CAIRO: Sudan’s army said on Sunday a commander from its foe the Rapid Support Forces had defected with some of his troops, the first such move by a senior figure since the two sides went to war more than 18 months ago.
Supporters of the army posted photos online purporting to show Abuagla Keikal — a former army officer who became the RSF’s top commander in the southeastern state of El Gezira — after he had defected.
The RSF later published a statement alleging that Keikal had switched sides after a “deal,” and saying that it had inflicted losses on the forces that defected with him in the east of El Gezira state, where Keikal is from.
The army, which has recently reported gains against the RSF in parts of the capital, said Keikal had decided to make the move because of the RSF’s “destructive agenda.”
There was no immediate comment from Keikal, who was a military intelligence officer before the war.
The RSF has seized control of large parts of Sudan in a conflict with the army that the United Nations says has caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The war has displaced more than 10 million people, driven parts of the country to extreme hunger or famine, and drawn in foreign powers that have given both sides material support.
It began in April 2023 when tensions between the RSF and the army, who had been jostling for position ahead of an internationally backed transition to civilian rule, erupted into open conflict.
The army and the RSF had previously shared power after staging a coup in 2021, two years after veteran autocrat Omar Al-Bashir was toppled in a popular uprising.
Sudanese army reports first defection of a senior RSF commander
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Sudanese army reports first defection of a senior RSF commander
- The army said Keikal had decided to make the move because of his former force’s “destructive agenda”
- There was no immediate comment from the RSF which has seized control of large parts of the country in a conflict with the military
Turkiye’s Halkbank not immune from US prosecution in Iran sanctions case
- No basis in common law for a foreign state-owned corporation to be absolutely immune from US prosecution
NEW YORK: A US appeals court on Tuesday rejected a request by Turkiye’s state-owned Halkbank for immunity from US criminal charges that it helped Iran evade American sanctions.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said it found no basis in common law for a foreign state-owned corporation to be absolutely immune from US prosecution for alleged criminal conduct related to its commercial activities.
Israel arrests seven Jerusalem residents over alleged Iran assassination plot
- The incident is the fifth case involving attempted assassinations directed by Iranian intelligence that has been thwarted
- The seven suspects are residents of the mainly Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM: Israel’s security forces have arrested seven Jerusalem residents over allegations they were planning to assassinate Israeli officials and carry out other attacks on behalf of Iran’s intelligence service, the Shin Bet and police said on Tuesday.
The incident is the fifth case involving attempted assassinations directed by Iranian intelligence that has been thwarted by Israeli security services in the past month, a joint police and Shin Bet statement said.
The seven suspects, residents of the mainly Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa in Jerusalem, were planning to carry out the assassination of a senior Israeli scientist and the mayor of a major city in Israel which was not named, the statement said.
“Scientists and mayors, as well as senior members of the security establishment and other senior Israeli officials, are attack targets by Iranian elements,” a senior Shin Bet source said separately, citing information from the security services.
Iran’s foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.
The security services’ investigation also established that the suspects were also tasked with blowing up a police vehicle and throwing a grenade into a house with a promise of receiving 200,000 shekels, the statement said.
One of the suspects, a 23-year old, was in contact with a foreign entity. The individual subsequently recruited a ring of helpers who set fire to a vehicle in Jerusalem, sprayed graffiti at various locations and gathered intelligence in Israel at the direction of Iranian officials abroad.
During a search of the suspects’ homes, security forces found 50,000 shekels ($13,240) in cash, a fake police car license plate and various credit cards.
Their detention was extended until Oct. 24 and an indictment was expected to be served by the Jerusalem district prosecutor’s office for “serious security offenses,” the statement said.
On Monday, Israel’s security services said they had broken up a spy ring gathering information for Iranian intelligence, which followed a separate arrest in September of an Israeli citizen suspected of involvement in an Iran-backed assassination plot against prominent people including the prime minister.
Israel has a long history of intelligence operations in Iran, allegedly including the assassination in July of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in a Tehran state guesthouse. Israel has made no claim of responsibility for that killing.
Hezbollah claims drone attack on Israeli PM’s residence
- Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif made the remarks during a press conference in Beirut’s southern suburbs that was cut short following an Israeli evacuation warning
- Hezbollah “declares its full, complete and exclusive responsibility for the Caesarea operation targeting... Netanyahu,” Afif said
BEIRUT: Hezbollah claimed responsibility Tuesday for a drone attack last week targeting the home of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and acknowledged that some of its fighters have been take captive by the Israeli army.
Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif made the remarks during a press conference in Beirut’s southern suburbs that was cut short following an Israeli evacuation warning for the area.
An Israeli strike hit a target hundreds of meters (yards) away from the site of the conference just minutes after journalists left, an AFP video journalist said.
