BAGHDAD: Powerful Iraqi Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr on Wednesday called on the country’s judiciary to dissolve parliament by end of next week, threatening unspecific consequences if it does not do what he says.
The populist leader has helped inflame tensions in Iraq over the last two weeks by commanding thousands of followers to storm and occupy parliament, preventing the formation of a government nearly 10 months after elections.
His political opponents, mostly fellow Shiites backed by Iran, have refused to accede to Sadr’s demands, raising fears of fresh unrest and violence in a conflict-weary Iraq.
The judiciary “must dissolve parliament by the end of next week... if not, the revolutionaries will take another stance,” Sadr said in a statement on his Twitter account, without elaborating.
Sadr has called for early elections and unspecified changes to the constitution after withdrawing his lawmakers from parliament in June.
The withdrawal was a protest against his failure to form a government despite holding nearly a quarter of parliament and having enough allies to make up more than half the chamber.
Sadr blames Iran-aligned parties for the failed government formation and accuses them of corruption, but his followers also control some of the worst-managed government departments.
Experts are divided on whether Al-Sadr has any legal basis for his demands. He won the largest share of seats in the election last October, but failed to form a majority government that excluded his Iran-aligned rivals.
Al-Sadr called his followers “revolutionaries” and said “they will take another position” if his demands were not met, hinting at possibly escalating the protest.
The judiciary stated previously it does not have the constitutional right to dissolve parliament and that only lawmakers can vote to dissolve the legislature. Because the parliament has exceeded the constitutional timeline for forming a government following the October elections, what happens next is not clear.
Al-Sadr’s political rivals in the Coordination Framework, an alliance of Iran-backed parties, said earlier that the parliament would have to convene to dissolve itself.
Last week, thousands of Al-Sadr’s followers stormed the heavily fortified Green Zone, which houses Iraq’s parliament, government buildings and foreign embassies. They overran and occupied the parliament, after which all sessions of the assembly were canceled until further notice. The takeover also effectively halted efforts by the Coordination Framework to try and form the next government after Al-Sadr failed to do so.
Iraq’s political impasse, now in its tenth month, is the longest in the country since the 2003 US-led invasion reset the political order.
In their takeover of parliament, Al-Sadr’s followers stopped short of overrunning the Judicial Council building next door — an act that many consider a coup as the judiciary is the highest legal authority in the country.
(With Reuters and AP)
Iraq’s Sadr tells judiciary to dissolve parliament in a week
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Iraq’s Sadr tells judiciary to dissolve parliament in a week
- Muqtada Al-Sadr said on Twitter that the judiciary has one week to dissolve the legislature
UAE mediates exchange of 50 Russian, Ukrainian war captives
- UAE mediated the exchange of 2,583 captives since the Russian-Ukrainian war began in February 2022
- Foreign Ministry says successful exchange reflects both sides’ trust in Emirati leadership, diplomacy
LONDON: UAE mediation efforts resulted in a new exchange of 50 prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Moscow and Kyiv exchanged 25 Ukrainians and 25 Russians captured during the war between the neighboring states.
It brings the total number of captives exchanged through UAE mediation efforts to 2,583 since the war began in February 2022.
The UAE has long supported diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv, Emirates News Agency reported.
The UAE Foreign Ministry said that the success of the eleventh captive exchange since 2024 reflects Russia and Ukraine’s trust in the Emirati leadership and diplomacy.
Abu Dhabi is committed to a peaceful resolution to the war in Eastern Europe and addressing its humanitarian impacts on refugees and captives, the ministry added.
Additionally, the UAE successfully facilitated the exchange of two prisoners between the US and Russia in December 2022.
More than 19.5m Yemenis in need as crisis worsens: UN
- “People in Yemen continue to face a severe humanitarian and protection crisis,” said Joyce Msuya, interim chief of the United Nations’ humanitarian agency
- Around 17 million people — nearly half the country’s population — cannot meet their basic food needs
UNITED NATIONS: More than 19.5 million people in Yemen will need assistance in 2025, a senior UN official said Wednesday, expressing concern over a worsening humanitarian crisis and for children suffering from malnutrition.
“People in Yemen continue to face a severe humanitarian and protection crisis,” said Joyce Msuya, interim chief of the United Nations’ humanitarian agency (OCHA).
And the crisis will only get worse, she added, citing the organization’s forthcoming consolidated humanitarian appeal for 2025.
Around 17 million people — nearly half the country’s population — cannot meet their basic food needs, Msuya said.
“At least 19.5 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance and protection this year — 1.3 million more than in 2024,” she said.
On top of this, an estimated 4.8 million people remain internally displaced, the majority of whom are women and children.
Nearly half of children under five years old suffer from moderate to severe stunting caused by malnutrition, while the country’s stressed health system is overburdened by “appalling levels” of cholera.
Hans Grundberg, the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, who just visited the capital Sanaa that is controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi militants, stressed the need for “immediate de-escalation and genuine engagement for peace.”
“The need to address Yemen’s crisis becomes ever more urgent as regional stability requires, in part, achieving peace in Yemen,” he said.
Yemen has been at war since 2014, when the Houthis forced the internationally recognized government out of Sanaa. The militants have also seized population centers in the north.
A UN-brokered ceasefire in April 2022 calmed fighting and in December 2023 the warring parties committed to a peace process.
But tensions have surged during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, as the Houthis struck Israeli targets and international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in a campaign the militants say is in solidarity with Palestinians.
Joy mixed with fear for Israelis awaiting Gaza hostage release
- “On one hand, of course, I’m very happy, but I’m also preoccupied because I want to see the deal continue until the last hostage is back at home ,” Ornit Barak, said
- Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the deal was the “right move” to bring back hostages
TEL AVIV: Israelis expressed both joy and apprehension at the announcement of a Gaza ceasefire and hostage exchange deal on Wednesday, fearing that not all those held captive would come home.
