التصنيف: estaql

Ukraine and Russia both scored some territorial successes and flung missiles and drones at each other during the 90th week of the war, each showing little sign of abatement.

But much of the main action was in Europe’s capitals.

European Union members debated whether to grant Ukraine 20 billion euros ($22bn) in military aid and 50 billion euros ($54bn) in state and reconstruction aid over four years, and whether to invite Ukraine to start membership talks at the European summit in December.

Both actions would send a powerful message to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin that Europe’s resolve to help Ukraine has not weakened. Europe also prepared a 12th package of sanctions, making it harder for Russia to sell its oil around the world.

The United Kingdom, meanwhile, ensured that Ukrainian grain would continue to be exported through the Black Sea, by brokering an insurance agreement that lowered the cost of war risk to freighters. That cost briefly rose after Russia struck a sixth civilian cargo vessel on November 8.

The war on the ground

Ukraine built up its bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnipro river during the week, threatening Russian forces at the western extremity of the front.

Russian reporters said Ukraine advanced to new positions around Krynky, a town 20km (12 miles) east of Kherson City, on November 9. Geolocated footage confirmed the advance on November 13. The reports also said continuous Ukrainian artillery was pinning down Russian troops in towns between Krynky and Kherson City.

Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said the armed forces were doing “everything possible to knock out the Russians from the left bank” in a statement on November 11, the first anniversary of a tactical Russian withdrawal from the territory it held in Kherson west of the river.

Two days later, Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said, “Against all odds, Ukraine’s Defence Forces have gained a foothold on the left bank of the Dnieper [Dnipro river].”

Ukrainian headway seemed to have caught Russia unprepared to communicate.

On November 9, the day of the Ukrainian advance, Russia’s military said it had thwarted Ukraine’s attempt to gain a bridgehead on the left bank, killing 500 Ukrainian servicemen in a week.

On November 13, Russia’s state TASS news agency and RIA Novosti newspaper published reports that Russia was ordering the redeployment of elements of the “Dnipro” group of forces in Kherson to “more advantageous positions”. Both withdrew the reports within minutes, issuing an apology.

Russia, too, made advances.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russian forces launched 30 attacks north and south of Bakhmut, an unusually high number, on November 8 and 9. Geolocated footage showed they had regained control of a railway line running south of Bakhmut and advanced north of the city.

“The Russians have stepped up and are trying to recover previously lost positions” in Bakhmut, wrote Ukrainian ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrsky on Telegram.

Russia also kept up pressure on Avdiivka, the eastern city south of Bakhmut it is trying to encircle.

Ukraine’s military chief of staff, Valery Zaluzhny, said on November 10 that Russia had lost 10,000 men in the first month of its assault on Avdiivka.

“During this time, our soldiers destroyed more than 100 enemy tanks, 250 other armoured vehicles, about fifty artillery systems and 7 Su-25 aircraft. The enemy’s total losses in manpower amount to about 10,000 people,” he wrote on social media.

Neither Ukraine’s nor Russia’s claims of the other’s losses could be independently verified.

The war in the air

Ukraine and Russia also sparred from a distance.

Ukraine’s air force said it downed 19 out of 31 Shahed drones Russia fired off on November 10. Russia also fired a Kh-31 missile, an Onyx anti-ship missile and an S-300 air defence missile into Ukrainian territory, adopting a Ukrainian technique of using drones and missiles together to help overwhelm air defences.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it downed two Ukrainian drones on the same day, one near Moscow and the other near the Russian border with Belarus. Baza, a Russian Telegram channel with links to security services, suggested one was targeting a machine plant in Kolomna, 100km (62 miles) southeast of Moscow.

Ukraine has consistently asked allies for more air defence systems. On November 9, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister asked France for additional ammunition for air defence systems, and to participate in pilot training for F-16s.

That pilot training took a major step forward on November 9, when five Dutch F-16s arrived at the Fetesti Air Base in Romania for pilot training. Four days later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said F-16 pilot training had begun in a video address.

The European F-16 Training Centre (EFTC) in Fetesti is to train non-Ukrainian pilots as well.

