Algeria signs MoU with US on military cooperation, strikes deal with Chevron to assess offshore oil

Algeria signs MoU with US on military cooperation, strikes deal with Chevron to assess offshore oil
Algeria signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States on Wednesday that focuses on military cooperation, its defense ministry said in a statement. (X/@derradjihafid)
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Updated 23 January 2025
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Algeria signs MoU with US on military cooperation, strikes deal with Chevron to assess offshore oil

Algeria signs MoU with US on military cooperation, strikes deal with Chevron to assess offshore oil
  • Defense ministry said the MoU focuses on military cooperation
  • Algeria national hydrocarbon agency Alnaft also strikes deal with Chevron to assess offshore oil

ALGIERS: Algeria signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States on Wednesday that focuses on military cooperation, its defense ministry said in a statement.

The MoU was signed during a meeting between Deputy Defense Minister Said Chengriha and Michael Langley, commander of the US Africa Command, the ministry added.
Also on Wednesday, Algeria signed an agreement with US energy giant Chevron aimed at assessing potential offshore oil resources in the Mediterranean, according to the country’s energy ministry.

The partnership was struck between the national hydrocarbon agency Alnaft and Chevron North Africa, the ministry said in a statement. The agreement, which will last two years, envisions an “in-depth study to evaluate Algerian offshore oil resources”, the statement said.

The deal could “open the way for exploration and development projects aimed at developing national hydrocarbon resources”.

It is part of Alnaft’s “efforts to attract quality investments and step up technical capacity in the field of offshore exploration”, the agency’s president, Mourad Beldjehem, was quoted as saying by Algeria’s official APS news agency.

In 2018, the country’s state-run hydrocarbon company Sonatrach signed two agreements with France’s Total and Italy’s ENI to assess potential offshore oil reserves.

The largest country in Africa, Algeria derives more than 90 percent of its foreign exchange receipts from hydrocarbons.


Can Lebanon succeed in disarming Hezbollah when Israeli troops still hold territory?

Can Lebanon succeed in disarming Hezbollah when Israeli troops still hold territory?
Updated 8 sec ago
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Can Lebanon succeed in disarming Hezbollah when Israeli troops still hold territory?

Can Lebanon succeed in disarming Hezbollah when Israeli troops still hold territory?
  • Lebanese army says it has dismantled more than 90 percent of Hezbollah’s infrastructure south of the Litani River

LONDON: Lebanon’s armed forces say they have taken control of several villages near the border with Israel that had long been held by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. But behind these official declarations is a more complicated reality — and a fragile peace that may not hold.

On April 30, the Lebanese army announced it had dismantled more than 90 percent of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure south of the Litani River, near the Israeli border. The operation followed a ceasefire in late November between Israel and the militia.

That same day, President Joseph Aoun told Sky News Arabia that the army had deployed across 85 percent of southern Lebanon.

He emphasized that efforts to remove weapons not under state control were taking place nationwide, although the “priority is the southern part of the country” — Hezbollah’s stronghold.

“The army, despite its limited resources, is deployed across the entire Lebanese territory, inside the country as well as at the east, north, northeast, and south borders,” Aoun said.

About two weeks later, at the Arab League Summit in Baghdad, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam reaffirmed Lebanon’s commitment to implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701 — the framework for the current truce.

But enforcing that commitment comes with its own set of challenges.

“The president and prime minister’s affirmation of Lebanon’s monopoly on force is a step in the right direction,” Fadi Nicholas Nassar, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Arab News. “But its promise fades the moment Hezbollah’s open defiance goes unchallenged.”

He said the ceasefire offered a prime opportunity to disarm Hezbollah, which continues to resist full disarmament during Israel’s ongoing occupation of parts of Lebanon.

“The ceasefire agreement that ended the war must be framed, not as a de-escalation, but as a decisive window for Lebanon to complete Hezbollah’s disarmament — anything less risks another military confrontation Lebanon cannot afford,” he added.

