Hezbollah confirms Hashem Safieddine, heir apparent to Nasrallah, is dead
Hezbollah confirms Hashem Safieddine, heir apparent to Nasrallah, is dead/node/2576499/middle-east
Hezbollah confirms Hashem Safieddine, heir apparent to Nasrallah, is dead
Hashem Safieddine, the top Hezbollah official widely expected to succeed slain secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli attack, the group said Wednesday. (X/File)
Hezbollah confirms Hashem Safieddine, heir apparent to Nasrallah, is dead
Safieddine, who was about 60, was killed in early October in a series of Israeli airstrikes in a southern suburb of Beirut
A familiar face in Lebanon and a leader with close ties to Iran, he was a member of the group’s decision-making Shoura Council and its Jihad Council
Updated 24 October 2024
AP
BEIRUT: Hashem Safieddine, a strongman who rose through the ranks of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah over decades to become the second-most powerful person within the organization, has died.
Safieddine, who was about 60, was killed in early October in a series of Israeli airstrikes in a southern suburb of Beirut that shook much of the Lebanese capital, part of Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah. Israel said Tuesday that Safieddine had been killed in the strikes; Hezbollah confirmed the death Wednesday.
Safieddine’s death came as he was widely expected to be elected the group’s next leader after the death of Hassan Nasrallah, one of its founders.
Safieddine, Nasrallah’s maternal cousin, had spent years preparing for the position — but the announcement was slow in coming following the Sept. 27 airstrike in the Beirut suburbs that killed Nasrallah, part of a series of blows dealt by Israel that had left Hezbollah in disarray.
A black-turbaned cleric with a thick gray beard who bore a strong resemblance to Nasrallah, Safieddine was known for defiant speeches in which he vowed that Hezbollah would keep fighting Israel no matter the price.
A familiar face in Lebanon and a leader with close ties to Iran, he was a member of the group’s decision-making Shoura Council and its Jihad Council, which acts as its military command. He also headed its Executive Council, which runs schools and social programs.
Safieddine’s death comes at a delicate time for Hezbollah. In the wake of its ally Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing offensive in Gaza, Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones and missiles at Israel — and they have exchanged fire regularly since.
But recent weeks have seen a significant escalation, as Israel carried out a series of strikes on top Hezbollah commanders and apparently blew up thousands of communication devices used by the group’s members. It has since launched a ground invasion in Lebanon that it says aims to push Hezbollah militants back from the border.
Despite the lack of formal announcement following Nasrallah’s death, it was widely known that Safieddine was already in control and running the group’s affairs, though the official acting leader was his deputy, Naim Kassem.
It’s not clear who will end up taking Hezbollah’s top job now, especially since another leading candidate, Nabil Kaouk, was also killed in an Israeli strike hours after Nasrallah’s death.
Like Nasrallah, Safieddine held the title of sayyid, an honorific meant to signify the Shiite cleric’s lineage dating back to the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Since its founding during Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah has been led by a cleric.
During a funeral in a Beirut suburb last month for Hezbollah members who were killed in the exploding pagers attack, Safieddine vowed that Hezbollah would not bow down and would fight back.
“This aggression will definitely face its special punishment. This punishment is definitely coming,” Safieddine said.
During the ceremony, several walkie-talkies exploded wounding people nearby. Safieddine stayed at the funeral until the end, despite the new round of blasts.
Safieddine was close to Iran. His son, Rida, is married to Zeinab Soleimani, the daughter of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, who was killed in a US airstrike in Iraq in 2020.
Safieddine’s brother, Abdallah, is Hezbollah’s point man in Tehran, a crucial role in the organization given that Iran is its main backer, providing it with weapons and money.
In May 2017, the US and some of its Arab allies, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, imposed sanctions on 10 top Hezbollah officials including Nasrallah, Kassem and Safieddine.
