Alleged victims of Sudanese paramilitary and allied militia found in shallow grave in West Darfur
At least 87 people including ethnic Masalits have been found buried in a mass grave in Sudan’s West Darfur, the UN human rights office has said, adding that it had credible information that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were responsible.
RSF officials denied any involvement, saying the paramilitary group was not a party to the conflict in West Darfur.
Continue reading...Move designed to send message to forces involved as fears grow conflict could become more widespread in the region
The UK has put sanctions on six companies it says are associated with the two sides fighting for power in Sudan, though the prospect of any of the Gulf states most entwined in the Sudanese economy joining the UK remain remote.
The Foreign Office slapped sanctions on three firms linked to leaders of the Sudanese armed forces and three connected to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Continue reading...Use of veto threatens operations on route from Turkey that supports millions of people in north-west
Russia has been accused of “an act of utter cruelty” after it used its veto at the UN security council to block a nine-month renewal of cross-border aid designed to help 4 million people living in rebel-held north-west Syria.
The vote throws into doubt the continued existence of the key aid route into Syria from Turkey, and represents another hammer blow to a population still reeling from the devastating earthquake that struck the region in February.
Continue reading...Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition wins first of three votes required for controversial changes to become law
Tens of thousands of Israeli demonstrators have blocked motorways across the country and access to Tel Aviv’s airport as part of a “day of disruption” in protest at the government’s renewed push to advance legislation overhauling the judiciary.
In the first of three readings on Monday night, Israel’s parliament – in which the governing coalition headed by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, holds 64 of 120 seats – voted in favour of a bill scrapping the “reasonableness” standard that allows the supreme court to overrule government decisions.
Continue reading...Rightwing ruling coalition hopes to pass bill curtailing ability of supreme court to overrule government decisions
Israel’s parliament is to vote on part of the government’s far-reaching judicial overhaul in a new push from the ruling coalition to pass legislation despite continuing nationwide protests and promises from the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to drop or tone down some of the controversial elements.
The Knesset will vote at about 9pm local time (1900 BST) on Monday on a bill that would get rid of the “reasonableness” standard, which allows the supreme court to overrule government decisions it deems too political, implausible, or that undermine the public’s trust in government.
Continue reading...Female students reportedly given sham disciplinary ‘hearings’, suspended from classes and threatened with ‘zero grades’ for defying head covering law
At least 60 female students in Iran have reportedly been barred from university for flouting the country’s mandatory hijab law.
Videos recently shared by citizen journalists show the harassment of women and girls in subways, streets and university campuses by disciplinary committees and pro-regime civilians. In defiance, female university students across the country have been recording themselves without headscarves.
Continue reading...António Guterres decries conflict’s ‘utter disregard’ for human rights law as clashes reported in multiple states
Sudan is on the brink of a “full-scale civil war” that could destabilise the entire region, the United Nations has warned, after an airstrike on a residential area killed about two dozen civilians.
The health ministry reported “22 dead and a large number of wounded among the civilians” from the strike on Khartoum’s sister city Omdurman, in the district of Dar al-Salam.
Continue reading...Statement says that strike was carried out by the same drones that were earlier harassed by Russian aircraft
The US military said on Sunday it conducted a strike that killed Usamah al-Muhajir, an Islamic State leader in eastern Syria.
“The strike on Friday was conducted by the same MQ-9s that had, earlier in the day, been harassed by Russian aircraft in an encounter that had lasted almost two hours,” a statement from US Central Command said.
Continue reading...British broadcaster says it will continue to provide impartial news after being accused by Bashar al-Assad’s government of politicised coverage
Syria’s information ministry says it has cancelled the accreditation of two local journalists working for the BBC, accusing the British broadcaster of “false” and “politicised” coverage.
The accreditations of an unidentified correspondent and a camera operator had been revoked following “subjective and false information and reports” on Syria, the ministry said on its website on Saturday. It described other BBC reports as “politicised”.
Continue reading...Large crowds in Tel Aviv demonstrate against Benjamin Netanyahu’s bid to rein in supreme court
There have been huge anti-government protests in Tel Aviv against a renewed push by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to overhaul the justice system.
Tens of thousands demonstrated across the country, with the rally in Tel Aviv drawing crowds far larger than recent protests, N12 News and Channel 13 reported.
Continue reading...Palestinian health ministry says ‘two martyrs’, Khairi Shaheen, 34, and Hamza Maqbul, 32, were killed in Nablus
Israeli forces have killed two Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank during a raid on the northern city of Nablus, Israeli and Palestinian officials have said.
