BAGHDAD: “We’ve been attacked on an almost daily basis since we were deployed here,” Mohammed Al-Shimary, an artillery battalion commander deployed along the Iraqi-Syrian border in western Mosul, told Arab News.
“Our artillery is pointed toward Syrian territory because the attacks have been launched from the Syrian side,” he said.
In the latest attack, militants in pickup trucks equipped with machine-guns opened fire at the battalion in an attempt to enter Iraq.
Several militants were killed, a vehicle was destroyed and another was damaged, Al-Shimary said. The surviving militants fled. A similar attack took place in the same area a week earlier.
The militants “are desperate to cross into Iraq. There’s no direct fighting, but hit-and-run attacks,” Al-Shimary said.
“In such attacks, using artillery is much faster than waiting for the air force, so we’ve deployed our artillery along the border for more than 100 km.”
The Iraqi-Syrian border is more than 600 km long. The vast desert on both sides is dotted by long valleys and large caves.
Earlier this month, Iraq declared the full liberation of its territories from Daesh, which at one point controlled almost a third of the country.
But Iraqi military commanders and officials say hundreds of Daesh fighters have mysteriously disappeared without fighting, especially in areas that were formerly the command and control headquarters of the terror group, raising questions about where and when they will resurface.
“The information we got from Daesh leaders who we captured in Mosul suggests that there were at least 700 militants who fled the combat zones,” Falih Al-Khaza’ali, commander of the Brigades of the Martyrs, one of the Shiite-dominated Popular Mobilization Units, told Arab News.
“They had three options: Travel to Syria or Turkey; disguise themselves, or turn into sleeper cells,” he said.
“Those who fled took refuge in many places that haven’t been cleared yet. They are mainly in the western desert of Anbar, Hawija and the southern areas of Kirkuk with some areas extending along the Hemrin Mountains.”
Ahmed Assadi, the commander of Jund Al-Emam who is the former spokesman of the PMU, along with several intelligence and military officers, agreed with Khaza’ali.
The US-led coalition said most of the 40,000 foreigners and locals who joined Daesh in Iraq have been killed, with fewer than 1,000 fighters remaining in the desert area along the border with Syria. But Iraqi officers and security officials dispute these figures.
“These numbers aren’t even close to the numbers from our intelligence sources,” a senior officer told Arab News on condition of anonymity. “It was funny. They were just gone with the wind in some areas,” he said sarcastically.
Fadhil Abu Raghaif, an Iraqi expert on radical armed groups, told Arab News: “No more than 25 percent of the fighters were killed.”
“The problem is that most of the militants were neither locally or internationally registered so it was very easy for them to evaporate,” he said. “Some of them (the foreigners) have returned to their countries; some (the locals) went back to their previous lives. Most of them returned to the desert.”
Iraqi security, military and local officials who were contacted by Arab News said that the militants who fled took refuge in the border towns of Zanghorah, Turabail, Ruttba, Qaem and Annah in western Anbar; some in villages between Salahudeen and Diyala provinces while the rest returned to Horran, Hussienat, Ghadhaf and Um Al-Shababiek valleys in the desert of Anbar.
Anbar’s local officials told Arab News that there were large concealed and fully equipped camps which were set up by Al-Qaeda in 2004 and 2005 inside the deep long valleys of the western desert of Anbar. The biggest camp is in Horan, officials said. Daesh is Al-Qaeda’s offshoot; most of its prominent leaders were first Al-Qaeda leaders. Daesh has inherited all the tactics, weapons and headquarters of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria.
Iraq on Dec. 9 announced the liberation of western Anbar province. But “Daesh’s presence in the desert (of Anbar) isn’t a secret,” Ibrahim Al-Awssaj, the mayor of Anbar’s capital Ramadi, told Arab News.
“Its military presence in the big cities and towns has ended, but it’s difficult to terminate Daesh as an ideology … specifically in this part of the country (Anbar),” he said.
“Until now, the Iraqi government has focused on stopping car bombs, but it has to focus on stopping the ideological bomb,” he added. “Daesh could come back at any minute.”
Whereabouts of missing Daesh fighters raises Iraqi concerns
Whereabouts of missing Daesh fighters raises Iraqi concerns
Eight dead in Sudan paramilitary attack on shelter: doctor
- Since losing control of the capital Khartoum to the army in March, the RSF has stepped up attacks on El-Fasher and its surrounding displacement camps
PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed eight civilians in an attack on a bunker sheltering dozens in the besieged western city of El-Fasher, a doctor said Thursday.
Nearly all of Darfur, the vast western region of Sudan, remains under RSF control, with communications and media access cut off since the RSF’s war with the army began in April 2023.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands, triggered the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis, and devastated the northeast African country.
