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ROME: The Palestinian Embassy in Rome and Italian politicians have condemned the leader of a far-right party who, while campaigning for this month’s general election, vowed to keep his promise to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and to move the Italian Embassy there.

Matteo Salvini, who heads the Northern League — a nationalist, anti-immigrant party — is running in the Sept. 25 election as part of a center-right coalition with Forza Italia and Fratelli d’Italia.

According to the latest polls, the coalition may win a majority in the election, which was called after Mario Draghi resigned as prime minister at the end of July.

Salvini told state broadcaster Rai Uno: “I gave my word. I am fully committed to helping the Israeli population. How nice it would be if Italy were the first European country to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.”

He added: “A democracy like Israel has the right to defend itself from any threat to its existence and freedom.”

Salvini’s remarks were condemned by the Palestinian Embassy in Rome, which on Thursday said it “regrets that a fundamental issue as the status of Jerusalem has been misused during the current electoral campaign. Consensus cannot be gathered by preaching illegality.”

The embassy added: “It is known that East Jerusalem, occupied militarily by Israel since 1967 along with the rest of the West Bank and Gaza, is the legitimate capital of Palestine.”

It said Israel’s illegal annexation of East Jerusalem has been “duly condemned by the UN, also thanks to the vote of Italy.”

It added: “Considering the political, economic, cultural, social and religious importance of East Jerusalem to our people, it is clear that without East Jerusalem there cannot be a State of Palestine, and that without a State of Palestine there cannot be peace.

“Italy has never had doubts about this, as its positions within the United Nations and the European Union demonstrate.”

Salvini’s position was condemned by Italian politicians. He “is wrong to continue to sow the policy of hatred and resentment by talking about Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Luigi de Magistris, former mayor of Naples, told Arab News.

“The Palestinian people can no longer be oppressed in violation of international law and UN resolutions.”

MP Piero Fassino, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Chamber of Deputies — the lower house of Parliament — told Italian news agency ANSA: “Salvini should at once stop with his propaganda, which leads to nothing and is counterproductive.”

HEBRON: A Palestinian was shot dead Friday after stabbing an Israeli soldier at an army post near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army and the Palestinian health ministry said. “An assailant armed with a knife” approached a military post and stabbed a soldier, the army said in a statement, adding that another soldier opened fire and “neutralized” the assailant. It said the “moderately” wounded soldier was “evacuated to a hospital for medical attention, while fully conscious, and his family has been informed.” The Palestinian health ministry said it had been informed of the death of a young man near Hebron, but did not immediately identify him. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, when it captured the territory from Jordan. About 475,000 Jewish settlers currently live in the West Bank in communities considered illegal by most of the international community, alongside some 2.8 million Palestinians.

