The auditorium at Crocus City Hall was three-quarters full, with the crowd waiting to catch a glimpse of Picnic, a band popular since Soviet times in the early 1980s. But the concert sold out at the 6,200-seat venue, so some of the audience would probably still dine or lose their heavy coats in the dressing room.
It’s about 7 to 10 minutes before the exhibit begins at 8 p. m. , said audience member Dave Primov.
Then came the popping sounds.
“At first I thought, ‘Fireworks’ or something,” Primov told The Associated Press. “I looked at my colleague and he said, ‘Fireworks, probably. ‘»
But it wasn’t pyrotechnics. At least four men dressed in khaki and armed with automatic pistols were in the building and were shooting non-stop. Then they set fire to the concert hall.
It is the start of the deadliest attack on Russian soil in years, which left 137 people dead and more than 180 wounded in what President Vladimir Putin called a “bloody and barbaric terrorist act. “An associate of the ISIS organization claimed the charge, which U. S. intelligence confirmed. Kiev has denied any involvement.
Four suspects were arrested in Russia’s Bryansk region. Identified by Russian media as Tajik citizens, they have been accused of committing a terrorist act and face life in prison. They appeared before a Moscow court on Sunday night, showing symptoms of serious beatings.
Crocus City Hall is a gigantic entertainment and grocery shopping complex located in Krasnogorsk, a northwestern suburb of Moscow. It was built by Azerbaijan-born billionaire and real estate developer Aras Agalarov, who had ties to Donald Trump before he became president of the United States. While Trump co-owns the Miss Universe beauty pageant, he signed a deal with Agalarov to host the event in Crocus in 2013.
On Friday night, its vast hallways became a scene of bloodbath as gunmen entered and made their way into the auditorium, shooting anyone nearby at point-blank range.
Videos taken in the hallways and auditorium showed other people screaming and trying to flee as the gunmen continued to shoot. Some hid dark red seats and tried to move slowly toward the exits, according to photographs and survivors’ accounts reported in the media.
In one video, a young man says to the camera, shot: “They set fire to the auditorium. The room is on fire. ” For a moment, flames could be seen in a corner of the theater.
Primov and others had to leave the auditorium before the gunmen arrived, he told the AP. It took him about 25 minutes to completely leave the building.
He described the scene as total chaos: terrified people tried to find the exits, while armed men continued to walk through them and shoot; other people fell and collided with others as they ran; The men broke down the locked doors in the hope that they would be taken to safety.
“We don’t know what’s in store for us. We don’t know what that door is. We don’t know what’s going on outside, maybe we’re surrounded (by the attackers), maybe someone is waiting there,” Primov said. .
Another survivor, who was known only as Maria, echoed Prikov: “This uncertainty, where to go, what to do, was what scared us the most, because each and every single user had no idea what was going on. “
Picnic’s musicians never climbed to the level and left the building shortly after the attack began, their rep Yury Chernyshevsky told the AP by phone shortly after the shooting was announced. When asked if the organization was underway, he replied, “How can there be this point? We hope we’re Array
Around 8:30 p. m. , a large fire burned inside the building, with thick black smoke billowing from the roof that then collapsed. Russian media reported internal explosions, but it is unclear whether they were set off by the gunmen or the fire.
Outside, the building was bathed in neon blue due to the flashing lights of dozens of ambulances, police officers and fire trucks. Helicopters dropped water on the flames.
A special force of the Russian National Guard arrived and searched for the gunmen. Authorities said the attack left others dead and wounded, without giving figures, and said they were investigating the case as an act of terrorism.
Several arrived at the scene, from Moscow regional governor Andrei Vorobyov to Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev.
Elsewhere in Russia, the government has beefed up security and canceled primaries scheduled for this weekend. In the second-largest city of St. Petersburg, two grocery stores were evacuated, according to media reports.
Putin said no on Friday night.
Around 11 p. m. , the Kremlin issued a terse statement saying Putin had been briefed “for a few minutes” on the shooting, that he was “constantly receiving” updates from government agencies and that he had issued the mandatory orders, according to spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who gave no further details.
The death toll rose overnight and Saturday as more bodies were found at Crocus City Hall, adding some in stairwells and bathrooms.
Putin, who won a fifth term on March 17 in elections without genuine competition, addressed the country on Saturday afternoon.
Throughout the night, in Russia and abroad, discussions revolved around the question of who is to blame for this brazen attack. Ukrainian authorities, invaded through Russia more than two years ago, temporarily and vehemently denied any involvement. These denials were temporarily subsidized through U. S. officials. , prompting a strong reaction from Russian officials.
