Turkiye arrests two more suspected spies for Israel

Turkiye arrests two more suspected spies for Israel
Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters wave flags and carry placards during a National March for Palestine in Istanbul. (File/AFP)
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Updated 05 April 2024
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Turkiye arrests two more suspected spies for Israel

Turkiye arrests two more suspected spies for Israel
  • Since January, Turkish authorities have detained or arrested and charged dozens of people suspected of having ties to Israel’s Mossad

ANKARA: Turkish authorities, who have denounced Israel for its war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, have arrested two people suspected of spying for Israeli intelligence, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Friday.
Since January, Turkish authorities have detained or arrested and charged dozens of people suspected of having ties to Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. Six people were charged last month.
Turkish and Israeli leaders have traded public barbs since Israel’s war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas began in October. Turkiye has warned Israel of “serious consequences” if it tries to hunt down Hamas members living outside the Palestinian territories, including in Turkiye.
In a post on social media platform X, Yerlikaya said police had detained eight people believed to be collecting and selling information to Mossad about targeted individuals and companies in Turkiye. Of those, two had been arrested and six released on parole, he said.
“We will never allow espionage activities that are carried out within our country’s borders against our people’s national unity and solidarity. We are in pursuit,” he said.
A Turkish security official said the raids, carried out in Istanbul, targeted a Turkish private detective and his wife, who were believed to have been involved with Mossad from 2011-2020.
The official said the detective had previously met Mossad members in Austria, Switzerland and Germany and used private communication channels to keep in touch with them.
The detective “earned significant income” from this and formed a network of nine people, the official said. Members of the network had confessed and the detective and his wife had been arrested, the person added.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
A Turkish court in January ordered the arrest of 15 people and the deportation of eight suspected of having links to Mossad and targeting Palestinians living in Turkiye.


UN pauses some Yemen operations over Houthi detention of staff

A United Nations vehicle is parked in Taiz, Yemen. (File/AFP)
A United Nations vehicle is parked in Taiz, Yemen. (File/AFP)
Updated 10 sec ago
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UN pauses some Yemen operations over Houthi detention of staff

A United Nations vehicle is parked in Taiz, Yemen. (File/AFP)

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has paused all operations in Yemen’s Saada governorate after more UN staff were detained by the Houthis, deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Monday.
“This extraordinary and temporary measure seeks to balance the imperative to stay and deliver with the need to have the safety and security of the UN personnel and its partners guaranteed,” Haq said. “Such guarantees are ultimately required to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of our efforts.” 


International Criminal Court opens inquiry into Italy over release of Libyan warlord

International Criminal Court opens inquiry into Italy over release of Libyan warlord
Updated 21 min 43 sec ago
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International Criminal Court opens inquiry into Italy over release of Libyan warlord

International Criminal Court opens inquiry into Italy over release of Libyan warlord
  • Italian Justice Minister Carlo Nordio defended the decision to send the suspect back to Libya
  • The warlord was arrested in Turin on an ICC warrant on January 19 but was later released

THE HAGUE: Judges at the International Criminal Court have officially asked Italy on Monday to explain why the country released a Libyan man suspected of torture, murder and rape rather than sending him to The Hague.
Italian police arrested Ossama Anjiem, also known as Ossama Al-Masri, last month but rather than extraditing him to the Netherlands, where the ICC is based, sent him back to Libya aboard an Italian military aircraft.
“The matter of state’s non-compliance with a request of cooperation for arrest and surrender by the court is before the competent chamber,” the court’s spokesperson Fadi El-Abdallah said in a statement.
Addressing parliament last week, Italian Justice Minister Carlo Nordio defended the decision to send Al-Masri home, claiming the ICC had issued a contradictory and flawed arrest warrant. The court, he said, “realized that an immense mess was made,” he told lawmakers.
Al-Masri was arrested in Turin on the ICC warrant on Jan. 19, the day after he arrived in the country from Germany to watch a soccer match. The Italian government has said Rome’s court of appeals ordered him released on Jan. 21 because of a technical problem in the way that the ICC warrant was transmitted, having initially bypassed the Italian justice ministry.
The ICC said it does not comment on national judicial proceedings.
Al-Masri’s arrest had posed a dilemma for Italy because it has close ties to the internationally recognized government in Tripoli as well as energy interests in the country.
According to the arrest warrant, Al-Masri heads the Tripoli branch of the Reform and Rehabilitation Institution, a notorious network of detention centers run by the government-backed Special Defense Force, which acts as a military police unit combating high-profile crimes including kidnappings, murders as well as illegal migration.
Like many other militias in western Libya, the SDF has been implicated in atrocities in the civil war that followed the overthrow and killing of the Libyan president Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
Additionally, any trial in The Hague of Al-Masri could bring unwanted attention to Italy’s migration policies and its support of the Libyan coast guard, which it has financed to prevent migrants from leaving.
In October, the court unsealed arrest warrants for six men allegedly linked to a brutal Libyan militia blamed for multiple killings and other crimes in a strategically important western town where mass graves were discovered in 2020.


