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Russia, US to name negotiators on ending Ukraine war

Russia and the United States on Tuesday agreed to establish teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine after talks that drew a strong rebuke from Kyiv over its exclusion.Washington noted European nations would have to have a seat at the negotiating table “at some point”, following the first high-level official Washington-Moscow talks since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.Some European leaders, alarmed by President Donald Trump’s overhaul of US policy on Russia, fear Washington will make serious concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent’s security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed his nation’s exclusion from the Riyadh gathering, which lasted more than four hours.He said that any talks aimed at ending the war should be “fair” and involve European countries, including Turkey — which offered to host negotiations.”This will only be feeding Putin’s appetite,” a Ukrainian senior official requesting anonymity told AFP, referring to the launch of talks without Ukraine.Trump for his part said he was “much more confident” of a deal after the Riyadh talks, telling reporters Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate: “I think I have the power to end this war.”He also chided Kyiv for complaining about being cut out of discussions.”Today I heard, oh, well, we weren’t invited. Well, you’ve been there for three years”, Trump said, referring to the war. “You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”- ‘Heard each other’ -US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to “appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible”, the State Department said.Washington added that the sides had also agreed to “establish a consultation mechanism” to address “irritants” to the US-Russia relationship, noting the sides would lay the groundwork for future cooperation.Yuri Ushakov, President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide, confirmed the negotiating teams’ appointment but said it was “difficult” to discuss a date for a potential Trump-Putin meeting.Trump said he would “probably” meet with Putin before the end of the month, but did not elaborate.Riyadh marks a diplomatic coup for Moscow, which had been isolated for three years under the previous US administration of Joe Biden.Moscow’s economic negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, said Western attempts to isolate Russia had “obviously failed”.”We did not just listen but heard each other, and I have reason to believe the American side has better understood our position,” Lavrov told reporters.The veteran diplomat noted that Russia opposed any deployment of NATO-nation troops to Ukraine as part of an eventual ceasefire.European allies publicly diverged this week over whether they would be open to sending truce peacekeepers to Ukraine.UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was prepared to consider committing British soldiers.French President Emmanuel Macron told a regional newspaper Tuesday that while Paris was not “preparing to send ground troops, which are belligerent to the conflict, to the front”, it was considering sending “experts or even troops in limited terms, outside any conflict zone”.Meanwhile German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said any debate on the matter was “completely premature”.Macron said he would host another round of talks Wednesday with European and non-European nations.Russia sketched out some of its perspectives on future talks, arguing that settling the war required a reorganisation of Europe’s defence agreements.Moscow has long called for the withdrawal of NATO forces from eastern Europe, viewing the alliance as an existential threat on its flank.Before invading Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow had demanded NATO pull out of central and eastern Europe.Warning that Russia was attempting to divide the West, the top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas told Rubio on X, “let’s not walk into their traps”, adding that peace can be achieved “on Ukraine’s terms”.Rubio briefed key European ministers on the Riyadh talks Tuesday, acknowledging Europe would need to be involved at some point.”There are other parties that have sanctions” on Russia, Rubio told them. “The European Union is going to have to be at the table at some point because they have sanctions as well.”- ‘How to start negotiations’ – The negotiations at Riyadh’s Diriyah Palace began without visible handshakes. Both Moscow and Washington had cast Tuesday’s meeting as the beginning of a potentially lengthy process and downplayed prospects of a breakthrough.Trump says he wants to end the war, but has presented no concrete plan. During the election campaign he boasted that he could do it in one day.Washington has told both sides that concessions will have to be made if any talks materialise.Russia on the eve of the summit said there cannot be even a “thought” on it giving up territory seized from Ukraine. The Kremlin on Tuesday said Ukraine had the right to join the European Union, but not the NATO military alliance.It also said Putin was “ready” to negotiate with Zelensky “if necessary”. 

