Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The Algerian authorities have decided to immediately recall their ambassador to France due to the fact that Paris recognized the Moroccan autonomy plan as the only basis for resolving the conflict in Western Sahara, the Ennahar Online news portal reports.
"The French government has finally expressed its frank and categorical support for the colonial state of affairs imposed on Western Sahara. This step, which no other French government has previously considered necessary, was taken by the current government with great ease and nonchalance," the Algerian Foreign Ministry said.
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron sent a message to Mohammed VI on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his ascension to the throne. In it, Macron noted that "the present and future of Western Sahara are within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty." In his opinion, for Paris, the autonomy of the Saharawi regions under Moroccan sovereignty is the basis for resolving this issue.
Representatives of Algeria noted that the French authorities violate international law and the right of peoples to self-determination. As France Info specifies, in Morocco, they supported "an important and significant event in support of Morocco's sovereignty over the Sahara."
It is reported that in this regard, the decision to recall the Algerian ambassador to France comes into force immediately. Now the diplomatic mission of the African country will be carried out by a temporary charge d'affaires.
Courtesy of Skidmark, France24 has the French view:
In a marked departure from its historical position, France moved on Tuesday to recognise Morocco's sovereignty over the Western Sahara, dealing a blow to the the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which claims it is an independent state.
[NYPost] Top Republicans on committees overseeing US foreign policy threatened to subpoena the State Department on Tuesday after the agency failed to fork over information about suspended Iran envoy Robert Malley, according to a letter exclusively obtained by The Post. He stinks of Iranian corruption
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) in the letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote that they were "deeply" troubled by more than a year of obfuscations over Malley’s departure.
"Mr. Malley’s alleged misconduct is serious, and the Department’s lack of transparency and blatant disregard for the urgency of our requests is unacceptable," Risch and McCaul wrote.
"We have been made aware that there may be a classified response to our letter but have yet to receive it," they added.
The GOP lawmakers asked for "fulsome answers" to their questions by Friday — or they "will be compelled to pursue compulsory processes to secure any documents, materials, and testimony" relevant to the matter, which would include issuing subpoenas.
Risch and McCaul pointed to their earlier letter on May 6, which uncovered "troubling allegations" of President Biden’s special envoy to Iran storing classified material on his personal email account and cellphone.
That material was later accessed by a "hostile cyber actor," the lawmakers said at the time.
They also wanted to know whether Malley tried to send the classified material to anyone without a security clearance and whether Iran was responsible for the alleged hack, among several other queries related to the State Department and FBI’s ongoing investigation into the matter.
Since his security clearance was pulled in April 2023, Malley has been put on unpaid leave and has become the subject of State Department Office of Inspector General and FBI investigations.
He also landed plum teaching gigs at Princeton University and Yale University since quietly leaving the State Department.
Of course they hired him for their students. Who was it that gave the former Taliban minister a full scholarship, even though he couldn’t read in any language?
Blinken has his own "longstanding relationship" with Malley, which should prompt more transparency about the investigations, Risch and McCaul noted.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry launched an influence campaign during the Biden administration that ensnared at least two top aides to Malley and a third who was selected due to having a role at a think tank that Malley formerly ran, Semafor previously reported.
That campaign was known as the Iran Experts Initiative.
The probe findings and reported details are reminiscent the FBI’s 2015 criminal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for storing tens of thousands of emails on unsecured private servers. At least 81 of the email chains discussed classified information, that investigation found, and seven referenced classified material at the Top Secret/Special Access Program level — but the bureau never recommended criminally charging Clinton.
Malley had previously served as a top negotiator of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the Iran nuclear deal, during the Obama administration.
In that role, he advocated for sanctions relief on Tehran in exchange for temporary restrictions to its nuclear program — policy changes that were reversed by the Trump administration.
Though it has tried, the Biden administration has thus far failed resurrect the Iran nuclear deal, which former President Donald Trump’s State Department withdrew from in 2018.
“Rob Malley remains on leave,” a State Department spokesperson told The Post. “Nevertheless, the Department has provided Congress with relevant information on personnel inquiries relating to Iran policy.”
“We have been and will continue to be in frequent contact with Congress on issues pertaining to Iran,” the spokesperson added.
What do they think after the Tehran hit on Ismail Haniyeh?
[An Nahar] U.N. Special Coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert on Tuesday said she is "deeply concerned" after Israel's strike in "the densely populated southern suburb of Beirut which resulted in multiple civilian casualties."
"The Special Coordinator underscores once again that there is no such thing as a military solution and calls on both Israel and Leb ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... to avail of all diplomatic avenues to pursue a return to the cessation of hostilities and to recommit to the implementation of resolution 1701 (2006)," a statement issued by her office said.