Hamas accuses Israel of ceasefire violations, says it will delay next hostage release

Palestinians gather as Hamas fighters escort Red Cross vehicles before handing over three Israeli captives in Deir Al-Balah.
Palestinians gather as Hamas fighters escort Red Cross vehicles before handing over three Israeli captives in Deir Al-Balah.
Updated 54 min 36 sec ago
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Hamas accuses Israel of ceasefire violations, says it will delay next hostage release

Palestinians gather as Hamas fighters escort Red Cross vehicles before handing over three Israeli captives in Deir Al-Balah.
  • Next exchange was scheduled for Saturday, releasing three Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
  • Spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing accused Israel on Monday of systematically violating the ceasefire agreement over the past three weeks

JERSUSALEM: A Hamas spokesman on Monday accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement with the group, including targeting Palestinians in Gaza with airstrikes, and said that next Saturday’s hostage release would be delayed.
A Hamas spokesperson said Monday that the group will delay the next hostage release after accusing Israel of violating ceasefire agreement.
Israel and Hamas are in the midst of a six-week ceasefire during which Hamas is releasing dozens of the hostages captured in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The sides have carried out five swaps since the ceasefire went into effect last month, freeing 21 hostages and over 730 prisoners. The next exchange was scheduled for Saturday, releasing three Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, accused Israel on Monday of systematically violating the ceasefire agreement over the past three weeks, and said Saturday’s release would be delayed.
“The resistance leadership has closely monitored the enemy’s violations and its failure to uphold the terms of the agreement,” Abu Ubaida said.
“This includes delays in allowing displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, targeting them with airstrikes and gunfire across various areas of the Strip, and failing to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid as agreed.”


Israeli forces raid Palestinian villages in south Hebron’s Masafer Yatta

Israeli forces raid Palestinian villages in south Hebron’s Masafer Yatta
Updated 10 February 2025
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Israeli forces raid Palestinian villages in south Hebron’s Masafer Yatta

Israeli forces raid Palestinian villages in south Hebron’s Masafer Yatta
  • Forces damaged approximately 1,000 square meters of mosquito fern nurseries, which serve as feed for roosters and chickens
  • The house of Issa Ahmed Isa Mohammed was demolished

LONDON: Israeli forces demolished on Monday a house, two living units, and two agricultural greenhouses in the Palestinian area of Masafer Yatta, located south of Hebron, which faces eviction orders.

Israeli personnel raided Maghayir Al-Abeed, a hamlet in Masafer Yatta, and demolished two agricultural rooms belonging to Fayez Ibrahim Makhamra and Osama Fayez Makhamra, the Wafa news agency reported.

They also uprooted 10 trees and destroyed crops.

In Jinba village, Israeli authorities demolished two living units belonging to Ibrahim Ahmed Younis Mohammed and uprooted plants and fruit trees.

The house of Issa Ahmed Isa Mohammed was demolished by Israeli forces, who also damaged approximately 1,000 square meters of mosquito fern nurseries, which serve as feed for roosters and chickens.

Masafer Yatta consists of nearly 15 Palestinian hamlets located in the southern occupied West Bank. Israeli forces regularly invade the area in an effort to evict its population of 1,150 residents, half of whom are children. Since the 1980s, the area has been designated a military zone by Israel.


Egypt imported 6.3 million tons of Russian wheat in 2024/25, analysts say

Farmers harvest wheat in the settlement of Nedvigovka in the southern Russian Rostov region. (File/AFP)
Farmers harvest wheat in the settlement of Nedvigovka in the southern Russian Rostov region. (File/AFP)
Updated 10 February 2025
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Egypt imported 6.3 million tons of Russian wheat in 2024/25, analysts say

Farmers harvest wheat in the settlement of Nedvigovka in the southern Russian Rostov region. (File/AFP)
  • Algiers, which bought 1.7 million tons of Russian wheat, and Kenya, which bought 1.4 million tons, were the fourth and the fifth largest importers

MOSCOW: Egypt, the biggest buyer of Russian wheat, imported 6.3 million metric tons from July 2024 to January 2025, a 70 percent increase compared to last year, analysts from rail carrier Rusagrotrans said in a report published on Monday.
Rusagrotrans said wheat exports from Russia continued at a record pace so far this season with the country, the world’s top wheat exporter, shipping 32.2 million metric tons, 1.3 percent more than in the same period of the last season.
The acceleration precedes new export quotas on February 15 that will slow shipments. In line with the new quotas Russia can export 10.6 million metric tons of wheat before July 1, 2025.
Bangladesh, which bought 2.3 million tons, emerged as the second-largest buyer in the 2024/25 season, while Turkiye, which introduced an import ban to protect its domestic market, slipped to third place with a 47 percent drop in Russian wheat imports.
Algiers, which bought 1.7 million tons of Russian wheat, and Kenya, which bought 1.4 million tons, were the fourth and the fifth largest importers.