Israel continues to occupy five hilltop positions it deems strategic, despite a Feb. 18 deadline for withdrawal. Aoun said this has prevented the Lebanese army from fully deploying along the border.

Aoun said Lebanon had asked the US and France, the ceasefire’s guarantors, to pressure Israel to pull out. In a recent interview with Egyptian channel ON E, he said Israel’s occupation of the five sites is a major obstacle to border control.

“We are in constant contact with the US to urge it to pressure Israel,” he said, stressing that Lebanon is seeking a durable truce — not normalization of ties.

While Hezbollah has avoided further escalation, its deputy leader Naim Qassem said in February that Israel must withdraw completely, saying “there is no pretext for five points nor other details.”

“Hezbollah has taken serious hits,” Nassar said. “It’s lost much of its arsenal and key figures in its leadership, both vital to its ability to adapt and survive.”

Despite this, “it’s still a disciplined, ideologically driven force that can threaten to derail the progress unfolding across the Levant,” he added.

The recent conflict was triggered by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 240 were taken hostage. After Israel retaliated by launching airstrikes and ground incursions against Gaza, Hezbollah began rocket attacks on Israel from the north.

By autumn 2024, the cross-border exchanges had escalated into full-scale war. Over the course of the conflict, Israeli airstrikes killed more than 3,800 Lebanese, injured about 15,700, and displaced nearly 1 million, according to Lebanese health authorities.

The World Bank put Lebanon’s economic losses at $14 billion. Hezbollah, meanwhile, suffered heavy losses to its leadership, fighters, weapons, and public support.

A ceasefire was reached on Nov. 27, brokered by Washington and Paris. Anchored in UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war, the deal called for Israel’s full withdrawal and for Hezbollah to relocate fighters north of the Litani River and dismantle all military sites in the south.

However, six months on, Israel still occupies Jal Al-Deir and Jabal Blat in Bint Jbeil district, Labbouneh and Alma Al-Shaab in Tyre, and Hamames Hill and a newly built outpost along the Markaba-Houla road in Marjayoun.

An Israeli military spokesperson said their troops “need to remain at those points at the moment to defend Israeli citizens, to make sure this process is complete and eventually hand it over to the Lebanese armed forces,” Reuters reported.

The UN high commissioner for human rights raised the alarm in April over the increase in Israeli offences since the ceasefire began. At least 71 civilians have been killed and critical infrastructure destroyed, according to a preliminary OHCHR review.

Aoun also reported nearly 3,000 Israeli ceasefire breaches.

Meanwhile, Israel said at least five rockets, two mortars, and a drone have been launched from Lebanon toward northern Israel since the ceasefire.

“Israel should stop carrying out strikes in Lebanon immediately,” David Wood, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, told Arab News. “The whole point of the ceasefire deal was to empower the Lebanese army to exert control over all Lebanese territory, to the exclusion of Hezbollah.”

He said that continued Israeli attacks risk undermining state authority and bolstering Hezbollah’s narrative.

“Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon, even as the army makes progress on implementing the agreement, threaten to undermine the state’s authority,” he said. “Especially in areas facing constant assaults, locals might increasingly view Hezbollah’s armed resistance as their only effective defense against Israeli aggression.”

While Hezbollah has cooperated with army efforts south of the Litani, it refuses to disarm elsewhere until Israel leaves Lebanese soil. Hezbollah chief Qassem insists only his forces can defend Lebanon.

“Lebanese officials are satisfied that Hezbollah is cooperating with the disarmament process in the area south of the Litani River, which is next to the Lebanese-Israeli border,” Wood said.

“However, Hezbollah refuses to surrender its weapons in the rest of the country, at least until Lebanon’s various political factions have entered into dialogue concerning a new national defense strategy.”

Disarmament is a key demand from the US, Qatar, and other foreign donors. But Lebanese authorities prefer dialogue to confrontation, wary of igniting civil conflict or scaring off badly needed investment.