France probes 2012 reporters’ deaths in Syria as crime against humanity

The French judiciary is investigating the 2012 deaths of reporters in Syria as a possible crime against humanity, anti-terror prosecutors told AFP on Tuesday.Prominent US journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed by an explosion in the east of the war-torn country in what a US court later ruled was an “unconscionable” attack that targeted journalists on the orders of the Syrian government.The French judiciary had been treating the alleged attack as a potential war crime, but on December 17 widened the investigation to a possible crime against humanity, a charge for which French courts claim universal jurisdiction regardless of locations or nationalities involved.The anti-terror prosecutors’ office told AFP that new evidence pointed to “the execution of a concerted plan against a group of civilians, including journalists, activists and defenders of human rights, as part of a wide-ranging or systematic attack”.Colvin — a renowned war correspondent whose career was celebrated in a Golden Globe-nominated film “A Private War” — was killed in the Syrian army’s shelling of the Baba Amr Media Center in Homs on February 22, 2012.- ‘A great step forwards’ -The federal court in the US capital, which in 2019 ordered Syria to pay $302.5 million over her death, said in its verdict that Syrian military and intelligence had tracked the broadcasts of Colvin and other journalists covering the siege of Homs to the media centre.They then targeted it in an artillery barrage that killed Colvin and Ochlik.French investigators also believe that both were “deliberately targeted”.In addition, they told AFP, they extended the probe to cover suspected Syrian government “persecution” of civilians, including Colvin and Ochlik, as well as British photographer Paul Conroy and French reporter Edith Bouvier — who were wounded in the attack — and Syrian translator Wael Omar, as well as “other inhumane acts” committed against Bouvier.One of Bouvier’s lawyers, Matthieu Bagard, said the new probe “opens the door to treat a certain number of procedures against journalists in armed conflict zones as crimes against humanity”.His lawyer colleague, Marie Dose, called the shift in the investigation “a great step forwards for war reporters”.”The Colvin family calls on the new Syrian government to cooperate with international investigators to hold the perpetrators of atrocities like the murder of Marie Colvin accountable,” Scott Gilmore, the lawyer for the journalist’s sister Cathleen Colvin, told AFP.Clemence Bectarte, a lawyer for Ochlik’s family, said she now expected judges to issue arrest warrants “for the high-ranking political and military officials whose involvement has been established”.In March 2012, France opened a probe for murder into the death of Ochlik and for attempted murder over the injury of Bouvier, both French nationals.- ‘Deliberately targeted’ -The probe was widened into potential war crimes in October 2014, and in 2016 non-French plaintiffs joined the legal action.”This wasn’t a case of us being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Bouvier in 2013. “We were deliberately targeted.”In 2016, then-Syrian president Bashar al-Assad claimed that Colvin was “responsible” for her own death.”It’s a war and she came illegally to Syria,” he said, accusing the reporter of working “with the terrorists”.The battle of Homs, Syria’s third city, was part a civil war triggered by the repression of a 2011 revolt against Assad’s government.Colvin, who was 56 and working for the Sunday Times when she died, was known for her fearless reporting and signature black eye patch which she wore after losing sight in one eye in an explosion during Sri Lanka’s civil war.Assad was ousted in December after rebels led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamist group seized control of Damascus, ending more than 50 years of his family’s iron-fisted rule.