“Why do officials in Washington, in the midst of the tragedy, draw conclusions about someone’s lack of complicity?” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an online statement. “If the U. S. has or has reliable data on this, it will pass it on to the Russian side without delay. If they don’t, then the White House has no right to grant acquittal. “
Several hours after the attack began, an associate of the ISIS organization claimed responsibility; Some Russian state media figures denounced it as false.
“So far it seems that this is a red herring,” state TV journalist Andrei Medvedev wrote on Telegram.
On Saturday, the Russian government tried to link Ukraine to the attack. The Federal Security Service (FSB) reported that it had detained 4 armed men in the Bryansk border region, saying they were heading to Ukraine and had “unspecified contacts on the Ukrainian side. “He did not reveal any important details about the persecution, but praised authorities and security agencies for “acting together” and said a total of 11 other people had been arrested.
In his afternoon speech, Putin called the attack a “bloody and barbaric terrorist act. “
He also reiterated this narrative, claiming without evidence that “a window” had been prepared for attackers to enter Ukraine. However, he refrained from blaming Kyiv for orchestrating the attack. He mentioned the ISIS affiliate’s claim of responsibility.
Nor did he announce any drastic measures in the wake of the attack, such as lifting the moratorium on capital punishment, launching a new wave of military mobilization, or even an escalation of hostilities in Ukraine, as Kremlin critics have suggested.
Moscow’s Health Ministry said it would take at least two weeks to recover the bodies of the dead.
Sunday Sunday has been declared a day of national mourning. Cancelled events and flags flown at half-staff.
At Crocus Town Hall, burnt and smoking, a steady stream of people came to lay flowers at a makeshift memorial.
Throughout the day, a heavy police presence observed at the Basmanny District Court in Moscow the prompt arrival of the 4 suspects. Russia’s Investigative Committee published photographs of them at its headquarters in Moscow.
Shortly before 11 p. m. — about 51 hours after the shooting began — the suspects, one by one, appeared in court for their initial hearings.
Bruises could be seen on their faces; one had his ear bandaged; others in wheelchairs and hospital gowns. According to the independent newspaper Mediazona, whose journalists were present at the hearings, he has already returned from intensive care.
It was not immediately known how he was injured. Unconfirmed Russian media reports suggest he was injured during the chase.
The court said two of the suspects had admitted guilt, but the men’s situation raised questions about whether they had done so freely.
The suspects, known in Russian media as Tajik citizens, have been charged with committing a terrorist act and face life in prison.
Sixty-three years ago, 30,000 Algerians who came to demonstrate peacefully in Paris suffered a violent crackdown, leaving many injured.
Historians say “at least dozens” of people died as a result of police violence. The French parliament will debate a draft solution on Thursday subsidized by President Emmanuel Macron’s party, it is not easy for the government to dedicate a day to commemorate the massacre.
On October 17, 1967, six months before the Evian Accords established Algeria’s independence from France, “Franco-Algerian Muslims,” as they were at the time, poured in from the working-class neighborhoods of the suburbs and working-class neighborhoods of Paris. , where they lived.
At the invitation of the French branch of the National Liberation Front, an Algerian political party, they defied a ban imposed by police leader Maurice Papon, who was later convicted in 1998 of complicity in crimes against humanity for his role in the deportation. of Jews between 1942 and 1944.
The protesters suffered the deadliest repression in Western Europe since 1945, according to historian Emmanuel Blanchard. On that day, police arrested about 12,000 protesters. In the days that followed, corpses with multiple gunshot wounds or symptoms of beatings were discovered in the Seine. In 1988, an adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office for the Algerian War estimated that police “attacks” killed about 100 people, while a 1998 government report claimed 48 were killed.
In a declassified file, published through the French Mediapart in 2022, a note by a senior official, former adviser to Charles de Gaulle, dated October 28, 1961, reports 54 deaths. The death toll presented by historians over the years ranged from 30 to more than 200.
As soon as the first protesters arrived at the Pont de Neuilly, west of Paris, security forces gunned down a quiet crowd, including families, with gunfire to Blanchard. Police violence escalated when they heard radio messages posted by police falsely pronouncing that police officers had been shot. Shots were also fired at several locations in the capital.
These violations were not confirmed until 2012, when François Hollande, then French president, commemorated for the first time the “memory of those who suffered the bloody repression” they suffered while demonstrating for the “right to independence”. In 2021, Emmanuel Macron spoke of “unforgivable crimes” committed “under the authority of Maurice Papon. “
According to a new United Nations report, the world wasted about 19% of the food produced in the world in 2022, or about 1. 05 billion tons.
The United Nations Environment Programme’s Food Waste Index report, released on Wednesday, tracks countries’ progress in halving food waste through 2030.
