Five Americans freed from Iranian detention this week returned to US soil early Tuesday following an initial stop in Doha, Qatar, a US official tells CNN.
Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz and Siamak Namazi, along with two Americans who have not been publicly namedhave arrived in the Washington, DC, area, after they were released Monday as part of a wider deal that includes the US unfreezing $6 billion in Iranian funds.
The freed Americans will have the option to participate in a Department of Defense Program known as PISA (Post Isolation Support Activities) to help them acclimate back to normal life now that they are back in the United States.
The return of the five Americans, all of whom had been designated as wrongfully detained, caps a significant diplomatic breakthrough after years of complicated indirect negotiations between the US and Iran, who do not have formal diplomatic ties.
The group was flown out of Tehran on a Qatari government jet to Doha on Monday, before taking off for the Washington, DC, area to be reunited with their families, according to a senior administration official. Namazi’s mother, Effie Namazi, and Tahbaz’s wife, Vida Tahbaz, who had been previously unable to leave Iran, were also on the flight from Iran to Doha, the official said Monday.
After a year of indirect negotiations, the deal began to broadly come together in Doha about seven months ago and the first tangible public steps took place about five weeks ago, when four of the Americans were transferred to house arrest. The fifth American was already under house arrest.
President Joe Biden on Monday celebrated their release “after enduring years of agony, uncertainty, and suffering.” But while the release stood as the latest high-profile deal negotiated by his administration to secure the release of Americans deemed wrongly detained abroad, Biden drew criticism from some Republicans who likened the agreement to a “ransom payment.”
A senior Biden administration official said Monday that the deal “has not changed our relationship with Iran in any way,” noting the US would still work to hold Iran accountable for its human rights abuses and to constrain its nuclear program.
This story has been updated with additional information.
Washington, DC – The prisoner swap between the United States and Iran is a step towards de-escalating tensions between the two countries, experts say, but it does not point to an imminent thaw in frosty relations.
Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran programme at the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington, DC, called the prisoner exchange a “transactional deal”.
The agreement also included the release of five Iranian prisoners in the US and the unfreezing of $6bn in Iranian funds blocked in South Korea due to American sanctions.
“Everybody is basically reconciling themselves with the fact that the best they can do for now is to take small steps toward preventing a crisis,” Vatanka told Al Jazeera.
“So that’s all it is. There is no big vision being articulated by anybody that could tell us that something in terms of a breakthrough is in the pipeline. There is no sign of that.”
Five American citizens previously detained in Iran were flown out of the country on Monday as part of the agreement, which was facilitated by Qatar and other countries.
They landed in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Monday afternoon and were expected to be “soon be reunited with their loved ones—after enduring years of agony, uncertainty, and suffering”, US President Joe Biden said in a statement.
The standoff
But as Biden and other members of his administration hailed the release of the detained Americans, US officials have said repeatedly that the prisoner deal will not change Washington’s approach to Tehran.
The US and Iran have experienced heightened tensions since 2018 when former US President Donald Trump nixed a multilateral deal that saw Tehran scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions against its economy.
President Joe Biden came into office in early 2021 promising to revive the Iran nuclear accord, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
But as several rounds of indirect negotiations failed to restore the pact, Washington continued to enforce its sanctions regime against Tehran and piled on more penalties.
JCPOA talks were eventually put on hold, and attempts to revive them were complicated by the crackdown on protesters in Iran as well as accusations that Tehran was providing Moscow with drones for use in Ukraine.
Biden administration officials also have stressed that Iran will only be allowed to use the unfrozen funds for humanitarian purposes amid criticism from Republican legislators who accused Washington of paying a ransom for hostages — against stated government policy.
Just days ago, as the prisoner swap loomed, the US imposed sanctions on dozens of Iranian officials and entities over human rights abuses during a crackdown on antigovernment protests in Iran last year.
The US also issued sanctions against former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence as the prisoner swap was underway on Monday. “We will continue to impose costs on Iran for their provocative actions in the region,” Biden said.
Siamak Namazi and Morad Tahbaz, who were released during a prisoner swap deal between the US and Iran, arrive at Doha International Airport in Qatar, September 18, 2023 [Mohammed Dabbous/Reuters]
US elections
Still, supporters of diplomacy are hopeful that Monday’s agreement could serve as a step towards restarting negotiations on the nuclear file, as well as other issues.
Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy think tank in Washington, DC, said while it remains unlikely that Iran and the US will reach a broader agreement soon, the prisoner swap is an “important first step”.
“This is going to bring Americans home. This is going to allow for humanitarian relief to go to the Iranian people who desperately need it,” Toossi said of the prisoner exchange, as US officials have stressed that Iran will only be allowed to use the unfrozen $6bn for humanitarian purposes.
“And this creates the grounds for the US and Iran to get away from this dangerous, hostile, confrontational policy they have had, and hopefully move towards a broader diplomatic deal,” Toossi told Al Jazeera.
But he said reviving the JCPOA is “untenable” at this stage, especially with a looming US presidential election in November 2024.
He said Biden is unlikely to make concessions to Iran ahead of the vote, which would invite attacks from Republican hawks; at the same time, Iran would want to hold on to its own leverage in case Trump – the heavy favourite in the Republican 2024 nomination race – returns to power.
Republicans are already decrying the prisoner exchange and accusing Biden of improperly handing money to Tehran. Biden administration officials have stressed that Iran will only be allowed to use the unfrozen funds for humanitarian purposes.
But Toossi accused Republican lawmakers of spreading disinformation about the deal, stressing – like senior Biden administration officials have – that the funds are Iran’s own money. “There’s a lot of efforts to deliberately mislead the public about the nature of this kind of agreement and past similar agreements,” he said.
‘Containing the crisis’
On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US is currently “not engaged” with Iran but will “continue to see if there are opportunities” for diplomacy. However, he stressed that the prisoner swap is not connected to the nuclear talks.
“Let me be very clear that this process and the engagements necessary to bring about the freedom of these unjustly detained Americans has always been a separate track in our engagement – or for that matter lack of engagement – with Iran,” Blinken told reporters.
The relationship between Washington and Tehran in recent months has been characterised by an ebb and flow of signs of de-escalation on one hand, and spiking tensions on the other.
Earlier this month, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, known as the IAEA, said in a confidential assessment that Iran slowed down its production of near weapons-grade enriched uranium, The Associated Press news agency reported.
US media reports in recent months also said the two countries had reached an informal understanding to avert confrontations and partly curb Tehran’s nuclear programme, but Biden administration officials have denied reaching any kind of agreement with Iran.
(Al Jazeera)
However, last month, the US sent thousands of troops to the Gulf region in response to allegations of Iranian harassment of international ships in the strategic waters. The US also seized a tanker carrying Iranian oil earlier this year that it said was being sold in violation of its sanctions.
According to Vatanka at the Middle East Institute, the parties for the most part remain focused on “containing the crisis”.
“There will be continuing efforts on both sides to test the other’s resolve: more sanctions, more Iranian actions in the region, and back and forth,” he told Al Jazeera.
“But neither side clearly wants this to get out of control and result in a shooting war. That much they agree on.”
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s push to weaken the Supreme Court set off months of unrest, tearing Israel apart. Lesley Stahl reports why protestors call his plan a profound threat to democracy.
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First, Scott Pelley interviews Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Then, Benjamin Netanyahu’s push to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court divides nation. And, Jon Wertheim interviews Deion Sanders.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is heading to the United States – with plans to meet President Biden at the UN General Assembly this week, as his country faces perhaps its worst domestic crisis ever. And it’s not about the Palestinian conflict: it’s about Israelis fighting Israelis.
Massive numbers have poured into the streets to protest the Netanyahu Coalition, Israel’s most far-right government ever, and its move to weaken the court system. The judicial overhaul is seen as so radical, President Biden has urged Netanyahu to walk away from this; telling him on the phone to uphold our quote “shared democratic values.”
This is what up to 200,000 Israelis across the country have done every Saturday night for over eight months. This packed protest is in Tel Aviv.