The Palestinian health ministry announced “two martyrs and three injured as a result of the occupation aggression on Nablus”.
Continue reading...The secretary general, António Guterres, called on Israel to abide by international law after its attack on Jenin in the West Bank
In a rare condemnation of Israel, the UN has denounced the country’s excessive use of force in its largest military operation in two decades targeting a refugee camp in the West Bank.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, clearly angered by the impact of the Israeli attack on the Jenin refugee camp, said it had left over 100 civilians injured, forced thousands to flee, damaged schools and hospitals and disrupted water and electricity networks.
Continue reading...Shooting of Iyad Halak in Jerusalem in 2020 drew comparisons to police killings in US
An Israeli court has acquitted a police officer of recklessly killing an unarmed autistic Palestinian man in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Iyad Halak, 32, was shot dead in May 2020 after an encounter with police in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.
Continue reading...US defence official accuses Russian military of ‘reckless behaviour’ by flying dangerously close and releasing flares during US mission against Islamic State
The US Air Force has released video footage it says shows Russian fighter jets flying dangerously close to several US drones over Syria on Wednesday, setting off flares and forcing the MQ-9 Reapers to take evasive manoeuvres.
US Air Forces Central said in a statement describing the scenes: “These events represent a new level of unprofessional and unsafe action by Russian air forces operating in Syria.”
Continue reading...Izzat Abdulhadi of Palestinian delegation calls for government to resist ‘pressure’ to avoid contentious topic – and to strongly condemn Israel’s raids on Jenin
Australia should stand up for the “fair go” by recognising Palestine as a state, according to its de facto ambassador, who argues that Israel’s “brutal” military operation in the city of Jenin only increases the urgency for bold steps.
Palestinian recognition is one of the foreign policy issues set to be discussed when Labor holds its next national conference in Brisbane in August.
Continue reading...Elizabeth Tsurkov went to Iraq to do research for Princeton University, office of Israeli prime minister says
An Israeli-Russian academic who went missing for months in Iraq is alive and being held in the country by an Iraqi Shia militia group, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday.
Elizabeth Tsurkov was captured by Kata’ib Hezbollah in March, the office said. She holds Israeli and Russian passports and entered Iraq using her Russian passport, according to the Israeli government.
Continue reading...Clean-up begins after three-day operation, the largest attack on occupied West Bank in two decades
On the second floor of the Shibli family home in the Jenin refugee camp, three small boys knelt on the tile floor, picking up hundreds of spent bullet casings left by Israeli snipers who had used their kitchen as a firing position. The cartridges clinked and chimed gently as the children cleared up and their glum parents surveyed the extent of the damage inflicted on their property.
The 50 members of the extended family, who all live in flats in the same large building, returned to their homes on Wednesday morning after Israeli forces withdrew the night before. The three-day operation, codenamed Home and Garden, was the largest Israeli offensive in the occupied West Bank in two decades, involving airstrikes and up to 2,000 ground troops.
Continue reading...Diplomat says accord could collapse if European signatories retain restrictions on weapon development
The UK, France and Germany should stick to the terms of the Iran nuclear deal and lift sanctions on Iranian missile development, Tehran’s chargé d’affaires to London has said.
Speaking on the eve of a UN security council debate on Iran, Mehdi Hosseini Matin said on Wednesday that such a breach would lead to the collapse of the deal, known as the joint comprehensive plan of action (JCPOA). It would, he added, also affect the atmosphere around recent bilateral talks in Oman between Iran and the US to secure a separate mini-agreement covering the release of US prisoners, maintaining aspects of the nuclear deal and the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad.
Continue reading...Twelve Palestinians and one Israeli soldier dead after one of Israel’s biggest military operations in occupied West Bank in years
Israel has withdrawn its forces from the Palestinian city of Jenin after carrying out one of its biggest military operations in the occupied West Bank for years.
Local media quoted the Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari as saying all troops had left Jenin and that the operation was completed. Witnesses in Jenin reported seeing convoys of Israeli military vehicles leaving the city after dark.
Continue reading...Armoured incursion in response to rising bloodshed across Israel and West Bank looks political as much as tactical
In the darkness of the night, thousands of people stumbled in lines through the Jenin refugee camp, guiding each other through the twisted metal, churned-up concrete and spent ammunition littering the streets during a lull in Operation Home and Garden, Israel’s biggest offensive in the West Bank for 20 years.
Videos of the streams of people – about 3,000-4,000, according to Palestinian officials – fleeing to safety on Monday night were widely shared by Palestinians on social media, where they were likened to images of the Nakba, the expulsion of the Arab population from the newly created state of Israel in 1948.
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