Middle East

US sanctions seven individuals, entities linked to Lebanon's Hezbollah

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A view shows a bronze seal beside a door at the US Treasury building in Washington, DC, January 20, 2023. (Photo by Reuters)

The US Treasury Department has announced new sanctions targeting seven individuals and entities linked to the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah.

The new sanctions target Hezbollah’s revenue-generating “operatives and financiers” in South America and Lebanon, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a press release on Tuesday.

“Today’s action underscores the US government’s commitment to pursuing Hezbollah operatives and financiers no matter their location,” Brian Nelson, Treasury’s under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, claimed in a statement.

“We will continue to root out those who seek to abuse the US and international financial system to fund and engage in terrorism,” Nelson added.

Founded in 1982, Hezbollah has been engaged in a determined effort aimed at protecting Lebanon against plots that are hatched by the United States and the Israeli regime, which the resistance group considers to be behind almost all instances of instability and deadly violence in the region.

Hezbollah’s success in defending Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity has won it a deep-rooted foundation and popularity across the country’s military and political spheres.

Hezbollah has also been engaged in the fight against Takfiri terrorists. By battling the foreign-backed anti-Damascus militants in Syria, Hezbollah contributed to regional stability.

Middle East

KRG comply with Baghdad-Tehran security agreement

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Nechirvan Barzani made the remarks on Wednesday in a joint press conference with the visiting Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg in Erbil.

“Within the framework of the security agreement concluded between Iran and Iraq and with the cooperation and coordination of Baghdad, important measures have been taken and we hope that these measures will prevent any security and military problems from emerging,” Barzani said.

Meanwhile, the KRG prime minister said that with the actions being taken, there is no justification for conducting military operations on the part of Iran against these groups in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani said on Monday, “According to the agreement, the deadline set for the disarming terrorist groups in the Iraqi Kurdistan region ends on September 19 and it will not be extended.”

Meanwhile, Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces has recently warned, “If Iraq does not abide by its commitments regarding terrorist groups in the Iraqi Kurdistan region by September, we will resume the operation against those groups with might.”

MNA/IRN85227802

Middle East

Iraq committed to security pact with Iran: FM

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Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein meets with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Tehran on September 13, 2023. (Photo by Iranian Foreign Ministry)

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein says his country is committed to a security pact with Iran to disarm anti-Iran terrorist groups based in the Kurdistan regime.

He made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Tehran on Wednesday.

Hussein arrived in the Iranian capital on Wednesday morning at the head of a delegation.

During a meeting earlier in the day, the two foreign ministers discussed bilateral issues as well as ways to expand cooperation in various fields. They also exchanged views on regional developments and the need to implement the security agreement between the two sides.

The visit comes two days after Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani said the ultimatum given to Iraq to disarm anti-Iran separatist groups based in the Kurdistan regime will not be extended.

“Iran’s stance is completely clear. According to the agreement reached with the Iraqi government, the final deadline for the disarmament of the terrorist and separatist forces in Iraq’s Kurdistan region ends on September 19 and that deadline will not be extended in any way,” Kan’ani said in a weekly press briefing in Tehran on Monday.

He noted that the Iraqi government has taken measures in this regard and has stressed that it will honor its commitments.

Also on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned that the presence of terrorists in the Iraqi Kurdistan region runs counter to the friendly ties between the two nations and contravenes the Constitution of Iraq.

[This item is being updated.]

Middle East

Iranian foreign minister meets Iraqi counterpart in Tehran

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Fuad Hussein who arrived in the Iranian capital on Wednesday morning was officially welcomed by Amir-Abdollahian at the venue of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a joint press conference with his Austrian counterpart in Baghdad on Tuesday, Hussein stressed that the Iraqi constitution does not allow any party to use its territory to attack neighboring countries, the top Iraqi diplomat stressed.

Referring to the recent security agreement between Tehran and Baghdad on disarming and relocating the separatist terrorists in the Kurdistan region by September 19, Hussein cited that Baghdad has taken the necessary measures to relocate the opposition groups (separatist terrorist groups) from the borders of Iraq and Iran.

MP

Middle East

US-led coalition’s aircraft violate Syrian airspace 13 times

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“The coalition continues to create dangerous situations that may cause air accidents or incidents and escalate the situation in Syria’s airspace,” TASS quoted Vadim Kulit as saying.

 The US-led coalition’s fighter jets and drones violated Syria’s airspace in the al-Tanf area 13 times during the past day, Vadim Kulit, deputy chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria (a division of the Russian defense ministry), said on Tuesday.

“Three pairs of F-35, a pair of F-16, and a pair of Rafale fighter jets, as well as three MQ-1C multi-role unmanned aerial vehicles, violated Syria’s airspace in the al-Tanf area, across which international air routes run, 13 times during the day,” he said.