Some nights have turned violent – with police clashes, counter-protests and cars ramming into the crowds. It can feel like the country is unraveling.
The protests were triggered by the government’s judicial initiative to sap the Supreme Court of much of its power. A wide majority of the country sees weakening the court as a power grab, since it is the only check in Israel on the government.
People who had never demonstrated in their lives, have poured into the streets – like Eyal Naveh. He leads a group of tens of thousands of military reservists, who are at the forefront of this democracy movement. They call themselves “Brothers and Sisters in Arms” – as it says on their t-shirts. They’re pilots, fighters, intelligence officers, some are war heroes, many still go on dangerous missions.
Ron Scherf
Ron Scherf: And now, the danger is from inside.
Lesley Stahl: More than the enemies from without-
Ron Scherf: Now, yes. Much more. This is an existential threat to Israel.
We spoke to three of them – Shira Eting
Shira Eting: I was a combat helicopter pilot.
Ron Scherf –
Ron Scherf: Commander in the special forces.
And Omri Ronen –
Omri Ronen: I’m a former officer in an elite commando unit.
Ron Scherf: When a regime, a government wants to gain unlimited power, people are afraid. And the people in the streets today are afraid that the government is going to gain unlimited power without judicial review.
They all served under Netanyahu’s past governments without hesitation but fear this one: a coalition of settler extremists and the ultra-Orthodox.
The head of national security has had multiple convictions, including supporting terrorism against Arabs. The finance minister is a self-described fascist homophobe. As for Netanyahu – he’s in the midst of three separate trials on charges of corruption.
The protestors say that laws his government has introduced – over 200 of them – would not only weaken the courts, but control the press and diminish individual rights, and that this is how democracies like Hungary became autocratic.
Omri Ronen
Omri Ronen: What happened in Hungary and Poland will not happen here.
Lesley Stahl: There is a trend and it’s going against you around the world
Omri Ronen: Yeah.
Shira Eting: We’ll be the first to stop it.
Lesley Stahl: (laughs) You’re all determined.
Omri Ronen: We are not joking. We are really–
Ron Scherf: Serious.
Omri Ronen: –trying to stop it. And we will succeed.
One of their big worries is that without a strong Supreme Court, the ultra-Orthodox bloc in the government could turn Osrael into a theocracy, where biblical laws prevail.
Omri Ronen: Our Supreme Court is our last line of defense. And this is our last safeguard. We need them empowered. We need them independent. That’s what we fight for.
Lesley Stahl: What is at stake for women, Shira?
Shira Eting: That we’ll all be sitting in the back of the bus.
Lesley Stahl: Literally?
Shira Eting: –literally.
Lesley Stahl: Are you married?
Shira Eting: I’m married… to a woman– a doctor. We have a daughter, she’s one year and eight months.
Shira Eting
Her fear of an assault on women’s and gay rights is well-founded: a government member said the gay community is “more dangerous than ISIS and Hezbollah.”
Another major complaint is that the ultra-Orthodox hardly pay any taxes and don’t have to serve in the military, which is compulsory for all other Jewish Israelis. The Supreme Court ruled that that is not fair. But defying the court, the Orthodox plan to pass a law in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, that would turn their unofficial military exemption into an ironclad law.
Eyal Naveh: They want a law that they will not go to the Army. My 15-years-old, in three years he will go to the army. I’m gonna not sleep, like, three years. And the other father, the ultra-Orthodox father, will sleep all the time.
Eyal Naveh, father of six, is so passionate about this, he’s working at Brothers and Sisters in Arms round the clock. He and Ron served together in Israel’s most famous commando unit, like the Green Berets, called Sayeret Matkal.
They’re using their military skills to lead a campaign of civil disobedience and harassment, including at the homes of Knesset members to pressure them to vote down the judicial overhaul.
Shira Eting: You want to make those elected officials understand that what they’re doing is wrong. You want to wake up and shake up people. And you don’t do that by being nice.
That means forming human chains in front of the Defense Ministry… they block major traffic arteries. Their barricade of the Knesset brought out police water cannons. members, including Ron, have been arrested and interrogated.
Here they’re surrounding the car of Justice Minister and Vice Prime Minister Yariv Levin, the architect of the controversial judicial overhaul. They wreak havoc outside his home by burning tires and disturbing his neighbors. He says he respects their right to protest, but to remember his government won the election.
Yariv Levin
Yariv Levin: No democracy can accept a situation that the government, the elected government that has a majority in the parliament, won’t be able to pass any bill and to do anything because there are protests, because there are some people that are against it.
Lesley Stahl: You say that the people who fear that there won’t be equal rights for everybody are completely mistaken and their charges are baseless. However, you are part of the most right-wing government that Israel has ever had.
Yariv Levin: And I’m proud to be part of that government, and I think that’s what Israelis wanted to see.
Lesley Stahl: But you have people in your Cabinet who have made openly racist and homophobic statements, and they’re ministers.
Yariv Levin: I can assure you that the vast majority of the members of parliament that support this government stand firmly behind democratic and liberal principles.
Lesley Stahl: But under your rules, if they all pass, this– the government could overrule the court. Am I wrong?
Yariv Levin: This is not my– what I’m offering. The situation in Israel is that the Supreme court is above the government, is above the parliament, is even above the will of the people. What I want to do is to balance it.
He says the court is an elite bastion that too often overrules lawmakers chosen by the people. The fight over the court has brought the country to a cold civil war. In July, the first step of Levin’s judicial overhaul passed, severely limiting the court’s power to strike down government decisions. Some 10,000 military reservists were so upset, they pledged to stop showing up for duty. Some of Netanyahu’s allies suggested they should be tried, even executed.
Shira Eting: If you want pilots to be able to fly and shoot bombs and missiles into houses knowing they might be killing children, they must have the strongest confidence in the people making those decisions.
Ron Scherf: In the moral values of them.
Shira Eting: Exactly.
When they made their decision, many Brothers and Sisters in Arms came to tears.
Eyal Naveh: It was the hardest things to do. When you are in your DNA a soldier, this is what I do, 25 years, it’s in my blood. It’s like to cut a hand.
Lesley Stahl: Do you know what they say about you, your group, that you’re unpatriotic and that you’re traitors.
Eyal Naveh: They can say whatever they want. I am a patriot. Every year I go to reserve and serve. I leave the house, I leave my children, I leave my wife, I leave everyone to serve. My friends died for this country.
The military has warned that losing so many pilots, and high-ranking reservists could jeopardize readiness and hurt national security. But several former heads of the military and Mossad support the protest and blame the government for allowing the situation to come to this.
Lesley Stahl: If you did find out that Israel was at risk because of so many reservists leaving, would you step back and withdraw your proposals?
Yariv Levin: What’s the price of democracy? What are you suggesting me to do? We’ll tell the Israel citizens, “Okay, don’t go to vote. There’s no need to hold elections.” We’ll come to those ex-militarists and will ask them what we are allowed to do or not.
One issue rarely mentioned by the Brothers and Sisters in Arms is the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
Lesley Stahl: If you don’t include Palestinian rights as part of what you’re fighting for, then how can you say you’re fighting for democracy?
Shira Eting: Many Israelis have different opinions on the Palestinian conflict. And it’s a very dividing issue.
Lesley Stahl: So, your coalition would splinter? The protest coalition–
Shira Eting: The — yeah, if you wanna be able to solve the occupation one day, and I think that everyone here does, the only way to stop it and to solve it is to make sure Israel remains a democracy.
This past week, the Supreme Court held a hearing to decide whether to revoke the first step of Levin’s judicial package. If the court does, Netanyahu won’t say whether he will comply. If he doesn’t, it would lead to an unprecedented crisis, leaving it up to the military, the police and the citizens to decide whose orders to follow: the court’s or the elected officials’. Brothers and Sisters in arms says it’s red alert for Israel’s future: with democracy at stake —
Lesley Stahl: But you know, in terms of democracy you can’t forget this is a government that was voted in by the people of Israel. And that’s democracy.
