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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

The richest security official: career, scandals, criminal case of Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Ivanov

2024-04-26

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [GlavnoeLife] The Investigative Committee of Russia announced the detention of Deputy Minister of Defense of Russia Timur Ivanov on suspicion of receiving a bribe on an especially large scale. We tell you who Timur Ivanov is and about the criminal case for taking a bribe. WHO IS TIMUR IVANOV Ivanov is a man with a civilian background; he spent most of his career in the energy sector. Ivanov was born in 1975 in Moscow - thus, he can become the youngest of Sergei Shoigu’s current deputies. If he is appointed, the leadership of the ministry will be biased toward civilians over the military. Ivanov has a diploma from the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics of Moscow State University with a degree in applied mathematics. It is curious that he graduated from the university in 1997 and immediately after graduation, according to his official biography posted on the Oboronstroy website, “he held senior positions in commercial organizations.” Since 1999, he was an adviser to the head of the department for the construction of nuclear facilities of the Ministry of Atomic Energy, then an adviser to the first deputy head of Rosenergoatom, and later became the first vice president of Atomstroyexport, from where he left for the post of deputy chairman of the board of Inter RAO UES. At the same time, Ivanov was in the position of adviser to the Minister of Energy. In the period from 2009 to 2012, he was the general director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Russian Energy Agency” of the Ministry of Energy of Russia. He was a member of the working group of the government commission on energy efficiency issues of the fuel and energy complex. From 2011 to 2013, he was a member of the High-Level Group on Affordable Energy for All under UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. From March 2013 to May 2016, he held the position of General Director of JSC Oboronstroy (replacing Vladislav Germanovich in this post), which is directly and through JSC Garrison controlled by the Russian Ministry of Defense. JSC Oboronstroy is a diversified company engaged in the construction of housing for military personnel, as well as socially significant and strategic military facilities. It includes enterprises involved in design, construction, manufacturing, logistics and energy. Acting State Advisor of the Russian Federation, 1st class (2019). Honored Builder of the Russian Federation (2015). Hero of the LPR (2022). “HONORARY BUILDER” IVANOV AND THE TRAGEDY IN SEVASTOPOL Despite his short-term leadership of the Moscow region, Sergei Shoigu worked quite closely with Timur Ivanov, who managed to enter his inner circle. In November 2012, the former governor headed the defense department, and already in March 2013, Ivanov was appointed head of JSC Oboronstroy, an enterprise controlled by the Ministry of Defense and specializing in the construction of housing for military personnel, as well as socially significant and strategic military facilities. Let us recall that the ministry at that time was rocked by a scandal related to the criminal case of Oboronservis and the new appointments were primarily aimed at the rehabilitation of this department mired in corruption. Its structure also included Oboronstroy. Ivanov was entrusted with one of the most financially promising areas - construction. And he had to justify the trust placed in him. As the RBC portal reported, during his tenure, the new appointee “managed to complete several assignments of particular importance.” In particular, he built the Sevastopol Presidential Cadet School in record time in 2014, and also completed the construction of the Patriot Park in the Moscow region in 2015, for which he received the title “Honored Builder of Russia.” A year earlier, Shoigu signed an order to award Ivanov the medal “For the Return of Crimea.” The Gazeta.ru portal wrote that the contribution of the general director of Oboronstroy to the expansion of Russian borders was “active participation in the restoration of the infrastructure” of the peninsula. The work proceeded at a really fast pace: the media noted that the cadet school alone was built in less than five months. But quickly does not mean quality. Less than two weeks before the grand opening of the educational institution, an emergency occurred: the roof of one of the buildings under construction