The UN said the number of countries reporting for the index has nearly doubled compared to the first report in 2021. The 2021 report estimates that 17% of food produced globally in 2019, or 931 million metric tons (1. 03 billion tons), However, the authors cautioned against direct comparisons due to a lack of sufficient knowledge in many countries.
The report is co-authored by UNEP and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a charity.
The researchers analyzed national data on households, food and stores. They found that each user wastes about 79 kilograms (about 174 pounds) of food per year, which equates to at least one billion pieces of food wasted daily worldwide.
Most of the waste (60%) came from households. About 28% came from orArray and about 12% from retailers.
“It’s a farce,” said co-author Clementine O’Connor, UNEP’s head of food waste. “It doesn’t make sense and it’s a complex challenge, but through collaboration and systemic action, it’s a challenge that can be solved. “
The report comes at a time when 783 million people worldwide face chronic hunger and many regions face severe food crises. The war between Israel and Hamas and the violence in Haiti have worsened the crisis, and experts say famine is imminent in the north. Gaza and soon Haiti.
Food waste is also a global fear due to the environmental consequences of production, adding the land and water to raise crops and animals, as well as the greenhouse fuel emissions it produces, adding methane, a potent fuel that is responsible for around 30% of global warming since pre-industrial times.
Food loss and waste account for 8-10 percent of global greenhouse fuel emissions. If it were a country, it would rank third after China and the United States.
Fadila Jumare, a contributor at the Nigeria-based Busara Centre for Behavioural Economics who has studied food waste prevention in Kenya and Nigeria, said the problem further harms many other people who are already food insecure and unable to eat healthily.
“For humanity, food means that the poorest people will have less food,” Jumare said, not referring to the report.
Brian Roe, a food researcher at Ohio State University who is not involved in the report, said the index is vital to addressing the issue of food.
“The bottom line is that reducing the amount of food distributed is a path that can lead to many desirable outcomes: resource conservation, less environmental damage, greater food security, and more land for purposes other than landfills and food production. “who is not interested in the report, he said.
According to the authors, the report shows a remarkable expansion of food waste policy in low- and middle-income countries. But it would arguably be up to richer countries to take the lead in foreign cooperation and policymaking to reduce food waste, they said. .
The report indicates that many governments, regional and industry teams are public-private partnerships to reduce food waste and its contribution to climate and water stress. Governments and municipalities are working with corporations in the food source chain, where corporations are engaged in measuring food waste.
The report states that food redistribution (in addition to donating surplus food to food banks and charities) is in the fight against food waste at retailers.
One of the teams doing this is Food Banking Kenya, a non-profit organization that collects surplus food from farms, markets, supermarkets and packing plants and redistributes it to schoolchildren and vulnerable populations. Food waste is a growing fear in Kenya, where an estimated 4. 45 million tonnes (about 4. 9 million tonnes) of food are wasted each year.
“We are making a positive impact on society by offering nutritious food and we are also making a positive impact on the environment by reducing destructive gas emissions,” said John Mukuhi, the group’s co-founder and chief executive. .
The report’s authors said they found that the differences in terms of capita food waste between high- and low-income countries were strangely small.
Richard Swannel, co-author and director of Impact Growth at WRAP, said this shows that food waste “is not a global problem. It’s a global problem. “
“The information is very transparent about it — this is a worldwide challenge and one we can all take on to save money and reduce environmental impact,” he said.
An army plane has tilted over the ruins of war-torn Gaza City, dropping dozens of black parachutes carrying food aid.
At the site, where at least there were no buildings in sight, starving men and boys rushed to the beach, where most of the aid appeared to have landed.
Dozens of them were fighting intensely for food, forming tumults in the rubble-strewn dunes.
“People are dying to get a can of tuna,” said Mohamad al-Sabaawi, holding a nearly empty bag on his shoulder and a child by his side.
“It’s tragic, like we’re in a famine. What can we do? They laugh at us as they give us a small can of tuna. “
Aid teams say a fraction of the materials needed to meet critical humanitarian wishes have arrived in Gaza since October, while the UN has warned of famine in the north of the territory until May without urgent intervention.
Aid entering the Gaza Strip by land is well below pre-war levels, around 150 cars per day, down from at least 500 before the war, according to UNRWA, the U. N. firm for Palestinian refugees.
Faced with the desperation of Gazans, foreign governments have resorted to airdrops, especially in hard-to-reach areas in the north of the territory, including Gaza City.
The United States, France and Jordan are among the countries conducting airdrops on others living in the ruins of the largest city in the besieged territory.
But the teams themselves told AFP that the launches were insufficient.
U. S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Lt. Col. U. S. Jeremy Anderson came under pressure earlier this month that they could only supply a “drop in the ocean” of what they needed.