The Netherlands is lending the EFTC 12-18 of its F-16s for training purposes, and helping coordinate the effort to provide Ukraine with its own F-16s. Ukrainian Deputy Energy Minister Farid Safarov recently told a NATO meeting that F-16s were the best way for Ukraine to defend its energy infrastructure from Russian attacks during the winter, but it was not certain how soon Ukraine would have operational F-16s.

Further sanctions

The EU was finalising a 12th package of sanctions on Russia that could be approved on Wednesday, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday, November 13.

“This 12th package will include … new export bans, among them … diamonds,” Borrell told reporters, indicating there would also be “actions to tighten the oil price cap, in order to decrease the revenue that Russia is getting from selling its oil – not to us but to others – [and] fighting against circumvention”.

Days earlier, the European Parliament had called for tougher enforcement of European sanctions against Russian oil – and for an extension of those sanctions. The resolution said refined oil products from Russian oil were finding their way into the EU from India, and gas was continuing to enter the EU directly.

But the most important European contributions to Ukraine’s security could come in December. Ukraine has been lobbying for an invitation to open membership talks, and the European Commission supports that demand.

“We are working to get an unconditional decision to start negotiations,” said Zelenskyy in a November 13 video address. “It is fundamental for Ukraine to implement all the recommendations of the European Commission that were given, all seven recommendations, and to do what is necessary at this stage of our journey to the European Union.”

The EU last year said it would grant Ukraine candidate status if it passed legislation to fight corruption and money laundering, limit the influence of oligarchs, secure the integrity of the judiciary and guarantee the rights of ethnic minorities.

At the same summit, the EU is to decide on whether to approve a 50 billion-euro ($54.2bn) financial aid package for Ukraine for the period 2024-27. The European Parliament has already given a green light to the so-called “Ukraine Facility”, designed to help finance the state as it transitions to EU membership and to rebuild the country.

Separately, EU diplomats were considering a 20-billion euro ($22bn) military aid package that would commit members to spending 5 billion euros ($5.4bn) a year over four years.

EU diplomats said on November 14 that there was resistance to the package.

The EU’s foreign policy chief proposed the military budget in July. Among the sceptics was reportedly Germany, a stalwart provider of military aid to Ukraine so far, and this despite the fact that it proposed doubling its military aid to Ukraine to 8 billion euros ($8.7bn) next year.

The governing coalition had reportedly agreed to the increase and would submit it for committee discussion on November 16. “It is a strong signal to Ukraine that we will not leave them in the lurch,” German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius is quoted as having said.

Germany’s 8 billion-euro ($8.7bn) pledge came as Chancellor Olaf Scholz sought to ensure that Germany would meet a NATO defence spending minimum of 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) over the medium term. Germany is on track to spend 1.57 percent of GDP this year, and the 8 billion-euro ($8.7bn) pledge puts it over 2 percent for next year.

US president reiterates commitment to political solution as Israeli troops continue raid on Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital.

US President Joe Biden has said he had made it clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that occupying Gaza would be “a big mistake” and that the two-state solution was the only way to bring an end to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

“I made it clear to the Israelis I think it’s a big mistake for them to think they’re going to occupy Gaza and maintain Gaza,” Biden told a news conference in San Francisco. “I don’t think that works.”

Netanyahu said earlier this month that after the war Gaza would have to be “demilitarised, deradicalised and rebuilt” and that Israel would need to find a “civilian government” to govern the enclave, which has been run by Hamas since 2006.

The Israeli leader said there was no plan to “occupy” Gaza although many consider it an occupied territory already because Israel has full control of its borders, airspace and territorial waters despite having formally withdrawn its forces and settlers in 2005.

Speaking as the Israeli military continued its raid on Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, Biden said he had also discussed with Israeli leaders the need to “be incredibly careful” in its actions at the hospital, under which Israel says the Palestinian armed group Hamas had built its military headquarters.

Hospital officials and Hamas, which controls Gaza, deny the claim.

More than 11,300 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began bombarding the besieged enclave on October 7 after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 200 captive.

Biden, who was speaking to the media after a four-hour summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, insisted the only way to end the bloodshed was the “two-state solution”, with Israel and Palestinians living side by side.

While urging caution at al-Shifa, Biden repeated Israeli claims about the military headquarters and said Hamas was committing war crimes by housing such a facility beneath a hospital.