collapsed, a total of ten people were injured, and two construction workers were killed. The authors of press publications indignantly emphasized that if the structure had held out a little longer, children would have ended up under the rubble. But when speed is the main indicator, everything else seems to fade into the background. Moreover, the tragic incident was soon safely forgotten, and the head of Oboronstroy received further titles and awards. In May 2016, Timur Ivanov was appointed Deputy Defense Minister of Russia Sergei Shoigu. The appointment decree was signed on May 23. At the beginning of July 2016, he headed the Ministry of Defense commission to restore order in the Baltic Fleet, whose leadership was removed from duties at the end of June. At the Ministry of Defense, Timur Ivanov was responsible for organizing property management, quartering of troops (forces), housing and medical support for the Armed Forces. Also, Timur Ivanov at the Ministry of Defense was primarily responsible for construction. In the new territories, all construction contracts were under him. These are astronomical amounts. And about the missus: TIMUR IVANOV'S WIFE IS SOCIALITE SVETLANA ZAKHAROVA Nothing is known about Timur Ivanov’s first wife. But the second one is Svetlana Aleksandrovna Ivanova, ex-host of the “Take it off immediately!” program. on STS and an Israeli citizen, a rather interesting personality. We can say that Timur Ivanov married successfully. His chosen one was a wealthy woman, but not entirely free - she was married for fifteen years to businessman and collector Mikhail Maniovich (Children from her first marriage with Mikhail Maniovich - daughter Alexandra (born 1998) and son Mark (born 2002). Guessed who speech? This is Svetlana Zakharova, owner of the Metropol Fashion Group, buyer, Moscow it-girl, regular at social events and host of the television program “Take it off immediately!” As soon as Ivanov realized that he loved this particular woman, his career took off at cosmic speed. First, Ivanov was taken under the wing of Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, and then Timur Vadimovich was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Moscow Region. Just at this time, the governor of the Moscow region for a short time was Sergei Shoigu, who, after moving to the Ministry of Defense, took the young and talented official with him. Timur Ivanov's wife has Israeli citizenship. She allegedly designed it thanks to the leader of the Izmailovo organized crime group, Anton Malevsky. There was even information in open sources that at the time of receiving an Israeli passport, Svetlana Zakharova lived in an apartment that belonged to Anton Malevsky. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs certificate, Malevsky is “a killer with sadistic tendencies.” They say that Zakharova was once his partner. However, this is not the end of the family’s connections with the Deputy Minister of Defense abroad. Svetlana Zakharova’s daughter, Alexandra, also has an Israeli passport and has been living quietly with it in France for more than five years. Think about it, the adopted daughter of the Deputy Minister of Defense lives in an unfriendly country and almost every day posts photos with expensive bags and other accessories on social networks. And this is at a time when relatives of those mobilized are collecting their last pennies to buy the recruits the necessary uniforms and other items of equipment. In 2018, Timur Ivanov’s wife became the richest wife of all Defense Ministry officials. She earned about 50 million rubles in a year. She owns several plots with a total area of ​​10,200 square meters, apartment with an area of ​​317 sq. m, which she shares with her husband, and a dacha. The deputy minister's wife has three cars (Bentley Continental, Aston Martin ​and Hummer H2), and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Ivanova has three children, one of them, by the way, as indicated in the declaration, has an apartment in Mexico. Those are nice rides... According to the 2019 rating, Ivanov himself was among the top richest security officials in the country with a family income for 2018 of 136.7 million rubles. Ivanov and Zakharova also have two minor daughters - Daria and Praskovya. Let us note that the daughter of Svetlana Ivanova, Alexandra Maniovich, after receiving French docks for Israeli ones, began posting texts against the SVO from Paris. This act protected the Ivanovs’ property, as well as Svetlana and her children, from the authorities of the European Union. For the same purpose, on August 30, 2022, the Ivanovs filed for divorce, case M-0401/417.