“Lebanon’s new president and government have made clear that, when it comes to Hezbollah’s disarmament, they prefer cooperation over confrontation,” Wood said.

“They want to achieve the state’s monopoly over arms yet also avoid a potentially dangerous clash between the Lebanese army and Hezbollah.”

Last month, Aoun said the decision to limit the monopoly on weaponry to the state “has been made” and will be carried out “through dialogue, not force.”

Still, international pressure on Lebanon is mounting.

“Lebanon faces growing pressure — chiefly from the US, Israel, and some of Hezbollah’s domestic opponents — to accelerate the disarmament process, even without Hezbollah’s approval,” Wood said.

Last week, Morgan Ortagus, the deputy US special envoy to the Middle East, said Lebanon has “more work to do” to fully disarm Hezbollah, despite making more progress in the past six months than in the previous 15 years.

“We in the US have called for the full disarmament of Hezbollah. And so that doesn’t mean just south of the Litani. That means in the whole country,” Ortagus told the Qatar Economic Forum.

Aoun, however, cautioned against moving too quickly. He reiterated in his interview with Egypt’s ON E that Hezbollah’s disarmament should proceed through dialogue, not confrontation.

Makram Rabah, an assistant professor at the American University of Beirut, said the army is not expected to “engage in a physical clash with Hezbollah.” Even so, he warned, the state must stop clinging to the notion that disarmament depends solely on Hezbollah’s cooperation.

“The government should stop promoting the idea that disarming Hezbollah requires dialogue — that it only requires coordination with Hezbollah for them to hand over their weapons,” Rabah told Arab News. “If they refuse to do so, they will have to deal with Israel.”

He said Lebanese authorities are failing to meet their obligations under Resolution 1701. “The president of the republic was elected on a platform of establishing full sovereignty, and up until now, he has failed to do so.”

Elaborating, Rabah said the core problem lies in the government’s reliance on consensus — a strategy, he argued, that plays directly into Hezbollah’s hands.

“It’s clear that Hezbollah’s weapons — which are Iranian in nature — have exposed and devastated Lebanon,” he said. “Once the government starts acting like a real government, there will be no justification for Israel to maintain a physical presence in Lebanon.

“Israel’s continued airstrikes serve as a reminder to the Lebanese authorities that they are failing to do their job,” he added, stressing that “it’s not a question of capability — it’s a question of will.

“Frankly, I don’t think the Lebanese leadership is even serious about confronting the issue, because they expect Israel to handle it for them. And that, ultimately, is deeply damaging to Lebanon as a sovereign state.”


Jordan, Finland agree on need for two-state solution for regional stability

Jordan, Finland agree on need for two-state solution for regional stability
Updated 20 min 34 sec ago
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Jordan, Finland agree on need for two-state solution for regional stability

Jordan, Finland agree on need for two-state solution for regional stability
  • King Abdullah holds talking with visiting foreign minister
  • Sides also discuss boosting ties, cooperation

AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday held talks with Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen at Al-Husseiniya Palace in Amman, where discussions focused on addressing regional developments, particularly the crisis in Gaza.

The meeting, which was attended by Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah, also covered opportunities to bolster cooperation across various sectors between the two countries, the Jordan News Agency reported.

The king stressed the importance of creating a political horizon to achieve peace on the basis of the two-state solution and commended Finland’s support for efforts aimed at reinforcing regional stability.

Separately, Minister of Foreign and Expatriates Affairs Ayman Safadi held extensive talks with Valtonen, during which the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to deepening ties and advancing collaboration within the broader framework of Jordan’s strategic partnership with the EU.

Minister of Foreign and Expatriates Affairs Ayman Safadi held extensive talks with Valtonen. (JNA)

With reference to the war in Gaza, the ministers emphasized the importance of multilateral action and upholding international law, including international humanitarian law.