Hezbollah “declares its full, complete and exclusive responsibility for the Caesarea operation targeting... Netanyahu,” Afif said.
On Saturday, Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of attempting to assassinate him and his wife after a drone was launched toward his residence in the central town of Caesarea.
Afif also acknowledged that some of the group’s fighters were captured by the Israeli army without giving numbers.
“On the issue of captives currently held by the enemy, I say: I know that the enemy is not committed to the ethics of war and international conventions but it bears the responsibility of preserving the lives of the captives,” Afif said.
Previously, the Israeli army said it has captured a total of four Hezbollah fighters since the start of its ground offensive in Lebanon, and released video footage it said showed one of them answering questions.
Afif also said the group’s micro-financing firm Al-Qard Al-Hassan took all necessary precautions ahead of Israeli strikes last week, vowing to “fulfil its obligations” toward depositors.
The firm “had anticipated such... an aggression and has taken all precautions and will do everything that is necessary to fulfil its obligations toward depositors,” he said.
Erdogan vows to pursue late cleric Gulen's followers
- "These traitors managed to escape Turkish justice thanks to the ones who protect them," Erdogan said
- Erdogan accused Gulen of organising a failed 2016 coup against him
ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday condemned late preacher Fethullah Gulen and his followers as traitors and vowed to pursue them globally, following the influential cleric's death in exile.
"These traitors managed to escape Turkish justice thanks to the ones who protect them. They left without being held to account for the martyrs' blood they shed. But they will not be able to escape divine justice," Erdogan said in a televised address.
Gulen was once a close ally of Erdogan but the two became bitter enemies.
Erdogan accused Gulen of organising a failed 2016 coup against him.
Gulen moved to Pennsylvania in 1999, ostensibly for health reasons, and from there ran his Hizmet movement, which once operated 4,000 schools in Turkey and 500 others around the world.
The charismatic preacher, who was stripped of his Turkish nationality in 2017, died in hospital on Sunday in the United States.
He fell out with Erdogan in 2013 and three years later the Turkish strongman accused him of masterminding the coup, dubbing Hizmet "the Fethullah Terror Organisation" (FETO).
"We will continue our fight against Feto," Erdogan said on Tuesday.
"Whether it is in Turkey or in the farthest corner of the world, we will be on the back of the FETO hyena pack".
Activists say over 50 killed in two days of Sudan battles
- In the state capital of Wad Madani, a military air strike on a mosque killed 31 people
- In the state’s war-ravaged east, activists said at least 20 people have been killed in paramilitary attacks since Sunday
KASSALA, Sudan: Local activists in central Sudan have reported over 50 people killed since clashes erupted in Al-Jazira state on Sunday after a paramilitary commander defected to the army.
In the state capital of Wad Madani, a military air strike on a mosque killed 31 people, the local resistance committee, one of hundreds of volunteer groups coordinating aid across the war-torn country, said in a statement to AFP on Tuesday.
They accused the army of using “barrel bombs,” adding that over half of the dead remained unidentified as rescuers combed through the remains of “dozens of charred and mutilated bodies.”
In the state’s war-ravaged east, activists said at least 20 people have been killed in paramilitary attacks since Sunday.
War has raged between the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023, killing tens of thousands of people and creating the world’s largest displacement and humanitarian crises.
The two forces are currently locked in brutal combat over central Sudan’s agricultural Al-Jazira state, which has been under paramilitary control since late last year.
On Sunday, the army announced that the RSF’s Al-Jazira commander Abu Aqla Kaykal had abandoned the paramilitary force, bringing “a large number of his forces” to “fight alongside our army,” in what they said was the first high-profile defection to the military’s side.
A spokesman for army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan said Kaykal and others who defect would receive “amnesty,” as war-weary civilians braced for renewed attacks.
Mere hours after the army took control of Tamboul — 75 kilometers (46 miles) north of Wad Madani — eyewitnesses reported RSF troops were back “rampaging” through the city.
They said paramilitary soldiers were “shooting randomly in the air” and forcing civilians to carry looted cargo.
By Tuesday, the RSF had “repelled an army attempt” to regain the town of Tamboul, a paramilitary source told AFP, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The RSF has long been accused of rampant looting, laying siege to entire villages and systemic sexual violence in Al-Jazira and across Sudan.
Both sides have been accused of war crimes, including targeting civilians, indiscriminately shelling residential areas and blocking or looting aid.
In the town of Rufaa, just 50 kilometers north of the state capital, the local resistance committee on Tuesday said RSF attacks on a series of villages in eastern Al-Jazira resulted in at least 20 deaths.
The activists accused the paramilitaries of carrying out “vengeful operations against defenseless” civilians, in response to Kaykal’s defection.
According to the volunteer group Central Observatory for Human Rights, at least seven towns and villages have been hit by “vengeful attacks that pay no heed to the rights of civilians during wartime.”