“On one hand, of course, I’m very happy, but I’m also preoccupied because I want to see the deal continue until the last hostage is back at home, in his bed, the living and the dead,” Ornit Barak, 59, told AFP.
“We are very preoccupied that at some point it will, for some reason, stop and we will continue back to war,” she said at a protest calling for an end to the war and a release of all hostages.
Qatar’s prime minister announced that Israel and Hamas had agreed Wednesday to a ceasefire after over 15 months of war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, cautioned that some issues in the framework remained “unresolved,” though it hoped the “details will be finalized tonight.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who holds a largely ceremonial role, said the deal was the “right move” to bring back hostages seized during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war.
Arnon Cohen, a chef from Nahal Oz kibbutz — one of the Gaza border communities hardest hit by the attack — said he would not be satisfied until all the hostages were freed.
“For us, it’s only the beginning, we want them all here. It doesn’t end, it’s not enough if just some of them come back,” said the chef, noting that two people from the kibbutz were still being held in Gaza.
“We want them here, with all the other hostages, dead and alive.”
Ifat Kalderon, the cousin of the hostage Ofer Kalderon, said: “I have mixed feelings. On one hand, it’s joy, (but) mixed with terrible anxiety that it will, actually, happen.”
“If the deal does happen, I don’t know how Ofer will return — whether he is alive or not — but I do believe he is alive,” she said, hoping her relative is among those released.
“I truly, truly hope it won’t end with just the 33 hostages returning home, but that everyone will return.”
The Qatari PM said the deal agreed by Israel and Hamas involves a first stage in which 33 hostages will be released, beginning with women and children, in exchange for a thousand Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
A second stage, requiring further negotiation, is expected to follow.
Palestinian militants took 251 people hostage during Hamas’s surprise October 7 attack, of whom 94 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
“The pain is very great, I can’t imagine what the families (of the hostages) are going through,” said Tamar, a 38-year-old from Jerusalem.
“We need to do everything to get them home.”
Biden nods to Trump team in Israel-Hamas ceasefire announcement
- Deal reached after months of negotiations by the Biden team
- Agreement terms will be mostly implemented by the incoming Trump administration
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire-and-hostage deal that will end fighting in Gaza, and added it was reached by working alongside the incoming Donald Trump administration.
“I can announce a ceasefire and a hostage deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas,” Biden said at the White House. The deal was reached after 15 months of suffering, he said, and will be followed by a surge of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
“Fighting in Gaza will stop, and soon the hostages return home to their families,” Biden said.
The deal was reached after months of negotiations by the Biden administration, Biden noted as he thanked his national security adviser Jake Sullivan and other officials.
However, its terms will be mostly implemented by the incoming Trump administration, Biden said.
“In these past few days, we have been speaking as one team,” he said.
Asked by a reporter whether he or Trump deserved more credit for getting the deal done, Biden quipped, “Is that a joke?“
Trump, in a statement on social media, said the deal would not have happened if he had not been elected.
“This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies,” he wrote.
Biden did not provide specifics outside the broad outlines of the deal that were already known, but indicated he thought it could set the stage for an independent Palestinian state.
“For the Palestinian people, a credible, credible pathway to a state of their own. And for the region, a future of normalization, integration of Israel and all its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia,” he said.
In a separate statement, the White House quoted Biden as saying: “Today, after many months of intensive diplomacy by the United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage deal. This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity.”
Spain pledges 10 million euros for Lebanon army
- Jose Manuel Albares: The 10 million euros will contribute to ‘supplement the salaries of the Lebanese Armed Forces’ as well as finance ‘solar panels and logistical aspects’ of the army
- Under the Nov. 27 ceasefire accord, the Lebanese army has 60 days to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south of Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws
BEIRUT: Spain’s top diplomat announced Wednesday a €10 million aid package for Lebanon’s army, in a boost for the armed forces who have a crucial role in implementing a fragile Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.
“This announcement of 10 million euros for the United Nations Development Programme” will contribute to “supplement the salaries of the Lebanese Armed Forces” as well as finance “solar panels and logistical aspects” of the army, Jose Manuel Albares said during a visit to Beirut.
Lebanon has struggled for years to finance its public institutions including the army following a 2019 economic crisis.
It now also faces the challenge of rebuilding the country after more than two months of war between Hezbollah and Israel that the group had initiated over the Gaza conflict and ended in November.
“Aid for... the reconstruction especially of south of Lebanon, will be necessary to stabilize the country,” Albares told reporters after meeting Lebanon’s new president, former army chief Joseph Aoun.
Spain has contributed more than 650 personnel to the UN peacekeeping force in the country’s south (UNIFIL) with force chief Aroldo Lazaro hailing from Spain.
A committee composed of Israeli, Lebanese, French and US delegates, alongside a representative from UNIFIL, has been tasked with monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire deal.
On Wednesday, the US army official on the committee said the Israeli army was on a “very positive path” to withdraw from Lebanon’s south ahead of the deadline for implementing the truce later this month.
Lebanese army “checkpoints and patrols operate effectively throughout south-west Lebanon, and the soldiers are dedicated to their mission as Lebanon’s sole security guarantors,” said Major General Jasper Jeffers during a visit to the checkpoints.
“We are on a very positive path to continue the withdrawal of the IDF as planned, and the LAF is providing for the security and stability of Lebanon,” he added.
Under the November 27 ceasefire accord, the Lebanese army has 60 days to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south of Lebanon as the Israeli army withdraws.
At the same time, Hezbollah is required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in the country’s south.