The air operation was also marred by deaths. Five other people on the ground were killed by a fall and 10 others were injured as a result of a parachute malfunction, according to a doctor in Gaza.
Calls have grown for Israel to allow more aid by land, while Israel has criticized the UN and UNRWA for failing to distribute aid to Gaza.
“Palestinians in Gaza desperately want what they promised: an avalanche of aid. No drops. No drops,” U. N. leader Antonio Guterres said Sunday after visiting Gaza’s southern border crossing with Egypt in Rafah.
“If we look at Gaza, it almost seems as if the four horsemen of war, famine, conquest and death are galloping there,” he added.
The war erupted with Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which killed an additional 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel retaliated for a bombing and invasion of Gaza aimed at destroying Hamas, which has killed at least 32,333 people, to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
Returning home to Gaza City with little for his family, another Palestinian said his situation was miserable.
“We are the rest of Gazans, waiting for help, dying to get a can of beans, which we will then distribute to 18 other people,” he said.
On Sunday, millions of voters in Turkey will go to the polls to elect mayors and directors in local elections that will measure President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s popularity as his government tries to retake key cities it lost five years ago.
A victory for Erdogan’s party could prompt the Turkish leader to implement constitutional adjustments that would allow him to govern beyond the limits of his current term.
At the same time, retaining municipalities in key cities would reinvigorate Turkey’s opposition, fractured and demoralized after a defeat in last year’s presidential election.
Here’s a closer look at what’s at stake and the imaginable consequences for Turkey’s future.
THE BATTLE FOR ISTANBUL In the last elections held in 2019, a united opposition won the municipalities of the capital Ankara and the publicity hub of Istanbul, ending the ruling party’s 25-year control over the cities.
The loss of Istanbul was a major blow to Erdogan, who began his political career as mayor of the city of about 16 million people in 1994.
Erdogan has nominated Murat Kurum, a 47-year-old former minister of urbanization and environment, to run against incumbent Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a popular politician from the center-left Republican People’s Party, or CHP. Imamoglu has been touted as a conceivable presidential candidate to challenge Erdogan.
But this time, Imamoglu, 52, is running in local elections without the support of Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party and the nationalist IYI party, which are running their own candidates.
Meanwhile, a new conservative and devout party, the New Social Welfare Party (YRP), has also thrown its hat into the ring. Appealing to the conservative and devout electorate disillusioned with Erdogan’s handling of the economy, he is expected to borrow some votes from Erdogan’s candidates.
Opinion polls point to a close race between Imamoglu and Kurum, both of whom have promised infrastructure projects to make buildings resilient to earthquakes and the city’s chronic traffic congestion.
The opposition is widely expected to control Ankara, where incumbent Mayor Mansur Yavas, who has also been nominated as a long-term presidential candidate, remains popular.
Leaving nothing to chance, Erdogan, who has been in office as minister and then president for more than two decades, has held election rallies across the country, campaigning on behalf of mayoral candidates.
Analysts believe that taking back Istanbul and Ankara and doing well in the elections would strengthen Erdogan to introduce a new charter that would allow him to govern beyond 2028, when his current term ends. The current charter sets a limit of two presidential terms. , 70, ran for a third term last year, which raises a technicality, as the country switched to a presidential ticket in 2018 and his first term was conducted under the previous formula.
Erdogan and his allies have recently failed to have enough seats in parliament to pass a new constitution, but an election victory could simply prompt some conservative opposition lawmakers to switch sides, analysts say.
Earlier this month, Erdogan said Sunday’s elections would be the last on the constitution. Critics see his comments as a ploy to win sympathetic votes from supporters rocked by a cost-of-living crisis, as well as a strategy to push through constitutional amendments.
An alliance of six opposition parties, led by the CHP, has disintegrated after a devastating election defeat last year. Supporters of the alliance were demoralized after it failed to topple Erdogan despite the economic crisis and the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake.
The CHP’s ability to hold on to the major cities it captured five years ago would reinvigorate the party and allow it to present itself as an option against Erdogan’s ruling party. Losing Ankara and Istanbul to Erdogan’s party, on the other hand, could simply put an end to the presidential aspirations of Yavas and Imamoglu.
The CHP opted for a change of direction shortly after the election defeat, but it remains to be seen whether the party’s new chairman, pharmacist Özgur Ozel, 49, will be able to excite his supporters.
As in past elections, Erdogan took advantage of being in power, using state resources during his campaign. According to media watchdog groups, about 90 percent of Turkey’s media is in the hands of the government or its supporters, selling the campaigns of the ruling party and its allies, denying the opposition the same opportunity.