South Sudan’s President Kiir promotes sanctioned ally as ruling party deputy
The reshuffle follows months of political uncertainty in which authorities placed Kiir’s longtime rival First Vice President Riek Machar under house arrest
Updated 3 sec ago
Reuters
NAIROBI: South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has reshuffled the senior leadership in the ruling party, according to an official decree, as the country faces fresh fighting between rival armed factions and widespread speculation about Kiir’s succession plans. Kiir, 73, promoted sanctioned ally Second Vice President Benjamin Bol Mel as his SPLM party’s deputy chairperson, according to a decree read on the state broadcaster on Tuesday night, weeks after the United Nations said the country was on the brink of civil war. Seen widely by political analysts as Kiir’s chosen successor, Bol Mel was sanctioned by the United States in 2017 over suspicions his construction company received preferential treatment in the awarding of government contracts. If Kiir stepped down, Bol Mel’s new role as the SPLM party’s deputy chairperson would make him acting president of the country. The reshuffle follows months of political uncertainty in which authorities placed Kiir’s longtime rival First Vice President Riek Machar under house arrest, accusing him of trying to stir a rebellion. Machar’s opposition party denied the charges, and said the move effectively voided a 2018 peace deal that ended a five-year civil war between Kiir’s Dinka forces and Nuer fighters loyal to Machar. Western countries, including the United States, Britain and Germany closed embassies or cut back operations in South Sudan. Tuesday night’s ruling party shake-up saw Kiir demote three veterans of South Sudan’s liberation struggle, including former Second Vice President James Wani Igga, according to the decree read on state television on Tuesday night.
Muslim World League backs UK, France, Canada statement on Gaza, West Bank
MWL urges international community to act, force Israel to comply with international law, hold perpetrators accountable
Updated 21 May 2025
Arab News
DUBAI: The Muslim World League on Wednesday welcomed the joint statement issued by the UK, France and Canada regarding Israel’s war on Gaza and the West Bank.
The statement warned of concrete measures, including targeted sanctions, should the Israeli occupation government fail to halt its military operations, stop settlement expansion, and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid.
The MWL’s Secretary-General Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, who is also chairman of the Muslim Scholars Association, praised the joint stance.
In a statement, Al-Issa described it as “an important and just step in the right direction for the Palestinian people, whose suffering has been prolonged under the killing and destruction machine of the Israeli occupation government.”
He urged the international community to fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities by increasing pressure to end the ongoing violations, and for the perpetrators to be held accountable.
Al-Issa said the Israeli government should be compelled to immediately comply with UN resolutions and international humanitarian law.
UAE reaches deal with Israel to allow aid delivery to Gaza
Israel has come under international pressure to allow aid into Gaza, where humanitarian agencies say a total blockade has sparked critical food and medicine shortages
Israel's minimal aid move aims to avoid famine claims while keeping Gaza on the brink, says MSF
Pope Leo XIV also called for sufficient humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza
Updated 43 min ago
Arab News
DUBAI: UAE Foreign Affairs Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed held a phone call with his Israeli counterpart during which an agreement was reached to allow the delivery of “urgent humanitarian aid” to the besieged Gaza Strip.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on Wednesday that the amount of aid Israel was allowing through was inadequate and merely a “smokescreen to pretend the siege was over.”
UAE Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed held his phone call with Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar which led to an agreement to allow the delivery of urgent humanitarian aid from the United Arab Emirates, the country’s state news agency WAM reported on Wednesday.
“The aid will address the food needs of approximately 15,000 civilians in the Gaza Strip in the initial phase,” it added.
The initiative will also provide “essential supplies to support the operation of bakeries, as well as critical items for infant care, while ensuring a continuous supply to meet the ongoing needs of civilians.”
Israel has come under international pressure to allow aid into Gaza, where humanitarian agencies say a total blockade imposed on March 2 has sparked critical food and medicine shortages.
Israel said 93 aid trucks had entered Gaza from Israel on Tuesday, but the United Nations said the aid had been held up.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week it was necessary for Israel to prevent famine in Gaza for “practical and diplomatic reasons”, after his government announced it would allow limited aid in.