Hamas, Israel agree return of six hostages, bodies held in Gaza

Hamas and Israel announced a deal Tuesday for the release of six living hostages from Gaza and the return of four captives’ bodies — including, the militants said, the remains of two young boys seen as national symbols back home.The family of hostages Shiri Bibas and her sons Ariel and Kfir, the last remaining Israeli children held in Gaza, said they were “in turmoil” at the news, noting they had still received no “official confirmation” of their loved ones’ deaths.Thirty-three Israeli hostages were due for release under the first phase of the fragile Gaza truce that took effect last month, with 19 freed so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners. Of the remaining 14, Israel says eight are dead.Hamas “decided to release on Saturday, February 22, the remaining living (Israeli) prisoners whose release was agreed in the first phase, numbering six”, the group’s top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said in a televised address.The group also “decided to hand over four bodies on Thursday, among them (those of) the Bibas family”, Hayya added.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office subsequently confirmed that during indirect negotiations in Cairo, “agreements were reached” for the six living hostages to be handed over on Saturday, in addition to four bodies on Thursday and four more next week.A Bibas family statement said it had been “in turmoil following (the) Hamas spokesperson’s announcement about the planned return of our Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir this Thursday”.The trio were abducted during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war, with Ariel and Kfir coming to symbolise the hostages’ plight for many Israelis. Their father Yarden Bibas was also taken hostage separately, and was released alive during a previous hostage-prisoner exchange.Hamas has previously said that Shiri Bibas and the children were killed in an Israeli air strike in November 2023, but Israel has not confirmed their deaths.”Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over,” the family statement said.- ‘Reluctantly hopeful’ -The bodies due to be handed over on Thursday are the first to be returned to Israel by Hamas since the war began.Israel’s military issued a statement on Tuesday urging the public not to take notice of what it called “unverified rumours” about the hostages, without elaborating.Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum published the names of the six living hostages due for release on Saturday, saying it “welcomes with profound joy the return of Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert, Hisham Al-Sayed and Avera Mengistu”.Shoham’s family said it had been informed he was scheduled for release, adding: “While we are reluctantly hopeful, we remain cautious and pray that Tal will return safely.”Five Thais held in Gaza since the October 2023 attack have also been released outside the scope of the truce deal.The truce has held despite both sides trading accusations of violations, and despite the strain placed on it by US President Donald Trump’s widely condemned plan to take control of devastated Gaza and relocate its population.Saudi Arabia is set to host the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Friday to present their own plan for Gaza’s reconstruction while ensuring that Palestinians remain on their land.Trump floated Egypt and Jordan as possible destinations for displaced Gazans, but both countries rejected the idea. After the Saudi meeting, Egypt will host an extraordinary Arab League meeting on Gaza on March 4.For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe — the mass exile of their ancestors during Israel’s creation in 1948.- ‘Demilitarisation’ -Israel, meanwhile, demanded on Tuesday the “complete demilitarisation of Gaza”, with Foreign Minister Gideon Saar saying it would “not accept the continued presence of Hamas or any other terrorist groups” in the Palestinian territory.Saar also said Israel would begin negotiations “this week” on the truce’s second phase, which aims to lay out a more permanent end to the war. Phase one is due to expire on March 1.Qatar, a key mediator in the Gaza conflict, said on Tuesday that Palestinians must decide the territory’s future.”It is a Palestinian question on who represents the Palestinians in an official capacity and also the political groups and parties in the political sphere,” said foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari.Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,291 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.Of 251 people seized in the Hamas attack, 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s military said that in southern Gaza on Tuesday, soldiers fired on a man after he ignored warning shots. A hospital source in Khan Yunis said it had received the body of a 15-year-old.

