Burning oil tanker in Red Sea unsafe to tow, EU naval mission says

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Updated 03 September 2024
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Burning oil tanker in Red Sea unsafe to tow, EU naval mission says

  • EUNAVFOR Aspides said that tugboats from private companies that arrived at the Sounion oil tanker in the Red Sea discovered that to move the ship from its current position is not viable
  • Greek-flagged Sounion, carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude oil, has been abandoned and engulfed in flames in the Red Sea since late last month

AL-MUKALLA: A burning oil tanker in the Red Sea loaded with almost a million barrels of oil cannot be moved to another position to be saved, the EU naval operation in the Red Sea said on Tuesday, dashing hopes of avoiding a tragedy in the important maritime channel.

The EU mission, known as EUNAVFOR Aspides, said that tugboats from private companies that arrived at the Sounion oil tanker in the Red Sea discovered that to move the ship from its current position is not viable and that rescuers are evaluating other on-site solutions. 

“The private companies responsible for the salvage operation have concluded that the conditions were not met to conduct the towing operation and that it was not safe to proceed. Alternative solutions are now being explored by the private companies,” the EU mission said on X.

The Greek-flagged Sounion, carrying 150,000 tonnes of crude oil, has been abandoned and engulfed in flames in the Red Sea since late last month, when the Houthis attacked it first with light arms fire, projectiles, and a drone boat, then boarded it and planted explosives that sparked fires on various parts of the ship.

The Houthi assault on the oil tanker has provoked worldwide condemnation, as well as warnings of a significant danger to Red Sea trade and marine life.

Wim Zwijnenburg of the Humanitarian Disarmament Project at the Dutch peace organization PAX told Arab News on Tuesday that the EU mission’s remark suggests that moving the tanker to another location is impossible and that rescuers may consider salvaging it at its current location, which will probably mean extinguishing the fires first.

“It means they can’t start with the rescue operations. The ship is probably not stable enough to tow it away and be salvaged at another location. So they are probably looking for on-site solutions, putting out the fire perhaps?” he said.

Earlier, the EU mission said on X that its warships had given protection to the tugboats that arrived at the scene of the burning ship, warning of an ecological disaster in the Red Sea if the ship was not salvaged.

“Since September 1st, 2024, EUNAVFOR ASPIDES assets have been engaged in protecting the tugs involved in the MV SOUNION salvage operation, aiming to facilitate the prevention of an unprecedented environmental disaster in the region.”

The post came as a Yemeni government official in the southern city of Aden, Yemen’s temporary capital, told Arab News on Tuesday that two tugboats from a port in Djibouti arrived at the Sounion’s location and started assessing the ship to determine how to rescue it.  

The US Central Command, which condemned the Houthis for assaulting two oil tankers in the Red Sea on Monday, also warned of an ecological catastrophe in the Red Sea from the burning ship.

“Currently, salvage efforts are underway in the southern Red Sea for the disabled MV Delta Sounion, which is still on fire and threatens the possibility of a major environmental disaster,” CENTCOM said on Tuesday morning.

CENTCOM said that its troops had destroyed two missile systems aimed at international ships in a Houthi-controlled part of Yemen.

On Monday, local media and people reported loud explosions and thick smoke billowing from the Al-Hamza military base in the Houthi-controlled Ibb governorate, reportedly attacked by the US military.  


Sudan army inches closer to retaking Khartoum

Updated 11 sec ago
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Sudan army inches closer to retaking Khartoum

  • Shelling by Rapid Support Forces kills six civilians, including two children

OMDURMAN: Shelling by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed six civilians, including two children, in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, a doctor said Monday, as the army inched closer to the capital’s presidential palace.

Sunday’s attack also wounded 36 civilians, half of them children, the doctor at Al-Nao Hospital said.

The bombardment struck residential areas in northern Omdurman, hitting civilians inside their homes and children playing on a football field, the Khartoum regional government’s media office said.

