Month: April 2024

Turkey on Monday said Israel had blocked its attempt to airdrop aid to Gaza, and vowed to take a series of new measures against the country.

The Turkish airforce wanted to drop part of a humanitarian aid operation through its cargo planes.

“Today we learned that our request… was rejected by Israel. There is no excuse for Israel to block our attempt to airlift aid to starving Gazans,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.

“We decided to take a series of new measures against Israel,” he said, adding that they would be publicised by the relevant institutions.

Fidan said Ankara’s reprisals approved by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal advocate of the Palestinian cause, would be implemented “step by step” and “without any delay”.

“These measures will be in place until Israel declares a ceasefire and allows humanitarian aid to reach Gaza uninterruptedly,” the minister said.

Erdogan has become one of the harshest critics of Israel’s war in Gaza.

He has branded Israel a “terrorist state” and compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler while calling Hamas — considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union — “a liberation group”.

GAZA STRIP: Israel and Hamas both dampened hopes on Monday of a speedy breakthrough in Cairo talks towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal after Egyptian state-linked media had reported “significant progress”.

As the Gaza war raged on into a seventh month, Israel is under growing international pressure to agree to a ceasefire, including from its top ally and arms supplier the United States.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Sunday — half a year after the October 7 attack — that Israel is “one step away from victory” and has vowed to defeat remaining Hamas fighters in Gaza’s far-southern Rafah city.

On the same day, however, the army also announced it had pulled its forces out of southern Gaza, although military commanders stressed the withdrawal was tactical and did not signal an end to the war.

Rafah operations

Israeli leaders were preparing on Monday for military operations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where most of the Palestinian territory’s population has fled after six months of fighting.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the troops would “prepare for future missions, including … in Rafah” on the Egyptian border where almost 1.5 million Gazans live in crowded shelters and tents.

Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman said: “I wouldn’t read too much into the fact that we’ve moved soldiers in or out of anywhere. I’ll remind everyone that we’re living in a tiny country, we can move soldiers in or out very easily and very quickly.”

The United States said it still opposed a major Israeli assault on Rafah, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a date for the attack was set. “We have made clear to Israel that we think a full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have an enormously harmful effect on those civilians and that it would ultimately hurt Israel’s security,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters when asked about Netanyahu’s remarks.

“It’s not just a question of Israel presenting a plan to us. We have made clear to them that we think that there is a better way to achieve what is a legitimate goal, which is to degrade and dismantle and defeat the Hamas battalions that still remain in Rafah,” Miller said.

Witnesses said that more Israeli air strikes and artillery fire hit central Gaza, including near Gaza City and in Deir al-Balah, as well as in Rafah in the south.

Amid the threats and ongoing fighting, Netanyahu has sent negotiators to fresh truce talks that started in Cairo on Sunday, joined by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

US President Joe Biden sent CIA chief Bill Burns to the talks, three days after a terse phone call with Netanyahu in which Biden demanded a halt to the fighting and greater steps to help and protect Gaza civilians.

Egypt’s state-linked news outlet Al-Qahera reported “significant progress being made on several contentious points of agreement”, citing an unnamed high-ranking Egyptian source.

The Qatari and Hamas delegations had left Cairo and were expected to return “within two days to finalise the terms of the agreement”, it said, while the US and Israeli teams were also planning 48 hours of consultations.

However, Israel’s Ynet news outlet cited an unidentified Israeli official as tempering the upbeat Egyptian report and stressing that “we still don’t see a deal on the horizon”.

“The distance is still great and there has been nothing dramatic in the meantime,” the Israeli official was quoted as saying by the Hebrew-language website.

A separate senior Israeli official was quoted by Ynet as saying that “patience is needed. There is potential, but we are not there yet.”

A Hamas official said on Monday no progress was made at a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo. “There is no change in the position of the occupation and, therefore, there is nothing new in the Cairo talks,” the Hamas official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. “There is no progress yet.”

Another senior Hamas official told AFP that “we cannot speak of concrete progress so far”, with disagreement centred on the pace of displaced Palestinians returning to Gaza City.

Netanyahu also faced pushback from one of the far-right allies he needs to maintain a parliamentary majority and stay in power, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Ben Gvir warned on X, formerly Twitter, that “if the prime minister decides to end the war without an extensive attack on Rafah in order to defeat Hamas, he will not have a mandate to continue serving as prime minister”.

Lavrov arrived in China for a two-day official visit on Monday, with the two countries looking to deepen diplomatic ties as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on.

Russia and China have in recent years ramped up contacts, and their strategic partnership has only grown closer since the invasion of Ukraine.

Lavrov held discussions with President Xi Jinping on Tuesday afternoon, Chinese state media announced, in a previously undisclosed meeting.

State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of chairs arranged around a glossy table in an opulent room in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People ahead of the talks.

In earlier meetings on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi promised: “China will support Russia’s stable development under the leadership of (Vladimir) Putin.

“Beijing and Moscow will continue to strengthen strategic cooperation on the world stage and provide each other with strong support,” Wang said, according to Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.

“Under the strong leadership of President Putin, the Russian people will have a bright future,” he said.

Lavrov, in turn, thanked China for its “support” after Putin’s recent re-election, in which he was unchallenged by any meaningful opposition.

“Xi Jinping […] was among the first ones to send congratulations to the president-elect Putin, and we are overall grateful to our Chinese friends for this support,” Lavrov said, according to a video of the meeting shared by Izvestia on Telegram.

