A coalition of rebel factions, including the Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham, captured the northwestern Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughur in Idlib Province on Saturday. The capture of Jisr al-Shughur in the northwestern province comes nearly a month after the same coalition of opposition forces, known as the Army of Conquest (Jaysh al-Fatah), overran the provincial capital. The city’s fall opens up a strategic assault route for the rebels to the neighboring Latakia province on the Mediterranean coast, the Alawi heartland and a bastion of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Syrian state media said the army had deployed to the town’s surroundings “to avoid civilian casualties.” They said the army was battling “a large number of terrorists coming from the Turkish border.” On Sunday, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian air force was targeting Jisr al-Shughur with strikes and barrel bombs. At dawn on Monday, Jaysh al-Fatah seized the Qarmeed camp (also known as the Brick Factory) south of Idlib city after two suicide bombers detonated trucks packed with explosives in the compound. [NY Times, Reuters, AFP, 4/25/2015]
EGYPT | LIBYA & THE MAGHREB | SYRIA & ITS NEIGHBORS | YEMEN & THE GULF | ECONOMICS
Cabinet to discuss anti-illegal immigration draft law on Wednesday
The Egyptian Union for Human Rights (EUHR) drafted a law to counter illegal immigration, which will be passed on to the cabinet Wednesday for discussion, head of the organization Naguib Ghobraiel said. The draft law penalizes committing, participating in, or inciting illegal immigration and infiltration with up to fifteen years in prison or death. In related news, Egypt moderated a European-African agreement on an action plan to combat illegal immigration and human trafficking. At a Thursday Sharm al-Sheikh meeting, EU and African Union officials pledged to cooperate in the fight against illegal immigration and human trafficking. [DNE, 4/27/2015]
State owned Al-Ahram slams police abuse of power
State-owned newspaper Al-Ahram, renowned for its pro-government stance, released a report Saturday slamming police abuses of power and negligence. The provocatively worded article, titled “Those who don’t die of torture die of suffocation,” focuses primarily on poor treatment, overcrowding, and filthy conditions inside Old Cairo police station where two detainees died earlier this month. The article follows a report published in private daily Al-Masry al-Youm (AMAY) detailing alleged police violations, for which five journalists have been referred to investigation. A group of journalists took part in a demonstration in front of the Press Syndicate building in downtown Cairo Saturday afternoon in solidarity with the five AMAY journalists. [DNE, 4/26/2015]
Egypt and the United States launch $250 million US-Egypt Higher Education Initiative
The US Embassy in Cairo announced on Sunday a partnership with the Egyptian Ministries of International Cooperation and Higher Education to provide educational opportunities for high-achieving Egyptians. Through the $250 million US-Egypt Higher Education Initiative, the US government will provide up to 1,900 university scholarships and exchanges to Egyptians to study in Egypt and the United States and will support up to twenty higher education partnerships to strengthen research and exchanges between Egyptian and US universities. [Egypt Independent, 4/26/2015]
Egypt’s bid for non-permanent UNSC seat aims at UN ‘reform’ says Foreign Minister
Egypt bid for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is centred on “reforming the United Nations and expanding the Security Council to become more democratic and representative of developing countries,” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Badr Abdel Atty said Saturday. Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry flew to New York Thursday to promote Egypt’s bid for a UNSC for 2016-2017. Shoukry said in a ministry statement that Egypt is seeking to defend African interests from within the UNSC, adding that African affairs are at the top of the priorities of the Egyptian government. Permanent delegates of the African countries in the United Nations as well as the Latin and Caribbean group have expressed their support for Egypt’s membership. [Ahram Online, DNE, 4/25/2015]
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Libya closes El Feel oilfield due to strike by security guards
A strike by Libyan security guards over salary payments has forced the closure of the western El Feel oilfield. El Feel is operated by a joint venture owned by Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) and Italy’s Eni. On Saturday, the OPEC producer closed the field, without citing a reason. Later Mohamed El Harari, a spokesman for the NOC announced that the closure was due to a strike over salaries. The field had just been reopened after a group in the Zintan region closed a pipeline from the field last year. The El Sharara oilfield near El Feel remains closed, since the Zintani group shut operation of a pipeline. [Reuters, 4/26/2015]
Libyan National Army claims to take checkpoint amid continuing expectations of Gharyan ceasefire
Zintani and Warshefani units linked to the Libyan National Army (LNA) are reported to have taken the Heera checkpoint from Libya Dawn following clashes there between the two. Separately, Dawn says it bombed a LNA convoy that had arrived at Gwalish. It also reportedly bombed the Zintan-controlled Wattiya airbase, but there was no damage. Reports of these attacks come amid ongoing negotiations for a Gharyan ceasefire. Under the Gharyan deal, the LNA is said to have offered to lift its blockade of Gharyan in return for the return of its weapons and freeing military prisoners. Reports of the talks collapsing can be traced back to local pro-Dawn militia leader Adel Daab rallying forces in the town against any deal. [Libya Herald, 4/26/2015]