The war between the RSF and the army, which began in April of 2023, has escalated recently, with army forces seeking to reclaim territory lost to the RSF early in the conflict in the capital, Khartoum, and beyond.

The army says its units are now less than a kilometer from the presidential palace, which the RSF seized at the war’s outset. In a video address shared on Telegram on Saturday, RSF commander Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo vowed his troops “will not leave the Republican Palace.”

AFP journalists saw thick plumes of smoke rising over central Khartoum as fighting raged across the capital, with gunfire and explosions heard in several areas.

Nationwide, the conflict has killed tens of thousands, uprooted more than 12 million, and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.

In Khartoum alone, at least 3.5 million people have been forced from their homes due to the violence, according to the UN.

Further southwest, in the North Kordofan state capital of El-Obeid — roughly 400 km from Khartoum — two civilians were killed and 15 others wounded after RSF forces shelled residential neighborhoods on Monday morning, a medical source at the city’s main hospital said.

Last month, the military broke through a nearly two-year RSF siege of the southern city, a key crossroads linking Khartoum to the vast Darfur region, which is under near-total RSF control.

Across North Kordofan, more than 200,000 people are currently displaced, while nearly a million are facing acute food insecurity, according to UN figures.

Clashes have also erupted in Blue Nile state, which borders South Sudan and Ethiopia, and where the RSF claimed Sunday to have destroyed military vehicles and taken prisoners from the army and allied forces.

In almost two years, the war has nearly torn Sudan into two, with the RSF in control of almost all of Darfur in the west and parts of the south, while the army holds the country’s north and east.

The army has made gains in central Sudan and Khartoum in recent months and appears to be on the verge of reclaiming the entire capital.


Algeria rejects French deportation drive in latest row

Updated 40 min 35 sec ago
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Algeria rejects French deportation drive in latest row

  • Algerian authorities would not accept a list handed over by France in recent days with the names of around 60 Algerians set for deportation
  • French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has said those selected were 'dangerous' or former convicts

ALGIERS: Algeria on Monday opposed a French bid to deport several dozen Algerians, rejecting “threats” and “ultimatums” by Paris as the two countries’ ties came under increasing strain.
The Algerian foreign ministry said in a statement that the authorities would not accept a list handed over by France in recent days with the names of around 60 Algerians set for deportation.
It cited procedural requirements but also said Algeria “categorically rejects threats and intimidation attempts, as well as.... ultimatums.”
In rejecting the French list, Algeria was “solely motivated by the wish to fulfil its duty of consular protection for its citizens” and to ensure “the rights of individuals subject to deportation measures,” the ministry’s statement said.
Hard-line French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has said those selected for deportation were “dangerous” or former convicts.
Relations between Paris and Algiers have been strained since French President Emmanuel Macron recognized Moroccan sovereignty of the disputed territory of Western Sahara in July last year.
But they have worsened since Algiers refused to accept the return of undocumented Algerian migrants from France.
Retailleau has led verbal attacks on Algeria in the media, fueling tensions between the countries.
In late February, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou warned Paris could revoke a special status given to Algerians in France, the former colonial power.
Macron has since voiced his support for “renegotiating,” though not annulling, the 1968 agreement Bayrou was referring to.
Algeria was a French colony from the mid-19th century until 1962 and for most of that period was considered an integral part of metropolitan France.
On February 28, the French president said that agreements mandating the automatic return of nationals, signed between the two countries in 1994, “must be fully respected.”
In recent months, France has arrested and deported a number of undocumented Algerians on suspicion of inciting violence, only for Algeria to send back one of those expelled.
France warned it could restrict visas as a result, as well as limit development aid.
Algeria’s government has previously criticized Macron for “blatant and unacceptable interference in an internal Algerian affair.”