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International-UN-NGOs

World View: African Leaders Once Again Furious That They Won't Get a Climate Change Bonanza

2017-11-20

[Breitbart] African leaders were furious at last year’s climate change conference because Donald Trump had unexpectedly won the US presidential election and said that he would pull out of the climate change agreement. Even so, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged a rapid scale-up in funding for climate change programs, especially to support developing countries. "Finance and investment hold the key to achieving low-emissions and resilient societies," he said. So now it is a year later, and there’s another climate change conference, and African leaders are furious agai because there were plenty of promises made this week, but no commitments. Africans claim that they are entitled to money because they are the victims of climate change. That is, the West has caused the climate change, and the Africans are suffering because of it. Augustine Njamshi from the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) says: In general, Africa has not gotten what it wanted at this Cop23. Because the discussions that matter to us, things that matter to us have been relegated to the background and all that we’re hearing is what the developed countries want, and that is not in the interest of Africa. ... Africa has not contributed to this [climate change] problem, yet it’s bearing the consequences in a great way, in a massive way and we don’t have the luxury to adapt to the climate change consequences, as well as we don’t even have the means to do any mitigation. Actually, Africa has benefited enormously from carbon emissions. At the beginning of this article, there is a picture of Kinshasa, the capital city of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). You can see the skyscrapers, apartment buildings, roads, cars, and other infrastructure made possible by research and manufacturing performed by the West. If it had not been for the West’s CO2 emissions, the people of Kinshasa would still be living in thatch huts and driving around in carts pulled by donkeys and camels. Africa is as responsible as anyone else is for carbon emissions because of the enormous benefits they get. And what would happen if a huge pot of money were given to Joseph Kabila, the president of DRC, to mitigate climate change? Where would that money go? Anyone who knows anything about what is going on in Africa knows the answer. Kabila would use the money to provide support and weapons to government militias slaughtering, raping, and mutilating thousands of people in Kasai province, where 3.9 million people have already been forced to flee their homes. I have been writing about climate change conferences for years, and it is always been clear that they have nothing to do with mitigating any climate problems. They have only one objective: To force the United States and other western countries to pay billions of dollars to leaders of "underdeveloped" countries, so that those leaders can use the money to pay their cronies, pad their bank accounts, and buy weapons to kill their enemies. I am not aware of any proposal coming out of a climate change conference that would actually reduce carbon emissions. And the examples of Germany and Norway described above illustrate this. However, the conference did produce some good news for African leaders. According to Chinese state media: ...

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran Spends Nuclear Deal Money on Troops, Missiles, Arms for Terrorists

2017-01-10

[Breitbart Israel] Critics of the Iranian nuclear deal charged that the Obama administration was not sufficiently concerned with how Iran would spend the money from its post-sanctions windfall. Evidently, departing President Obama and his team thought domestic political pressures would oblige the Iranian government to invest more heavily in constructive economic pursuits. Reuters reports that, on the contrary, Iran is looking forward to more military spending, including more funding for ballistic missile tests that were supposed to be banned by the nuclear deal. Iranian media announced that lawmakers voted for a five-year development plan that "requires government to increase Iran’s defense capabilities as a regional power and preserve the country’s national security and interests by allocating at least five percent of annual budget" to military spending. The plan includes funding for "long-range missiles, armed drones, and cyber-war capabilities." Also still a spending priority for Tehran: arms for terrorists. Despite the nuclear deal, an arms embargo from the United Nations is still nominally in effect, but outgoing Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "expressed concern that Iran may have violated the embargo by supplying weapons and missiles to Hezbollah," according to Reuters. Ban’s concerns are based, in part, by senior Hezbollah officials loudly boasting in public that all of their expenses, including weapons, are paid by Iran. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah also spent the weekend praising recently-deceased Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani as a "great supporter and backer" of his movement. Hezbollah has benefited greatly from Iran’s patronage. Newsweek pronounced Hezbollah the "real winner of the Battle of Aleppo" because fighting for Iran in Syria has enormously increased its prestige.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

UN approves sending monitors to Aleppo

2016-12-20

Shooting must have stopped... The United Nations Security Council, with Russia’s backing, voted on Dec. 19 to quickly deploy U.N. observers to Aleppo to monitor evacuations and report on the fate of civilians who remain in the besieged Syrian city, which France says is critical to prevent “mass atrocities.” Send in the mighty Uruguayans! Some 20,000 people have been evacuated from the city so far, said Turkish FM Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. The resolution adopted Dec. 19 calls for the U.N. and other institutions to monitor evacuations from eastern Aleppo and demands that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urgently consult Syria and other parties on security and arrangements for the immediate deployment of the monitors. France and Russia, who submitted rival draft resolutions, announced agreement on a text after more than three hours of closed-door consultations on Dec. 18. The resolution also demands that all parties allow unconditional and immediate access for the U.N. and its partners to deliver humanitarian aid and medical care, and “respect and protect all civilians across Aleppo and throughout Syria.”

