عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

China Prepares for Summit under Shadow of Israel-Gaza War

FILE PHOTO: A security surveillance camera overlooking a street is pictured next to a nearby fluttering flag of China in Beijing, China November 25, 2021. Picture taken November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A security surveillance camera overlooking a street is pictured next to a nearby fluttering flag of China in Beijing, China November 25, 2021. Picture taken November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo
TT
TT

China Prepares for Summit under Shadow of Israel-Gaza War

FILE PHOTO: A security surveillance camera overlooking a street is pictured next to a nearby fluttering flag of China in Beijing, China November 25, 2021. Picture taken November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A security surveillance camera overlooking a street is pictured next to a nearby fluttering flag of China in Beijing, China November 25, 2021. Picture taken November 25, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo

China prepared on Monday to host representatives of 130 countries for a forum that will be overshadowed by the Israel-Gaza war, as an increasingly assertive Beijing is asked to help de-escalate the violence.

At the top of the invite list to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forum is Russia's President Vladimir Putin, on his first trip to a major global power since the Ukraine invasion threw his regime into international isolation, AFP said.

Leaders have begun to trickle into the Chinese capital for a gala event marking a decade of the BRI -- a key project of President Xi Jinping to extend China's global reach.

While China hopes the forum will help boost its standing as a leading global power, Israel's war with Palestinian militant organization Hamas will continue to dominate the headlines.

Israel declared war on Hamas after waves of its fighters broke through the heavily fortified border on October 7, shooting, stabbing and burning to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

Under heavy Israeli bombardment of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, more than one million people have fled their homes in scenes of chaos and despair.

Israel's bombing has left at least 2,670 people dead in Gaza, mainly civilians, and flattened entire neighborhoods.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi has condemned Israel's actions for going "beyond the scope of self-defense" and called for it to "cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza".

"(Israel) should listen earnestly to the calls of the international community and the UN secretary general, and cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza," Wang said Sunday, in what is the strongest stance China has expressed so far on the conflict.

Beijing has been criticized by Western officials for not specifically naming Hamas in its statements on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Wang had on Sunday spoken with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who called on China to use its "influence" in the Middle East to push for calm.

China has a warm relationship with Iran, whose clerical leadership supports both Hamas and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that could open a second front against Israel.

Beijing's special envoy Zhai Jun will visit the Middle East this week to push for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict and promote peace talks, China's state broadcaster CCTV said on Sunday, without specifying which countries he would visit.

Niva Yau, a nonresident fellow with the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, told AFP the BRI summit would allow Beijing to frame attendance as a gesture of support for its position.

"Any head of state that attends the summit, it's almost as if they agree with Beijing's positions on these global issues," she said.

Strategic dependence
A number of leaders have already arrived in Beijing ahead of the two-day forum, which kicks off Tuesday.

Among them are Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, Kenyan President William Ruto and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

On Monday Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov flew into Beijing and within hours held talks with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Putin -- whose strategic dependence on China has only grown since his invasion of neighboring Ukraine thrust his country into international isolation -- is expected to arrive overnight.

This year, trade between China and Russia has soared to levels not seen since the beginning of Moscow's war in Ukraine, with Chinese imports of Russian oil offering Moscow a critical lifeline as international sanctions bite.

China has refused to condemn the Ukraine war in an effort to position itself as a neutral party, while at the same time offering Moscow vital diplomatic and financial support.

At the heart of the deepening partnership is the relationship between Xi and Putin, who have described each other as "dear friends".

Their alliance is also forged by a symbiotic necessity, each seeing the other as a necessary bulwark in their shared struggle against Western dominance.

In an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CGTN ahead of his visit this week, Putin hailed ties with Beijing and the "mutual benefits" of the BRI.

"President Putin pointed out that a multipolar world is taking shape, and the concepts and initiatives put forward by President Xi Jinping are highly relevant and significant," CGTN reported.

"He stated that President Xi Jinping is a well-recognized leader on the world stage and is a true world leader," it said.

Putin also reportedly "shared pleasant memories between President Xi and him, and hoped tradition continues when they meet in China in the future."

Most Viewed

 
 
World

End of the ‘People’s Army’ Myth: Israel Weighs Resorting to Mercenaries

Israeli soldiers seen in the village of Aitaroun in southern Lebanon, January 27, 2025. (AP)
Israeli soldiers seen in the village of Aitaroun in southern Lebanon, January 27, 2025. (AP)
TT
TT

End of the ‘People’s Army’ Myth: Israel Weighs Resorting to Mercenaries

Israeli soldiers seen in the village of Aitaroun in southern Lebanon, January 27, 2025. (AP)
Israeli soldiers seen in the village of Aitaroun in southern Lebanon, January 27, 2025. (AP)

As Israel’s military grapples with a severe manpower shortage estimated at 15,000 troops — a situation Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has described as “dangerous for the future of the Jewish state” —

Israeli ultra-Orthodox parties continue to reject military service in favor of Torah study even as Israel’s military grapples with a severe manpower shortage estimated at 15,000 troops - a situation Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has described as “dangerous for the future of the Jewish state”.