DUBAI: Iran’s navy seized two American sea drones in the Red Sea before letting them go Friday, officials said, in the latest maritime incident involving the US Navy’s new drone fleet in the Mideast. Iranian state television aired footage it said came from the deck of the Iranian navy’s Jamaran destroyer, where lifejacket-wearing sailors examined two Saildrone Explorers. They tossed one overboard as another warship could be seen in the distance. State TV said the Iranian navy found “several unmanned spying vessels abandoned in the international maritime routes” on Thursday. “After two warnings to an American destroyer to prevent possible incidents, Jamaran seized the two vessels,” state TV said. “After securing the international shipping waterway, the Naval Squadron No. 84 released the vessels in a safe area.” It added: “The US Navy was warned to avoid repeating similar incidents in future.” A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the incident before the military offered a formal statement, identified the seized drones as Saildrone Explorers. Those drones are commercially available and used by a variety of clients, including scientists, to monitor open waters. Two American destroyers in the Red Sea, as well as Navy helicopters, responded to the incident, the official said. They called the Iranian destroyer over the radio and followed the vessel until it released the drones Friday morning, the official said. “We have them in our custody,” the official said. “We continue our operations across the region.” This marks the second such incident in recent days as negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers hang in the balance. The earlier incident involved Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, not its regular navy, and occurred in the Arabian Gulf. The Guard towed a Saildrone Explorer before releasing it as an American warship trailed it. Iran had criticized the US Navy for releasing a “Hollywood” video of the incident, only to do the same Friday in the Red Sea incident. The 5th Fleet launched its unmanned Task Force 59 last year. Drones used by the Navy include ultra-endurance aerial surveillance drones, surface ships like the Sea Hawk and the Sea Hunter and smaller underwater drones that resemble torpedoes. The 5th Fleet’s area of responsibility includes the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf through which 20 percent of all oil passes. It also stretches as far as the Red Sea reaches near the Suez Canal, the waterway in Egypt leading to the Mediterranean, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off Yemen. The region has seen a series of maritime attacks in recent years. Off Yemen in the Red Sea, bomb-laden drone boats and mines set adrift by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have damaged vessels amid that country’s yearslong war. Near the United Arab Emirates and the Strait of Hormuz, oil tankers have been seized by Iranian forces. Others have been attacked in incidents the Navy blames on Iran. Those attacks came about a year after then-President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to unilaterally withdraw from Iran’s nuclear deal, in which sanctions on Tehran were lifted in exchange for it drastically limiting its enrichment of uranium. Negotiations to revive the accord now hang in the balance. The US cast doubt Friday on Iran’s latest written response over the talks. Iran now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels as officials openly suggest Tehran could build a nuclear bomb if it wishes to. Iran has maintained its program is peaceful, though Western nations and international inspectors say Tehran had a military nuclear program up until 2003.

AMMAN: Jordan said its pressure on Israel had halted all international flights from Eilat’s Ramon Airport.

Transport Minister Wajih Azaizeh said the country’s objection to the airport in the Red Sea port city had pushed the facility to only operate domestic flights.

According to the flight departure list on the airport’s website, there were no international flights scheduled for the next two weeks.

The only scheduled departures from the airport up to Sept. 16 were Arkia Israeli Airlines and Israir Airlines flights into Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv.

Israeli airport authorities had previously announced that Palestinians in the West Bank could travel internationally via the airport, leading Jordan to step up its diplomatic efforts with the Palestinians to cancel the decision.

Before Israel’s announcement, Palestinians wishing to travel abroad had to first enter Jordan through the King Hussein Bridge in the Jordan Valley and then go to Amman for international flights.

Without giving further details, Azaizeh only said that no international flights were operating from the airport thanks to Jordan’s objection.

There was no official reaction from Israeli authorities to his statement.

The Jordanian tourism sector expressed concern about the Israeli decision, saying it would lead to a “sharp drop” in the number of Palestinians traveling abroad through the country.

The Jordan Society of Tourism and Travel Agents had expected a drop of 65 percent in the number of Palestinians visiting Jordan should they decide to travel abroad through Israel.

It called on the government to intervene, solve the problem, and simplify entry procedures for Palestinians traveling to Jordan.

The hospitality sector had also warned of a “significant” profit loss of more than 50 percent because of Israel’s airport decision.

The society said around 500,000 Palestinians entered Jordan through the bridge for tourism, transit tourism, or to visit relatives and friends in Jordan.

The Palestinian-Jordanian Business Forum called on Palestinians to boycott Ramon Airport, citing the consequences for Jordan’s economy.

It said the Israelis’ failure to operate the airport was the reason behind allowing the Palestinians to use it.

A senior Palestinian official, who requested anonymity, told Arab News that the Israelis’ aversion to traveling through Ramon Airport was the reason behind allowing Palestinians to use it.

“They (Israelis) are never generous with us,” the official said. “They erect barriers everywhere in the West Bank and prevent us from working, let alone traveling abroad. This ‘sudden generosity’ had to do primarily with their citizens’ (Israelis’) declination (disinclination) to use Ramon Airport and using us to operate it.”

