09/11/2025

theSun on Sunday NOV 9, 2025

WORLD 8

Genocide arrest warrant issued against Netanyahu

US removes Syria president from terror list before visit WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday formally removed Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa from a terrorism blacklist, days before he is set to make a landmark visit to Washington. The move announced by the State Department was widely expected as Sharaa cooperates with the United States, and comes a day after Washington led a vote by the Security Council to remove UN sanctions on him. “These actions are being taken in recognition of the progress demonstrated by the Syrian leadership after the departure of Bashar al-Assad and more than 50 years of repression under the Assad regime,“ State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement. He said Sharaa’s government was meeting US demands, including on working to find missing Americans and eliminating any remaining chemical weapons. Sharaa, once linked to Al-Qaeda, had been considered a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” by the United States, which once put a bounty on his head. Sharaa’s forces, backed by Turkiye and Gulf Arab powers, swept to power nearly a year ago in a lightning offensive. Sharaa will visit the White House tomorrow as President Donald Trump promises to help the new Syria. US ally Israel initially opposed the overtures and has heavily bombed Syria since Assad’s fall in hopes of weakening its historic adversary. – AFP Afghan-Pakistan peace talks fail again KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taliban government said yesterday the latest round of peace talks with Pakistan in Turkiye had failed, blaming Islamabad’s “irresponsible and uncooperative” approach. “During the discussions, the Pakistani side attempted to shift all responsibility for its security to the Afghan government, while showing no willingness to take responsibility for either Afghanistan’s security or its own,“ Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted on social media. “The irresponsible and uncooperative attitude of the Pakistani delegation has not yielded any results,“ he said. Islamabad did not immediately comment on the matter. Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar hinted a day earlier that the negotiations were falling through, saying the onus lay on Afghanistan to fulfil pledges to clamp down on terrorism, “which so far they have failed”. “Pakistan shall continue to exercise all options necessary to safeguard the security of its people and its sovereignty,“ he said. The two countries met in Istanbul on Thursday to try to finalise a truce agreed on Oct 19 in Qatar, in the wake of the deadliest clashes between the South Asian neighbours since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. – AFP

Turkiye names 37, including Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and army chief Lt-Gen Eyal Zamir

rivals and detaining journalists, judges and mayors”. He added that the Istanbul prosecutor’s office “recently orchestrated the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul merely for daring to run against Erdogan”, referring to Ekrem Imamoglu, who was detained in March. Israel’s former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman wrote on X that the arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials “clearly explain why Turkiye should not be present in the Gaza Strip – directly or indirectly”. Turkiye wants to take part in the international stabilisation force intended to play a role in post-war Gaza, according to Trump’s plan. But Ankara’s efforts, which include increasing diplomatic contacts in the region and seeking to influence the pro-Israel stance of the United States, are viewed unfavourably in Israel, which considers Turkiye too close to Hamas. Israeli leaders have repeatedly expressed their opposition to any Turkish participation in the

KYIV: A massive Russian attack hit Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, killing one person and causing power cuts in several regions, Kyiv authorities said yesterday. Moscow has in recent months escalated its attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine, damaging natural gas facilities which produce the main fuel for heating in the country. Experts have said Ukraine risks heating outages ahead of the winter months. “The enemy is massively attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure again. Because of this, emergency power outages have been introduced in a number of regions of Ukraine,“ Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk wrote on social media, without specifying the locations affected. “Emergency power outages will be cancelled after the situation in the energy system stabilises,“ she said. “Despite the enemy’s plans, Ukraine will have light and heat this winter.” Air raid alerts were triggered across Ukraine through the night, with authorities in northeastern Kharkiv and southern Odesa reporting drones strikes on energy facilities. A drone strike on the eastern city of Dnipro ripped through a nine-storey building, killing one woman and wounding six, including a child, according to emergency services. In the capital Kyiv, civil and military authorities said falling debris had caused fires at two locations in the central Petchersky district. Russia has targeted Ukraine’s power and heating grid throughout its almost four-year invasion, destroying a large part of the key civilian infrastructure. Drones also hit energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa on Friday evening, the region’s governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram. ISTANBUL: Turkiye announced on Friday that it had issued arrest warrants for genocide against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials in his government over the war in Gaza. The announcement was met with a firm rebuttal from Israel. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel “firmly rejects, with contempt” the charges, calling them “the latest PR stunt by the tyrant (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan”. The Istanbul prosecutor’s office said in a statement that a total of 37 individuals were covered by the arrest warrants, without providing a full list. They include Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and army chief Lt-Gen Eyal Zamir. Turkiye has accused the officials of “genocide and crimes against humanity” that Israel has “perpetrated systematically” in Gaza.

The statement also refers to the “Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital”, built by Turkiye in the Gaza Strip and bombed by Israel in March. Turkiye, which has been one of the most vocal critics of the war in Gaza, last year joined South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). A fragile ceasefire has been in force in the devastated Palestinian territory since Oct 10 as part of US President Donald Trump’s regional peace plan. The Islamist group Hamas welcomed Turkiye’s announcement, calling it a “commendable measure (confirming) the sincere positions of the Turkish people and their leaders, who are committed to the values of justice, humanity and fraternity that bind them to our oppressed Palestinian people”. Saar said in a post in English on the social media platform X that “in Erdogan’s Turkiye, the judiciary has long since become a tool for silencing political

international stabilisation force in Gaza. Israel has rejected as “false” and “antisemitic” accusations of genocide from a UN-mandated commission, several NGOs and some countries. – AFP Massive Russian attack hits Ukraine energy facilities

Firefighters inspecting an impact site after a Russian drone attack. – REUTERSPIC

three days when temperatures fall below minus 10°C, the capital would face a “technological disaster”. Ukraine has stepped up strikes on Russian oil depots and refineries in recent months, seeking to cut off Moscow’s vital energy exports and trigger fuel shortages across the country. On Friday evening, drone attacks on energy infrastructure in southern Russia’s Volgograd region caused power cuts there, its governor Andrei Botcharov said on Telegram. – AFP

“There was damage to an energy infrastructure facility,“ he said, reporting no dead or wounded. The attacks on energy infrastructure have raised concerns of heating outages in Ukraine as the war enters its fourth winter. Kyiv’s School of Economics estimated in a report that the attacks shut down half of Ukraine’s natural gas production. Ukraine’s top energy expert Oleksandr Kharchenko told a media briefing Wednesday that if Kyiv’s two power and heating plants went offline for more than