DUBAI: A cross-border raid into Russia from Ukraine this week has fueled calls for Moscow to allow local self-defense units to be armed, with one influential lawmaker suggesting a new military border command structure be set up.
The raid on Belgorod region by Ukraine-based ethnic Russian fighters who oppose the Kremlin, apparently equipped with US-made military vehicles, spanned two days, forcing Moscow to call in air and artillery strikes to drive the raiders out.
The attack, in which Russia said at least one civilian was killed, has prompted debate about what Moscow, which invaded Ukraine 15 months ago in what it called a “special military operation” — can do to better protect its own border.
Ukraine-based fighters made a similar armed incursion into another border region — Bryansk — in March, and Ukraine, which has long promised a powerful counter-offensive to drive Russian forces from its own territory, appears to have been ramping up drone and sabotage attacks against targets inside Russia.
After this week’s attack, the governors of two regions which border Ukraine — Belgorod and Kursk — said they favored changing the law to allow local volunteer self-defense units to be armed when necessary.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, said he and others were working to try to change the law.
“We have them (local self-defense units). We have nearly 3,000 people in seven battalions along the border,” said Gladkov.
But although he said they were combat-ready and had been in training since November last year, he said they remained unarmed because it was illegal to give them weapons under current Russian law.
“We’re now searching for a legal basis...(for them) to be able to push back the enemy if necessary for those who are trained, able and professional,” he said. “I think it would be the right decision.”
Arming such forces could save the defense ministry from being forced to divert some of the troops it needs on the front line to respond to similar raids in future.
Roman Starovoit, governor of the Kursk region which also borders Ukraine, said he favored the idea too which has a powerful backer in the form of Andrei Turchak, first deputy speaker of the upper house of parliament.
Turchak told President Vladimir Putin in a Kremlin meeting last month the issue had to be resolved.
“The legal status of these formations is now extremely restricted, and most importantly they do not have the right to carry and use weapons. We propose that this anomaly be eliminated at the legislative level,” Turchak told Putin, who took away a report with recommendations to study.
Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, an influential lawmaker who chairs the lower house of parliament’s defense committee, believes bigger structural changes are needed to secure the border too.
He told the RBK news outlet that a unified headquarters that could coordinate and was in charge of all the military and security forces in Russia’s border regions with Ukraine was now needed.
Cross-border raid fuels calls for Russia to arm its self-defense forces
https://arab.news/bpvbj
Cross-border raid fuels calls for Russia to arm its self-defense forces
- The raid on Belgorod region by Ukraine-based ethnic Russian fighters who oppose the Kremlin, apparently equipped with U.S.-made military vehicles, spanned two days
- Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, said: “We have them (local self-defence units). We have nearly 3,000 people in seven battalions along the border”
Suicide bomber kills at least 10 in a restaurant in northeast Nigeria
- The suicide bomber was able to slip through unnoticed because of a heavy downpour
- No group has claimed responsibility for the
ABUJA: A suicide bomber in Nigeria’s northeast state of Borno killed at least 10 people and injured several others in an explosion in a restaurant, police said Saturday.
The blast occurred in the Konduga area late Friday, police spokesperson Nahum Daso told The Associated Press.
The suicide bomber was able to slip through unnoticed because of a heavy downpour, said Ismail Ahmed, a resident of Konduga. The town is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.
Local media reported that those injured in the attacks have been taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. They also reported that the bomber was female.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Nigeria’s northeast has been hit by attacks carried out by Islamic militants from the Boko Haram group and its splinter, the Daesh West Africa Province.
Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown militants, took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose their radical version of Islamic law. The conflict also has spilled into Nigeria’s northern neighbors.
Some 35,000 civilians have been killed and more than 2 million displaced in the northeastern region, according to the UN
Despite promises by President Bola Tinubu’s administration to address Nigeria’s security challenges, the violence has persisted.
Where does India stand on the Israel-Iran conflict?