Former senior government official Shlomo Maoz has proposed recruiting 12,000 mercenary soldiers with generous pay packages to address the shortage.

Maoz presented the idea as a personal initiative inspired by Ukraine’s recruitment of 10,000 foreign fighters, however, he said the Israeli army has long relied on a similar force known as “lone soldiers,” currently numbering 7,365.

According to Maoz, 52 percent are soldiers from Jewish families living abroad, while the remaining 48 percent are effectively mercenaries “in every sense of the word.” They come from several countries, including 30 percent from the US, 12 percent from France and 7 percent from Ukraine, while the rest come from Spain, Italy, Germany, Canada and Britain.

These soldiers receive salaries equivalent to $4,000 a week and they currently serve through “secret” arrangements, he revealed.

His new proposal is aimed at bringing these arrangements into the open and formalize the system publicly through the creation of an “Israeli Foreign Legion” composed of four brigades operating under Israeli officers.

Speaking to Israel’s Maariv daily, Maoz stressed that the main problem with the proposal was moral rather than military, as it would mark Israel’s abandonment of the “people’s army” myth.

He described the Israeli military as historically built on the integration of Israelis from more than 100 cultural backgrounds — Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews, urban and rural communities, native-born Israelis and new immigrants, people from Europe and Western countries, as well as from Arab and Muslim states, alongside Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and Circassians — into what he called a cohesive force that overcame social divisions.

But Maoz argued that the benefits of recruiting mercenaries outweigh the symbolic costs.

He said the military faces an acute shortage, with even conservative estimates pointing to a need for 15,000 additional troops, including at least 9,000 combat soldiers, while religious Jews remain adamantly opposed to conscription.

At the same time, he said, the government is waging an ongoing war on seven fronts, pursuing further occupation and expansion, and establishing 134 new settlements and outposts that all require protection.

“To fill this need, solutions outside the box must be explored,” Maoz urged.

He added that hundreds of thousands of retired military officers from around the world, including fighters, snipers, tank operators, drone specialists and even pilots, could be recruited easily, particularly from Eastern European countries.

Maoz, an economist by background, said financing the project was one of its key challenges. He estimated each soldier would cost between $8,000 and $10,000 a month, with additional state expenses amounting to roughly half that figure.

He revealed that the total cost of a mercenary force would reach around $2.5 billion — a manageable amount given Israel’s foreign currency reserves of $236 billion, equivalent to about 38 percent of gross domestic product.

Pointing to the Ukrainian model, Maoz said around 600 mercenaries join Ukraine’s army every month, bringing the total number of foreign fighters there to 10,000 from 75 nationalities. Kyiv pays them an average of $4,000 per month.

Maoz added that Israel was particularly suited to integrating mercenaries because it has millions of citizens who speak foreign languages as their mother tongue, such as Russian, Slavic languages, English and Spanish.

World

Putin to Visit China May 19-20 After Trump Trip

Russian President Vladimir Putin pauses as he meets with newly appointed acting governor of Belgorod region Alexander Shuvaev at the Kremlin in Moscow, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin pauses as he meets with newly appointed acting governor of Belgorod region Alexander Shuvaev at the Kremlin in Moscow, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
TT
TT

Putin to Visit China May 19-20 After Trump Trip

Russian President Vladimir Putin pauses as he meets with newly appointed acting governor of Belgorod region Alexander Shuvaev at the Kremlin in Moscow, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin pauses as he meets with newly appointed acting governor of Belgorod region Alexander Shuvaev at the Kremlin in Moscow, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China on May 19 for a two-day visit, hot on the heels of US President Donald Trump's trip to Beijing, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

During the trip, the Russian leader will discuss with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping how to "further strengthen the comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation" between Moscow and Beijing, according to a Kremlin statement.

Putin and Xi will "exchange views on key international and regional issues" and sign a joint declaration at the conclusion of their talks, it added.