Lebanon presses for full Israeli withdrawal as troops remain in 5 places

Lebanese leaders said they were in contact with the United States and France to press Israel to fully withdraw, branding its continued presence in five places an “occupation” after a ceasefire deadline expired on Tuesday.The UN called the incomplete pullout a violation of a Security Council resolution, though it has allowed many displaced residents to return to devastated border villages after more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.It has also enabled the emergency services to retrieve bodies from previously inaccessible areas. Lebanon’s civil defence agency said it had recovered 23 corpses from border villages.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the government was in contact with truce brokers the United States and France to press Israel to complete its withdrawal, after an initial late January deadline set under the deal was already extended.Decision-makers are “unified in adopting the diplomatic option, because nobody wants war”, Aoun said in a statement.Earlier, Aoun joined the prime minister and the speaker of parliament in declaring that any Israeli presence on Lebanese soil constituted an “occupation”.In a statement, they said the government would ask the UN Security Council to require Israel to leave, saying Lebanese armed forces were ready to assume duties on the border, and that Beirut had “the right to adopt all means” to make Israel withdraw.In the south, residents returned to homes, farms and businesses damaged in the fighting, which included two months of full-blown war before the ceasefire too effect on November 27.”The entire village has been reduced to rubble. It’s a disaster zone,” said Alaa al-Zein from Kfar Kila.Israel announced just before the deadline that it would keep troops in “five strategic points” near the border. The army said they were hilltops overlooking the frontier where troops would remain to “make sure there’s no immediate threat”.Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said they would withdraw “once Lebanon implements its side of the deal”.- ‘Whole village’ returning -The Lebanese army said that since Monday it had deployed in 11 southern border villages and other areas which Israeli troops had vacated.The official National News Agency said two people were found alive in Kfar Kila, three months after contact was lost. One was a Hezbollah fighter thought to have been killed.The news agency said “enemy forces” set off a powerful explosion outside the village of Kfarshuba.UN envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and the UN peacekeeping force said that at “the end of the period set” for Israel’s withdrawal and the Lebanese army’s deployment, any further “delay in this process is not what we hoped would happen”.In a joint statement, they said it was a violation of the Security Council resolution that ended a previous war between Israel and Hezbollah.In Lebanon, the cost of reconstruction is expected to top $10 billion, while more than 100,000 people remain displaced, according to UN figures.Despite the devastation, returning resident Zein said his fellow villagers were adamant about going home.”The whole village is returning, we will set up tents and sit on the ground” if need be, he said.- ‘Embrace the land’ -Others were going south to search for missing relatives under the rubble.The civil defence agency said “specialised teams” removed 23 bodies from several newly accessible villages, including 14 from Mais al-Jabal and three from Kfar Kila.Samira Jumaa arrived in the early hours to look for her brother, a Hezbollah fighter killed in Kfar Kila with others.”I’ve come to see my brother and embrace the land where my brother and his comrades fought,” she said.Hezbollah strongholds in south and east Lebanon, as well as in south Beirut, suffered heavy destruction during the hostilities launched by Hezbollah in support of ally Hamas during the Gaza war.Under the ceasefire, Lebanon’s military was to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that was later extended.Hezbollah was to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle remaining military infrastructure in the south.Since the hostilities began in October 2023, more than 4,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the health ministry.On the Israeli side of the border, 78 people have been killed, including soldiers, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Another 56 troops were killed during the ground offensive inside Lebanon.Around 60 people have reportedly been killed in Lebanon since the truce began, two dozen of them on January 26 as residents tried to return to border towns on the original deadline for Israel’s withdrawal.

Iran’s Khamenei: US plan to displace Gazans ‘will go nowhere’

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday dismissed a proposal by the United States to displace Palestinians from the war-devastated Gaza Strip, saying it “will go nowhere”.Khamenei made the remarks during a meeting in Tehran with Ziyad al-Nakhalah, leader of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad.”The idiotic American plans or some other plans regarding Gaza and Palestine will go nowhere,” Khamenei said.US President Donald Trump this month proposed a plan for a US takeover of the war-battered Gaza Strip and its Palestinian inhabitants to be relocated elsewhere, including to Egypt and Jordan.Trump’s plan sparked an outcry from Arab governments including Egypt and Jordan as well as from world leaders, and the United Nations warned against “ethnic cleansing” in the Palestinian territory.”No plan will be completed without the consent of the resistance and the people of Gaza,” Khamenei said, adding that global public opinion favoured the Palestinians.Iran has already rejected the Trump plan for Gaza, calling it “an unprecedented attack” on international law and the UN Charter.”Those who a year and a half ago claimed they would destroy the resistance in a short period of time are now receiving their prisoners in small groups from resistance fighters,” Khamenei said.He was referring to the hostages for prisoners exchange deal between Tehran-backed Hamas and Israel under a fragile Gaza truce which took effect on January 19 after more than 15 months of fighting.Khamenei noted on Tuesday that under the deal, Israel is in return for hostage releases “freeing a large number of Palestinian prisoners”.The Gaza war began after Palestinian militants attacked communities in Israel on October 7, 2023, in an unprecedented attack.Thirty-three Israeli hostages were due to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire deal, with 19 freed so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners.Of the remaining 14, Israel says eight are dead.Hamas said on Tuesday it would hand over all six living Israeli hostages on Saturday, and the bodies of four dead captives on Thursday.