Israel strikes southern Syria: state media, monitor

Israel struck area of Syria’s southern city of Daraa, the state news agency SANA reported Monday. (File/AFP)
Updated 17 March 2025
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Israel strikes southern Syria: state media, monitor

  • “Israeli occupation jets launch air strikes targeting the surroundings of Daraa city,” said Damascus’s official news agency SANA
  • Monitor said Israel targeted military site once belonging to Assad’s army but now used by the forces of Syria’s new authorities

DAMASCUS: Israel struck the area of Syria’s southern city of Daraa, the state news agency SANA reported, with a war monitor saying the latest Israeli attack targeted a military site.
“Israeli occupation jets launch air strikes targeting the surroundings of Daraa city,” said Damascus’s official news agency SANA, without immediately providing further details.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Israel targeted a military site once belonging to ousted president Bashar Assad’s army but now used by the forces of Syria’s new authorities.
The Britain-based Observatory reported that a fire broke out, with ambulances rushing to the scene amid reports of casualties.
Since Assad’s overthrow in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria and deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the strategic Golan Heights.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the air force conducted a strike on Damascus on Thursday, with the military saying it had hit a “command center” of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
The Observatory reported one fatality in that strike, with SANA saying it targeted a building in the capital.
The Israeli military said the “command center was used to plan and direct terrorist activities by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad” against Israel.
A source in Islamic Jihad said a building belonging to the group had been hit by Israeli jets, adding there were “martyrs and wounded” in the strike.
Ismail Sindawi, Islamic Jihad’s representative in Syria, told AFP the targeted building had been “closed for five years and nobody from the movement frequented it.” Israel was just sending a message, Sindawi said.
Even before Assad’s fall, during the Syrian civil war that broke out in 2011, Israel carried out hundreds of strikes in the country, mainly on government forces and Iranian-linked targets.


Jordan’s FM says Syria’s reconstruction must preserve security, unity

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and his Syrian counterpart, Asaad Al-Shaibani, in Brussels, March 17, 2025. (Petra)
Updated 17 March 2025
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Jordan’s FM says Syria’s reconstruction must preserve security, unity

  • Ayman Safadi met his Syrian counterpart on the sidelines of an international conference in Brussels
  • Ties between Amman and Damascus have improved since the fall of the Assad regime 

LONDON: Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi met his Syrian counterpart, Asaad Al-Shaibani, in Brussels on Monday on the sidelines of an international conference to support Syria’s political transformation.

Ties between the neighboring countries have improved since the fall of the Bashar Assad regime in December. Interim president of the Syrian Arab Republic, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, visited Amman in late February.

In Brussels, the ministers discussed the most recent developments in Syria. Safadi said that Jordan supports Syria’s reconstruction on the basis of preserving its security and unity while protecting the rights of Syrians, the Petra agency reported.

On Monday, the EU hosted the ninth international conference to support Syria. Representatives from the new interim government were invited to attend for the first time, including Al-Shaibani.

The event aims to bolster international support for Syria’s transition and recovery following more than 13 years of civil war.


Palestinian detainees ministry warns of virus outbreak in Israeli Megiddo Prison

Updated 17 March 2025
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Palestinian detainees ministry warns of virus outbreak in Israeli Megiddo Prison

  • 90 percent of prisoners have suffered from diarrhea and vomiting in the past 10 days
  • Ministry accuses Israel Prison Service of medical negligence for not providing adequate treatment

LONDON: The Palestinian Authority warned on Monday of a virus outbreak among Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails that could severely affect their health and well-being.

The PA’s Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs reported that prisoners in Megiddo Prison in northern Israel have been suffering from diarrhea and vomiting in the past 10 days. It reported that nearly 90 percent of the prisoners experienced these issues, and some lost consciousness due to the severity of the illness, particularly among the elderly.

The ministry accused the Israel Prison Service of medical negligence for not providing adequate treatment. Megiddo Prison is the second-largest Israeli prison, following the notorious Negev Desert Prison.

Since October 2023, the ministry has recorded the deaths of 53 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, with the most recent being Moataz Abu Zneid from Dura, south of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.

By the end of December, Israel had detained 9,619 Palestinians, including 2,216 from the Gaza Strip. However, Tel Aviv released around 600 Palestinians in a ceasefire and captive exchange deal with Hamas in early 2025.