a Russian ambition to have presence on the Sudanese coast does not entail a military role.

Speaking to the Russian RT TV Arabic Service, Ibrahim clarified that the discussions primarily focus on Russia’s desire for Red Sea access, rather than purchasing land. He emphasized Sudan’s openness to such partnerships, stating: “The idea is not about military experts or a large base, but rather a service center for Russian ships to obtain supplies.”

He said Sudan “does not object to the Russian presence, but the opposition comes from the West, the US and its allies,” stressing that Sudan’s coast on the Red Sea “can accommodate everyone if the United States wants to buy a similar point.”

Official Sudanese sources had spoken to the media about the existence of a draft agreement between Sudan and Russia that gives Moscow a “military, technical and logistical support center” on the Red Sea coast in the east of the country.

In return, the draft agreement stipulates that Russia will provide the Sudanese army with war equipment, based on a separate protocol. The sources added that the Russian presence should not exceed 300 individuals and four ships, as per the same agreement.

Meanwhile, a statement by the Sudanese Sovereignty Council announced that urgent matters prevented Russian President Vladimir Putin from meeting with the Council’s Vice-President, Malik Agar.

Putin assigned his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, to receive the written message addressed to Putin from the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council and Commander of the Sudanese Army, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.

Before heading to Russia on Tuesday, Agar announced that he would meet with Putin and deliver a written message from Al-Burhan. He added that the meeting will discuss that agenda that falls within the framework of developing bilateral relations.

The Sudanese delegation’s trip to Russia came in the wake of the visit made by the Deputy Foreign Minister and Russian President’s envoy to the Middle East and Africa, Mikhail Bogdanov, to the city of Port Sudan in April.

During his meeting with Lavrov on Friday, Agar affirmed his country’s readiness to activate the joint political and military agreements and committees between the two countries to draw a roadmap to reach the stage of strategic partnership.

He also emphasized Sudan’s keenness to strengthen, promote and develop bilateral relations with Russia in all strategic, political and economic fields.

For his part, Lavrov pointed to a political will to develop ties, in a way that achieves the common interests of the two countries and peoples.

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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.”