Egypt's top envoy to post-Saddam Hussein Iraq has been kidnapped in Baghdad just weeks after arriving in the war-torn country, Egyptian diplomats said yesterday.
Two diplomats, speaking in Cairo and Baghdad on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Ihab al-Sherif was kidnapped late Saturday in the Iraqi capital.
Al-Sherif had arrived in Baghdad on June 1. In the middle of last month, the Egyptian government said it would upgrade relations with Iraq to full embassy status headed by an ambassador, but it was not immediately clear if al-Sherif currently held the full ambassador title.
The diplomats gave no immediate details on the kidnapping.
Egypt had withdrawn its ambassador in 1991 when it backed the US-led alliance against Saddam, after he invaded Kuwait.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi army battalion backed by US Marines will be stationed in Hit, making it the first deployment to regularly police a city in the volatile western Anbar province, military commanders said Saturday.
The new strategy is designed to restore order in the region and not pull back as in previous offensives in the area when US Marines would conduct raids over several days and then leave.
"We're not going to let [residents] down by pulling out three weeks from now," said Marine Colonel Stephen Davis, who commands the Second Regimental Combat Team. "We've got to pay attention."
Previously, there haven't been enough Marines to stay and police the vast Anbar province, which is near the porous Syrian border -- a main entry point for foreign fighters.
The decision for a military force to remain behind was met with a cool reception from city officials.
More than 1,000 US and Iraqi troops have been camped around Hit since Tuesday, when they launched Operation Sword to break up foreign fighter networks in the area.
US military commanders declined to say how many Marines would remain after the counterinsurgency sweep, though there has been a small US presence on the outskirts of the city for some time.
The threat of insurgent attacks, however, has prevented Marines from conducting regular patrols.
Sitting in Hit's courthouse, the mayor was not pleased when US commanders told him that a joint force planned to remain in the city, 140km west of Baghdad.
Mayor Ali Hamdi Nasir complained that the military presence disrupts everyday life. Stores remained closed and streets have been empty since Operation Sword began.
Marines shot and killed a driver who apparently didn't respond to instructions when they first entered Hit.
Troops have commandeered houses and schools to sleep in and park tanks on major roads, according to a reporter at the scene. When Marines could not break the locks on houses, they often used explosives to blow holes through front doors and gates.
The US military also said Saturday that security forces captured a doctor who allegedly worked for an al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, helping him plan kidnappings to fund insurgent attacks.
Safa Ali Chiad Mashul was captured during a raid in the Baghdad area on June 21, the military said. He was also known as Dr. Mushin or Abu Sayf.
On Wednesday, the government announced the detention of an al-Qaeda in Iraq leader identified as Samir Ammar Hamid Mahmoud, known as Abu Aqil. He was detained in Baghdad on June 26, authorities said.
The doctor helped Abu Aqil plan terrorist attacks and operations, the US military said. He was also allegedly responsible for collecting ransom funds from kidnappings for a terrorist cell.
Mashul also treated numerous al-Qaeda in Iraq militants wounded by security forces, the military said.
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
LAW CONSTRAINTS: The US has been pressing allies to send warships to open the Strait, but Tokyo’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz if a ceasefire is reached in the war on Iran, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said yesterday. “If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.” Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Tokyo to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) yesterday faced a regional election battle in Rhineland-Palatinate, now held by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merz’s CDU has enjoyed a narrow poll lead over the SPD — their coalition partners at the national level — who have ruled the mid-sized state for 35 years. Polling third is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which spells a greater threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country’s ex-communist east. The picturesque state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordering France, Belgium and Luxembourg and with a population of about 4 million,
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