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Aleppo Evacuation suspended.. Or not

2016-12-17

Aleppo Evacuation Suspended amid Dispute Over Villages The clearing of the last opposition-held areas of the Syrian city of Aleppo was put on hold on Friday after pro-regime militias demanded that wounded people should also be brought out of two Shi’ite villages being besieged by rebel fighters. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitoring group, said a group of ambulances and cars containing hundreds of civilians and fighters were stopped by pro-regime gunmen at a checkpoint south-west of Aleppo. They later returned to the enclave. The second day of the operation to take fighters and civilians out of Aleppo’s rebel enclave ground to a halt amid recriminations from all sides after a morning that had seen the pace of the operation pick up. “Aleppo is now a synonym for hell,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters. “I very much regret that we had to stop this operation.” Aleppo had been divided between regime and rebel areas in the nearly six-year civil war, but a lightning advance by the Syrian army and its allies that began in mid-November deprived rebels of most of their territory in a matter of weeks. Russia said the Syrian army had established control over all districts of eastern Aleppo although regime troops were suppressing isolated areas where rebel fighters continued to resist. Rebel sources accused pro-regime Shi’ite militias, the so-called Iran-backed Hezbollah, of opening fire on a convoy carrying evacuees from east Aleppo and robbing them. Road blocks went up and a convoy was forced to turn back. Though both Russia and Iran back regime head Bashar al-Assad, rebels have blamed Tehran and the Shi’ite groups it backs in Syria for obstructing Moscow’s efforts to broker the evacuation of eastern Aleppo. Rebels in eastern Aleppo went on high alert after pro-regime forces prevented civilians from leaving and deployed heavy weaponry on the road out of the area, a Syrian rebel commander in the city said. A Syrian official source said the evacuation was halted because rebels had sought to take out people they had abducted with them, and they had also tried to take weapons hidden in bags. This was denied by Aleppo-based rebel groups. But a media outlet run by the pro-regime Hezbollah group said protesters had blocked the road from the city, demanding that wounded people from the Shi’ite villages of Foua and Kefraya, which are besieged by rebel groups, in nearby Idlib province should also be evacuated. Iran, one of Syria’s main allies, had demanded that the villages be included in a ceasefire deal under which people are leaving Aleppo, rebel and United Nations officials have said. The chaos surrounding the Aleppo evacuation reflects the complexity of the war with an array of groups and foreign interests involved on each side. Red Cross Urges all Sides in Aleppo to Resume Evacuation The International Comimttee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called on all sides on Friday to continue the evacuation operation which was suspended hours earlier. “Regretfully the operation was put on hold. We urge the parties to ensure it can be relaunched & proceed in the right conditions,” Robert Mardini, ICRC regional director for the Near and Middle East tweeted. No further details were given. More than 40 wounded people and around 3,000 civilians including children and women were evacuated from east Aleppo on Thursday in two evacuations, the ICRC said in a statement. Mardini stated that “many more” rotations of buses and ambulances might be needed in coming days. Turkey to Set up Camp for Aleppo Evacuees in Syria That's awfully good of them, dontcha think Turkey will provide a camp in Syria to receive people evacuated from Aleppo, Turkish officials said on Friday. The officials added that Turkey will, however, continue to take in the wounded to its own hospitals. The camp shall be set to host around 80,000 people, in two potential sites, around 3.5 km (2.2 miles) inside Syria, two senior officials told media outlets. “Work on the infrastructure for the camp will begin shortly,” a separate official from Turkish aid organisation IHH said by phone from inside Syria. The camp will be jointly set up by the Turkish Red Crescent, disaster agency AFAD and IHH. The IHH official said evacuees majorly found a place to reside with relatives in and around Syria’s Idlib province, southwest of Aleppo, but that work to identify those with nowhere to go was proceeding. Turkey has taken in 55 wounded and sick evacuees, according to Hasan Aydinlik, head of an emergency response division of Turkey’s health ministry. Turkey is already sheltering around 2.7 million Syrian refugees. Aleppo…The “Big Departure” Day Beirut – It’s the “dream” day which turned into a nightmare. It’s the day of the “big departure” from destroyed Aleppo, after a tight siege ended through forced deportation of tens of thousands of families. And at a time when Iran’s conditions engendered more obstacles, Moscow took control of the situation in Aleppo Thursday by reinforcing the truce deal to secure the exit of hundreds of civilians and wounded people who had arrived in the afternoon to the west Aleppo countryside, as fighters are expected to head to Idlib. The tears of mothers and families who were forced to leave their houses and the signs of hope of a near return, reflected the struggle which Aleppo residents endured in the last days spent inside their city. Before walking out, Aleppo residents preferred to burn their belongings so that they don’t end up in the hands of “strangers,” but they left behind them their loved ones and the human remains under the rubble, after the civil defense failed to remove them. And while the Red Cross had described the first step of the evacuation as “positive,” Robert Mardini, the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Middle East director told Reuters on Thursday: “The report received and what my colleagues were telling me was heartbreaking. People are totally exhausted, disillusioned, and disappointed.” Mardini added: “But they were so happy to see us, they were thankful for us being there, although we failed them, because it’s too little too late, but yet it is important.” The first hours of the truce did not pass without violations before the Russians pledged to secure the safety of civilians. Civilians were therefore moved in several batches using green buses now recognized for being the transportation means of the “forced exile” conducted by regime forces. President of the regime Bashar Assad appeared at noon on Thursday through the Facebook page of the Syrian Presidency. Assad “blessed” what he called “history in the making” in Aleppo. Member of the local council of Aleppo Besher Hawi told Asharq Al-Awsat there was confusion in the evacuation process because concerned parties were quick in reaching an agreement concerning the exit of families. But, Hawi said that the Local Council is currently working to organize the evacuation by preparing a list according to which each family would know the time of its departure from Aleppo. He asserted the presence of at least 70,000 people, including 4,000 fighters. “Until now, there is no accurate numbers due to the presence of open passages through which some families were leaving eastern Aleppo,” Hawi said. He expected the evacuation to last 3 to 5 days.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Rooshuns, Syrians committed war crimes