Shira Eting: Every democracy that turned into a dictatorship was elected in a democratic way. This is how democracies turn into dictatorships–
Ron Scherf: And it’s not like you wake one day and you say, “Okay, now we’re a dictatorship.” Small, small things will change the face of Israel. People, you know, tend to say, “Wow, in my country this can happen? No, no. It’s only these guys shouting.” But it’s happening.
Produced by Shachar Bar-On. Associate producer, Jinsol Jung. Broadcast associate, Wren Woodson. Edited by Michael Mongulla.
A week after a massive wall of water ripped through the Libyan coastal city of Derna sending thousands to their deaths, the focus has turned to caring for survivors.
Citing the Libyan Red Crescent, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Sunday that 10,100 people were still missing in the devastated city.
“These figures are expected to rise in the coming days and weeks as search-and-rescue crews work tirelessly to find survivors,” it said.
Aid is now arriving in the war-plagued North African nation as the world mobilises to help emergency services cope with the aftermath of the deadly flood after two dams burst near Derna last week.
At least 40,000 people have been displaced across northeastern Libya, according to the International Organization for Migration, which cautioned the actual number is likely higher given the difficulty accessing the worst-affected areas.
The dams upstream from Derna failed under the pressure of torrential rains from the hurricane-strength Storm Daniel. The structures were built to protect the port city of 100,000 people after it was hit by significant flooding in the mid-20th century.
Protests erupted throughout Iran on Saturday to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old women who died in the custody of Iran’s morality police after being arrested for allegedly not wearing her headscarf properly.
Video obtained by CNN showed demonstrations throughout multiple cities in Iran, including capital city Tehran, Mashad, Ahvaz, Lahijan, Arak, and the Kurdish city of Senandaj.
Many of the protesters chanted, “Women, Life, Freedom” – a popular rallying cry used after nationwide protests erupted following Amini’s death last year.
Some protesters also chanted death slogans against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Authorities deployed armed guards in many cities as a show of force and police officers were seen chasing protesters in the northern city of Lahijan.
Rallies commemorating Amini’s death were held in other cities around the world like Paris, Brussels and Berlin.
Many said they felt the need to raise their voices when so many in Iran could not.
Hundreds gathered in London on Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary. “We just wanted to let everyone know that this is not going to finish,” a female protester told CNN.
“Our battle has started and we are not going to stop until freedom for Iran, until a revolution, until we kick the mullahs out of the power.”
Protest organizer Ellie Borhan was also seen in videos cutting her hair on stage in front of the crowd.
‘Detention and persecution’ of family members
The news comes after Iranian journalists and rights groups said Amini’s father Amjad had been detained by authorities on Saturday.
Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari, also the founder of the IranWire activist outlet, told CNN that Amjad Amini had been regularly summoned by security officers in the months following his daughter’s death.
He was detained “for a few hours” on Saturday, Bahari said.
The family had visited her grave in the western Kurdish city of Saqqez on Friday, the eve of the one-year anniversary, IranWire reported on Saturday.
Helicopters were seen hovering over the Aichi cemetery with numerous military personnel and police officers also stationed throughout the area, IranWire added.
Amjad was detained by authorities the following day for three to four hours, along with his son – who was warned that he would be banished to a remote village if he encouraged people to attend ceremonies marking the anniversary of Amini’s death, Bahari told CNN.
Amini’s uncle Safa Aeli, who lives in the city of Saqqez, was also arrested by authorities earlier this week, according to a family member and reports by the Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Responding to claims by Iranian journalists and rights groups, authorities strongly denied reports of Amjad Amini’s detention, claiming instead they had prevented “an assassination attempt” – reported the IRNA state media news outlet.
The Political, Security, and Social Vice Governor of Kurdistan arrested several members of “a terrorist group” who wanted to assassinate Amini, IRNA said in a post on Telegram, describing the claims by Iranian journalists and rights groups as “false”.
Authorities in Iran have arrested Mahsa Amini’s father and prevented her family from holding a vigil to commemorate the first anniversary of her death, rights groups said, amid reports of sporadic protests across the country despite a heavy security presence.
Amjad Amini was arrested early on Saturday as he left the family home in Saqez in western Iran and released after being warned not to hold a memorial service at his daughter’s graveside, according to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN), the 1500tasvir monitor and the Iran Human Rights (IHR) group.
A report in the official IRNA news agency, however, denied that Amjad Amini had been arrested. The agency later said security forces had foiled an assassination attempt against him.
The death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman arrested by Iranian morality police last year for allegedly flouting mandatory dress codes, led to months of some of the biggest protests against clerical rule ever seen in Iran and drew international condemnation.
More than 500 people, including 71 minors, were killed in the protests, while hundreds were wounded and thousands arrested, rights groups said.
Iran carried out seven executions linked to the unrest.
As night fell on Saturday, a heavy security presence in Iran’s main cities and in mostly Kurdish areas appeared to have deterred large-scale protest rallies but human rights groups reported sporadic confrontations in several areas of the country.
Videos posted on social media showed people gathered on a main avenue in the capital Tehran cheering a young protesting couple as drivers honked their car horns in support.
One of Iran’s most high-profile prisoners, prize-winning rights activist Narges Mohammadi and three other women detainees burned their headscarves in the courtyard of Tehran’s Evin prison to mark the anniversary, according to a post on Mohammadi’s Instagram.
Outside Tehran, at the Qarchak prison for women, rights groups said a fire broke out when security forces quelled a protest by inmates. The Kurdistan Human Rights Network said special forces beat up women in the prison and fired pellet bullets. IRNA reported that a fire engulfed the women’s ward in Qarchak after convicts awaiting execution set fire to their clothes. It said the blaze was put out and there were no casualties.
Protests were also reported in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran, and in Mashhad, northeast of the capital. One video posted on social media showed a group of demonstrators in the Karaj neighbourhood of Gohardasht chanting, “We are a great nation, and will take back Iran”, while drivers honked their horns and shouted encouragement.
In the Kurdish city of Mahabad, rights group Hengaw said security forces opened fire, wounding at least one person. It also said several people were wounded in the city of Kermanshah but there was no official confirmation of either incident.
In Amini’s home town, the semi-official Fars news agency reported that police using a pellet gun had seriously wounded a man who “ignored a warning”. It said the man was in an intensive care ward after undergoing an operation, but provided no more detail.
Hengaw identified the man as Fardin Jafari and said he had been shot in the head near the cemetery where Amini is buried.
Al Jazeera could not verify the report.
Hengaw also reported a widespread general strike in Kurdish areas on Saturday, circulating video and photos that appeared to show streets largely empty and shops shuttered. Human Rights Activists in Iran, another group that closely follows events in the country, also reported the general strike.
But state media dismissed the reports, with IRNA saying Saqez was “completely quiet” and that calls for strikes in Kurdish areas had failed due to “people’s vigilance and the presence of security and military forces”.
The agency quoted an official in the Kurdistan province as saying: “A number of agents affiliated with counter-revolutionary groups who had planned to create chaos and prepare media fodder were arrested in the early hours of this morning.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, meanwhile, arrested a dual national suspected of “trying to organise unrest and sabotage”, according to IRNA, one of several arrests of “counter revolutionaries” and “terrorists” reported.
Demonstrations and vigils were also held outside Iran, with protesters gathering in Sydney, Paris, London, Rome, Toronto, New York and Washington, DC, to commemorate Amini’s death.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that a garden in the French capital now carried Amini’s name. The mayor called Amini an Iranian resistance hero and said Paris “honours her memory and her battle, as well as those of women who fight for their freedom in Iran and elsewhere”.
The Villemin Garden that now also bears Amini’s name is in Paris’s 10th district, next to a canal with popular boat tours.
In Washington, DC, the capital of the United States, hundreds of protesters gathered in a park across from the White House holding portraits of Amini. Speakers led the crowd in chants of “Say her name … Mahsa Amini”, and recited, “We are the revolution”, as well as, “Human rights for Iran!”
In a statement on Friday, US President Joe Biden said, “Mahsa’s story did not end with her brutal death. She inspired a historic movement – Woman, Life, Freedom – that has impacted Iran and influenced people across the globe.”