UNSMIL’s Bernardino Leon gets new deputy
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Ali Al-Za’tari as Bernardino Leon’s new deputy at the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). Al-Za’tari is a Jordanian and a thirty-five year UN staffer who worked in Libya in the 1990s and has also served in Iraq, Syria, and Kuwait. He is coming to Libya from Sudan where he ran the UN Development Programme. He replaces Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania, who served at UNSMIL for nine months, leaving the deputy’s post last December. [Libya Herald, 4/25/2015]
Tunisia to permit flights to Libya
According to the pro-House of Representatives, Beida-based offices of the Libyan news agency LANA, Tunisia has decided to allow flights to Libya to resume. The Tunisian civil aviation authorities decided to permit flights between Tunisia and Mitiga, Misrata, Labrak, and Tobruk airports. However, following a meeting between Tunisian Transport Minister Mahmoud Ben Romdhane and airport inspectors, it was reported that flights will resume once international standards are met, implying that current standards were not yet fully acceptable. The final decision rests with the outcome of the final report being drafted by the inspection team that visited Libyan airports last week. [Libya Herald, 4/25/2015]
Tunisian military says ten extremists killed in fighting
Tunisia’s Defense Ministry says ten militants have been killed in fighting along the border with Algeria. The fighting began Wednesday when Islamic extremists opened fire on a military patrol, killing one soldier. The violence took place near Mount Chaambi, a stronghold of the al-Qaeda-linked Oqba ibn Nafaa group that has carried out numerous attacks on soldiers and police in the region. Three soldiers were also killed in the fighting in the mountainous Kasserine region, and seven others were wounded. [AP, 4/24/2015]
Coalition of rebel factions seize control over Jisr al-Shughur
A coalition of rebel factions, including the Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham, captured the northwestern Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughur in Idlib Province on Saturday. The capture of Jisr al-Shughur in the northwestern province comes nearly a month after the same coalition of opposition forces, known as the Army of Conquest (Jaysh al-Fatah), overran the provincial capital. The city’s fall opens up a strategic assault route for the rebels to the neighboring Latakia province on the Mediterranean coast, the Alawi heartland and a bastion of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Syrian state media said the army had deployed to the town’s surroundings “to avoid civilian casualties.” They said the army was battling “a large number of terrorists coming from the Turkish border.” On Sunday, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian air force was targeting Jisr al-Shughur with strikes and barrel bombs. At dawn on Monday, Jaysh al-Fatah seized the Qarmeed camp (also known as the Brick Factory) south of Idlib city after two suicide bombers detonated trucks packed with explosives in the compound. [NY Times, Reuters, AFP, 4/25/2015]
Nusra Front releases two Swedish hostages
Two Swedish men held hostage by the Nusra Front in Syria since 2013 have been reunited with their families in Sweden, the country’s foreign ministry said on Sunday. The hostages, Thomas Olsson and Martin Reen, were freed with the help of Palestinian and Jordanian authorities. Negotiations for their release had taken more than two months and had been conducted by the Palestinian security service, in cooperation with the Jordanian and Swedish security services, according to Hala Husni Fariz Odeh, the Palestinian ambassador to Sweden.[NY Times, Reuters, AFP, 4/26/2015]
Louay Hussein announces exile
Prominent Syrian opposition activist Louay Hussein, a leading member of the domestic Syrian opposition Building the Syrian State, has evaded a travel ban and fled to Spain, days before he was due to face a verdict on charges of “weakening national sentiment.” He was arrested in November 2014 and placed on a travel ban when he was released on bail in February. Hussein lambasted the regime after his departure. “It’s no longer possible to come to an understanding with the regime, which is turning into a militia.” Hussein said he would head to Istanbul in the coming days to meet members of the opposition, notably the internationally recognized Syrian National Coalition. [The Daily Star, AFP, 4/27/2015]
Syria changes passport rules for citizens abroad
Syrian authorities will allow citizens abroad, including refugees who fled the war, to obtain passports without an intelligence service review for the first time, according to the quasi-independent Syrian newspaper Al-Watan. The daily, which is close to the government, said the move would “create an appropriate climate” for consultations in Geneva next month on the possibility of renewed peace talks. It also noted that the fees for the new procedures, which are being doubled, would be “an important source of foreign exchange.” The new measures were detailed in a document sent on Thursday to Syrian embassies around the world. Passports will be issued to Syrians “even if they left in an illegal manner or they hold nonofficial passports or travel documents.” [AFP, 4/26/2015]
First Saudi National Guards reach Yemen border zone
