Region

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Saturday confirmed that Hamza Bin Laden, the son and designated heir of Al Qaeda founder Osama Bin Laden, was killed in a counterterrorism operation in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

US media reported more than a month ago, citing intelligence officials, that the younger Bin Laden had been killed sometime in the last two years in an operation that involved the United States.

Secretary of Defence Mark Esper said last month that it was "his understanding" that Bin Laden was dead.

But Trump had not publicly confirmed the news until Saturday — three days after the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks by Al Qaeda, and a week after Trump's surprise announcement that a planned secret meeting with Taliban leaders at the Camp David presidential retreat had fallen through.

"Hamza Bin Laden, the high-ranking Al Qaeda member and son of Osama Bin Laden, was killed in a United States counterterrorism operation in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region," Trump said in a brief statement issued by the White House.

"The loss of Hamza Bin Laden not only deprives Al Qaeda of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father, but undermines important operational activities of the group." 

The statement did not specify the timing of the operation, or how his death had been confirmed. 

Considerable uncertainty surrounded the details, with the White House only vaguely specifying the location of Bin Laden's long-rumoured death.

The 15th of Osama Bin Laden's 20 children and a son of his third wife, Hamza — thought to be about 30 years old — was "emerging as a leader in Al Qaeda franchise", the State Department said in announcing a $1 million bounty on his head in February 2019.

The State Department said Hamza was married to a daughter of Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, a senior Al Qaeda leader indicted by a US federal grand jury in 1998 for his role in the bombings that year of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya — attacks overseen by the senior Bin Laden.

Hamza had issued calls for attacks on the United States and other countries, especially to avenge his father's killing by US forces in Pakistan in May 2011, the department said.

That work made him important in attracting a new generation of followers to the extremist group that carried out the September 11 attacks, which left nearly 3,000 dead.

But Colin Clarke, an analyst with the Rand Corporation and the Soufan Centre think tanks, said he was "still sceptical he had a major role operationally". 

“But obviously he’s got the DNA — the Bin Laden name,” he told AFP.

Clarke said he thought that with Al Qaeda still active, “I think the administration is looking for some kind of momentum or victory.”

Al Qaeda had yet to confirm or comment on the US announcement.

Heir apparent 

Osama Bin Laden’s death and the rise of the more virulent Daesh saw Al Qaeda lose currency with younger extremists.

But the proliferation of branches and associated extremist groups in Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere have underscored its continuing potency. 

Documents seized in the raid on his father’s house in Abbottabad, Pakistan suggested Hamza was being groomed as his heir.

In 2017, Hamza was placed on the US terror blacklist, seen as a potent future figurehead for the group then led by Ayman Al Zawahiri.

But when reports of his death surfaced over the summer, some terrorism experts questioned his real importance.

Bruce Hoffman, an expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP at the time that Al Qaeda had been slowly rebuilding under Zawahiri, aiming to fill the vacuum left by the disintegration of Daesh.

“Al Qaeda survived the death of his father,” he said. “I am sure that it can manage adequately and survive the death of his son.”

Clarke said the younger Bin Laden’s death might open the way for the rise in Al Qaeda of younger and even more radical leaders. 

“The unknown actually is what’s more dangerous,” he said.

CAIRO — A once splendid but long dilapidated Egyptian palace built for a trailblazing Ottoman governor is being restored to its former glory and is on course to open next year, according to authorities.

The 210-year-old palace of Mohamed Ali Pasha — credited with being the founder of modern Egypt — combined western and Muslim styles of architecture.

Opulently furnished with priceless paintings, high ceilings and stunning chandeliers, much of the restoration process involves the careful cleaning of these delicate artefacts.

Work on the paintings has been particularly intricate.

"Tests were done on the colours until we were able to reach the actual components of the original colours," said Mohamed Sadeq, the site's executive manager.

"We started removing the previous restorations that were done over the years until we reached the original colours."