The US, meanwhile, announced sanctions on more than two dozen individuals and entities connected to Iran’s “violent suppression” of protests, while the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on four Iranian officials.
Iran has blamed last year’s protests on the US and other foreign powers, without providing evidence, and has since tried to downplay the unrest even as it moves to prevent any resurgence.
In a report last month, Amnesty International said Iranian authorities “have been subjecting victims’ families to arbitrary arrest and detention, imposing cruel restrictions on peaceful gatherings at grave sites, and destroying victims’ gravestones”.
Many journalists, lawyers, activists, students, academics, artists, public figures and members of ethnic minorities accused of links with the protest wave, as well as relatives of protesters killed in the unrest, have been arrested, summoned, threatened or fired from jobs in the past few weeks, according to Iranian and Western human rights groups.
Iran’s Etemad daily reported in August that the lawyer for Amini’s family also faced charges of “propaganda against the system”.
If convicted, Saleh Nikbakht faces a jail sentence of between one and three years.
Constant discussions aim to ensure a ‘stable and affordable supply of energy to global markets’, White House official says.
The United States is “in regular contact at senior levels with Saudi Arabia about ensuring a stable and affordable supply of energy to global markets”, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says.
The statement on Friday follows International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates announced that oil output cuts – which Saudi Arabia and Russia extended to the end of 2023 – will result in a substantial market deficit through the fourth quarter this year because of high demand.
Sullivan confirmed to reporters at a White House briefing that US President Joe Biden had a “brief exchange” with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Group of 20 (G20) summit in New Delhi earlier in September.
The main topic of that discussion was the announcement of a new economic corridor that would link India, the Middle East and Europe via rail and sea, he said.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden meet at the G20 summit in New Delhi last week [Evelyn Hockstein via AFP]
The Saudi-led oil-producing group pumps about 40 percent of the world’s crude oil meaning its policy decisions can have a major effect on oil prices.
This month, benchmark Brent crude breached $90 a barrel for the first time this year after OPEC+ leaders Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their combined 1.3 million barrel per day (bpd) cuts until the end of 2023.
Output curbs by OPEC+ members of more than 2.5 million bpd since the start of 2023 have so far been offset by higher supplies from producers outside the alliance, including the US, Brazil and still under-sanctions Iran, the IEA said.
“But from September onwards, the loss of OPEC+ production … will drive a significant supply shortfall through the fourth quarter,” it said in its monthly oil report.
However, the lack of cuts at the start of next year would shift the balance to a surplus, the agency said, highlighting stocks will be at uncomfortably low levels, increasing the risk of another surge in volatility in a fragile economic environment.
The Biden administration has notified Congress that it will withhold $85 million in aid to Egypt that had been conditioned on Cairo’s progress in its treatment of political prisoners, instead diverting that money to Taiwan and Lebanon, sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN.
The administration said it would redirect $55 million worth of that funding to Taiwan and $30 million to Lebanon, the sources said.
However, the administration will allow Cairo to access $235 million of the total of $320 million in foreign military financing that is conditioned on human rights issues, a senior State Department official said Thursday.
The US provides more than $1 billion in foreign military financing to Egypt and the vast majority of it is not conditional.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken “determined that it is in the US national security interest to waive certain human rights related conditions” and allow the $235 million to go to Egypt.
“What I’m describing today reflects our current assessment that Egypt’s cooperation merits the national security waiver for fiscal year 2022,” the official said.
“Our position on the very serious human rights situation in Egypt absolutely has not changed and we’re going to continue to raise those issues in Egypt consistently and at the most senior levels,” they added.
The conditions around the $85 million – “that Egypt is making clear and consistent progress in relieving political prisoners, providing detainees with due process and preventing harassment of American citizens” – cannot be waived, the official explained.
“The Secretary is determined that Egypt has not fulfilled his conditions and therefore we are reprogramming that 85 million,” the official said.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the redirection of the funds.
Last month, a group of 11 House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to withhold all $320 million in conditional foreign military financing over concerns about Cairo’s human rights abuses.
“We acknowledge the historic, deeply rooted bilateral U.S. – Egypt relationship, based in shared social, economic, and political ties,” wrote the lawmakers, led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Rep. Gregory Meeks.
“Nonetheless, we are strongly concerned by reports from both the State Department as well as numerous credible human rights and civil society organizations about the persistent and continued systemic violations of human rights in Egypt,” the letter continued.
“As we continue to stand for the prioritization of basic human rights in our foreign policy and call on the Administration to adhere to the spirit and letter of the law in ensuring progress in the U.S.–Egypt relationship, we call on you to withhold the full $320 million of FY22 FMF until Egypt’s human rights record significantly improves,” it concluded.
Meanwhile, the administration has been working to bolster Taiwan’s defense capabilities in preparation for a potential conflict with China, and in July announced a new weapons package for the self-governing island valued at up to $345 million.
The Taliban has welcomed Zhao Sheng as China’s new ambassador to Afghanistan during a lavish ceremony held at the presidential palace in Kabul on Wednesday.
China is among a handful of countries, including Pakistan, Iran and Russia that have maintained a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan since the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021.
In the palace ceremony, Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund shook hands with Zhao and “accepted the credentials of the new Chinese Ambassador,” the prime minister’s office said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The Honorable Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate thanked the leadership of China for the appointment of Mr Zhao Sheng as ambassador and expressed hope that this appointment would elevate the diplomatic relations between the two countries to a higher level and the beginning of a new chapter,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in the statement
According to the prime minister’s office, Zhao said that China was “a good neighbor of Afghanistan” and “fully respects Afghanistan’s independence, territorial integrity and independence in decision-making.”
Zhao added that China does not have a policy of interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs, and it does not want Afghanistan “to become its area of influence.”
The Taliban prime minister said relations between the two countries had “been on a good level” and “expressed his hope for taking more steps to further strengthen the bilateral relations,” according to Mujahid.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement the appointment was the “normal rotation of China’s ambassador to Afghanistan” and was “intended to continue advancing dialogue and cooperation” between the two countries.
The ministry said, “China’s policy toward Afghanistan is clear and consistent.”
China, a neighbor of Afghanistan with substantial investment in the region, was cautious about the potential security challenges posed by the abrupt return of the Taliban following the US withdrawal in August 2021.
Since then, Chinese officials have stressed increasing cooperation with Afghanistan, along with other regional neighbors, on issues such as anti-terrorism cooperation, “economic collaboration” and boosting “regional stability and development.”
In May, China, Afghanistan and Pakistan vowed to strengthen trilateral ties on security and counterterrorism at a meeting of the three country’s foreign ministers in Islamabad.
Speaking at that meeting, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang said China attached “great importance to the friendship with Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
Notably from the meeting, the three sides agreed to cooperate on China’s Belt and Road trade and infrastructure program, through which China has heavily invested in the region.
They also agreed to forge closer economic ties by extending the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan “so as to promote connectivity, improve cross-border trading, enhance the economic integration of the three countries and achieve sustainable development.”
CPEC is a $60 billion Belt and Road flagship project that links China’s western Xinjiang region to Pakistan’s strategic Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea with a network of roads, railways, pipelines and power plants.
US Senator Chris Murphy calls for additional $235m to be withheld over Egypt’s ‘egregious human rights record’.
The United States plans to withhold $85m in military aid to Egypt owing to Cairo’s failure to uphold US conditions on freeing political prisoners and other human rights issues, a US senator said, with some of the withheld funds being redirected to Taiwan.
Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat, also urged US President Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday to withhold $235m more in military aid for what he described as Egypt’s “egregious human rights record”.
“The administration rightly decided to withhold that first tranche – $85m tied to the release of political prisoners – because there’s just no question there has not been enough progress,” Murphy said.
“I would urge the administration to finish the job and withhold the full $320m … until Egypt’s human rights and democracy record improves,” he said.
Of the $85m that is being withheld from Egypt, $55m will be redirected to Taiwan, and the remaining $30m to Lebanon, according to a US State Department letter to congressional committees laying out foreign military financing.