The King Hussein Bridge has experienced overcrowding, with Jordanians and Palestinians accusing the Israelis of intentionally complicating procedures on the crossing to push Palestinians to travel through Ramon Airport.

During a recent meeting with his Jordanian counterpart in Amman, Bishr al-Khasawneh, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Ishtayeh said the Israelis were hindering Palestinians' movement and complicating their travel procedures.

“If (the) Israelis’ point is to facilitate Palestinians’ travel, they should open Jerusalem International Airport,” Ishtayeh said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs previously said the airport’s establishment would violate Jordanian airspace and international law, especially Article 1 of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation of 1944 and the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization.

In 2019, Jordan submitted an official complaint to the ICAO about Ramon Airport and the violations.

CHICAGO: Although President Bashar Assad continues to survive the civil war that has gripped Syria since 2011, he controls only 60 percent of the country and his regime’s largest source of revenue is now drug trafficking, according to an expert on the nation’s geopolitical history.

Charles Lister, a senior fellow and director of the Syria and Countering Terrorism and Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute, told the Ray Hanania Radio Show on Wednesday that for the past several years the Syrian regime has turned to the distribution of Captagon, a methamphetamine-based drug often referred to as “the poor man’s cocaine,” as its main source of export revenue.

He described Syria as a “narco-state” that in 2021 generated more than $30 billion from the illegal distribution of the drug, mainly in the Gulf region. This compares with only $800 million a year from legitimate exports, he added.

“As a result of the crisis in Syria, and the fact that it has sustained for so long, the Syrian regime has now become a narco-state of global significance, an issue that almost never reaches our TV screens and our newspapers,” said Lister.

“But last year, 2021, the Syrian regime, in a series of factories across the country run mostly by the (Syrian Army’s) 4th (Armored) Division, which is run by Bashar Assad’s brother, Maher, exported roughly $30 billion of methamphetamine, called Captagon, mostly around the Middle East. $30 billion.

“To put that number into perspective, the legal exports of Syria that same year were worth $800 million. So the drug industry, an illegal drug industry run by the regime, is now literally the only element of importance of the Syrian economy.

“This is a narco-state in the heart of the Middle East exporting drugs mostly to the Gulf, that has enormous significance for regional stability. The Europeans are beginning to get worried about it reaching their shores. Several ports in Africa have seized Syrian-made Captagon over the past couple of years.”

Just this week, Saudi authorities seized narcotics with a street value of up to $1 billion and arrested eight expatriates in what is believed to be the Kingdom’s largest-known smuggling attempt and biggest-ever drug bust.

Officers found 47 million amphetamine pills hidden in a shipment of flour during a raid on a warehouse in Riyadh, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The drugs have an estimated street value of between $470 million and more than $1 billion, based on figures cited in the International Addiction Review journal.

Six Syrians and two Pakistanis were arrested, Maj. Mohammed Al-Najidi, a spokesperson for the Saudi Narcotics Control, told the SPA.

Syria is effectively partitioned and controlled by several major geopolitical powers. Russia and the Syrian regime controls about 60 percent of the country, including the central spine and western regions. The US and its partners control about 30 percent of the country in north east and east. Turkey and its opposition partners occupy between 9 and 12 percent of the north and northwest of the country.

One of the biggest benefactors of the Syrian crisis is Iran, which Lister said uses areas controlled by the Syrian regime as distribution points for weapons Tehran supplies to its partner militias that target Western and Israeli forces.

“Iran is a whole different story,” he explained. “Iran is not calling all of the shots in Syria but ever since the 1979 revolution it has sought to establish this channel of influence from Tehran all the way to the Mediterranean, through to Israel and Palestine. And that, unquestionably, is what they have managed to achieve.

“In Syria, that is arguably the most strategic kind of jewel in the crown for this Iranian regional strategy. And that is precisely why we see Israel conducting these quite significant series of air strikes over recent years, targeting anything from ballistic missiles, precision-guidance technology and air-defense systems that Iran has flown in, often using its state aircraft carriers, into Damascus International Airport.