As part of the visit, Putin is also scheduled to discuss economic and trade cooperation with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

The announcement of Putin's trip comes just after Trump wrapped up on Friday the first visit to China by a US president in nearly a decade, with the grand reception belying a roster of unresolved trade and geopolitical tensions, including over the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Although Trump and Xi discussed the more than four-year-long conflict -- as well as the US leader's stalemated war with Iran -- the Republican president took off from China on Friday without appearing to secure a breakthrough on either front.

While China has regularly called for talks to end the fighting, it has never condemned Russia for sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and presents itself as a neutral party.

Beijing also denies providing Moscow with weapons and military components for its defense industry, blaming Western countries for prolonging Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II by arming Ukraine instead.

As the world's top buyer of Russian fossil fuels, China has become Moscow's key economic partner, especially since Western countries imposed economic sanctions on Russian oil and gas over the conflict.

Negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine, brokered by the United States, have appeared stalled since the beginning of the US-Israeli war with Iran which broke out on February 28.

Moscow has ruled out a ceasefire or comprehensive negotiations with Ukraine unless Kyiv caves to the Kremlin's maximalist demands.

World

Former IRGC Chief Says No Direct Talks Before US Confidence-Building Steps

Mohammad Ali Jafari, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (File photo - state television) 
Mohammad Ali Jafari, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (File photo - state television) 
TT
TT

Former IRGC Chief Says No Direct Talks Before US Confidence-Building Steps

Mohammad Ali Jafari, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (File photo - state television) 
Mohammad Ali Jafari, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (File photo - state television) 

Mohammad Ali Jafari, former commander-in-chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said Iran would not enter negotiations with the United States before Washington implements “preconditions” and “confidence-building measures.”

In an interview with the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency, Jafari said Tehran would reject any negotiations before the war ends on all fronts, sanctions are lifted, frozen Iranian assets are released, war damages are compensated and Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz is recognized.

Jafari said the United States “must pay the price for violating its commitments” after Iran was subjected to two military attacks during negotiations. He said the experience had produced a “strategic shift” in Tehran’s negotiating approach, now based on written guarantees and commitments against renewed military threats, alongside practical steps such as releasing frozen assets.

He further revealed that Iran is not currently engaged in direct negotiations with Washington, but is exchanging messages through a third country, such as Pakistan, to present its conditions and seek guarantees. If such commitments are secured, negotiations on other issues, including the nuclear file, could follow later.

Jafari said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who oversees the negotiations, are acting within the framework of decisions by the ruling establishment and directives from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

He noted that Washington “has no option” but to accept “Iran’s legitimate demands” or continue the war, warning that if fighting resumes, Iran would launch “stronger strikes” than before. He added that the cost of continuing the war for the United States and its regional allies would be “far greater” than for Iran.

Jafari’s remarks on Thursday came days after he said Iran’s response was based on five preconditions: ending the war, lifting sanctions, releasing frozen assets, war reparations and recognition of Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. He stressed that “there will be no negotiations before they are achieved.”

Jafari currently heads the IRGC’s cultural and social divisions and is considered a close ally of General Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who became secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council after former secretary Ali Larijani was killed during the war.

The first round of Iranian-US talks, mediated by Pakistan and held on April 12, ended without agreement, despite a ceasefire that took effect on April 7.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the ceasefire with Iran was “close to collapse” after Tehran’s latest response to a US proposal to end the war showed the sides remained divided on several issues. He also sought to ease tensions after naval clashes last week.

In response, Ghalibaf said Iran’s armed forces were ready to respond decisively to any “aggressive act.”

Iran’s response focused on ending the war on all fronts, particularly in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

Tehran also demanded compensation for war damages, stressed Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and called on the United States to end its naval blockade, guarantee no further attacks, lift sanctions and end the US ban on Iranian oil sales.

Iran also demanded recognition of its “sovereignty” over the Strait of Hormuz, where maritime traffic has been halted through the waterway that previously carried one-fifth of global oil and gas supplies.

Separately, lawmaker Mahmoud Nabavian, a member of parliament’s National Security Committee who accompanied the Iranian negotiating team, disclosed details of the Iranian-US talks in Pakistan.

Nabavian said the Islamabad talks included four sessions and that US Vice President JD Vance said in the first session Washington had two main demands: the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the removal from Iran of all uranium enriched to 60%.

According to Nabavian, the Iranian delegation insisted on sanctions relief and recognition of Iran’s enrichment rights, but Vance asked to address the Strait of Hormuz first. Ghalibaf replied: “We do not have one issue to solve first; there are four issues on the table,” according to the state-run Mehr news agency.

Nabavian added the two sides later agreed to continue negotiations across four tracks. He noted that the Americans again raised the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s uranium stockpile, proposing the release of $6 billion in frozen assets in exchange for Iranian cooperation.