But MSF said on Wednesday that the amount of aid Israel had started allowing into the Gaza Strip was not nearly enough and was “a smokescreen to pretend the siege is over.”
“The Israeli authorities’ decision to allow a ridiculously inadequate amount of aid into Gaza after months of an air-tight siege signals their intention to avoid the accusation of starving people in Gaza, while in fact keeping them barely surviving,” said Pascale Coissard, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza’s Khan Younis.
Pope Leo XIV also called on Wednesday for sufficient humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza.
“The situation in the Gaza Strip is worrying and painful. I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid and to put an end to the hostilities, the heartbreaking price of which is paid by children, the elderly, the sick,” the pope said during his first weekly general audience.
How President Trump’s Middle East tour signaled a bold reset in US foreign policy
From lifting sanctions on Syria to backing talks with Iran, Trump declared a readiness to end old conflicts, embracing transactional diplomacy
Trump’s Gulf-focused strategy prioritizes mutually beneficial partnerships over traditional loyalties, casting Israel as a costly, underperforming ally
Updated 20 May 2025
Jonathan Gornall
LONDON: Standing ovations and scenes of jubilation are not normally witnessed at investment forums. But there was nothing normal about the speech President Donald Trump delivered at the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh last week.
Speaking at the beginning of a four-day tour of the region, Trump’s geopolitical surprises came thick and fast.
“After discussing the situation in Syria with the (Saudi) crown prince,” he said, “I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.”
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomes President Donald Trump to Saudi Arabia. (AFP)
The last few words were almost drowned out by the wave of applause, which was followed by a standing ovation led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Although the announcement came as a big surprise to most, including seasoned analysts and even some in Trump’s inner circle, it was not entirely unexpected.
In December, for the first time in a decade, US officials had flown to Damascus, where they met with Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the commander of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham, which just two weeks earlier had led the dramatic overthrow of the Bashar Assad regime after 14 years of civil war.
As a result of that meeting, after which the US delegation said it had found Al-Sharaa to be wholly “pragmatic,” the US removed the longstanding $10 million bounty on his head. A month later, Al-Sharaa was appointed president of Syria.
The day after last week’s investment forum in Riyadh, Trump sat down for a face-to-face meeting with Al-Sharaa that produced what might well prove to be one of the most historic photographs in the region’s recent history: the Saudi crown prince, flanked by Trump and Al-Sharaa, standing in front of the flags of the US, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.
The photograph sent a clear message: For the US, and for a region all too often subject to the whims of its largesse and military approbation, all bets were off.
The day before, Trump had more surprises for his delighted audience at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center.
President Donald Trump with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. (AP)
“I have never believed in having permanent enemies,” the president said, and “I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be very profound, which obviously they are in the case of Iran.”
He praised local leadership for “transcending the ancient conflicts and tired divisions of the past” and criticized “Western interventionists … giving you lectures on how to live or how to govern your own affairs.”
In a message that will have echoed loudly in Kabul, Baghdad, and even Tehran, he added: “In the end, the so-called ‘nation-builders’ wrecked far more nations than they built — and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves.”
Responding to Trump’s announcements, Sir John Jenkins, a seasoned diplomat who served as British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Syria, and as consul-general in Jerusalem, told Arab News: “I think this could be a real turning point.
“Post-Arab Spring demographics — lots of young people wanting a better life and better governance but not wanting to get there through ideology or revolution — and Mohammed bin Salman, Trump, and Syria have all come together at a singular time.”
Trump’s speech last week in Riyadh, he said, “was extraordinary, an intellectually coherent argument, and he means it.
“If you can form a cohesive bloc of Sunni states — the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the rest of the GCC, Jordan, Syria and Egypt — which all aim in different ways to increase prosperity and stability instead of the opposite, then you potentially have a bloc that can manage regional stability and contain Iran in a way we haven’t had for decades. And that gives the US the ability to pivot.”