The Egyptian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Egypt has released more than 1,600 political prisoners since early 2022. That’s good news,” Murphy said.
“During that same time, they have jailed 5,000 more. So for every political prisoner that Egypt releases, three more are jailed. That’s one step forward, and three steps back,” he said.
“That’s not the kind of ‘clear and consistent progress’ in releasing political prisoners that the law requires. The administration was right to withhold the $85m.”
Human rights groups have long accused Egypt of widespread human rights abuses under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s government, including torture and enforced disappearances.
Egyptian authorities have taken some steps since late 2021 that they say aim to address rights, including launching a human rights strategy and ending a state of emergency, but critics have dismissed the measures as largely cosmetic.
Some high-profile detainees have been pardoned or released, but activists say new detentions have outnumbered releases and that thousands of political prisoners remain in jail, with restrictions on free speech as tight as ever.
The announced withholding of military aid is significant, said Seth Binder of the Project on Middle East Democracy rights group.
“But if the administration withholds less than it has the last two years it would in essence be saying to al-Sisi that it believes the Egyptian government has improved its rights record, which is just not true,” Binder said.
Under US law, $85m in military aid is contingent on Egypt “making clear and consistent progress in releasing political prisoners, providing detainees with due process of law, and preventing the intimidation and harassment of American citizens”.
These conditions cannot be waived by the executive branch.
A further $235m is conditioned on Egypt meeting democracy and human rights requirements. These conditions, however, can be waived if the executive branch certifies that it is in the US national security interest to do so.
Residents of the devastated Libyan city of Derna desperately searched for missing relatives as rescue workers appealed for more body bags, after a catastrophic flood that killed thousands of people and swept many out to sea.
Swathes of the Mediterranean city were obliterated by a torrent of water unleashed by a powerful storm that swept down a usually dry riverbed on Sunday night, bursting dams above the city. Multistorey buildings collapsed with sleeping families inside.
Spokesperson of the interior ministry Lieutenant Tarek al-Kharraz on Wednesday told the AFP news agency that 3,840 deaths had been recorded in the Mediterranean city so far, including 3,190 who have already been buried. Among them were at least 400 foreigners, mostly from Sudan and Egypt.
Meanwhile, Hichem Abu Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation in the administration that runs eastern Libya, told the Reuters news agency more than 5,300 dead had been counted so far, and said the number was likely to increase significantly and might even double.
Derna Mayor Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television the estimated number of deaths in the city could reach between 18,000 to 20,000 based on the number of districts destroyed by the flood.
A view shows a damaged car [Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters]
Derna resident Mahmud Abdulkarim told journalist Moutaz Ali in Tripoli that he lost his mother and brother, after failing to evacuate in time from their first floor apartment following the collapse of a dam.
“She refused to leave her place … didn’t imagine the situation would be horrible and told him [Abdulkarim] it was just ordinary rains,” Ali reported, from an event organised for Tripoli’s Derwani community.
According to Abdulkarim, when his mother and brother did decide to finally leave their apartment, they were swept away by the floodwaters once they reached the streets to flee.
Mabrooka Elmesmary, a journalist who managed to leave Derna on Tuesday, describes the city as a “disaster on a massive scale”. “There is no water, no electricity, no petrol,” she told Al Jazeera. “The city is flattened.”
Apartment buildings with families inside have been swept away, she said. “There’s a wave of displacement as people are trying to flee Derna but many are stuck because a lot of the roads are blocked or gone,” Elmesmary said, adding that some families have been taking shelter in schools.
Officials have put the number of missing at 10,000. The UN aid agency OCHA said the figure was at least 5,000.
The beach was littered with clothes, toys, furniture, shoes and other possessions swept out of homes by the torrent.
Streets were covered in deep mud and strewn with uprooted trees and hundreds of wrecked cars, many flipped on their sides or onto their roofs. One car was wedged on the second-floor balcony of a gutted building.
The devastation is clear from high points above Derna, where the densely populated city centre, built along a seasonal riverbed, was now a wide, flat crescent of earth with stretches of muddy water gleaming in the sun. Buildings were swept away.
Rescue efforts
Rescue teams have arrived from Egypt, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Qatar, said Derna mayor al-Ghaithi.
“We actually need teams specialised in recovering bodies,” he said. “I fear that the city will be infected with an epidemic due to the large number of bodies under the rubble and in the water.”
Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Benghazi, said a field hospital was part of Qatar’s contribution to this “seemingly growing international aid effort to Libya”.
“This is one of three Qatari military … cargo planes expected to arrive in Benghazi today,” Stratford said.
Members of Libya’s Red Crescent recovering vehicles from the floods [Handout/Libya Red Crescent via EPA]
The aid also includes “medical equipment, medicine, food, tents”, Stratford said. “All the aid here is going to be taken to Derna as quickly as possible.”
Moreover, Al Jazeera’s Malik Traina, reporting from Tripoli, said there has been an outpouring of support from Libyans themselves from across the country.
“We haven’t seen this type of unity for many years here in the country,” Traina said.
Large government convoys with equipment from western Libya have arrived in the east, he said. Volunteer convoys with assistance are also heading towards the east.
“We’re seeing also now volunteers and people giving whatever they can – water, food, medicine, whatever supplies they can.”
Rescue operations are complicated by deep political fractures in the country of seven million people that has lacked a strong central government and been at war on and off since a NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
An internationally recognised Government of National Unity (GNU) is based in Tripoli, in the west, while a parallel administration operates in the east, including Derna.
Criticism of local authorities in eastern Libya, including those in Derna, has emerged with some saying that locals were not informed that they had to evacuate before the torrent of water flowed through the city.
However, al-Ghaithi insisted on Wednesday that residents were informed ahead of the flooding.
‘We undertook all the precautions and informed the … the inhabitants of the areas the disaster could have taken place, we created an emergency room .. the security forces carried out their duty,” he said.
Sao Paulo, Brazil – Saudi Arabia’s investment minister was met with boisterous claps and cheers earlier this year as he gave an optimistic outlook on the potential to deepen his country’s economic ties to Brazil.
Addressing the first-ever, Brazil-Saudi Arabia investment forum in Sao Paulo in July, Khalid al-Falih said that despite the thousands of kilometres separating them, the two nations have more in common than meets the eye.
“Brazil and Saudi Arabia, two proud members of the G20 and energy producers, are well positioned to be strategic partners, with us being the economic leaders of our respective regions,” al-Falih said.
“With our strategic interests aligned and private sectors strong, we could become a top five investor in each other’s economy. I believe this will be possible.”
Flush with cash following a record $161bn profit for state oil giant Aramco last year, Saudi Arabia has ploughed billions in investments into Brazil’s mammoth mining and meatpacking sectors.
While the two countries have long been trading partners, the kingdom’s latest Brazil investments tie in with its ambitious, “Vision 2030” reform programme to diversify the Saudi economy and reduce its dependence on oil revenues, experts say.
“It is part of a broader strategy to enhance, invigorate and expand Saudi Arabia’s global linkages,” said Robert Mogielnicki of the Arab Gulf States Institute, a think tank in Washington, DC.
For Brazil, it is an opportunity to attract Saudi investments in industry and infrastructure, as well as secure supplies of the kingdom’s fertilisers to use for agricultural production.
“There’s a lot of money the Gulf countries have that Latin American countries are willing to attract to their own countries and regions,” said Guilherme Casaroes, a political scientist with Brazil’s Getulio Vargas Foundation.
Fresh deals
Saudi Arabia’s Brazil investments have so far caused none of the public controversy often associated with the Gulf nation over its human rights record, with no significant backlash from rights groups or progressive politicians.
“Brazil doesn’t interfere in the affairs of other countries, it’s a cornerstone of our foreign policy,” Hussein Kalout, who served as secretary of strategic affairs in the government of Brazil’s former President Michel Temer, told Al Jazeera.
The deepening ties have been in the spotlight in recent weeks as Saudi and Brazilian government officials made trips to each other’s countries to discuss greater trade and investments.
