IRBIL: All foreign flights to and from the Iraqi Kurdish capital Irbil will be suspended from Friday, officials said, as Baghdad increases pressure on the Kurds over this week’s independence referendum.
The move by the Iraqi central government marks the first major step taken in retaliation for Monday’s vote, which delivered a resounding 92.7 percent “yes.”
An extended suspension of flights would have significant consequences for the Kurds, who have turned Irbil into a regional transport hub that is home to a large international community.
The non-binding referendum in the three provinces of Iraqi Kurdistan and some disputed areas was held in defiance of Baghdad, which declared it illegal, and despite international objections.
Turkey, also home to a large Kurdish minority, is especially concerned and has threatened a series of measures to isolate the Iraqi Kurds.
Talar Faiq Salih, Irbil airport director, told AFP that all international flights to and from the city would stop from 6:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Friday following a decision by the Iraqi cabinet.
Qatar Airways was the latest airline to announce all flights to and from the Kurdish region would be canceled starting Saturday. Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines, EgyptAir and Royal Jordanian announced on Wednesday that flights would be suspended beginning Friday evening.
Low-cost carrier FlyDubai said it is halting flights from Saturday. And Sharjah-based Air Arabia said it will “temporarily suspend its flights” from Saturday.
A civil aviation official in Baghdad said the measure applied to the airports in Irbil and the region’s second-largest city Sulaimaniyah. Baghdad has demanded the airports be handed over to central authorities.
A decision on whether to also suspend domestic flights would be made after Friday, the official said.
Salih said she deeply regretted the decision, which she said would hamper the campaign against Daesh in Iraq and Syria, as well as the delivery of aid to those displaced by it.
“We have consulates, international staff, international companies, so it’s going to affect everyone,” Salih said. “We have a big international community here, so this is not only against Kurdish people.”
Kurdish forces have been key allies in US-backed offensives against Daesh in both Syria and Iraq, and Washington had urged Irbil to postpone the referendum in the interests of that battle.
Longtime Iraqi Kurd chief Masoud Barzani went ahead anyway, and more than 3.3 million people— 72.6 percent of the electorate — flocked to polling stations to pursue a decades-old dream of statehood.
Barzani said the vote would not lead to an immediate declaration of independence, instead opening the door to negotiations, but Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has rejected any talks on the basis on the referendum.
On Wednesday, Al-Abadi demanded the results of the vote be “annulled” and talks take place “in the framework of the constitution.”
Lawmakers on Wednesday passed a resolution calling on Al-Abadi to “take all necessary measures to maintain Iraq’s unity” including by deploying security forces to disputed areas. A similar demand had been made on Monday but there have been no signs of any deployment.
Wednesday’s resolution also called for the closure of border posts with Turkey and Iran that are outside central government control.
Analysts have said it is unlikely Baghdad will take military action in response to the vote, especially as the top priority for its forces remains the battle against Daesh.
It could coordinate efforts with Turkey however to tighten the screws on the Kurds by cutting off trade routes, including for vital oil exports.
Al-Abadi’s office said in a statement on Thursday that Ankara had told Baghdad it would deal only with the Iraqi government on oil exports.
In a phone call with Al-Abadi, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim offered support for “all Iraqi decisions to protect the country’s unity” including those “linked to limiting oil export (operations) to the Iraqi government,” the statement said.
Turkey fears the vote will inflame separatist feelings among its own Kurdish population and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier threatened to block oil exports from Iraqi Kurdistan.
The Iraqi Kurds export an average 600,000 barrels per day through a pipeline running through Turkey to Ceyhan on the Mediterranean coast.
Erdogan has also warned Ankara could close its land border with Iraqi Kurdistan and even suggested the possibility of a cross-border incursion similar to one Turkey carried out against Daesh and Kurdish fighters in Syria.
A senior Iraqi government official said that there were no ongoing talks with the Kurds.
“There will be no negotiations with Kurdish leaders, neither officially nor in secret, as long as they do not declare that the results of the referendum are void and do not hand over to authorities in Baghdad the border posts, airports and disputed regions where they deployed their forces,” the official said.
Baghdad cranks up pressure on Kurds with flight ban
Baghdad cranks up pressure on Kurds with flight ban
Saudi foreign minister, Blinken discuss regional crises
- Two discussed ongoing efforts to address the issues in Gaza and Lebanon
RIYADH: Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan spoke on the phone on Friday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Saudi Press Agency reported.