Lebanon presses for full Israeli withdrawal after troops remain in 5 points

Lebanese leaders said Beirut was in contact with Washington and Paris to press Israel to fully withdraw from south Lebanon, branding its presence in five points an “occupation” after a ceasefire deadline expired on Tuesday.The UN called the incomplete pull-out a violation of a Security Council resolution, though it has allowed many displaced residents to return to border villages, many largely destroyed in more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Beirut was in contact with truce brokers the United States and France to press Israel to complete its withdrawal, after an initial late January deadline set under the deal was already extended.Decision-makers are “unified in adopting the diplomatic option, because nobody wants war”, Aoun said, according to a statement.Earlier Tuesday, Lebanon said any Israeli presence on its soil constituted an “occupation”.In a statement, Aoun, along with Lebanon’s prime minister and parliament speaker, warned the government would ask the UN Security Council to push Israel to leave, and said that Lebanese armed forces were ready to assume duties on the border, adding Beirut had “the right to adopt all means” to make Israel withdraw.In the south, many returned to destroyed or heavily damaged homes, farms and businesses after more than a year of fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah that included two months of all-out war, which halted with the November 27 ceasefire.”The entire village has been reduced to rubble. It’s a disaster zone,” said Alaa al-Zein, back in Kfar Kila.Israel had announced just before the pullout deadline that it would keep troops in “five strategic points” near the border, and on Tuesday its Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said they would withdraw “once Lebanon implements its side of the deal”.Israel’s army had said it would remain on the five hilltops, overlooking swathes of both sides of the border, “temporarily” to “make sure there’s no immediate threat”.- ‘Whole village’ returning -Lebanon’s army announced it had deployed, starting Monday, in 11 southern border villages and other areas from which Israeli troops have pulled out.The official National News Agency said two people were found alive in Kfar Kila, three months after contact was lost. One was a Hezbollah fighter thought to have been killed.The agency also said that “enemy forces” set off a powerful explosion outside the village of Kfarshuba.In a joint statement, UN envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and the UNIFIL peacekeeping force said that at “the end of the period set” for Israel’s withdrawal and the Lebanese army’s deployment, any further “delay in this process is not what we hoped would happen”.They said it was a violation of a Security Council resolution that ended a 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.In Lebanon, the cost of reconstruction is expected to reach more than $10 billion, while more than 100,000 people remain displaced, according to the United Nations.Despite the devastation, returning resident Zein said his fellow villagers were adamant about going home.”The whole village is returning, we will set up tents and sit on the ground” if need be, he said.- ‘Embrace the land’ -Others were going south to look for the bodies of their relatives under the rubble.Among them was Samira Jumaa, who arrived in the early hours to look for her brother, a Hezbollah fighter killed in Kfar Kila with others five months ago.”We have not heard of them until now. We are certain they were martyred,” she said.”I’ve come to see my brother and embrace the land where my brother and his comrades fought,” she added.Hezbollah strongholds in south and east Lebanon, as well as in south Beirut, suffered heavy destruction during the hostilities, initiated by Hezbollah in support of ally Hamas during the Gaza war.Under the ceasefire, Lebanon’s military was to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew from the south over an initial 60-day period that was later extended to February 18.Hezbollah was to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle remaining military infrastructure there.Since the cross-border hostilities began in October 2023, more than 4,000 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the health ministry.On the Israeli side of the border, 78 people including soldiers have been killed, according to an AFP tally based on official figures, with an additional 56 troops killed in southern Lebanon during the ground offensive.Around 60 people have reportedly been killed in Lebanon since the truce began, two dozen of them on January 26 as residents tried to return to border towns on the initial withdrawal deadline.