Days before the investment forum event in Sao Paulo, Saudi firm Manara Minerals announced its $3.4bn acquisition of a 10-percent stake in Brazil mining colossus Vale’s base metals sector, which includes the nickel, copper and cobalt essential for the production of electric vehicles.
“Manara Minerals aims to contribute to the resilience of global supply chains and accelerate the global energy transition,” the company said in a statement.
The move, Mogielnicki explained, highlights Ridyah’s push to look for ways “to tap into critical mineral supply chains and make sure that they have a seat at the global table”.
Founded in January, Manara is backed by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, one of the world’s largest, which lists the Brazil investment programme on its homepage.
Meanwhile, in late July, Brazil’s Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro led a delegation to Saudi Arabia, after which he said the kingdom had authorised Brazil goat imports.
Around the same time, Brazilian meatpacking giant BRF agreed to enter a joint venture with PIF-backed Halal Products Development Company, days after another PIF subsidiary, SALIC, acquired a 10.7-percent stake in BRF, according to the Reuters news agency.
“What we see is that with Brazil-Saudi investments, there are no borders,” said Tamer Mansour, head of the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, a Sao Paulo-based business association.
New geopolitics
Saudi Arabia and Brazil have been each other’s main trading partners in their respective regions for decades, with trade on an upward curve since the 2000s.
Brazil – itself a major oil producer – mostly buys Saudi oil and fertilisers while the Gulf country mostly buys meat from Brazil, the world’s largest exporter and producer of halal meats. The two countries have had embassies in Jeddah and Brasilia since 1973.
But in recent years, the partnership has deepened: In early August, Saudi Arabia invited developing nations, including Brazil and Argentina, to a meeting in Jeddah to seek support for Ukraine’s peace plan amid the Russian invasion.
Later that same month, Saudi Arabia was invited to join the BRICS economic group, of which Brazil is a founding member, but has not yet confirmed its ascension.
Despite some recent, high-profile hostilities between Riyadh and Washington, most analysts do not perceive Saudi Arabia’s deepening ties with countries such as Brazil and China as a snub to traditional partners, such as the United States and Europe.
“They are not investments in competition,” Kalout said of the kingdom’s traditional investments, such as UK real estate or US government bonds. “It’s just that their economic matrix has expanded.”
But analysts also say that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries’ growing interest in Brazil reflects wider geopolitical changes in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine and growing tensions between the US and China.
“This recent intensification of Saudi Arabia looking to invest more in Brazil, it’s a consequence of the change in the economic geography of the world,” Kalout told Al Jazeera.
Controversy
Still, the burgeoning business ties are not totally without controversy, at least on Brazil’s part.
The country’s former President Jair Bolsonaro has been embroiled in a scandal involving undeclared diamond jewellery received by an aide in 2021 and the sale of two luxury watches, all gifted by Saudi Arabia while Bolsonaro was in office.
The far-right leader, his wife and several allies were called in to testify before federal police at the end of August but chose to remain silent, according to local media reports. Some legal experts have speculated that Bolsonaro could face embezzlement charges.
Meanwhile, some analysts remain sceptical about the potential of the Brazil-Saudi relationship as the Gulf nation seeks out new partnerships in the face of criticism of its rights record.
Yet ultimately, Casaroes at the Getulio Vargas Foundation told Al Jazeera that business pragmatism, as opposed to ideology, would likely guide the relationship’s growth.
“Brazil will sell food, sell resources and get some investments. That’s probably how it’s going to look like in the upcoming years.”
Thirty years ago, Israeli and Palestinian leaders met on the lawn of the White House in Washington to sign a deal many believed could be a precursor for peace in the region.
The first Oslo Accord brought together Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, the former was the Israeli Prime Minister, and the latter was the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO).
A handshake was to follow between them – a significant gesture and the deal would lead them to both receive the Nobel Peace Prize, along with then-Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, the following year.
All three men are now dead, Rabin in circumstances directly related to the Accords. The peace process that the deal was supposed to begin has been stillborn, with Israel continuing its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, and the Palestinian people no closer to – and some would argue further away from – an independent state.
Here’s everything you need to know about the historic agreement and why it has seemingly failed:
What were the Oslo Accords?
The first Oslo Accord, known as Oslo I, was signed on September 13, 1993. The agreement between the Israeli and Palestinian leadership saw each side recognise the other for the first time. Both sides also pledged to end their decades-long conflict.
A second accord, known as Oslo II, was signed in September 1995 and went into more detail on the structure of the bodies that the peace process was supposed to form.
The Oslo Accords were supposed to bring about Palestinian self-determination, in the form of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. This would mean that Israel, which was formed on the land of historic Palestine in 1948 in an event Palestinians know as the Nakba, would accept Palestinian claims to national sovereignty. The claims, however, would only be limited to a fraction of historic Palestine, with the rest left to Israel’s sovereignty.
To meet that goal several steps would need to be taken, including the phased withdrawal of the Israeli military from the Palestinian territories it had illegally occupied since 1967, and the transfer of authority to a Palestinian administration, except for final status issues, including the status of Jerusalem (the eastern half of which is occupied Palestinian land) and Israel’s illegal settlements, which would be negotiated at a later date.
The accords therefore led to the creation of the supposedly temporary Palestinian Authority (PA), and the division of territory in the West Bank into Areas A, B and C, denoting how much control the PA has in each. which to this day administers limited rule over the two areas.
A final treaty was to be reached in five years – but that has not happened.
Arafat (left), Peres (centre) and Rabin (left) jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 after the first Oslo Accord was signed the previous year [File: Jerry Lampen/Reuters]
Who was opposed to the deal?
Right-wing Israelis had no desire to give the Palestinians any concessions, and did not want any agreements with the PLO, which they considered a “terrorist organisation”. Israeli settlers also feared it would lead to their eviction from the illegal settlements in the occupied territories.
Elements of the far-right were so opposed to the Oslo Accords that Rabin himself was assassinated in 1995 for signing them. Among the people who had threatened Rabin before his death was Itamar Ben-Gvir, now Israel’s National Security Minister.
Meanwhile, Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, warned that a two-state solution would forgo the right of Palestinian refugees to return to the historic lands seized from them in 1948 when Israel was created.
The late prominent Palestinian literary critic and activist Edward Said was among its most vocal critics, calling it “an instrument of Palestinian surrender, a Palestinian Versailles”.
Israelis take part in a rally in 2015 commemorating the 20th anniversary of the assassination of Rabin [File: Baz Ratner/Reuters]
How did the accords break down?
The Oslo Accords witnessed a slow decline, with Israel continuing its occupation of Palestinian land and refusing to withdraw militarily from the majority of the West Bank while continuing to conduct raids into land considered under the full administration of the PA.
Following Rabin’s death, a number of Israeli leaders who opposed the accords came to power, among them current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Ariel Sharon.
A second intifada from 2000 to 2005 in turn led to heavy casualties, particularly on the Palestinian side, and made both sides less willing to agree to move the deal along.
Any attempt at restarting talks failed in the decade after, and the accords’ interim clauses have become the status quo.
How are the accords viewed now?
Many Palestinians believe that Israel has used the Oslo Accords to justify its expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank.
In fact, as the Oslo Accords slowly broke down, Israel tripled its settlement building. Between 1993 and 2000, the Israeli population in the West Bank reached its fastest pace of growth ever, according to Dror Etkes, an Israeli peace campaigner.
Today, the Israeli government is dominated by far-right religious and ultranationalist politicians who have close ties to the settlement movement. In recent months, they have approved thousands of new homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In fact, according to the left-wing Israeli movement Peace Now, Israel this year set a record for its settlement approvals, with at least 12,855 settler housing units approved since January.
Thirty years on, Palestinian statehood is unlikely in the short and even medium term, as final-status negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leaders have continuously failed.
The West Bank lies fragmented, the blockaded Gaza Strip stands isolated in what many call an “open-air prison”, and Israel has no plans to relinquish occupied East Jerusalem.
Many people, in both Israel and Palestine, believe the two-state solution is dead.