Significant work has also been required to repair the exteriors of buildings.

A car bomb claimed by a Daesh affiliate — targeting a security agency building adjacent to the palace — exploded in 2015, shattering stained glass and damaging two buildings at the historic site.

Fountains and lush gardens surround the complex — known as the Mohamed Ali Shubra palace, referencing its location within a Cairo neighbourhood.

"The palace has special significance as it was built using the most advanced methods at the time," said Mariem Youssef, head of the project tasked with renovating the royal residence.

Ali, an Ottoman viceroy of Albanian origin, ruled for nearly half of the 19th century.

He overhauled Egypt's assets — from agriculture to the military — and set up its infrastructure.

Over time his palace has disintegrated, like many historic buildings in Cairo.

"The wood inside has aged," said Youssef, noting also the effect of the 2015 blast.

Egypt's multiple historical monuments and buildings are a major draw for tourists, but the country has often faced accusations of neglect of cultural heritage sites.

Last month, authorities defended their restoration of Cairo's Baron Palace after the site's new look sparked mockery on social media.

The cost of the restoration effort at Mohamed Ali's palace is around 195 million Egyptian pounds ($11.9 million, 10.8 million Euros) and the ministry of antiquities says the site is on course to re-open in June next year.

JUBA — War is "no longer an option" for Sudan and South Sudan, their leaders agreed on Thursday during talks which focused on border disputes and the oil trade, but also resolving protracted conflicts in both nations.

Sudan's new prime minister Abdalla Hamdok met with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir on his first official visit since becoming premier, following the overthrow of Omar Al Bashir.

"I am very delighted to be here in my second home, Juba. We are looking for a very strategic, very distinguished relationship between our two nations, and the sky is the limit for this relationship," Hamdok said upon his arrival.

After the two-hour meeting, South Sudan's Foreign Minister Awut Deng said the two leaders had discussed issues that had never been resolved under the 2005 peace deal that ended two decades of war with Khartoum and paved the way to South Sudan's independence in 2011.

This includes the demarcation of the border between the two nations, trade issues and the movement of citizens.

"I think the time has come for us in the two countries to silence the guns. War is no more an option for our people. We need to have peace, and sustainable peace in our two countries," said Deng.

"We can only do this in an environment where all of us have agreed to come out with a road map and work for peace."

 'Brothers and sisters' 

South Sudan plunged into its own war two years after independence that has left almost 400,000 dead and displaced millions.

Tensions have also remained high between Khartoum and Juba over border disputes and the oil trade, however the two nations are increasingly moving to normalise ties.

"We are brothers and sisters. We have been one country and now we are two countries but we are still one nation and we hope to develop our relations," said Sudan's Foreign Minister Asma Mohamed Abdalla.

Analysts say the two nations have been pushed together by the grinding war in South Sudan — which has defied several peace attempts — and an economic crisis in Sudan, which was hard-hit by the collapse of the south's oil industry.

The worsening economic crisis sparked nationwide protests that triggered the fall of Bashir.

One of Bashir's last moves before his ouster was to broker a peace deal between Kiir and his rival, rebel leader Riek Machar, at a time when much of the world had wearied of trying to solve the crisis.

However the 2018 peace deal has stalled as Sudan has been roiled by its own crises in recent months.

Observers are anxious to see if Khartoum's new government will push Kiir and Machar to advance on the implementation of the deal.

The two men met this week in Juba for the first time in five months, with a power-sharing government meant to be set up by November.

Sudan's conflicts 

In a further sign of rapprochement between the two countries, Kiir offered in 2018 to mediate peace talks between Khartoum and rebels in the Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Darfur conflict zones.

The Blue Nile and South Kordofan fought alongside the south for independence, however were left north of the border in 2011 and have continued their own insurgency against Khartoum.

Rebels in Darfur also waged a long war over marginalisation in the western region.

Hamdok has vowed to end these conflicts which have left thousands dead and millions displaced.