State broadcaster TRT gave the ruling party 32 hours of broadcasting time in the first 40 days of campaigning, with 25 minutes for rivals, according to the opposition.
During his campaign, Erdogan issued thinly veiled warnings to the electorate to applicants subsidized by the ruling party if they wished to take advantage of government services. He raised the minimum wage by 49% to provide some relief to households, despite his government’s efforts to tame top inflation.
The Turkish leader also went on to highlight his country’s successes in the defense industry sector at his election rallies. A prototype of Turkey’s KAAN fighter jet made its maiden flight last month, which critics say was scheduled before the election.
The Kurdish electorate represents about 10% of the electorate in Istanbul and how they vote may be decisive in the mayoral race.
Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party, now known as the Party for Peoples’ Equality and Democracy, or DEM, elected Imamoglu in the 2019 municipal elections, helping him win. This time, however, the party is fielding its own candidates, who may simply siphon votes away from Imamoglu.
However, according to some observers, the party intentionally nominated two low-key and tacit candidates for the current mayor. Historically, the Kurdish party has both male and female personalities who share leadership positions.
Meanwhile, the DEM party is expected to win many municipalities in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeastern regions. The question remains whether the party will be allowed to remain in them. In recent years, Erdogan’s government has gotten rid of elected mayors from their workplaces due to alleged ties. Kurdish militants and replaced them with state-appointed administrators.
At a rally in the predominantly Kurdish city of Hakkari on March 15, Erdogan suggested to the electorate not to vote for Americans, as he said it would shift the municipal budget to the “terrorist organization,” a reference to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The pro-Iranian Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Iraq have partners in a very important agreement between Baghdad and Ankara – with Iran’s blessing – to eliminate the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Iraqi and Turkish resources said the recent agreement went beyond the military. operations opposed to the PKK and covered comprehensive agreements similar to the configuration of the Middle East after the end of the war in Gaza.
A Turkish official told Asharq Al-Awsat that component of Ankara’s “plan” to prepare for the adjustments that would occur after the war and its determination not to have “any security disorder in the region, especially in Iraq. “” between the PKK and Shiite factions in the city of Sinjar, however, may become an impediment to Türkiye’s new plan.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan last week referred to an agreement reached between his country and “an official financed through the Iraqi state” over Sinjar.
Turkey appears to wield its greatest political and military influence in Iraq and will expand its relations to end chronic tensions along its southern border. The internal balance in Baghdad and the rise of the PKK in Sinjar may jeopardize this plan.
Iraqi resources agree that “comprehensive Turkish activity” is part of the post-war arrangements for the region, and this requires “the elimination of resources of tension. “
What happened?
On 13 March, Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan met with his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Baghdad. The meeting was attended by security officials, including PMF leader Faleh al-Fayyad and national security adviser Qasim al-Araji.
One government said Iraq considers the PKK’s presence on its territory a “violation of the constitution. “Turkey hailed the Array, referring to the creation of a 40-kilometer-deep buffer zone to eliminate the PKK, which it considers terrorist. Advance from the Sulaymaniyah region, pass through Sinjar and reach the Syrian border.
That night, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler did not return to Ankara with Fidan. He stayed and spent the night on the Iraqi border, at the headquarters of the Turkish forces deployed in Hakkari.
Turkey’s Zero Hour
According to two sources in Baghdad and Erbil, Ankara has been prosecuted for years from Iraq accusing it of having been “too patient” in its fight against the PKK, which ultimately failed. He is continually asked what is preventing him from launching a “final military operation to solve this riddle for everyone. “It turns out that, despite everything, he was convinced to take decisive action.
Iraqi sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that before Fidan went to Baghdad, Iraq had been informed of the Turkish plan, adding Iran’s blessing on the new PKK-related scenario.
“Everything, adding 0 hours, is done” at the start of official consultations, another Iraqi source revealed. He called the plan “unprecedented” among countries, adding that PMFs will be set up in some regions to provide support.
It is unclear why Iran accepted the PKK in Iraq, especially since the party’s activities have been connected to pro-Iranian factions along Tehran’s strategic direction extending to Damascus and Beirut since 2016.
Iraqi resources said the deal included Turkish mediation with the Americans to ease tensions with Tehran in Iraq and secure a greater role for Iran in the regional industry with Turkish guarantees. It also means securing Iran’s assistance to Baghdad to triumph over crises, such as oil exports and the “flawed” scenario in the Kurdistan Region and Kirkuk.