“The election results confirmed the deep trust of the Russian people in our leader and the ongoing domestic and foreign policies,” he added, according to RIA Novosti.

“This applies not least to the course to strengthen strategic interaction and partnership with the PRC,” the top diplomat said, referring to China by its official acronym.

Lavrov last visited Beijing in October for an international forum on Chinese President Xi’s flagship Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

Analysts say China holds the upper hand in the relationship with Russia, with its sway growing as Moscow’s international isolation deepens following its invasion of Ukraine.

That asymmetry is still “changing in China’s favour” as it enables Moscow “to continue the war by providing very necessary materials for the Russian war machine”, Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told AFP.

“Integrating Russia’s economy, brainpower, and military technology into… a Chinese-led order with Eurasia at its geographic heart, is the only way Russia can sustain its confrontation with the West,” he wrote in Foreign Policy magazine this week.

“China has stronger bargaining power and many more options than does Russia, and its leverage over its northern neighbour is growing all the time,” he added. “Russia is now locking itself into vassalage to China.”

US officials have recently warned Beijing against providing indirect aid to the Russian war effort and regularly urge China to wield its influence to help bring about peace in Ukraine.

In Brussels last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that “China continues to provide materials to support Russia’s defence industrial base”.

And Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who wrapped up a visit to China on Monday, said she had warned officials of the consequences of supporting Russia’s military procurement.

But Lavrov on Tuesday drew a parallel between the West’s “unlawful sanctions” and efforts to curb China’s access to sensitive US-made technologies.

At a press conference following bilateral talks, he accused the West of seeking to impede China’s “economic, technological development opportunities, to put it simply in order to eliminate the competitors”.

Wang, in turn, declared that Russia and China “always stick to the correct path on great matters of principle”. “China and Russia must take a clear-cut stand on the side of historical progress, on the side of fairness and justice,” he said.

“(We must) oppose all acts of hegemony, tyranny and bullying; oppose Cold War thinking and separatist provocations; and actively push for the construction of a common future for all humankind,” he said.

“As a force for peace and stability, China will stick to playing a constructive role on the international stage […] and will never add oil to the flames,” he added.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday arrived in Saudi Arabia in a commercial airline for a visit from April 6 to 8, his first foreign visit since his election.

He is accompanied by federal ministers Including Ishaq Dar, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Abdul Aleem Khan, Attaullah Tarar, and Ahad Khan Cheema.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also accompanied the prime minister. The prime minister will stay in Madina tonight.

During his visit, the prime minister will perform Umrah and offer prayers at the Masjid Nabwi Al-Sharif, the Foreign Office said in a statement earlier.

The prime minister is expected to meet Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz and discuss issues of mutual interest.

The leaders will also exchange views on regional and global developments.

during the meeting with the crown prince, PM Shehbaz is expected to hold discussions on various projects.

The premier would also renew his invitation to the Saudi PM to visit Pakistan.

During his stay, multiple development projects would be finalised, whereas bilateral cooperation in several sectors including agriculture continues between the two countries, said the sources.

They said Saudi Arabia was expected to invest $1 billion in the Reko Diq project as well.

Pakistan and KSA have longstanding fraternal relations rooted in religious and cultural affinity.

The people of Pakistan have the deepest respect and regard for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, read the FO statement.

“The leadership of both countries is committed to advancing the fraternal ties and mutually rewarding economic and investment relations.”

President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday discussed the strengthening of bilateral ties with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, during a phone call.

According to a statement issued on X, formerly Twitter, President Zardari and Turkish President Erdogan spoke over the phone and discussed matters of mutual interest.

“The two called for further strengthening bilateral relations in various fields,” the statement added.

During their phone call, President Zardari felicitated the Turkish president on the forthcoming Eid-ul-Fitr — which is expected to fall on April 10 (Wednesday).

Moreover, the head of state also extended an invitation to Erdogan, inviting him to visit Pakistan. He also expressed his best wishes for the president of Turkey and its people.

On March 10, Zardari took oath as country’s head of state for the second time after being elected as the 14th president with a big margin.

Zardari, who was the joint candidate of the ruling alliance, was elected as the country’s president after he defeated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) candidate Mahmood Khan Achakzai by a huge margin.

The president secured 411 electoral votes in parliament and all four provincial assemblies with the backing of allied parties — mainly Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).

Zardari earlier served as the 11th president of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013 and has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018.

Shoma Sen, 66, a former professor of English at Nagpur University, was arrested in 2018.

She was one of 16 activists and academics held for allegedly inciting violence between different Indian caste groups, among them a Jesuit priest, Stan Swamy, who died in pre-trial detention three years later at the age of 84.

The National Investi­gation Agency (NIA), the country’s top anti-terror agency, also claimed that Sen and some of the other activists had links with far-left Maoist insurgents.

New Delhi has been battling armed Maoist rebels, known locally as Naxals, for decades in dense, tribal-dominated forests of central and eastern India. “At present, the appellant has been in detention for almost six years, her age is over 66 years and charges have not yet been framed,” the two-judge bench said on Friday.

“If we examine the acts attributed to the appellant by the various witnesses or as inferred from the evidence… we do not find prima facie commission or attempt to commit any terrorist act” by Sen, the court added. Another sexagenarian activist detained in the same case, Sudha Bharadwaj, was released by the Mumbai High Court in 2021.

Sen, like Bharadwaj and Swamy, was held under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), which allows indefinite detention without trial.

Critics say the law — which makes it difficult for accused people to receive bail — has been used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to silence dissent.