2016-12-02

Not if they win they didn't [ARA News] Aleppo – The Russian-Syrian coalition committed war crimes during a month-long aerial bombing campaign of opposition-controlled territory in Aleppo in September and October 2016, killing over 440 civilians, Human Rights Watch said today. The Violations Documentation Center, a Syrian civil monitoring organization, documented that the bombing campaign killed more than 440 civilians, including nearly 90 children. During the month-long bombing campaign, Syrian military forces surrounded opposition-held eastern part of Aleppo city. Although Syrian and Russian authorities declared that civilians and fighters could leave through designated corridors, very few did. Syrian and Russian authorities and armed opposition groups blamed each other for the civilian casualties. “Whatever the reason, the Russian-Syrian coalition should have taken precautionary measures to avoid and minimize civilian casualties when attacking armed opposition groups,” Human Rights Watch said. Airstrikes often appeared to be recklessly indiscriminate, deliberately targeted at least one medical facility, and included the use of indiscriminate weapons such as cluster munitions and incendiary weapons, the human rights group reported. Satellite imagery that Human Rights Watch analyzed have shown more than 950 new distinct impact sites consistent with the detonation of large high explosive bombs across the area during the month. “Using that amount of firepower in an urban area with tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of civilians predictably killed hundreds of civilians,” said Ole Solvang, deputy emergencies director at Human Rights Watch. “Those who ordered and carried out unlawful attacks should be tried for war crimes,” Solvang stressed. HRW has also documented armed opposition groups’ attacks against government-controlled western Aleppo. “Deliberate or reckless attacks against civilians and civilian objects, including hospitals, committed with criminal intent are war crimes,” HRW said. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council on September 28, that those using indiscriminate weapons in Aleppo “know they are committing war crimes.”