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But a lot could still go wrong. “Iran, which is already trying hard to undermine Syria, will continue to play games,” said Jenkins.
“And then there’s Israel itself: Does it want strong and stable Sunni neighbors or not? It should do, but I’m not sure Bezalel Smotrich (Israel’s far-right finance minister, who this month vowed that Gaza would be ‘entirely destroyed’) and Itamar Ben-Gvir (the minister of national security who is pressing for Israel to seize and occupy Gaza) think so. That’s a headache for Israel’s Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu.
“But if you hook all this up to a possible US-Iran deal, which will give Iran incentives not to have sanctions come crashing back down, then there’s something there.”
For Al-Sharaa, even six months ago, the dramatic turnaround in his personal circumstances would have seemed fantastic, and as such is symptomatic of the tectonic upheavals presaged by Trump’s visit to the region.
Almost exactly 12 years ago, on May 16, 2013, the then-leader of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, judged responsible for “multiple suicide attacks throughout Syria” targeting the Assad regime, had been designated as a terrorist by the US Department of State.
Now, as the very public beneficiary of the praise and support of Trump and the Saudi crown prince, Al-Sharaa’s metamorphosis into the symbol of hope for the Syrian people is emblematic of America’s dramatic new approach to the region.
In Doha, the president chose the occasion of a visit to a US military base to make nice with Iran, a country whose negotiators have been quietly meeting in Oman with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, to discuss a nuclear deal.
Saudi Arabia signs deals worth more than $300 billion with US. (AFP)
“I want them to succeed,” said Trump, who in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the US from the original deal, fashioned by President Barack Obama and European allies, and reimposed economic sanctions. Now, he said in Doha last week, “I want them to end up being a great country.”
Iran, he added, “cannot have a nuclear weapon.” But, in a snub to Israel, which has reportedly not only sought US permission to attack Iranian enrichment facilities, but has even asked America to take part, he added: “We are not going to make any nuclear dust in Iran. I think we’re getting close to maybe doing a deal without having to do this.”
In fact, Trump’s entire trip appeared to be designed as a snub to Israel, which did not feature on the itinerary.
A week ahead of the trip, Trump had announced a unilateral ceasefire deal with the Houthis in Yemen, who had sided with Hamas after Israel mounted its retaliatory war in Gaza in October 2023.
Under the deal, brokered by Oman and with no Israeli involvement, the US said it would halt its strikes in Yemen in exchange for the Houthis agreeing to stop targeting vessels in the Red Sea.
On May 12, the day before Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia, Hamas released Edan Alexander, the last surviving US citizen held hostage in Gaza, in a deal that came out of direct talks with no Israeli involvement.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Ahmad Al-Sharaa, president of Syria. (Reuters)
In a post on Truth Social, Trump celebrated “a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators — Qatar and Egypt — to put an end to this very brutal war.”
Trump, said Ahron Bregman, a former Israeli soldier and a senior teaching fellow in King’s College London’s Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, “threw Netanyahu, in fact Israel, under the bus.
“He totally surprised Netanyahu with a series of Middle Eastern diplomatic initiatives, which, at least from an Israeli perspective, hurt — indeed, humiliate — Israel,” he told Arab News.
“In the past, if one wished to get access to the White House, a good way to do so was to turn to Israel, asking them to open doors in Washington. Not any longer. Netanyahu, hurt and humiliated by Trump, seems to have lost his magic touch.
“Trump despises losers, and he probably regards Netanyahu as a loser, given the Gaza mess and Netanyahu’s failure to achieve Israel’s declared aims.”
It is, Bregman said, Trump’s famously transactional approach to politics that is shifting the dial so dramatically in the Middle East.
An aerial view shows a war devastated neighborhood in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. (AFP)
“Trump looks at international relations and diplomacy through financial lenses, as business enterprises. For Trump, money talks and the money is not to be found in Israel, which sucks $3 billion dollars a year from the US, but in the Gulf states.
