06/06/2025

FRIDAY | JUNE 6, 2025

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US blocking of ceasefire deal in Gaza sparks fury

Islamic State leader detained by America WASHINGTON: US military officials announced on Wednesday the detention of an Islamic State (IS) leader during international coalition operations in Iraq and Syria. US Central Command said the operations, conducted from May 21 to 27, “served to disrupt and degrade” IS’s ability to “reconstitute, plan, organise and conduct attacks against civilians, the United States and partner forces in the region”. In the course of supporting six operations in the ongoing campaign, comprising five in Iraq and one in Syria, the US military reported that two IS operatives were killed, two were detained, including an IS leader, and multiple weapons were recovered. “Operations such as these underscore the commitment of the US Central Command, along with our allies and partners, to the enduring defeat of IS in the region,“ said US Central Command Commander Michael Erik Kurilla in a statement. The operations in Iraq were carried out by Iraqi forces in the north, where IS cells have remained active and carry out sporadic attacks against Iraq’s army and police. IS in 2014 declared a “caliphate” after capturing large parts of Iraq and Syria. Iraqi forces defeated IS in late 2017. The group lost its last territory in Syria two years later. However, the group has maintained a presence in Syria’s northeast, where it notably targets Kurdish-led forces, while in Iraq it largely carries out attacks in rural areas. About 2,500 American troops are deployed in Iraq, which now considers its security forces capable of confronting the extremists. The United States and Iraq announced in late September 2024 that the international coalition would end its decade-long military mission in federal Iraq within a year, and by September 2026 in the autonomous Kurdistan region. During his recent Gulf tour, US President Donald Trump met with Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia and announced the lifting of sanctions on Syria. – AFP WASHINGTON: A Ukrainian military officer told the United States on Wednesday that Russian forces are preparing major advances into next year, including aiming to cut off Black Sea access, as Kyiv pushes for stronger pressure against Moscow. A senior Ukrainian delegation was visiting Washington just as US President Donald Trump said his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin warned him by telephone of major retaliation over a daring Ukraine drone strike deep into Russia. Colonel Pavlo Palisa presented what he said were findings from Ukrainian military intelligence. He said Russia has set a goal of seizing by the end of September the entirety of Donetsk and Lugansk, which feature in a Russian proposal that Ukraine terms an ultimatum. By the end of the year, Russia wants to establish a buffer zone along the Ukraine-Russia border, he said. He did not specify the sources of his assertions. – AFP SOVIET DRONE ATTACK IN UKRAINE KILLS FIVE KYIV: Russian drone strikes killed five people and wounded six others in the northern Ukrainian city of Pryluky, a Ukrainian official said yesterday. “Five people have been reported dead, including two women and a one-year-old child, who were found under the rubble,“ said Chernigiv regional official Vyacheslav Chaus. Ukraine conducted a dramatic drone attack on Russian military airbases over the weekend, destroying billions of dollars worth of nuclear-capable bombers. Russian leader Vladimir Putin said he would seek revenge for Kyiv’s attack, and has appeared to rule out a ceasefire or direct talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Shelling in the partially Russian-occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine on Wednesday caused a substation to lose power, leaving thousands without electricity. – AFP MOSCOW PLANNING MAJOR ADVANCES: KYIV

Israel’s right to defend itself. “The United States will continue to stand with Israel at the UN.” The draft resolution had demanded “an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, respected by all parties”. It also called for the “immediate, dignified and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups”, and demanded the lifting of restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Hamas condemned the “disgraceful” US veto, reiterating accusations of “genocide” in Gaza, which Israel rejects. The veto “marks a new stain on the ethical record of the United States”, the group said in a statement, accusing Washington of “legitimising genocide, supporting aggression and rationalising starvation, destruction and mass killings”. Pakistan’s UN ambassador Asim Ahmad said the failed resolution would “remain not only a moral stain on the conscience of this council, but a fateful moment of political application that will reverberate for generations”.

The veto marks Washington’s first such action since US President Donald Trump took office in January. Israel has faced mounting international pressure to end the war in Gaza. That scrutiny has increased over flailing aid distribution in Gaza, which Israel blocked for more than two months before allowing a small number of UN vehicles to enter in mid-May. The UN, which warned last month that the population in the besieged Palestinian territory was at risk of famine, said a trickle was far from enough to meet humanitarian needs. “The council was prevented from shouldering its responsibility, despite the fact that most of us seem to be converging on one view,” said France’s UN ambassador Jerome Bonnafont. Palestine’s UN ambassador Riyad Mansour said he would ask the General Assembly to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire. Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon said the Palestinian plan to put the resolution to a vote at the General Assembly, in which no country can veto it, was pointless, telling countries “do not waste more of your energy”. – AFP

GENEVA: United Nations (UN) Security Council members criticised the United States on Wednesday after it vetoed a resolution calling for a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access in Gaza, which Washington said undermined ongoing diplomacy. It was the 15-member body’s first vote on the situation since November, when the United States also blocked a text calling for an end to fighting. “Today, the United States sent a strong message by vetoing a counterproductive UN Security Council resolution on Gaza targeting Israel,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement after Wednesday’s 14 to 1 vote. He said Washington would not support any text that “draws a false equivalence between Israel and Hamas, or disregards o Text draws false equivalence between Israel and Hamas: Washington

China’s UN ambassador Fu Cong said: “The vote result once again exposes that the root cause of the council’s inability to quell the conflict in Gaza is repeated obstruction by the United States.”

BR I E F S

Pro-Palestinian protesters arguing with police during a demonstration in London organised by campaign groups. – REUTERSPIC

N. Korea vows unconditional support for Russia SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to“unconditionally support”Russia in the war in Ukraine and said he expects Moscow to emerge victorious, Pyongyang’s state media said yesterday. Russia and North Korea signed a sweeping military deal last year, including a mutual defence clause, during a visit by Russian leader Vladimir Putin to the nuclear-armed North. Shoigu hailed the deal as “fully meeting the interests of both countries”. and multiple rocket launcher ammunition” from North Korea to Russia last year. In return, “Russia is believed to have provided North Korea with air defence equipment and anti-aircraft missiles”, it said.

The meeting between Kim and Shoigu in Pyongyang came the same day that South Korea swore in its new president Lee Jae-myung. In a speech upon taking office on Wednesday, Lee vowed to reach out to the North, a marked departure from his predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol, under whom relations plummeted to their worst level in years. KCNA reported on Lee’s inauguration in a two-line report yesterday but did not respond to his overtures for talks. It also yesterday slammed French President Emmanuel Macron over “imprudent” comments on Pyongyang’s ties with Moscow, calling them a “shocking claptrap”. – AFP

North Korea has become one of Moscow’s main allies during the war, sending thousands of troops and container-loads of weapons to help the Kremlin oust Ukrainian forces from Russia’s Kursk border region. Meeting top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday, Kim said Pyongyang would “unconditionally support the stand of Russia and its foreign policies in all the crucial international political issues, including the Ukrainian issue”, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The two sides agreed to “continue to dynamically expand” relations, the state news agency reported.

Around 600 North Korean soldiers have been killed and thousands more wounded fighting for Russia, according to South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun, citing the country’s intelligence service. North Korea in April confirmed for the first time that it had deployed troops to Russia and its troops had been killed in combat. A multilateral sanctions monitoring group, including South Korea, the United States, Japan and eight other countries, last week condemned ties between Russia and North Korea as“unlawful”. It said Russian-flagged cargo vessels delivered “nine million rounds of mixed artillery