20-10-2022

ThUrSdAY, OcTOber 20, 2022
7
Hamas in first Syria visit in
decade as relations thaw
DAMASCUS : A Hamas delegation
arrived in Damascus Wednesday for
talks with President Bashar Al-Assad
in the first such visit since the
Palestinian Islamist group severed
ties with Syria a decade ago.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza
Strip, was one of Assad's closest allies
but left Syria in 2012 after
condemning his government's brutal
suppression of peaceful protests in
March 2011, which triggered the
country's descent into civil war.
"The Hamas delegation arrived in
Damascus on a two-day visit," during
which Palestinian factions will meet
Assad, said Palestinian Popular
Struggle Front leader Khaled Abdel
Majid.
The meeting will be followed by a
news conference at 1:30 pm (1030
GMT).
The visit by the Hamas delegation,
headed by Arab relations chief Khalil
al-Hayya, comes after the Islamist
group signed a reconciliation deal
with its Palestinian rival Fatah in
Algiers last week, vowing to hold
elections by next October in a bid to
settle a 15-year rift.
It also comes after Hamas
announced it wanted to normalise
with Damascus citing "rapid regional
and international developments
surrounding our cause and our
nation".
Analysts said that was a reference to
the growing number of Arab
governments that have normalised
ties with Hamas's arch-enemy Israel
in recent years.
A Hamas leader told AFP the group
plans to reopen its Damascus office
but that it was "too early" to talk
about relocating its headquarters to
the Syrian capital.
The thaw between Hamas and
Damascus was brokered by Tehran
and Lebanese militant group
Hezbollah, a senior Hamas source
said.
Moscow-installed authorities in Ukraine's southern Kherson region on Wednesday said they
planned to evacuate some 50,000 civilians due to a Ukrainian counter-offensive. Photo : Internet
US citizen jailed in Saudi
for tweets on Khashoggi,
Yemen: Son
DUBAI : A US citizen jailed in
Saudi Arabia is being
punished for "mild" Twitter
posts on topics including the
war in Yemen and the 2018
killing of journalist Jamal
Khashoggi, his son told AFP
on Wednesday.
Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-
year-old of Saudi origin, was
this month sentenced to 16
years in prison, the latest in a
spate of what human rights
groups describe as draconian
sentences for social media
criticism of the government.
The case risks further
ratcheting up tensions
between Riyadh and
Washington, longtime
partners currently at odds
over oil output cuts approved
by the OPEC+ cartel, which
the White House says amount
to "aligning with Russia" in
the Ukraine war.
Almadi was detained on
arrival in Saudi Arabia in
November last year for what
was meant to be a two-week
trip, said his son Ibrahim, who
went public with the case this
week, criticising US officials
for failing to do more to secure
his release.
The State Department said
on Tuesday it had
"consistently and intensively
raised our concerns regarding
the case at senior levels of the
Saudi government", and that
"exercising freedom of
expression should never be
criminalised".
On Wednesday, Ibrahim
shared with AFP a list of
Twitter posts he said had been
used in evidence against his
father-information he said
had been confirmed by the
State Department.
They include posts on taxes
as well as controversial
demolition work in the Red
Sea city of Jeddah.
One post questions why
Saudi Arabia is unable to
prevent attacks by Huthi
rebels in war-wracked Yemen,
where the kingdom heads a
military coalition in support of
the internationally recognised
government.
Another refers to the
"sacrifice" of Khashoggi,
whose killing by Saudi agents
in the kingdom's Istanbul
consulate sparked global
outrage.
Saudi officials also found an
unflattering caricature of
Crown Prince Mohammed
bin Salman, the kingdom's de
facto ruler, on Almadi's
phone, Ibrahim said.
Almadi was charged in part
with supporting and funding
terrorism and trying to
destabilise the kingdom,
Ibrahim said.
Ibrahim accused the State
Department of having
"mishandled" his father's
case, including by not sending
a representative to the
October 3 sentencingsomething
the State
Department acknowledged on
Tuesday, saying Saudi Arabia
originally gave a later date for
the hearing before moving it
up.