- Middle East situation shows India deviating from its traditionally pro-peace foreign policy, experts say
- Indian foreign ministry called both sides ‘to avoid any escalatory steps,’ engage in dialogue
NEW DELHI: India is on a path of non-involvement in the growing conflict in the Middle East, experts said on Saturday, as they warned Delhi’s silence could have serious implications for the region.
Israeli attacks on Iran started on June 13 when Tel Aviv hit more than a dozen sites — including key nuclear facilities and residences of military leaders and scientists — claiming they were aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
After Iran retaliated with ballistic missile strikes against Israel, the two countries have been on a tit-for-tat cycle of bombing.
Israel’s attacks on Iran have reportedly killed at least 639 people and wounded 1,329 others, while Iranian missile strikes have killed 24 people and injured hundreds more in Israel.
India has yet to join other Asian nations — such as China, Japan, Pakistan and Indonesia — in condemning Israel’s initial strikes against Iran.
It was also the only country in the 10-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization which did not endorse a statement issued by the bloc, condemning Israel’s military strikes on Iran. SCO is a political and security body that includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan and Central Asian nations.
In a statement, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs urged “both sides to avoid any escalatory steps” and engage in dialogue and diplomacy “to work towards de-escalation.”
“India enjoys close and friendly relations with both the countries and stands ready to extend all possible support,” the ministry said.
Talmiz Ahmad, an Indian diplomat who served as ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE, described the statement as “a very low-key remark and is meant for the record.”
“India is not interested in engaging itself with serious matters pertaining to regional diplomacy. India is not interested in pursuing ways in which we could promote security and stability,” he said.
Historically, India’s ties with countries in West Asia — a region that includes the Middle East — have been bilateral and transactional, lacking engagement “with the region in a collective sense.”
“With regard to the Israeli-Iran issue we have taken a position of non-involvement … (but) silence in this matter where Israel has initiated a conflict that could have potentially horrendous implications for the region, is another and is something which India should be very concerned about,” Ahmad said.
“There is no justification whatsoever for India to be so indifferent to the flames that are now gathering speed and strength right in our neighborhood.”
India is Israel’s largest arms buyer and Israel is India’s fourth-largest arms supplier. According to a report from Reuters, India has imported military hardware worth $2.9 billion over the last decade.
Delhi also has strategic interests in Iran and has invested around $370 million in a port development project in the Iranian port of Chabahar, aimed at hastening trade and connectivity links to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Moreover, there are over 10,000 Indian nationals living in Iran, the majority of whom are students. Delhi has prioritized safely evacuating them since Israeli attacks began last week.
Peace in the region should be within India’s strategic interest, according to Delhi-based foreign policy scholar and researcher N. Sai Balaji, who highlighted the 9 million Indians living and working in West Asia.
“Not only that these (9 million) Indians contribute to billions of dollars in terms of remittances (but) India’s energy needs are met from West Asia,” Balaji told Arab News. “Any conflict with Iran or any conflict in West Asia does not only destabilize its financial stability in forms of remittances but also energy security.”
He said the Indian government was “taking sides clearly by not calling out the aggression of Israel.”
“India is not only abdicating its historic responsibility but also changing its foreign policy to accommodate Israel,” Balaji added.
Sudheendra Kulkarni, who served as an advisor to India’s former premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said the country had shifted its traditional approach in foreign policy.
“India has always stood for peace in the world … Therefore, it is deeply painful that Narendra Modi’s government has deviated from this traditionally pro-peace foreign policy of India,” Kulkarni told Arab News.
“It is wrong for the government to keep silent in the face of Israel’s naked aggression against Iran … Under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, Israel is the aggressor. It has violated international law. Iran is the victim. Iran has the right to defend itself.”
Ukraine says received Russian bodies in war dead exchanges
- Zelensky accused Russia of “not checking” who they were sending
- “Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports“
KYIV: Kyiv received the bodies of 20 Russian soldiers instead of Ukrainian ones during exchanges of war dead with Moscow, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in remarks made public Saturday.
He accused Russia of “not checking” who they were sending, and suggested Moscow might be doing it on purpose to conflate the number of Ukrainian bodies they had.