Emergency workers uncovered hundreds of bodies in the wreckage of Libya’s eastern city of Derna, and it is feared the toll could spiral, with 10,000 people still reported missing after floodwaters from Storm Daniel smashed through dams and washed away entire neighbourhoods.
More than 1,000 corpses were collected, including at least 700 that have been buried so far, the health minister for eastern Libya said. Derna’s ambulance authority put the current death toll at 2,300.
Footage showed dozens of bodies covered by blankets in the yard of one hospital. Another image showed a mass grave piled with bodies. More than 1,500 corpses were collected, and half of them had been buried as of Tuesday evening, the health minister for eastern Libya said.
The destruction came to Derna and other parts of eastern Libya on Sunday night. As Storm Daniel pounded the coast, Derna residents said they heard loud explosions and realised that dams outside the city had collapsed.
People carry the body of a victim to be placed at a mass grave after a powerful storm and heavy rainfall hit Libya, in Derna, Libya [Ayman Al-Sahili/Reuters]
Flash floods were unleashed down Wadi Derna, a river running from the mountains through the city and into the sea.
Outside help was only just starting to reach Derna on Tuesday, more than 36 hours after the disaster struck. The floods damaged or destroyed many access roads to the coastal city of some 89,000.
The deputy mayor of Derna, Ahmed Madroud, told Al Jazeera that “at least 20 percent of the city has been destroyed.”
He said the reason behind the devastation was related to the weak infrastructure in the city and the fact that many buildings were clustered in narrow streets located close to the river.
“When the river overflowed its banks, it just took all the buildings with it, and the families that were in it,” he said.
‘State of grief’
Videos posted online by residents showed large swaths of mud and wreckage where the raging waters had swept away neighbourhoods on both banks of the river.
Multi-storey apartment buildings that once were well back from the river had facades ripped away and concrete floors collapsed.
On Tuesday, local emergency responders, including troops, government workers, volunteers and residents dug through rubble looking for the dead. They also used inflatable boats to retrieve bodies from the water.
A general view of the city of Derna after the floods [Jamal Alkomaty/AP Photo]
Al Jazeera’s Emaduldin Bileid says hundreds of volunteers from western Libya are heading to the east of the country to provide support, while dozens of civil society groups are collecting aid to deliver it to Derna by land and air.
After more than a decade of turmoil, Libya remains divided between two rival administrations: one in the west and the other in the east, each backed by different militias and foreign governments.
“All of Libya is experiencing a state of general grief,” Bileid said. “As soon as the disaster occurred, all political differences ended, and everyone agrees on the need to intensify to overcome this ordeal.”
Gilles Carbonnier, vice president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, told Al Jazeera the situation in eastern Libya “is extremely dire”.
“Hundreds and hundreds of people may have died, thousands more affected, people missing,” he said.
‘Days to prepare’
According to Anas El Gomati, founder and director of Sadeq Institute, a Tripoli-based public policy think tank, although the presence of two rival governments in Libya has complicated authorities’ efforts to respond to the crisis, they had plenty of time to coordinate a better response.
“We had days and hours ahead of this to be able to prepare,” said El Gomati, referring to the storm’s impact on Turkey and Greece days before reaching Libya.
“Unlike the situation in Morocco, where tectonic plates moved and they had seconds to prepare, in Libya, as the dams began to swell and fill slowly, they had days and hours to plan an evacuation. ”
The storm hit other areas in eastern Libya, including the town of Bayda, where about 50 people were reported dead. The Medical Center of Bayda, the main hospital, was flooded and patients had to be evacuated, according to footage shared by the centre on Facebook.
Other towns that suffered included Susa, Marj and Shahatt, according to the government.
The September 8 earthquake is Morocco’s deadliest quake in more than 60 years.
On September 8, 2023, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Morocco’s Atlas Mountains region.
The earthquake’s epicentre was located in Al-Haouz province in the High Atlas of the mountains – an area usually not associated with earthquakes – about 75km (44 miles) from Marrakesh, Morocco’s fourth largest city.
The earthquake is the country’s deadliest in more than 60 years, killing at least 2,122 people and leaving more than 2,400 injured.
Powerful earthquakes rare
According to the United States Geographic Survey (USGS), earthquakes of this intensity are rare in the region with no recorded instances of a magnitude of 6.8 or higher having been detected within 300km (186 miles) of Friday’s epicentre.
Over the past 48 hours, at least two dozen aftershocks have rattled the region with the most powerful being of magnitude 4.9.
“There’s not been very many earthquakes in that part of Morocco. Most occur in the area much farther north on the Mediterranean coast near the tectonic plate,” Chris Elders, a structural geologist from Australia’s Curtin University, told Al Jazeera.
Morocco’s deadliest recorded earthquake was in 1960 in Agadir. Despite its relatively low magnitude of 5.8, the quake claimed the lives of a third of the city’s residents, resulting in an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 deaths and leaving 35,000 people homeless.
The graphic below provides a brief overview of some of the strongest earthquakes in and around Morocco in recent history:
The earthquake’s epicentre was the Ighil area, a mountainous rural commune home to small farming villages in the al-Haouz province near the ski resort of Oukaimeden in the Atlas Mountains.
Lanchen Haddad, a Moroccan senator and former minister, told Al Jazeera the area was “not known for being active in terms of earthquakes”.
The epicentre, he said, was near some “very difficult terrain” and is home to the Tizi-n-Test, a small pass in the High Atlas Mountains that can be crossed by a road connecting Marrakesh and the southwestern city of Taroudant.
“There’s not been very many earthquakes in that part of Morocco, most occur in the area much farther north on the Mediterranean coast near the tectonic plate,” Chris Elders, a structural geologist from Australia’s Curtin University, told Al Jazeera.
“The Atlas Mountains are a zone of weakness within Morocco with a very long geological history. Stresses build up in those areas. Africa is moving north towards Europe, and that is what caused the earthquake to occur in this particular area.”
‘Death toll to climb’
The epicentre was 75km (44 miles) from Marrakesh, Morocco’s fourth largest city. The city’s old town, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is reported to have been particularly affected with images emerging of collapsed buildings.
The worst-hit area is around the epicentre in al-Haouz province, southeast of Marrakesh, but the Ouarzazate, Azilal, Chichaoua and Taroudant provinces have also been badly hit.
The earthquake was felt across the country, including the coastal towns of Imsouane, about 180km (102 miles) to the west of Ighil and Essaouira, 200km (124 miles) west of Marrakesh.
The earthquake was even felt in the capital, Rabat, 350km (220 miles) north of the epicentre, and as far away as Portugal and Algeria.
Initial reports suggest damage and deaths were severe throughout the Marrakesh-Safi region, which more than 4.5 million people call home.
“The problem is that where destructive earthquakes are rare, buildings are simply not constructed robustly enough to cope with strong ground shaking, so many collapse resulting in high casualties,” said Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College London.
“I would expect the final death toll to climb into the thousands once more is known. As with any big quake, aftershocks are likely, which will lead to further casualties and hinder search and rescue.”
A woman reacts in front of her earthquake-damaged house in the old city in Marrakesh [Fadel Senna/AFP]
National and provincial response
The earthquake hit after 11pm local time (22:00 GMT) on Friday evening, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which measured its magnitude at 6.8 and said it was at a relatively shallow depth of 18.5km (11.5 miles).
The earthquake is the country’s deadliest since a 2004 tremor near al-Hoceima, in the northern Rif mountains, killed more than 600 people.
Haddad told Al Jazeera since the 2004 earthquake, the government has worked on a sophisticated plan for “rapid intervention” with a two-tiered system, including both national and provincial response operations.
In a sign of the huge scale of the disaster, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI ordered the armed forces to mobilise air and land assets, specialised search-and-rescue teams, and a surgical field hospital.
But despite an outpouring of offers of help from around the world, the Moroccan government had not formally asked for assistance, a step required before outside rescue crews could deploy.
Rescuers from across Europe have launched an operation to save an American researcher in Turkey, who became trapped almost 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) below a cave’s entrance after suffering stomach bleeding.