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Southeast Asia

Rohingyas kill 4 Myanmar soldiers in Muslim-majority region

2016-10-12

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Four Myanmar soldiers were killed and one was injured on Tuesday when troops were attacked by suspected Muslim insurgents near the country’s border with Bangladesh, an official said. The Myanmar army, known as the Tatmadaw, has been sent into northern Rakhine State to seek attackers who killed nine police officers guarding the border early on Sunday. The majority of residents in the area are Muslims belonging to the stateless Rohingya ethnic group. Around 2.30pm on Tuesday, soldiers came under attack close to Pyaung Pyit village in Maungdaw Township, said Ye Naing, a director at the Ministry of Information. “One Tatmadaw soldier was injured and four were killed by the Muslim insurgents. One was dead on the enemy side,” Ye Naing told Reuters late on Tuesday. “Two guns and two magazines of ammunition were found.” Nine border police officers were killed and five were wounded in Sunday’s clashes, in which officials said scores of Rohingyas swarmed border guard posts and made off with guns and ammunition. Soldiers and police have been scouring Maungdaw Township since Sunday, employing helicopters to search the rugged terrain close to the frontier, which has been closed. In at least one instance, the hunt for suspects has led to soldiers killing residents who officials said ambushed them but who local Muslims said were trying to flee. State media reported on Tuesday that four bodies were discovered after soldiers opened fire in Myothugyi village, also in Maungdaw Township. Four suspected insurgents have been detained, said Ye Naing. Police told Reuters earlier on Tuesday that two suspects had said during interrogation that Sunday’s attacks were coordinated by a single leader operating on both sides of the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. The events marked a dramatic escalation in violence in Rakhine State, which has seen bouts of conflict between Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists but has not typically been the site of armed insurgency. Vijay Nambiar, special adviser on Myanmar to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, called on civilians in “the area to exercise maximum restraint and not be provoked into any kind of response by targeting other communities or religious groups.”

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China-Japan-Koreas

N.Korea Threatens to Continue Nuclear Arms Development

2016-09-29

North Korea's foreign minister on Friday threatened that his country "will continue to take measures to strengthen its national nuclear armed forces in both quantity and quality." In a further gesture of defiance against international sanctions, Ri Yong-ho refused to meet with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Ri said the aim of North Korea's nuclear weapons program was to "defend the dignity and right to existence and safeguard genuine peace vis-a-vis the increased nuclear war threat of the United States." He accused the UN Security Council of supporting the power politics of the U.S. and other "hostile forces." He denounced the latest UN Security Council Resolution and asked why other nuclear weapons states have never been sanctioned. Ri added there is no evidence in the UN Charter or international law that stipulates nuclear and ballistic missile tests are a threat or should be outlawed. He called on South Korea and the U.S. to halt joint military exercises on the North's doorstep. The North Korean foreign minister arrived in New York on Sept. 20 but did not schedule any meetings with other world leaders. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking on the same day, urged North Korea to scrap its nuclear weapons and missile development.

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Arabia

Rebels Renew Coup with Political Council

2016-07-30

Riyadh, New York, Aden-Once again, Yemeni insurgents have violated Yemen’s constitution and international resolutions by announcing a unilateral agreement. Houthis and Ali Abdullah Saleh have established a political council in a severe blow to the political solution called for by the international community in the country, which has been suffering from militias’ practices since September 2014. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, special envoy to the Secretary-General on Yemen, said that this development in the country contradicts with commitments made concerning the United Nations-led peace talks. Farhan Haq, spokesman of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the “unilateral” decision obstructs the peace process and endangers the substantial progress made during the Kuwait talks. He also described it as a clear violation of the Yemeni constitution and the provisions of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s initiative and its implementation mechanism. Rajeh Badi, spokesperson of the Yemeni Government, downplayed the agreement struck between the two insurgent sides, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that this step showed that Houthis and Saleh’s forces don’t respect international efforts and the peace talks that took place in Kuwait. Yemen’s Minister of Local Administration and Chairman of the Higher Committee for Relief Abdul-Raqib Saif Fath said that the rebels’ clear rejection of the international efforts of peace shows a state of confusion that precedes a political and military collapse. From his part, Abdulmalik Al-Mekhlafi, Yemeni Foreign minister and head of the legitimate authority to Kuwait’s peace talks, urged the international community to pressure rebels on committing to the international resolutions and abiding by the requirements for peace in Yemen. Mekhlafi added that Houthis and Saleh have successfully convinced the world that they are against peace and are responsible for the failure of the talks. He pointed that everyone knows who has waged war in the country and sought to destroy it despite the constant peace efforts showed by the legitimate authority. Saudi Envoy to the United Nations Abdullah Al Muallimi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the U.N. is going ahead with the implementation of U.N. Resolution 2216 concerning the Yemeni crisis, and asserted that rebels would never be able to evade it. Reacting to the move, Anwar Gargash, UAE minister of State for Foreign Affairs, tweeted: “The setting up of a political council is a desperate attempt by those who turned against the legitimate government and dragged Yemen to violence. “Their attempt to dodge the Kuwait negotiations has been exposed. “It has been made clear to the international community that Houthis, who represent less than one percent of the population, have become addicted to power and wealth, and the new political council comes in that context.”