"My father should be their
biggest worry from day one,"
Ibrahim said, referring to US
officials.
"The problems and the
tensions between Saudi and
the US shouldn't start because
of oil. It should start because
senior American citizens are
detained over tweets."
Ibrahim also expressed
concern for his father's health.
"They prevent him from
sleeping. They make him
stand up. He's 72 years old
and his health condition is just
decreasing," Ibrahim said by
phone from the US, where he
lives."He had back problems.
A US citizen jailed in Saudi Arabia is being punished for "mild" Twitter
posts on topics including the war in Yemen and the 2018 killing of journalist
Jamal Khashoggi, his son told AFP on Wednesday. Photo : Internet
Pro-Kremlin
officials say
will evacuate
50,000 from
Kherson
MOSCOW : Moscowinstalled
authorities in
Ukraine's southern Kherson
region on Wednesday said
they planned to evacuate
some 50,000 civilians due to
a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
"We are expecting to
evacuate between 50,000
and 60,000 people to the left
bank of the Dnieper," pro-
Kremlin official Vladimir
Saldo said on the Telegram
channel "Solovyov Live".
Saldo said he expected the
evacuation to take six days
and RIA Novosti news
agency reported that
evacuations by boat had
already begun.
Citing another pro-
Russian official, it said that
the evacuees could travel to
Russia.
RIA Novosti said local
residents had received text
messages urging them to
evacuate "before the
Ukrainian army begins
bombing".
Russia's military
commander for Ukraine
operations said on Tuesday
that Russian forces were
planning a "safe
evacuation".
The city of Kherson and
the surrounding region were
captured by Russian forces
at the beginning of the
conflict in the spring.
Ukraine mounted a
counter-offensive in the
south at the end of the
summer and has been
pushing closer to Kherson.
Ukrainian advances have
been on the right bank of the
Dniepr, where Kherson is
located, and Ukrainian
strikes have targeted bridges
to the left bank to disrupt
supply lines.
Russian general Sergey
Surovikin said on Tuesday
on Russian state channel
Rossiya 24 that the Russian
army "will above all ensure
the safe evacuation of the
population".
Surovikin said Ukrainian
strikes targeting civilian
infrastructure "create a
direct threat to the lives of
residents".
1142
Brazil challenger Lula says Neymar
supports Bolsonaro over debt woes
SAO PAULO : Brazilian
presidential candidate Lula
da Silva criticised football star
Neymar's support of far-right
incumbent Jair Bolsonaro,
accusing the player of being
motivated by a debt
"pardon".
Last month, Neymar
endorsed hardline
conservative Bolsonaro as he
fights to win reelection in his
October 30 runoff battle
against leftist ex-leader Lula.
"Neymar has the right to
choose whoever he wants to
be president. I think he is
afraid that if I win the election
I will find out what Bolsonaro
pardoned from his income
tax debt," Lula said in a
YouTube interview on
Tuesday."I think that's why
he's afraid of me," Lula
added, laughing, when asked
about Neymar's support for
the president.
Expectations of a close
contest have pushed both
sides to intensify their attacks
before the runoff, with Lula
the frontrunner after the
first-round election on
October 2.
"Obviously, Bolsonaro
made a deal with (Neymar's)
father. He now has an income
tax problem in Spain," Lula
said, alluding to a favorable
ruling the player obtained in
a tax evasion trial in Brazil, as
well as the charges he faces in
Barcelona for alleged
irregularities in his 2013 club
transfer.
Lula added that it was
ultimately a problem for the
country's tax collection
agency, and not him.
This week, Lula secured the
backing of another football
legend.
Former Brazilian player
and Paris Saint-Germain star
Rai gave Lula a silent shoutout
at a gala awards
ceremony in Paris,
mentioning his country's
elections before flashing an
"L" sign with his right hand.
GD-1703/22 (15x4)