Experienced caver Mark Dickey, 40, suddenly became ill during an expedition with a handful of others, including three other Americans, in the Morca cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains, the European Association of Cave Rescuers said.
In a video message from inside the cave and made available by Turkey’s communications directorate on Thursday, Dickey thanked the caving community and the Turkish government for their efforts.
“The caving world is a really tightknit group and it’s amazing to see how many people have responded on the surface,” said Dickey. “I do know that the quick response of the Turkish government to get the medical supplies that I need, in my opinion, saved my life. I was very close to the edge.”
Dickey, who is seen standing and moving around in the video, said that while he is alert and talking, he is not “healed on the inside” and will need a lot of help to get out of the cave. Experts said the rescue operation could take days or even weeks depending on conditions.
Dickey, who had been bleeding and losing fluid from his stomach, has stopped vomiting and has eaten for the first time in days, according to a New Jersey-based cave rescue group he is affiliated with. It is unclear what caused his medical issue.
The New Jersey Initial Response Team said the rescue will require many teams and constant medical care. The group says the cave is also quite cold – about 4-6 degrees Celsius (39-42 degrees Fahrenheit).
Communication with Dickey takes about five to seven hours and is carried out by runners, who go from Dickey to the camp below the surface where a telephone line to speak with the surface has been set up.
Dinko Novosel, a Croatian cave rescuer who is head of the European Association of Cave Rescuers, said it will be a challenge to successfully rescue Dickey.
The operation to bring him up from the depths involves rescue teams from Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Turkey.
Yusuf Ogrenecek, of the Speleological Federation of Turkey, said that Dickey’s condition had stabilised and was improving. He said the American was in “good spirits” and doctors would decide if Dickey could leave the cave on a stretcher or under his own power.
Turkish disaster relief agency AFAD and rescue team UMKE are working with Turkish and international cavers on a plan to hoist Dickey out of the cave system, the rescue association said.
The rescue effort currently involves more than 170 people, including doctors and paramedics who are tending to Dickey, as well as experienced cavers, Ogrenecek said, adding that the rescue operation could take up to two or three weeks.
A team of rescuers from Italy’s National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Team will be flying to Turkey on Thursday night. A total of around 50 rescuers will be at the entrance of the cave early on Friday ready to participate in the operation directed by Turkish authorities.
Marton Kovacs of the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service said that the cave is being prepared for his safe extraction. Narrow passages are being widened to accommodate a stretcher, and the danger of falling rocks is also being addressed.
The rescue teams hope that the extraction can begin on Saturday or Sunday. Kovacs said that lifting Dickey will likely take several days and that several bivouac points are being prepared along the way so that Dickey and rescue teams can rest.
The cave has been divided into several sections, with each country’s rescue team being responsible for one section.
The Hungarian Cave Rescue Service, made up of volunteer rescuers, was the first to arrive at Dickey’s location and provided emergency blood transfusions to stabilise his condition.
American caver Mark Dickey, left, 40, talks to a colleague inside the Morca cave near Anamur, southern Turkey [Turkish Government Directorate of Communications via AP]
‘Highly trained caver and rescuer’
Dickey was described by the European Cave Rescue Association as “a highly trained caver and a cave rescuer himself” who is well known as a cave researcher, or speleologist, from his participation in many international expeditions. He is secretary of the association’s medical committee.
Dickey was on an expedition mapping the 1,276-metre (4,186-feet) deep Morca cave system for the Anatolian Speleology Group Association (ASPEG) when he ran into trouble about 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) down, according to Ogrenecek.
Justin Hanley, a 28-year-old firefighter from near Dallas, Texas, said he met Dickey a few months ago when he took a cave rescue course Dickey taught in Hungary and Croatia. He described Dickey as upbeat and as someone who sees the good in everyone.
“Mark is the guy that should be on that rescue mission that’s leading and consulting and for him to be the one that needs to be rescued is kind of a tragedy in and of itself,” he said.
Hanley said he had talked to Dickey about a month ago about the mission in Turkey and that the aim of the expedition was to survey, collect information and set up camps in the cave.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Nestled in the heart of the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has long been synonymous with oil wealth. Yet, as we move deeper into the 21st century, it is stepping into a new light, presenting vast and varied opportunities for entrepreneurs.
1. Beyond oil: A diversified economic landscape
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is a clarion call for diversification. The nation is proactively steering away from its oil-dependent past, investing heavily in entertainment, tourism, technology and sports sectors. ‘NEOM,’ the futuristic city project, is a beacon of this transformative journey.
For budding entrepreneurs, this evolution translates into a broader spectrum of business avenues, a more varied market and an ever-evolving consumer base.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud once asserted, “Vision 2030 is all about the future. It’s about more life, it’s about more energy, and it’s about more excitement.” And in this unfolding future, entrepreneurs are the vanguard.
Saudi Arabia is young. Over half its population is under 30, making it a vibrant, tech-savvy, digitally connected consumer market. This burgeoning demographic is increasingly global in its outlook and consumption patterns. For businesses, this translates into a potent market hungry for innovative products, new-age services and novel experiences.
3. Global crossroads and a growing business ecosystem
At the juncture of Asia, Europe and Africa, Saudi Arabia is more than just a regional hub; it’s a global convergence point. Entrepreneurs setting up in Saudi enjoy easy access to multiple continents, offering an ideal launchpad for truly global aspirations.
It’s not just about the market; it’s about the support. Recognizing the value of entrepreneurial ventures, the Saudi government has initiated numerous incentives, grants and funding opportunities. With tech hubs, incubators and a growing investment community, Saudi Arabia genuinely welcomes innovators with open arms.
Gone are the days when Mecca was the only draw for international visitors. With its recent foray into the tourism sector and the rejuvenation of cultural festivals, Saudi Arabia is quickly becoming a hotspot for global travelers. This shift provides many opportunities for businesses in the hospitality, travel, arts and culture sectors.
5. Sustainability coupled with training a young workforce
Saudi’s diversification drive has led to a growing demand for a skilled workforce. While the demand is vast, the supply, in many sectors, lags. This mismatch offers a golden opportunity for ed-tech platforms, vocational training institutes and professional upskilling courses.
Saudi Arabia’s move towards sustainable energy and its commitment to environmental initiatives is another realm burgeoning with potential. From clean energy solutions to sustainable agriculture, Saudi Arabia is on the lookout for green ventures that align with its Vision 2030 goals.
Saudi Arabia’s demographic is a unique blend of tradition and modernity. With nearly 35 million residents, Saudi Arabia boasts a median age of just 27, making it one of the youngest populations globally. This youthful dynamism naturally begets innovation, a fact borne out by the soaring numbers of Saudi entrepreneurs. Recent years have witnessed a startup explosion, with young Saudis taking the entrepreneurial plunge, driven by passion and the promise of a supportive ecosystem.
But perhaps the most heartening aspect of this entrepreneurial surge is the rise of female founders and business leaders. Historically, the Saudi business realm was a male-dominated landscape. However, the winds of change, heralded by policies promoting women’s education and empowerment, have reshaped the scene. Today, women are not just participating in the business sector but pioneering it. They’re establishing startups, helming corporations and breaking barriers in previously deemed off-limits fields. According to a report by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, nearly 35% of all Saudi startups are now led by women, a testament to their tenacity and the evolving societal norms.
This dual wave of youthful enthusiasm and female empowerment is more than just a demographic trend; it’s the heartbeat of the new Saudi Arabia. As young entrepreneurs bring fresh ideas and perspectives, female founders infuse the ecosystem with diverse insights and resilience. Together, they represent Saudi’s progressive future, one where dreams are not bound by age or gender.
Saudi Arabia’s metamorphosis is a tale of vision, ambition and the future. For entrepreneurs, this narrative presents a chance to tap into a new market and be part of a historical transformation.
By aligning their aspirations with Saudi Arabia’s vision, entrepreneurs can co-create a future where innovation thrives, businesses flourish and dreams take flight. The Saudi horizon is vast, and it’s gleaming with golden opportunities for the discerning entrepreneur.