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Africa North

ISIS faces possible defeat in Libya

2016-07-21

UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Daesh fighters in Libya are facing the “distinct possibility” of defeat in their last stronghold and are likely to scatter elsewhere in the North African country and the region. The UN chief said in a new report to the UN Security Council that member states estimate there are between 2,000 and 7,000 Daesh fighters from Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Mali, Morocco and Mauritania. Ban says one member state recently reported between 3,000 and 4,000 Daesh fighters in Sirte, the extremist group’s last bastion along Libya’s northern coast. But he said as a result of the recent offensive against Daesh, by forces aligned with the UN-brokered government, “the current number of those in Sirte is now likely well under 1,000.”

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Arabia

UN hands road map to Yemen’s warring sides

2016-07-02

"Hey! Thanks for the kool toilet paper!" UN envoy to Yemen said on Thursday that he offered Yemen’s warring sides a “road map” that includes a unity government and details a comprehensive political dialogue to end conflict in the southern Arabian Peninsula country. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed also the next two weeks will be “dedicated” to support consultation with the warring sides and their leaderships. The diplomat made his statement following what he described as a two-week break in peace talks the day before. He said the delegations would return to Kuwait on July 15 to “embark on a new phase” in the talks. The UN-backed talks between Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels, who have seized control of large parts of the country, and President Abedrabbu Mansour Hadi’s government began in Kuwait on April 21. Ould Cheikh Ahmed said Kuwait talks have tackled most of the contentious issues, indicating that “there is a big improvement” in delivering humanitarian aid to Yemen. The envoy has urged both sides to make concessions to end the conflict, which has cost more than 6,400 lives since March 2015 and displaced 2.8 million people. He also said the warring sides have agreed to transfer the pacification committee to Dhahran city, south of Saudi Arabia. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday met the two delegations in Kuwait and urged them to accept the roadmap. Despite a Saudi-led military intervention launched last year in support of Hadi’s government, the militias and their allies remain in control of many key areas territory, including the capital Sanaa.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syrian opposition accuses Russia of using incendiary bombs in Syria

2016-06-24

Uhmm, Russians have already admitted they used white phosphorus [ARANews] The Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) called on United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday to launch an investigation into its accusations that Russia has repeatedly used air-delivered incendiary weapons in Syria. Russia deployed warplanes to Syria last year to support President Bashar al-Assad against rebels seeking to end his rule. A crackdown by Assad on pro-democracy protesters five years ago sparked a civil war and Islamic State militants have used the chaos to seize territory in Syria and Iraq. “Russian air forces have repeatedly deployed incendiary weapons and cluster munitions to kill, main and terrorise Syrian civilians, including in at least 10 documented incidents,” Riad Hijab, coordinator of the opposition HNC, wrote to Ban. “They have violated the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and breached international humanitarian law,” he wrote. Hijab alleged that “thermite, which ignites while falling, has been likened to ‘mini nuclear bombs’ and was deployed repeatedly by Russian forces in residential areas.” He also accused Russian forces of using cluster munitions. Incendiary weapons use substances that are designed to set fire to objects or burn people, and cluster munitions are containers that explode in the air to distribute smaller bombs over a large area. Both are banned under the convention. The Russian mission to the United Nations was not immediately available to comment on the accusations. Ban’s office was also not immediately available to comment on the request for an investigation. State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington that the United States was not in a position to confirm the allegations by the Syrian opposition, but that the claims were taken very seriously. “Regardless of what weapons they’re using, (the Russians) shouldn’t be striking groups that are committed to the counter-ISIL fight or civilians,” he added. “Russia and the Assad regime need to be more careful about distinguishing between terrorists, civilians and parties to the cessation of hostilities.” The United States has sharply criticized Moscow over strikes last week against U.S.-backed forces in Syria, saying Russia failed to heed U.S. warnings to stop its attack, which killed and injured Syrian fighters battling Islamic State. U.S.-backed forces in Syria have reported that Russia fired at their garrison with cluster munitions in that attack, a senior British general in the U.S.-led coalition said on Thursday. “Definitely, the people we advise on the ground reported cluster munitions,” British Army Major General Doug Chalmers told a Pentagon news conference.

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