Comprehensive changes
An Iraqi diplomat said the political aspects of the deal are prepared for the “comprehensive adjustments that are expected to occur after the end of the war in Gaza. “A Turkish aide showed Asharq Al-Awsat that Ankara had prepared a dossier on the post-war scenario covering the countries of the region.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Turkish official said the Turkish Foreign Ministry and security agencies had drafted a plan about five months ago covering Ankara’s characteristics in the post-war phase and how to deal with the expected changes. “Iraq and Syria are components of that picture,” he revealed.
Former Nineveh governor and Sunni Atheel al-Nujayfi told Asharq Al-Awsat: “All countries in the region are aware that the war in Gaza is going through a post-war phase. Changes will be made in the methods of the primary powers in the region. “
These adjustments require life-saving measures that prepare it for a greater role in the future or save any projects that may affect the national security of those countries. He said Turkey is very active in strategic calculations to expand its interests.
However, a Turkish diplomatic source denied that the Turkish army’s operations in Iraq were similar to the scenario in Gaza. He predicted that operations could begin as early as June.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to travel to Baghdad in April. It is preparing to sign an agreement for the creation of a joint operations command center and a buffer zone, “which will well mean that we have reached 0 hours,” Turkish sources said. .
An Iraqi official with the pro-Iran Coordination Framework said Ankara was seeking to turn the PKK’s zones of influence into a “zone of secure partnership” with Iraq and Iran. The Turks have shown “a transparent will on the part of the regional actors involved in this factor to succeed in the post-war phase without tensions”.
Possibly this is why Turkey wields such influence in Iraq. “Turkey will have to prevent the fireball from advancing towards it in a context of such instability in the region,” al-Nujayfi said. That is why he urges Iraq and Syria to “take direct and strong action with them to prevent the PKK from becoming an even more serious crisis. “
Meanwhile, Iraqi resources said Tehran had given its blessing to the Turks to act in Iraq. An Iraqi politician said this was reflected in the PMF’s notable presence at the official consultations that took place between the two countries. The option of an armed confrontation with the PKK in Sinjar remains unresolved, the appeals revealed.
The Turkish army’s plan calls for a large-scale military operation in the mountainous regions of the Kurdistan Region, while Baghdad provides intelligence, maps and data and monitors the border.
However, Sulaymaniyah and Sinjar are located on the outer edge of Turkey’s buffer zone and intersect with Iranian interests, making it not easy for Ankara to reach other political and security agreements related to them.
A Kurdish source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Turks sought to neutralize the PKK in Sulaymaniyah by forging new relations with Bafel Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), exploring partnership opportunities with him, and resolving differences with him. Kurdistan Democratic Party in Erbil.
Al-Nujayfi said it would be difficult for PUK leaders, Talabani added, to confront the agreements reached between the main countries in the region. There is no doubt that the agreements were approved through Iran and approved through Iraq, Turkey, and the official government of Kurdistan.
Sinjar Obstacle
However, the situation in Sinjar remains an obstacle to regional planning. It will be dealt with through the MFFs, in accordance with the Turkish agreement.
Al-Nujayfi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the influence of Shiite factions is limited to Sinjar and extends to the rest of the Kurdish regions.
The scenario in Sinjar, however, is different. Located on the Turkish-Syrian border, its population is predominantly Yazidi and includes several armed groups. Even the Iraqi army acts as one of the factions present, a local city official said.
He compared Sinjar to Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, where the front lines are very close to each other and the armed teams that constitute regional and local interests are on alert.
Over the years, an alliance has developed between the PMF and the PKK and they have shaped a “blood brotherhood” in the fight against the extremist organization ISIS, a member of a Shiite faction claimed.
It is unclear how the PMF will neutralize PKK fighters after the last few years of partnership on the ground.
Information about the nature of this alliance varies. Two Shiite faction leaders told Asharq Al-Awsat that the PMF was offering places to PKK leaders in Sinjar, Nineveh and other spaces in exchange for logistical and military services.
According to three sources on the ground, adding the head of a hardline faction in Baghdad, the situation goes “far beyond Iran’s decision to form an alliance between the PMF and the PKK. “
“The PKK is very forceful. Not all Iraqi security agencies have a transparent concept of the party’s strength and weapons,” they revealed, adding that the Iraqi army, under former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, clashed twice with the PKK in Sinjar. And he was defeated each and every time.
In addition, they claimed that the PKK had established a network of tunnels in Sinjar, especially in the mountainous regions. Local journalists told Asharq Al-Awsat that they already had trucks transporting bulldozers from Sinjar to the spaces where the tunnels are located.
Citizens of Sinjar and members of Shia factions answered Asharq Al-Awsat’s questions about the tunnels.