“Trump is serious about America First, and Israel doesn’t serve this aim; the Gulf states do. For now, at least, the center of gravity has moved to the Gulf states, and the Israeli status in the Middle East has weakened dramatically.”
For Ibrahim Al-Marashi, associate professor at California State University, San Marcos, the events of the past week stand in sharp contrast to those during Trump’s first presidency.
“During the first Trump administration, World War Three almost broke out, with aircraft carriers from my native San Diego deployed continuously to the Gulf to deter Iran, the (Houthi) strike on Saudi Aramco, and the assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad at the beginning of 2020,” he told Arab News.
“Five years later, the Trump administration seems to be repeating the Nixon-Kissinger realist doctrine: ‘America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.’ In that regard, his administration might forge relations with Iran as Nixon did with China.”
Kelly Petillo, program manager for the Middle East and North Africa at the European Council on Foreign Relations, likewise views last week’s events as the beginning of “a new phase of US-Gulf relations.”
President Masoud Pezeshkian, center, and the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran chief Mohammad Eslami during the “National Day of Nuclear Technology” in Tehran. (Iranian Presidency/AFP)
Among the remarkable developments is “Israel’s relative sidelining and the fact that Israel does not have the privileged relationship with Trump it thought it had,” she told Arab News. “The US agenda now is wider than unconditional support to Israel, and alignment with GCC partners is also key.
“Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE have clearly become of key strategic importance to the US, with new deals on the horizon and the promise of expanding these relations. The announcements of more commercial ties have been accompanied with political declarations too, which overall represented positive developments for the region.”
Ultimately, said Caroline Rose, a director at the New Lines Institute, “Trump’s visit to the GCC highlighted two of his foreign policy priorities in the Middle East.
“Firstly, he sought to obtain a series of transactional, bilateral cooperation agreements in sectors such as defense, investment and trade,” she told Arab News.
Trump “sought to obtain a series of transactional, bilateral cooperation agreements in sectors such as defense, investment and trade,” Caroline Rose told Arab News. (Reuters)
“The second objective was to use the trip as a mechanism that could change conditions for ongoing diplomatic negotiations directly with Iran, between Hamas and Israel, and even Ukraine and Russia.”
It was, of course, no accident that Trump chose the Middle East as the destination for the first formal overseas trip of his second presidency.
“The Trump administration sought to court Gulf states closely to signal to other partners in the region, such as Israel, as well as the EU, that it can develop alternative partnerships to achieve what it wants in peace negotiations.”
Although a strategy to move forward with specific peace negotiations was “notably absent during his trip,” it was clear that “this trip was designed to lay the groundwork for potential momentum and to change some of the power dynamics with traditional US partners abroad, sowing the seeds of goodwill that could alter negotiations in the Trump administration’s favor.”
Israel recalls senior Gaza hostage negotiators, leaves team in Doha
The indirect talks in Qatar began over the weekend, just as Israel’s new offensive was getting underway
Updated 21 May 2025
AFP
JERUSALEM: Israel said Tuesday that it was recalling its senior Gaza hostage negotiators from Doha “for consultation,” days after launching an intensified campaign in the Palestinian territory.
The indirect talks in Qatar, which has played a mediating role throughout the war, began over the weekend, just as Israel’s new offensive was getting underway.
“After about a week of intensive contacts in Doha, the senior negotiation team will return to Israel for consultation, while working levels will remain in Doha for the time being,” read a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, accusing Hamas of refusing to accept a deal.
A source close to Hamas, however, said on Tuesday that Israel’s delegation “has not held any real negotiations since last Sunday,” blaming “Netanyahu’s systematic policy of obstruction.”
Earlier in the day, Qatar had said Israel’s “irresponsible, aggressive behavior” with the expanded campaign had undermined the chances of a ceasefire.
Following Netanyahu’s announcement, the main group representing the families of hostages still being held in Gaza said it was “profoundly alarmed and devastated” at the decision to recall the negotiators, warning their loved ones’ lives were in danger.
Militants took 251 hostages during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.