“The RSF bombed a shelter where citizens had taken refuge using a drone, late on Tuesday night,” the doctor told AFP from El-Fasher Teaching Hospital, one of the city’s last functioning health facilities.
They spoke on condition of anonymity for their safety, as health workers have been repeatedly targeted, using a satellite Internet connection to circumvent the communications blackout.
North Darfur state’s capital, El-Fasher, is the only major city in Sudan’s vast Darfur region still outside RSF control, despite a siege that began in May last year.
Since losing control of the capital Khartoum to the army in March, the RSF has stepped up attacks on El-Fasher and its surrounding displacement camps — where famine has already been declared — in an attempt to consolidate its hold on Darfur.
The United Nations has repeatedly warned of the plight of the city’s trapped civilians, who shelter from shelling in makeshift bunkers dug in courtyards and in front of houses.
The bunker bombed on Tuesday had been “sheltering dozens of people,” an eyewitness told AFP.
The city’s resistance committee, one of hundreds of volunteer groups coordinating frontline aid across the country, said El-Fasher was rocked by RSF artillery throughout Wednesday.
El-Fasher’s estimated one million people survive with barely any access to food, water or health care, with critical infrastructure decimated by a lack of maintenance and fuel shortages.
The United Nations said this week that nearly 40 percent of children under five in El-Fasher were suffering from acute malnutrition, including 11 percent with severe acute malnutrition.
Aid sources say an official famine declaration is impossible given the lack of access to data, but mass starvation has all but gripped the city.
Since the war began, the UN estimates 780,000 people have been displaced from El-Fasher and its surrounding displacement camps, including half a million in April and May following a series of brutal RSF attacks.
Of the 10 million people currently internally displaced in Sudan — the world’s largest displacement crisis — nearly 20 percent are in North Darfur.
Rights defenders denounce US sanctions on UN expert
- Francesca Albanese accused companies of supporting settlements, Israeli war actions
GENEVA: Human rights defenders rallied on Thursday to support the top UN expert on Palestinian rights, after the US imposed sanctions on her over what it said was unfair criticism of Israel.
Italian lawyer Francesca Albanese serves as special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, one of dozens of experts appointed by the 47-member UN Human Rights Council to report on specific global issues.
She has long criticized Israeli treatment of the Palestinians, and this month published a report accusing over 60 companies, including some US firms, of supporting Israeli settlements in the West Bank and military actions in Gaza.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Wednesday Albanese would be added to the US sanctions list for work that had prompted what he described as illegitimate prosecutions of Israelis at the International Criminal Court.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged Washington to reverse course.
“Even in the face of fierce disagreement, UN Member States should engage substantively and constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures,” he said.
Juerg Lauber, the Swiss permanent representative to the UN who now holds the rotating presidency of the Human Rights Council, said he regretted the sanctions, and called on states to “refrain from any acts of intimidation or reprisal” against the body’s experts.
Mariana Katzarova, who serves as the special rapporteur for human rights in Russia, said her concern was that other countries would follow the US lead.
“This is totally unacceptable and opens the gates for any other government to do the same,” she said. “It is an attack on UN system as a whole. Member states must stand up and denounce this.”
Russia has rejected Katzarova’s mandate and refused to let her enter the country, but it has so far stopped short of publicly adding her to a sanctions list.
Washington has already imposed sanctions against officials at the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister for suspected war crimes in Gaza. Another court, the International Court of Justice, is hearing a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of genocide.
Israel denies that its forces have carried out war crimes or genocide against Palestinians in the war in Gaza, which was precipitated by an attack by Hamas-led fighters in October 2023.
“The United States is working to dismantle the norms and institutions on which survivors of grave abuses rely,” said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch.
The group’s former head, Kenneth Roth, called the US sanctions an attempt “to deter prosecution of Israeli war crimes and genocide in Gaza.”
The US, once one of the most active members of the Human Rights Council, has disengaged from it under President Donald Trump, alleging an anti-Israel bias.
Sara Netanyahu: the ever-present wife of Israel’s prime minister
- Sara Netanyahu has long made headlines, notably for her alleged involvement in the political decisions of her husband
- She has been questioned in connection with her husband’s ongoing graft trial and was the subject of corruption, fraud and breach of trust investigations
JERUSALEM: Whether dining opposite US President Donald Trump or accompanying her husband on an official Pentagon visit, Sara Netanyahu’s front-row role in Washington this week has sparked fresh questions over her place in Israeli politics.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s third wife and the mother of two of his children, Sara Netanyahu has long made headlines, notably for her alleged involvement in the political decisions of her husband.
“My wife and I...” is a phrase often used by the Israeli premier in his official statements, helping to cement Sara’s position at the forefront of public life.
This week, as the prime minister visited Washington for a series of high-level meetings in which he discussed a potential Gaza ceasefire deal with the US president, his wife was noticeably present.