Expert Strength
A prominent politician in Nineveh described the PKK as an “expert force in deploying, mobilizing and consolidating control, so it would be difficult to know how the PMF could neutralize the party or help Turkey. “
Al-Nujayfi said that the PKK will be a challenge to Iraq that will weigh on local affairs and that it will therefore want Turkey’s help in dealing with this “internal crisis. “The PKK will eventually realize that it is “nothing more than a pawn. “and a negotiation letter. When it is no longer useful, we will all cooperate to remove it,” he added.
What’s left: How will the PMF neutralize PKK fighters?
Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in a recent television interview that it is mandatory to “confront the PKK gunmen as they attack the population of Sinjar. “However, he added that he did not know how to cooperate with Turkey against how the party would play out, or whether the fighters would be expelled or contained.
A Shiite politician said, “Iran’s green kindness is decisive. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he added that Tehran is hoping for a “good deal with Turkey, but it would be a blank check and jeopardize its armed influence in Iraq. “
“Iran is watching and everything can be repositioned depending on how it develops. All we know now is that there is limited regulation in Sinjar,” he said.
Other resources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the PMF would deploy local PKK members among Shiite factions, ending the party’s visual presence. Such a move would ensure the complete domination of Sinjar at the expense of the unbreakable Kurdish forces in the face of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
What does this mean? The PMF will see the Turkish deal as a way to exert influence in a strategic area towards Iraq, Iran and Turkey. In theory, the army’s operation would lead to the expulsion of PKK fighters to the mountainous regions of Kurdistan. It will also merge the Turkish buffer zone with the Iranian zone where Iranian factions are deployed near Syria. Political and diplomatic advisers in Baghdad said everything should go according to plan “unless Tehran presents an unforeseen letter at a decisive moment. “
Ahmed al-Hakim’s 27-year-old brother was tortured to death in militant-ruled northwest Syria, prompting rare protests amid accusations by citizens and activists of rights abuses in the opposition stronghold.
“We protest and rise up against the Assad regime to end injustice,” Hakim, 30, said, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Now, “we ourselves govern with the same methods,” he told AFP, crouching next to his brother Abdel-Kader’s grave, with flowers and plants deposited in the freshly turned earth.
The 13-year conflict in Syria, triggered by Assad’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protests, has drawn foreign armies and militants and killed more than 500,000 people.
Roughly part of Idlib province and parts of the neighboring provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia are controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an alliance of extremist factions led by the former Syrian group al-Qaeda.
Allegations of torture and rights violations have increased since last year, when HTS introduced a crackdown on alleged “agents” of Damascus or foreign governments.
The War Observatory reported that protests are taking place in cities and towns, especially on Sunday night, when demonstrators chanted slogans against HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
Jolani said the protesters’ demands were “largely justified” and announced changes, restructuring the security forces that run the prisons.
HTS’s media office told AFP that the organisation was “seriously considering” the protesters’ demands and would “strengthen the work of the security organs (and) the criminal infrastructure. . . to deal with any dysfunction. “
Abdel-Kader surrendered on March 16 last year, “with the promise that he would be released. . . in a week at most,” Hakim said.
After detaining him for several months and claiming he was “in good health,” HTS obstructed the family’s requests for information, according to Hakim.
A few months later, a faction member and a former combatant told his relatives that Abdel-Kader had died as a result of torture.
Family members discovered that his grave “is new, but the date of his death is written about 20 days after his arrest,” Hakim said.
Former detainees told Hakim that his brother “beat him with whistles until he lost consciousness and tied his hands for days without food or water. “
A former detainee said Abdel-Kader was tortured so brutally that he “couldn’t walk because his feet were swollen and full of pus. “
On the day of his death, guards “tortured him for six hours” and, after returning to the cell, “he continued to vomit,” Hakim said.
This grim remedy echoes the torture reported by human rights teams in Syrian government-run prisons since 2011, with tens of thousands of others forcibly disappeared and arbitrarily detained.
Amnesty International accused the government in 2017 of carrying out secret mass hangings at the infamous Saydnaya facility.
The Observatory said HTS released 420 prisoners this month as a result of an amnesty aimed at quelling unrest in the northwest.
But that makes no difference to Noha al-Atrash, 30, whose husband, Ahmed Majluba, has been detained since December 2022 on charges of robbery and bludgeoning an extremist group.
Majluba, a worker, was shot in the leg “during a previous period” while in HTS custody, Atrash said.
“I go to protests, make posters with pictures of my husband and take the children with me,” said Atrash, who covers herself from head to toe with a niqab.
She and her children were detained for about 20 days after harassing the government for information.
During a prison stopover, she discovered that her husband’s hand was damaged and “his face was swollen from the beatings,” she said.
“They asked us to pay $3,000 to release him,” Atrash said, adding that he didn’t have that money.