The Special Coordinator is "in close contact with key interlocutors and urges for calm to prevail," the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/31/2024 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Hundreds of Haredim block the entrance to an army job fair for yeshiva students, shouting: 'The soldiers in Gaza are not protecting us, the Torah protects us', 'You are Auschwitz' Our own Taliban
Posted by: Grom the Reflective ||
07/31/2024 00:00 ||
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[JPost] "Next!" Khaled Mashaal was tapped to be the new Hamas leader on Wednesday, replacing Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran early Wednesday morning.
Hamas sources said Mashaal is expected to be chosen as the paramount leader of the terror group to replace Ismail Haniyeh, who was eliminated in Iran in the early hours of Wednesday.
Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya, who is based in Qatar and has headed Hamas negotiators in indirect hostage deal talks with Israel, has also been a possibility for the leadership as he is a favorite of Iran and its allies in the region.
Mashaal became known around the world in 1997 after Israeli agents injected him with poison in a failed assassination attempt on a street outside his office in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Mashaal, 68, became Hamas's political leader in exile the year before Israel tried to eliminate him, a post that enabled him to represent the Palestinian Islamist group at meetings with foreign governments around the world, unhindered by tight Israeli travel restrictions that affected other Hamas officials.
Mashaal's relations with Iran have been strained due to his past support for the Sunni Muslim-led revolt in 2011 against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Mashaal has been a central figure at the top of Hamas since the late 1990s, though he has worked mainly from exile.
WHO IS KHALED MASHAAL?
Born in Silwad near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Mashaal moved as a boy with his family to the Gulf Arab state of Kuwait.
At the age of 15, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood, which became instrumental in the formation of Hamas in the late 1980s during the First Intifada.
Mashaal became a schoolteacher before turning to lobbying for Hamas from abroad for many years. He was in charge of international fund-raising in Jordan when he escaped assassination after being injected with poison in the street.
Jordan eventually closed Hamas's bureau in Amman and expelled Mashaal from the Gulf state of Qatar. He moved to Syria in 2001.
Meshaal ran Hamas from exile in Damascus in 2004 until January 2012, when he left the Syrian capital because of President Assad's fierce crackdown on Sunnis involved in an uprising against him. Mashaal now lives in both Doha and Cairo.
His abrupt departure from Syria initially weakened his position within Hamas. Mashaal himself told Reuters that his move affected relations with Hamas's main paymaster and weapons supplier - Iran.
In December 2012, Mashaal paid his first visit to the Gaza Strip and delivered the main speech at Hamas's 25th anniversary rally.
Friction between Mashaal and the Gaza-based Hamas leadership surfaced over his attempts to promote reconciliation with President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Authority.
Mashaal then announced that he wanted to step down as leader over such tensions and, in 2017, was replaced by his Gaza deputy Haniyeh, who was elected to head the terror group's political office, also operating overseas.
[GEO.TV] Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has hosted a Palestinian delegation headed by Ziyad al-Nakhalah, the secretary-general of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, according to Iran's IRNA news agency.
It also reported that the Palestinian officials were in Tehran for the inauguration ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian. This would likely be the "last man, last bullet" orders that non-military geniuses like to give.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/31/2024 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies
[An Nahar] Iran condemned Tuesday what it called a "vicious" Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs which Israel said targeted a Hezbollah commander behind last week's rocket strike on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
"The vicious and criminal action of the Zionist criminal gang in the suburbs of Beirut certainly cannot stop... Lebanon's proud resistance from continuing the honorable path of supporting the oppressed Palestinians and standing against the aggression of the Israeli apartheid regime," said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani in a statement.
Source
Yemen makes official message of support for Lebanon
[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] Mohammed Abdulsalam, the head of the Yemeni negotiating delegation, revealed Yemen’s stance on the Israeli escalation against Lebanon following claims of attacks on the occupied Golan Heights.
Upon his arrival in Teheran, Mohammed Abdulsalam said in a statement to Almasirah TV: “We will participate in the inauguration ceremony [of Masoud Pezeskhian] and hold meetings with the Iranian president and a number of officials in the Islamic Republic”.
He added, “Yemen’s position is clear and explicit against any Zionist aggression on Palestine and Lebanon, Yemen or elsewhere.”
“We stand with Lebanon to defend itself against any Zionist aggression,” he emphasized.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/31/2024 00:00 ||
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[JPost] Halp!
Hezbollah is holding talks with Iran about a military response to the Israeli airstrike in Beirut, in which senior Hezbollah official Fuad Shukr was killed, Maariv reported, citing a report on Saudi Arabia's Al-Hadad network.
Israel says wants to end hostilities with Hezbollah without 'wider war' but ready 'for any scenario' https://t.co/6AQGxWsviT
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[NYPost] Top Republicans on committees overseeing US foreign policy threatened to subpoena the State Department on Tuesday after the agency failed to fork over information about suspended Iran envoy 
...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
[JPost] 