This week armed groups from those areas held talks in Juba which ended on Wednesday in the signing of a deal on "pre-negotiation principles" with Khartoum.

"We assure them and the people of Sudan in general that all the suffering and the killing and marginalisation will end," said Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, deputy chairman of the Sudan Sovereign Council.

OCCUPPIED JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pre-election pledge to annex the West Bank's Jordan Valley drew praise from right-wing allies Wednesday, but opponents called it a desperate bid to remain in office.

Battling to win re-election in September 17 polls, Netanyahu issued the deeply controversial pledge on Tuesday night, drawing firm condemnation from the Palestinians, Arab states, the United Nations and the European Union.

Netanyahu said in a televised speech he would move to annex the strategic valley, which accounts for around a third of the occupied West Bank, if he wins the vote.

He also reiterated his intention to annex Israeli settlements in the wider West Bank, but in coordination with US President Donald Trump, whose long-awaited peace plan is expected to be unveiled after the election.

Taken together, those moves could essentially destroy any remaining hopes for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"Any Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdictions and administration in the occupied West Bank is without any international legal effect," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"Such a prospect would be devastating to the potential of reviving negotiations, regional peace and the very essence of a two-state solution."

An EU statement said Netanyahu's plans would "undermine the viability of the two-state solution and the prospects for a lasting peace".

Palestinian leaders said Netanyahu was destroying any hopes for peace, while senior official Hanan Ashrawi said the plans were "worse than apartheid".

Jordan's House Speaker Atef Tarawneh said Netanyahu's pledge could put the 1994 peace treaty between the two neighbours "at stake".

Netanyahu’s main opponents in the election, the centrist Blue and White alliance, along with others called the announcement an obvious attempt to win right-wing nationalist votes, which will be key for the premier’s Likud Party.

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz has previously spoken of the Jordan Valley remaining under Israeli control forever, but he called Netanyahu’s announcement an “empty declaration” that would amount to nothing.

‘When it wants’ 

Politicians from smaller parties on the far-right who are competing with Netanyahu for votes called it too little and too late.

“Why talk about annexation one week before the elections when the government can decide to apply it when it wants, and even today?”, said Transport Minister Bezalel Smotrich, part of the far-right Yamina alliance in the upcoming vote.

However the Yesha Council, an umbrella organisation for Israeli settlements in the West Bank, said it was an “historic event”.

Netanyahu’s announcement was only the start of a tense evening.

Later on Tuesday night, Netanyahu was hustled off stage at a campaign rally when sirens warning of incoming rockets blared in the southern city of Ashdod.

Both rockets fired from Gaza were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system, and Netanyahu later returned to the stage after the all-clear, saying Hamas was “scared” of him winning the election.

Israel later bombed Hamas positions in Gaza, causing no casualties.

On Wednesday, three more rockets were fired toward Israel from Gaza, the army claimed, and an Israeli tank retaliated by striking two Hamas posts.

There were no reports of casualties.

Recent days have also seen a controversial push by Netanyahu to pass legislation that would allow party officials to bring cameras into polling places during the election.

The legislation drew outrage from opposition parties, and critics labelled a clear attempt to depress turnout among the Arab population as it could intimidate many into staying away.

A vote on the bill failed in parliament on Wednesday, but before that the head of the mainly Arab Joint List alliance, Ayman Odeh, approached Netanyahu and stuck his phone in front his face to film him. Odeh was removed from the chamber.

The Jordan Valley accounts for around one-third of the West Bank and Israeli right-wing politicians have long viewed the strategic area as a part of the territory they would never retreat from, seeing it as the country’s eastern border.

Israeli settlements are located in what is known as Area C of the West Bank, which accounts for some 60 per cent of the territory, including the vast majority of the Jordan Valley.

Netanyahu said his annexation plans would not include Palestinian cities, such as the Jordan Valley’s Jericho, though it would be encircled by Israeli territory.