The first troops from Saudi Arabia’s National Guard have been deployed on the border with Yemen, official media said late on Sunday. They will join members of the border guard and the army who have reinforced the frontier since March 26 when a Saudi-led coalition began air strikes against Houthi rebels and their allies in Yemen. King Salman announced on April 21 the National Guard’s mobilization, just hours before the coalition declared an end to its air campaign dubbed “Operation Decisive Storm”. Despite that declaration, the coalition has continued daily air strikes in Yemen. [AFP, 4/27/2015]
Fighting escalates across Yemen, air strikes on capital Sana’a
Air raids, naval shelling, and ground fighting shook Yemen on Sunday in some of the most widespread combat since a Saudi-led alliance intervened last month against Iranian-allied Houthi militia who have seized large tracts of the country. There were at least five air strikes on military positions and an area near the presidential palace compound in the Houthi-held capital Sana’a at dawn on Sunday, while warships pounded an area near the port of the southern city of Aden. The strikes on Sana’a were the first since the Saudi-led coalition said last week it was scaling back a campaign against the Houthis. Former UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar told the Wall Street Journal that the groups were close to an agreement before the Saudi-led alliance began bombing the country a month ago.[Reuters, AP, New York Times, 4/26/2015]
UN appoints new envoy to Yemen
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed of Mauritania. Until Saturday morning, Ahmed held the post of Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response. Ahmed was previously appointed as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Vice President of the UN Support Mission in Libya. He previously also worked in Yemen as a UN humanitarian coordinator. Ahmed replaces Jamal Benomar, who had said he was stepping down. Benomar had faced sharp criticism from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries as his recent efforts to broker peace showed little success, though for a time Yemen had been held up as a model country for its post-Arab Spring political transition. [AP, Yemen Times, 4/26/2015]
Iran summons Saudi diplomat over plane interception in Yemen
Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the Saudi charge d’affaires on Friday to protest Riyadh’s interception of two Iranian planes carrying humanitarian aid to Yemen. According to Iranian media, two Iranian cargo planes carrying food and medicine to Yemen had been forced by Saudi jets to leave Yemeni airspace, one on Thursday and another on Friday. Tasnim news agency said the foreign ministry also had complained to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) over Riyadh’s blocking of the humanitarian aid sent to Yemen. [Reuters, 4/24/2015]
Gulf deposits will raise Egypt’s foreign reserves to over $20 billion
Egypt’s foreign reserves are expected to rise to over $20 billion after recent Gulf deposits, the Governor of Egypt’s central bank has said. Egypt received deposits worth a total of $6 billion from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait last week. The deposits are viewed as crucial in shoring up Egypt’s foreign reserves and ensuring the stability of its local currency. The deposits will be used to meet large parts of the central bank’s debts and import obligations over the next twelve to eighteen months. The Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank said Egypt would need to complete projects and repay loans before the bank grants it more funds. [Aswat Masriya, DNE, 4/27/2015]
Strike shuts down key oil field in Libya
A strike by Libyan security guards over salary payments has forced the closure of the western El Feel oilfield, which is jointly run by Italian energy giant Eni and Libya’s National Oil Company (NOC). El Feel is an important part of what remains of Libya’s oil industry, producing about 100,000 barrels a day of the country’s output of less than 600,000 barrels a day. A NOC spokesman said El Feel’s production is expected to resume soon. Meanwhile, the eastern Libyan state firm AGOCO, a unit of NOC, is producing 270,000 barrels of oil per day. [WSJ, Reuters, 4/26/2015]
GECOL warns of ‘long power cuts’ in Libya
The General Electricity Company of Libya announced that problems with transmission cables mean large parts of the country, including the capital, will have to endure “long hours” without electricity. In a statement on April 26, the state-owned firm said that due to instability in western Libya, its maintenance teams have not been able to carry out essential maintenance works on damaged cables. It added that repairs were needed at the Ruwais and Zawiya power stations, but its engineers have also struggled to get access in those areas. [Libya Monitor (subscription), 4/27/2015]
Iraq to to ship new crude grade in May after setting discounts
Iraq is set to start exporting Basrah Heavy crude next month after offering discounts for the new grade in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Iraq’s Oil Minister said the heavy grade will help to preserve Iraq’s oil qualities and increase output. Iraq is offering Basrah Heavy after facing pressure from customers to split its main Basrah Light crude into two grades to preserve quality. Oil prices have slumped 40 percent in the past year, cutting the Iraqi government’s income as it battles Islamic extremists. [Bloomberg, 4/26/2015]
World Bank approves loans for Morocco’s healthcare, energy projects
The World Bank has approved two projects totaling $248.95 million to support Morocco’s healthcare and clean energy sectors. A loan of $100 million aims to increase access to and improve the quality of public services for poor and rural populations in disadvantaged regions. Meanwhile, investment in the energy sector will support Morocco’s efforts to reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels. The energy project will be cofunded by the World Bank and the Clean Technology Fund. [Morocco World News, 4/25/2015]