“And they have sought to truck those across the border into Lebanon. Or station them in Syria, pointed directly at Israel. For Iran, it is of absolutely enormous significance and they have arguably achieved what they needed to.”

The complex international entanglements in Syria, including the Iranian and Russian presence, means there is no immediate prospect of an end to a conflict, Lister said, in which there have been dramatic flareups, such as when Daesh struck American targets and the US responded by sending in war planes.

“Syria’s crisis is a long way from over,” he explained. “There are multiple conflicts going on in the country, not just one. And all of the root causes that gave way to the uprising and crisis in 2011, all those root causes are still there today. Most of those root causes are worse today than they were in 2011.

“Over the years, Syria’s crisis deteriorated and escalated to such an extent, and also became so complicated, that various international actors have intervened in pursuit of their own interests over the years and I think, as a result, really Syria is best described now as a geopolitical conflict. There are the Turks, there are the Iranians, the Russians, of course the Syrian government, the Israelis, the global coalition against ISIS,” he added, using another term for the terrorist group Daesh.

“And within that there is a whole variety of different terrorist organizations, as well as the opposition, the Kurds, and the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) that have backed and been our partners in the fight against ISIS. It has been an incredibly complicated crisis. At its core, it is a crisis and there are lots of layers to that.”

During the past two years, Israel has conducted at least 200 sets of air strikes on territory held by the Syrian regime, Lister said.

The regional divisions in the country have resulted in a de facto stalemate of violence and simmering tensions, he added. If there were not so many major geopolitical players involved, he suggested, the conflict might have been resolved long ago.

“If there was one (major) player, we would have seen Syria’s crisis resolved, one way or the other,” Lister said. “We would have seen it resolved through a victory over one side or the other, or through some kind of negotiated settlement.

“In reality, there is no player that holds all of the cards and that is precisely why, more than 11 years later, this crisis is still going on and all of those roots causes haven’t been resolved.

“Ultimately, I think the Russians have probably changed the dynamic imbalance in Syria the most of everyone. When they intervened in 2015, the regime was on the verge of collapse and implosion and the Russians unquestionably reversed that and put the regime back into a position of advantage. But they have clearly failed to ‘win’ the conflict in the years that have followed and that is why we are in this geopolitical stalemate.”

Lister appeared on The Ray Hanania Radio Show on Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022. It is broadcast on the US Arab Radio Network in Detroit and Washington D.C. and rebroadcast in Chicago on Thursdays. You can listen to the entire radio show podcast by visiting ArabNews.com/rayradioshow or any major podcast provider.

You can listen to the radio show’s podcast by visiting ArabNews.com/rayradioshow.

JEDDAH: An Israeli airstrike on Aleppo airport in northern Syrian disabled the runway just as a cargo plane linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was about to land, new satellite photos show.

The images confirm that Israel has intensified strikes on Syrian airports to disrupt Iran’s increasing use of aerial supply lines to deliver arms to allies in Syria and Lebanon, including Hezbollah.

Just before Wednesday’s strike, a transponder signal on an Antonov An-74 cargo plane flown by Yas Air indicated that it was about to land at the airport. Yas Air is under US Treasury sanctions for transporting weapons on behalf of the Revolutionary Guards.

Israel also carried out a strike on Damascus airport, damaging equipment, the second such attack since June when Israeli airstrikes on the runway knocked it out of service for two weeks.

A regional diplomatic source said the strikes marked a shift in Israeli targeting. “They started to hit infrastructure used by the Iranians for ammunition supplies to Lebanon,” the source said.

The strikes also provide clues to where Iran is increasing its involvement, said Nawar Shaaban, an analyst at the Omran Centre for Strategic Studies. “The dangerous thing is that when we look at these areas that are being hit, it tells us that Iran has spread out more,” he said. “Every time we see a strike hit a new area, the reaction is, ‘Whoah, Israel hit there.’ But what we should be saying is, ‘Whoah, Iran is there’.”