The talks also covered the urgent need for a permanent ceasefire and the immediate, sufficient delivery of humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave.

The ministers reviewed efforts to ensure that the upcoming international conference in New York, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, yields tangible results in support of a just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution.

Safadi reiterated the importance of broader international recognition of a Palestinian state as a key step in affirming the international community’s commitment to the two-state solution.

On Syria, their discussions touched on the need for supporting reconstruction efforts grounded in preserving Syrian unity, security and stability, as well as eliminating terrorism and safeguarding the rights of all Syrians.

Safadi highlighted the need for effective international engagement to that end.


‘Israel committing war crimes’ in Gaza, says ex-PM

‘Israel committing war crimes’ in Gaza, says ex-PM
Updated 29 min 56 sec ago
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‘Israel committing war crimes’ in Gaza, says ex-PM

‘Israel committing war crimes’ in Gaza, says ex-PM
  • Ehud Olmert: Military carrying out ‘indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians’
  • Govt waging war ‘without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success’

LONDON: Israel is “committing war crimes” in Gaza and “thousands of innocent Palestinians are being killed,” former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wrote in an opinion piece for Haaretz newspaper.

Olmert, who served as Israel’s 12th prime minister from 2006 to 2009, accused the current government of “waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success.”

He added: “Never since its establishment has the state of Israel waged such a war … The criminal gang headed by (Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu has set a precedent without equal in Israel’s history in this area, too.” 

Olmert, a former member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, said the “pointless victims among the Palestinian population” were reaching “monstrous proportions” in recent weeks.

Israeli military operations in Gaza bear no relevance to “legitimate war goals,” Olmert added, describing it as a “private political war” that has transformed the Palestinian enclave into a “humanitarian disaster area.”

He said he had in the past tried to refute claims that Israel was committing war crimes in Gaza, but “I’ve been no longer able to do so. What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: Indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians.”

He added: “It’s the result of government policy — knowingly, evilly, maliciously, irresponsibly dictated. Yes, Israel is committing war crimes.”

In an interview with the BBC last week, Olmert described the Gaza conflict as “a war without a purpose — a war without a chance of achieving anything that can save the lives of the hostages.”

His remarks follow similar statements by Yair Golan, a prominent politician and former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli army.

Golan told the Kan national broadcaster last week that “a sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations.”


US-backed aid group begins Gaza operations

US-backed aid group begins Gaza operations
Updated 27 May 2025
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US-backed aid group begins Gaza operations

US-backed aid group begins Gaza operations
  • Palestinians said there was no known visits to new sites of distribution on Monday
  • UN and other international aid groups have boycotted the foundation

CAIRO: Palestinians voiced wariness on Tuesday toward a US-backed foundation set to bring aid to Gaza amid signs of famine, with Hamas warnings about biometric screening procedures keeping many away from distribution points.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it began operations on Monday, but there was little indication of Palestinians turning up at distribution centers in southern Gaza even after almost three months of Israel blockading the enclave.

Palestinians said there was no known visits to new sites of distribution on Monday, but on Tuesday dozens headed to one of them established in Rafah to get some aid despite the warnings, at least three witnesses told Reuters.

Others stayed away.

“As much as I want to go because I am hungry and my children are hungry, I am afraid,” said Abu Ahmed, 55, a father of seven. “I am so scared because they said the company belongs to Israel and is a mercenary, and also because the resistance (Hamas) said not to go,” he said in a message on the chat app WhatsApp.

Israel says the Switzerland-based GHF is a US-backed initiative and that its forces will not be involved in the distribution points where food will be handed out.

But its endorsement of the plan, which resembles Israeli schemes floated previously, and its closeness with the US has led many to question the neutrality of the foundation, including its own former chief, who resigned unexpectedly on Sunday.

The United Nations and other international aid groups have boycotted the foundation, which they say undermines the principle that humanitarian aid should be distributed independently of the parties to a conflict, based on need.