According to Kulit, 12 violations of the deconfliction protocols of December 9, 2019, linked with the flights by the coalition drones were reported in Syria in the past 24 hours.

“The coalition continues to create dangerous situations that may cause air accidents or incidents and escalate the situation in Syria’s airspace,” he said.

SD/PR

Middle East

Palestinian PM urges UK to recognize State of Palestine

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Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh (R) meets with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in Ramallah, the occupied West Bank, on September 12, 2023. (Photo by Palestinian news agency Wafa)

Palestinian Prime Minister has urged the United Kingdom to recognize an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East al-Quds as its capital, and demanded London to support its full membership in the United Nations.

During a meeting with visiting British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday, Mohammad Shtayyeh also called on the UK to provide aid to Palestinian institutions.  

“Tomorrow will be too late in case no action is taken today,” Shtayyeh said pointing out to deteriorating status quo and demographics in the occupied territories.

“The United Kingdom bears a moral and historical responsibility towards the Palestinian people; it must be a positive player in realizing the rights of the Palestinian people and finding a political solution that meets their aspirations.”

The Palestinian prime minister highlighted that the so-called two-state initiative is fading and being violated systematically on a daily basis, and it has become fairly difficult to implement it.

He called on the United Kingdom to engage seriously and at the highest political levels in order to put an end to the Israeli occupation and establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

“We call for a reconsideration of British policies and for its discourse to be consistent with its belief in the international law,” Shtayyeh underlined.

He also called on the United Kingdom to urge Israel to abide by signed agreements, allow elections to be held in all Palestinian territories, including al-Quds, and put pressure on the Tel Aviv regime to release all the withheld bodies of Palestinians killed at the hands of its forces.

The Palestinian prime minister also called for the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions, especially Resolution 2334, and the cessation of all Israeli settlement expansion activities across the occupied Palestinian territories, including in East al-Quds.

For his part, Cleverly affirmed his country’s commitment to the so-called two-state solution and continued support for the growth of Palestinian institutions.

Middle East

Syrian army repels terrorists operations in Aleppo, Idlib

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Meanwhile, the army units working in Aleppo’s western countryside targeted members of another terrorist group who were preparing to carry out some attacks on the army points there, killing all the terrorists.

The provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, especially in the last two months, have witnessed ground and air attacks by the Syrian army in cooperation with the Russian Air Force on terrorist positions and ammunition depots.

While Syria has been battling terrorist groups across the country for the past years, the US military has had its forces and equipment stationed in the northeast, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing the oil fields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.

Damascus maintains that the deployment is meant to plunder Syria’s natural resources. Former US President Donald Trump admitted on several occasions that American forces were in the Arab country for its oil wealth.

MNA/PR

Middle East

Yemen giving aggressor regimes ‘one last chance’ to end war: PM

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The prime minister of Yemen’s National Salvation Government says there is only “one last chance” for the member states of the Saudi-led aggressor coalition to end their war on the impoverished country.

In a statement carried by al-Masirah TV on Tuesday, Abdulaziz bin Habtour warned that Sana’a will consider an “appropriate response” to the aggressor regimes that have deprived the government of its revenues.

“The countries involved in aggression are stubborn and believe that they are exerting popular pressure on us regarding salaries, however, we trust the awareness of our people in Sana’a and consider the appropriate response,” he said.

“We give the countries involved in aggression one last chance” as was stated by the leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

The premier also said that currently, all the government’s revenue sources were in the hands of the occupiers.

Previously, 75 percent of Yemen’s budget revenues came from oil and gas, 15 percent from taxes and customs, and the remaining from grants, loans, etc., he added.

Today, however, Hudaydah port is the only source of income and constitutes only 10 percent of the entitled revenues which is sufficient to pay half of the salaries of civil servants every three months, according to Habtour.

Bin Habtour further said that Yemen is “still in a state of war with the aggressor countries” despite efforts by Oman to revive talks aimed at the extension of a truce between Sana’a and the coalition.

The UN-brokered ceasefire, which was reached last year, is still largely in place despite its official expiry. It has significantly reduced clashes over the past months.

The Yemeni prime minister hailed Oman’s mediating role as “sincere,” noting, however, that its impact is limited.

He emphasized that the Saudi-led coalition members are the ones who should take the initiative and stop the war.

Saudi Arabia initiated a brutal war of aggression against Yemen in March 2015, enlisting the assistance of some of its regional allies, as well as massive shipments of advanced weaponry from the US and Western Europe.

The Western governments further extended their political and logistical support to Riyadh in their failed bid to restore power in Yemen to the country’s former Saudi-installed government.

The former Yemeni government’s president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, resigned from the presidency in late 2014 and later fled to Riyadh amid a political conflict with Ansarullah. The movement has been running Yemen’s affairs in the absence of a functioning administration.

The war further led to the killing of tens of thousands of Yemenis and turned the entire nation into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.