During the call, they also reviewed regional issues, with a particular focus on Gaza and Lebanon and ongoing efforts to address the issues there, SPA added.
In a separate call on Friday with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Blinken stressed the need to stop the fighting in Sudan and the need to support efforts to form a civilian government, the State Department said.
Blinken also discussed the need to expand humanitarian access to Sudan and thanked the UAE for its provision of aid for Gaza and Lebanon, according to a State Department statement.
Pakistan’s Punjab bans entry to parks, zoos and playgrounds amid pollution
- The province has set up a ‘smog war room,’ using satellite, drones and AI to monitor and address pollution
- Environmentalists want government to address fuel quality, renewable electricity and industrial emissions
LAHORE: Pakistan's eastern Punjab province banned entry to parks, zoos, playgrounds and other public spaces on Friday to protect the public from polluted air, and is considering closing down universities after shutting schools earlier this week.
The air quality in Lahore has deteriorated drastically, earning Punjab's regional capital the rank of world's most polluted city from Swiss air purification equipment maker IQAir.
"We are closely monitoring the situation. There's a possibility of closing universities and colleges on Monday to reduce vehicle emissions," said Jahangir Anwar, Secretary of the Environment Protection Department Punjab.
Friday's order from the regional government placed a "complete ban on public entry in all parks ... zoos, playgrounds, historical places, monuments, museums and joy/play lands" until Nov. 17 in areas including Lahore.
In addition to shutting schools, the province has already taken other steps such as suggesting half of employees work from home and banning rickshaws in certain areas.
South Asia annually faces severe pollution due to trapped dust, emissions and stubble burning - the practice of setting fire to fields after the harvest of grain.
Punjab has attributed this year's particularly high pollution levels to toxic air from neighbouring India, where air quality has also reached hazardous levels.
Punjab has set up a "smog war room," using satellite, drone technology and AI to monitor and address pollution. Nevertheless, Anwar says there is not enough equipment to effectively monitor the province, with only four air quality monitoring machines for the entire city of Lahore, "whereas we should have 50.”
Anwar said the department had imported and deployed five mobile monitoring units and plans to deploy eight more by year-end.
Ahmad Rafay Alam, an environment lawyer and member of the Pakistan Climate Change Council, stressed the need for robust data and policy changes.
"Right now, we just simply don't have those monitors, we simply don’t have as robust data as we should have to make decisions," Alam said.
He warned that without addressing fuel quality, renewable electricity and industrial emissions, the problem will continue to worsen.
‘Strong likelihood’ famine imminent in north Gaza, say food security experts
- The warning comes just days ahead of a US deadline for Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza
LONDON: There is a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas” of the northern Gaza Strip, a committee of global food security experts warned on Friday, as Israel pursues a military offensive against Palestinian militants Hamas in the area.
“Immediate action, within days not weeks, is required from all actors who are directly taking part in the conflict, or have influence on its conduct, to avert and alleviate this catastrophic situation,” the independent Famine Review Committee (FRC) said in a rare alert.
The warning comes just days ahead of a US deadline for Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or face potential restrictions on US military aid.
US charges Iranian man in plot to kill Donald Trump
- Shakeri told the FBI he didn’t plan to propose a plan to murder Trump
- The plot reflects what federal officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target US government officials
WASHINGTON: The Justice Department on Friday disclosed an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill Donald Trump, charging a man who said he had been tasked by a government official before this week’s election with assassinating the Republican president-elect.
Investigators learned of the plot to kill Trump while interviewing Farhad Shakeri, an Afghan national identified by officials as an Iranian government asset who was deported from the US after being imprisoned on robbery charges.
He told investigators that a contact in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed him this past September to put together a plan within seven days to surveil and ultimately kill Trump, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan.
Two other men who the authorities say were recruited to participate in other assassinations, including a prominent Iranian American journalist, were also arrested Friday. Shakeri remains in Iran.
“There are few actors in the world that pose as grave a threat to the national security of the United States as does Iran,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.
The plot, with the charges unsealed just days after Trump’s defeat of Democrat Kamala Harris, reflects what federal officials have described as ongoing efforts by Iran to target US government officials, including Trump, on US soil. Last summer, the Justice Department charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran in a murder-for-hire plot.
Israeli army discovers ‘Hezbollah training center’ near UNIFIL outpost as raids continue in Lebanon
- Several videos showed residential houses and tourist, social and religious facilities being set with explosives and blown up remotely
- Adraee also accused Hezbollah of “using ambulances to transport saboteurs and arms” and called on “medical personnel to avoid dealing and cooperating with Hezbollah members”
BEIRUT: The Israeli army on Friday continued to destroy houses in Lebanon’s southern border villages to establish a buffer zone. The latest bombing targeted the areas of Yaroun, Aitaroun and Maroun Al-Ras in Bint Jbeil.