“Humanitarian assistance must not be politicized or militarised,” said Christian Cardon, chief spokesperson of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Israel, at war with Gaza’s dominant Hamas militant group since October 2023, imposed the blockade in early March accusing Hamas of stealing supplies and using them to entrench its position. Hamas has denied such accusations.

Israeli officials said one of the advantages of the new aid system is the opportunity to screen recipients to exclude anyone found to be connected with Hamas.

Humanitarian groups briefed on the foundation’s plans say anyone accessing aid will have to submit to facial recognition technology that many Palestinians fear will end up in Israeli hands to be used to track and potentially target them.

Details of exactly how the system will operate have not been made public.

Israel makes extensive use of facial recognition and other forms of biometric identification in the occupied West Bank and has been reported by Israeli and international media to be using such techniques in Gaza as well.

BEGGING FOR BREAD
Hamas, which has in recent months faced protests by many Palestinians who want the devastating war to end, has also warned residents against accessing GHF sites, saying Israel was using the company to collect intelligence information.

“Do not go to Rafah ...Do not fall into the trap...Do not risk your lives. Your homes are your fortress. Staying in your neighborhoods is survival, and awareness is your protection,” a statement published by the Hamas-linked Home Front said.

“These schemes will be broken by the steadfastness of a people who do not know defeat,” it added.

The launch of the new system came days after Israel eased its blockade, allowing a trickle of aid trucks from international agencies into Gaza last week, including World Food Programme vehicles bringing flour to local bakeries.

But the amount of aid that has entered the densely populated coastal enclave has been only a small fraction of the 500-600 trucks that UN agencies estimate are needed every day.

“Before the war, my fridge used to be full of meat, chicken, dairy, soft drinks, everything, and now I am begging for a loaf of bread,” Abu Ahmed told Reuters via a chat app.

As a small aid flow has resumed, Israeli forces — now in control of large parts of Gaza — have kept up attacks on various targets around the enclave, killing 3,901 Palestinians since a two-month-old ceasefire collapsed in mid-March, according to the Gaza health ministry.

In all, more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s air and ground war, launched following a cross-border Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023 that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza.


EU chief slams Israel’s ‘abhorrent’ strikes on Gaza civilian sites

EU chief slams Israel’s ‘abhorrent’ strikes on Gaza civilian sites
Updated 27 May 2025
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EU chief slams Israel’s ‘abhorrent’ strikes on Gaza civilian sites

EU chief slams Israel’s ‘abhorrent’ strikes on Gaza civilian sites
  • “Killing civilians, including children, is abhorrent,” von der Leyen said
  • “This escalation and disproportionate use of force against civilians cannot be justified“

BRUSSELS: EU chief Ursula von der Leyen denounced as “abhorrent” Israel’s deadly wave of strikes on civilian facilities in Gaza including a school, during a call with Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday.

Rescuers said Israeli strikes killed at least 52 people in the Gaza Strip Monday, 33 in a school-turned-shelter, in a renewed offensive to destroy Hamas that has drawn international condemnation.

“The expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza targeting civilian infrastructure, among them a school that served as a shelter for displaced Palestinian families, killing civilians, including children, is abhorrent,” von der Leyen said, according to an EU readout of the call.

“The European Commission has always supported — and will continue to support — Israel’s right to security and self-defense,” she said.

“But this escalation and disproportionate use of force against civilians cannot be justified under humanitarian and international law,” von der Leyen warned.

The commission chief demanded that Israel “immediately restore aid delivery in line with humanitarian principles, with the participation of the UN and other international humanitarian partners.”

The European Union has struggled to have an impact on the conflict due to long-standing divisions within the bloc between countries who back Israel and those considered more pro-Palestinian.

Momentum to ramp up the pressure on Israel has been growing however since Israel restarted its Gaza offensive.

The EU last week launched a review of its association agreement with Israel over alleged human rights abuses in Gaza, after 17 of its 27 member states backed the move.