The repatriation of fallen soldiers and the exchange of prisoners of war has been one of the few areas of cooperation between the warring sides since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Moscow and Kyiv agreed earlier this month during talks in Istanbul to exchange the bodies of 6,000 soldiers each.
“It has already been confirmed during repatriations that the bodies of 20 people handed over to us as our deceased soldiers are Russian,” Zelensky said in remarks released on Saturday.
“Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports,” he added.
An “Israeli mercenary” fighting for Moscow was also among those sent, he said.
Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides since the war began. Neither country regularly releases information on military casualties.
Zelensky said there were currently “695,000 Russian troops” on Ukrainian territory.
Iran-Israel war must not become refugee crisis: UN
- UNHCR said the intensity of the attacks between the two sides was already triggering population movements in both countries
- “This region has already endured more than its share of war, loss and displacement,” said Grandi
GENEVA: The United Nations said on Saturday the Iran-Israel war must not be allowed to trigger another refugee crisis in the Middle East, saying once people fled there was no quick way back.
UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, said the intensity of the attacks between the two sides was already triggering population movements in both countries.
Such movements had already been reported from Tehran and other parts of Iran, it said, with some people crossing into neighboring countries.
Strikes in Israel had caused people to seek shelter elsewhere in the country and in some cases abroad.
“This region has already endured more than its share of war, loss and displacement. We cannot allow another refugee crisis to take root,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees.
“The time to de-escalate is right now. Once people are forced to flee, there’s no quick way back — and all too often, the consequences last for generations.”
Israel said on Saturday it had launched fresh air strikes against missile storage and launch sites in central Iran.
Iran has responded with barrages which Israeli authorities say have killed at least 25 people.
Iran hosts the largest number of refugees in the world — around 3.5 million — mostly of them from Afghanistan.
If the conflict persists, Iran’s existing refugee populations would also face renewed uncertainty and yet more hardship, UNHCR said.
The agency called for an urgent de-escalation in the conflict and urged countries in the region to respect the right of people to seek safety.
The Israeli government says the unprecedented wave of attacks it has launched at Iran since June 13 is aimed at preventing its rival from developing nuclear weapons — an ambition Tehran strongly denies.
Israel has maintained ambiguity about its own atomic arsenal, neither officially confirming nor denying it exists, but the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says it has 90 nuclear warheads.
Aviation regulator orders Air India to remove officials
- Airline’s voluntary disclosures “point to systemic failures in crew scheduling, compliance monitoring, and internal accountability”
- Air India crash in June 12 in Ahmedabad killed all but one of the 242 people on board. At least 38 others on the ground also perished
NEW DELHI: New Delhi’s civil aviation regulator has ordered Air India to remove three officials from their roles over “systemic failures,” according to a directive seen by AFP Saturday, as the carrier comes under scrutiny after a deadly crash.
The instruction from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) did not detail whether it was linked to the June 12 crash in Ahmedabad, which killed all but one of the 242 people on board. At least 38 others on the ground were killed.
The DGCA directive noted that the airline’s voluntary disclosures “point to systemic failures in crew scheduling, compliance monitoring, and internal accountability.”
“Of particular concern is the absence of strict disciplinary measures against key officials directly responsible for these operational lapses,” said the order, which was issued on Friday.
“These officials have been involved in serious and repeated lapses,” it said.
The regulator has directed Air India to remove three officials named in the order “from all roles and responsibilities related to crew scheduling,” take disciplinary action, and report on steps taken within 10 days.
Future violations could also result in “license suspension.”
The airline said on Saturday it had implemented the order.
“Air India is committed to ensuring that there is total adherence to safety protocols and standard practices,” it said in a statement.
Investigators are attempting to find out what caused the airline’s London-bound plane to hurtle to the ground moments after takeoff in Ahmedabad.
Air India said on Thursday that the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane was “well-maintained” and that the pilots were accomplished flyers.
The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder have been recovered from the crash site.