Several videos showed residential houses and tourist, social and religious facilities being set with explosives and blown up remotely.
In parallel with the deliberate destruction, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued “a new urgent warning to the residents of southern Lebanon,” instructing them “to refrain from returning to the south, or to their houses or olive fields,” describing the region as “a dangerous combat zone.”
Adraee also accused Hezbollah of “using ambulances to transport saboteurs and arms” and called on “medical personnel to avoid dealing and cooperating with Hezbollah members.”
The army will take the “necessary measures against any vehicle transporting armed members regardless of its type,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army claimed that “surveillance cameras of the Oded Brigade reservists captured a Hezbollah training center just 200 meters from a UNIFIL outpost.”
The army claimed that “the forces discovered the training facility, which was used by Hezbollah for training, studying, and storing large quantities of weapons.”
It said that “the facility contained missile launchers used for firing at Israeli settlements, as well as documents and instructional books detailing Hezbollah’s operational methods, maps of Israel, explanations of the Israeli army’s equipment, and additional weapons.” The army said “the weapons were confiscated and the compound was dismantled.”
The Israeli army resumed raids on the Baalbek-Hermel area, killing and injuring people and causing further destruction.
The Ministerial Emergency Committee estimated that, as of Thursday evening, Israel had conducted 121 raids, including 56 on Nabatieh, 24 on Baalbek and 23 in the south.
The committee said the number of people killed so far in Israeli attacks on Lebanon exceed 3,100, while 14,000 people have been injured.
More than 1.2 million people have been displaced, with close to 200,000 staying in shelters, it added.
Lebanese observers believe this transitional phase, from now until US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, is the most dangerous period for Lebanon.
Raids on Kfar Tebnit killed two people after a building comprising residential apartments and commercial shops was destroyed.
A raid on Zebdine in Nabatieh killed Mohammed Fayez Mokaddam and his sons, Fayez and Hadi Mokaddem, after their building was destroyed.
Zaher Ibrahim Ataya, a medic with Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Committee from the southern town of Tair Harfa, was killed when Israeli forces struck a newly established medical center.
The strike was part of a broader Israeli aerial campaign that targeted more than 50 towns across the Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts in the past 48 hours.
The Lebanese Red Cross chief Georges Kettaneh announced that rescue teams have returned to Wata Al-Khiyam to complete the recovery of victims from an incident on Oct. 27.
Working alongside UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese Army, teams recovered four bodies and remains, with efforts continuing to ensure the mission’s completion.
Earlier the Red Cross retrieved 17 bodies from the site where civilians, who had been tending to livestock, sought shelter in a building during an Israeli incursion.
The Israeli military initially stalled permission for the Lebanese Red Cross to recover the victims, eventually granting only a four-hour window for the operation.
The Israeli air campaign extended to Lebanon’s Bekaa region, with strikes hitting Hrabta town west of Baalbek and Hosh Al-Sayyed Ali near the Syrian border north of Hermel.
Sirens sounded across northern Israel, including Haifa, Nazareth, Kiryat Shmona and surrounding areas, as well as the Ramat Trump settlement in the Golan Heights and Israeli media reported approximately 30 rockets launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel and Haifa’s suburbs.
The Israeli military confirmed detecting about 20 rockets, with some being intercepted, and reported drone incursions in northern airspace, including one near Caesarea.
The Israeli military announced the death of a soldier from Battalion 8207, Alon Brigade (228), who succumbed to wounds sustained in southern Lebanon on Oct. 26, while Israeli army radio detailed a fierce battle in the border village of Aitaroun that claimed the lives of six Israeli soldiers.
Hezbollah said on Friday it had launched “dozens of rockets reaching as far as Haifa and south of Nazareth.”
The group claimed strikes on several targets, including the Stella Maris naval base and Ramat David air base, northwest and southeast of Haifa, respectively, Kiryat Shmona settlement, and military gatherings in Misgav Am and Margaliot settlements.
In response to Israeli infiltration attempts, Hezbollah reported targeting Israeli forces south of Adaisseh with artillery fire. The group also claimed to have destroyed a military bulldozer and inflicting casualties on accompanying infantry forces trying to advance northwest of Kfarkila.