On Tuesday, she was photographed sitting opposite Trump at an official dinner following a meeting between the two leaders.
Two days later, she appeared next to her husband, as well as US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, as they arrived for meetings at the Pentagon.
But speculation had swirled even before the Netanyahus’ departure for Washington.
On the eve of the trip, the prime minister’s office announced the resignation of his spokesman Omer Dostri.
A few hours later, following media reports claiming that his wife had been involved in the decision, another statement was issued denying she had any role.
Sara Netanyahu has been the subject of several investigations, including for corruption, fraud and breach of trust, and has also been questioned in connection with her husband’s ongoing graft trial.
Married to Benjamin Netanyahu since 1991, the 66-year-old is the target of frequent media attacks which are regularly denounced by her husband.
She has been caricatured in satirical programs for her fashion choices or her profession as a child psychologist, which she has often appeared to boast about.
But above all, she has been targeted for her alleged interference in state affairs.
‘Real prime minister’
In a video released in December 2024, Netanyahu denied that his wife was involved in his cabinet appointments or that she was privy to state secrets.
It followed an investigation into Sara Netanyahu aired by Israel’s Channnel 12 which the prime minister slammed as a “witch hunt.”
In 2021, a former senior official said he had seen a contract signed by the Netanyahus stipulating that Sara had a say in the appointment of Israeli security chiefs.
To that claim, the prime minister’s office responded with a brief statement denouncing “a complete lie.” The official lost a libel suit brought against him by the Netanyahus’ lawyer.
And when the prime minister appointed David Zini as the new head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service in May, Israeli journalists once again pointed to the possible influence of Sara Netanyahu, who is thought to be close to Zini’s entourage.
Almost two years since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Sara Netanyahu seems to have established herself as more indispensable than ever, with some even attributing her with increasing influence on strategic issues.
In May, when Sara Netanyahu corrected the number of living Gaza hostages given by her husband during a recorded meeting with the captives’ families, speculation swirled that she had access to classified information.
Journalist and Netanyahu biographer Ben Caspit went as far as to describe Sara Netanyahu as the “real prime minister.”
“It has become public knowledge. It is an integral part of our lives... we are normalizing the fact that someone has dismantled the leadership of the state in favor of chaotic, family-based management,” Caspit said in an opinion piece published on the website of the Maariv newspaper.
In an interview with US news outlet Fox News on Wednesday, Netanyahu described his wife as a “wonderful partner” and praised her help over the years.
KSrelief extends fire aid to 600 families in Syrian villages, distributes winter kits in Pakistan
- Relief workers distributed emergency supplies to 600 families impacted by fires across rural Latakia province in Syria, reaching 13 villages
DAMASCUS: The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center has expanded its emergency response operations, delivering critical assistance to fire-affected communities in Syria while simultaneously addressing winter shelter needs for displaced populations in Pakistan.
Relief workers distributed emergency supplies to 600 families impacted by fires across rural Latakia province in Syria, reaching 13 villages: Al-Midan, Aysha Banar, Shaqraa, Beit Fares, Beit Awan, Al-Husainiya, Al-Ramadiya, Al-Rawda, Qastal Maaf, Al-Tamima, Beit Sheikh Wali, Beit Al-Wadi and Beit Hussein.
In parallel operations, the center provided 2,012 emergency shelter kits to vulnerable populations across Kashmir region in Pakistan, reaching 14,921 people through its 2025 shelter materials and winter supplies distribution program.
The operations form part of Saudi Arabia’s broader humanitarian framework, delivered through the center’s established networks, to support affected communities globally.
Libya’s unity government, Turkiye strengthen military cooperation with agreement in Ankara
- Deal outlines cooperation in military fields to enhance Libyan army’s readiness, professionalism
- Libya’s undersecretary of the Ministry of Defense met Yasar Guler, Turkey’s minister of national defense
LONDON: Libya and Turkiye signed an agreement on Thursday to enhance the Libyan army’s military capabilities through advanced training and logistical support.
The National Unity Government based in Tripoli said that Abdulsalam Al-Zoubi, undersecretary of the Ministry of Defense, visited Ankara to work on strengthening military cooperation between Libya and Turkiye. During his visit, he met Yasar Guler, the Turkish minister of national defense, as well as the undersecretary of the ministry of defense.
The agreement outlines cooperation in military fields to enhance the Libyan army’s readiness and professionalism. Al-Zoubi said that the cooperation is part of Tripoli’s plan to develop the Libyan army, praising the strategic relationship with Ankara. He said cooperation with Turkiye is a key priority for the Ministry of Defense’s institutional development program.
Turkiye has reaffirmed its commitment to support Tripoli’s defense capabilities, highlighting its strategic partnership, the statement added.