Bassam Alahmad of the Paris-based Syrians for Truth and Justice said others were “fed up with HTS violations” such as “arbitrary arrests and torture. “
He suggested that families and human rights teams gather independent and credible evidence for possible long-term investigations.
In a camp near the Turkish border, Amina al-Hamam, 70, said her son Ghazwan Hassun was arrested via HTS in 2019 on suspicion of “informing the regime. “
On Hamam’s only stopover in — eight months after his arrest — Hassun told his guards that they were employing a method of torture well known in Syria, in which the victim’s hands were tied behind his back and hung for hours.
Family members have not heard from the 39-year-old and so far he has vowed to keep fighting.
“I cry for him and for the day,” Hamam said.
“We’re running away from injustice, we’ve noticed worse things here. “
With the UN Security Council finding it difficult to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza soon and fears of famine are developing, starving civilians in the territory are looking for a wild green plant called Khobiza, for lack of anything else to eat.
It is a reminder of the suffering in the Palestinian enclave in the five months of war since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, when Hamas fighters killed another 1,200 people and took 253 hostages, according to the Israeli count.
The attack provoked a fierce reaction from Israel, which introduced airstrikes and bombardments in Gaza that killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, to the suitability of the enclave’s government — the worst confrontation between Israel and Hamas, the armed organization that controls the territory.
“In all our lives, even in the (previous) wars, we have eaten Khobiza,” said Palestinian Maryam Al-Attar.
“My daughters tell me, ‘Let’s eat bread, Mom. ‘ My core breaks for them. “
“I can’t get a piece of bread for them. We’ve discovered Khobiza so far, but in the future, where are we going to get it from?We will miss Khobiza. Where are we going?”
Palestinians are suffering at a time when they observe the holy month of Ramadan, like millions of other Muslims around the world who enjoy giant dinners with relatives and watch TV specials.
“We have fed on hunger. We have nothing to eat. We crave vegetables, fish and meat. We fasted on an empty stomach. We can no longer fast. We are dizzy with hunger. There’s nothing to do. sturdy frame,” said Oum Mohamed.
Famine is imminent and is expected to occur during May in northern Gaza and could spread throughout the enclave until July, the global hunger watchdog, known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), said on March 18.
Fears that Kobiza will provide only temporary aid are emerging at a time when uncertainty is growing over the delivery of aid and mediators must narrow differences between Israel and Hamas over the terms of a ceasefire and the release of hostages.
On Monday, an Israeli government spokesman said Israel would prevent collaboration with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the Gaza Strip, through Gaza’s largest aid company, accusing the humanitarian company of perpetuating the conflict.
Israel claimed in January that 12 of UNRWA’s 13,000 members in Gaza had participated in the October 7 attack. The Israeli accusations have prompted several donor countries to suspend their funding.
UNRWA fired some of its staff, saying it acted to protect the agency’s ability to provide humanitarian assistance, and an independent internal UN investigation was launched.
In mid-March, a line of trucks stretched for 3 kilometers along a desert road near a crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. On the same day, another line of trucks, about 1. 5 kilometers long and two or three kilometers wide, was turned away near a crossing between Egypt and Gaza.
COGAT’s Freedman said there is a published list of what constitutes dual-use items, but there is no “blanket ban” on such items. If the Israeli government “understands exactly what this is for, we can coordinate it,” he said. But Israel needs to be sure that the goods will be “used through Hamas for terrorist purposes,” he said.
Most other Sudanese are still unaware of the whereabouts of former President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in a popular revolution on April 11, 2019.
The ousted president was interned in Kobar Central Prison, along with some members of his regime, before being transferred by medical order to the military hospital in the town of Omdurman. His collaborators escaped from prison two weeks after the war began.
Since then, no one knows the precise whereabouts of the former president and members of his regime, who escaped and have been charged with war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region through the International Criminal Court (ICC). .
Despite conflicting reports about Al-Bashir’s fate, Asharq Al-Awsat spoke to a source close to the Islamic Movement’s decision-making centers, who proved that Al-Bashir had been smuggled out of the military hospital to a position in the north of the country. Sudan, along with its defense minister, Abdul Rahim Mohammed Hussein.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said the smuggling operation was carried out through an organization of extremist fighters affiliated with the Islamic Movement and Islamist special forces, without significant involvement by the army, whose project was limited to ensuring the safety of the population. . the operation.
They spoke of the conduct of a complex airdrop operation that preceded the clandestine arrival of the two men, aimed at rescuing them by offering them emergency medical and food supplies, following the deterioration of their physical condition.
He added that the two men were taken directly to the northern city of Berber, where he reported that Islamist leaders had held a gigantic secret assembly in the city, chaired by al-Bashir. The operation took place more than a month ago, according to the same source.