The raid on the hospital has drawn condemnation from the United Nations, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank and is a rival to Hamas.

Under international humanitarian law, hospitals can lose their protected status if used for military purposes. But civilians must also be given ample time to flee, and any attack must be proportional to the military objective — putting the burden on Israel to show the hospital was a big enough military target to justify the siege against it.

Biden said Israel had gone into al-Shifa, with a limited number of troops with guns, and that Israel had an obligation to use as much caution as possible in going after targets.

Israel has said it is not only looking for Hamas fighters but also the captives, including a three-year-old US citizen, who have been held in Gaza for more than a month.

Netanyahu, who has led Israel on and off for 16 years and is facing corruption charges, is under intense domestic pressure to account for political and security failings that may have led to the Hamas attack, the worst in the country’s history.

Protesters have taken to the streets demanding more be done to secure their release.

Biden said he was “mildly hopeful” there would be a deal to free them.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself here because I don’t know what’s happened in the last four hours, but we have gotten great cooperation from the Qataris,” he said when asked about progress.

Qatar, where Hamas operates a political office, has been leading mediation between the group and Israeli officials.

Beirut, Lebanon – Western donors are cutting Arab civil society groups off financially for criticising Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, or failing to back them up when they do, according to human rights activists.

All humanitarian aid groups and civil societies that spoke to Al Jazeera said some Western donors had withdrawn financial support for Arab media outlets, human rights groups and think tanks. They also said that they have become disillusioned with many Western countries and foundations because of their support for Israel’s bombardment and siege of Gaza.

“The amount of anger and bitterness is not just limited to our people, but to us [as human rights advocates in the Arab region]. We don’t know how or if we can interact with some of these Western governments or partners ever again,” said Hossam Baghat, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

Israel’s assault on Gaza, a besieged enclave rights groups describe as an “open-air prison”, has killed more than 11,200 people since it began on October 7. It has prompted UN experts and hundreds of scholars to warn that the 2.3 million people living there are facing a grave risk of genocide.

Al Jazeera spoke to civil society groups from Egypt, the occupied Palestinian territory and Lebanon who have spoken out against Israeli atrocities in Gaza. All said their advocacy and reporting are increasingly at odds with European donors who are mostly staying silent on Israel’s relentless attacks on civilians, which may be in violation of international law.

Funding ‘cut off without warning’

Days after Hamas’s unprecedented attack on army outposts and surrounding villages in southern Israel on October 7, Austria, Denmark, Germany and Sweden suspended bilateral development aid programmes in Gaza and the West Bank, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). The pause amounts to $139m in lost funding and affects UN agencies, the Palestinian Authority governing the West Bank and a number of civil society organisations.

On October 11, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) also suspended millions of dollars worth of funding to six Palestinian and five Israeli civil society organisations.

Zaid Amali, the public discourse and programme director for MIFTAH, whose stated goal is to promote democracy and good governance in the occupied Palestinian territory, said they were given a very positive review after the Swiss FDFA assessed their activities in September.

But, after Hamas’s deadly attack, MIFTAH’s funding was cut without warning.

“We know that this decision may have come as a result of pressure from right-wing groups in Switzerland,” he said.

Al Jazeera contacted the Swiss FDFA to ask why funding for Palestinian and Israeli civil society groups, which HRW has described as respected organisations, had been paused.

“For these eleven NGOs, the FDFA had external indications that they had potentially violated the Code of Conduct and/or the FDFA’s anti-discrimination clause,” Lea Zurcher, the media spokesperson, replied in an email.

Another Palestinian civil organisation, which also lost funding from the FDFA, partly attributed the decision to intense “lobbying” from NGO Monitor, an Israeli NGO. A spokesperson for the organisation spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity.

NGO Monitor operates a database of Palestinian civil society groups which it claims are involved in “whitewashing violence and terrorism, demonisation and legal warfare, targeting Israeli officials and BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaigns, and promoting anti-Semitic propaganda.”

NGO Monitor took some credit for the FDFA’s decision on X (formerly Twitter) and has previously said its research was cited by Swiss parliamentarians calling for funding to be cut to Israeli human rights groups such as B’tselem which work for the welfare of Palestinians.

“There are a variety of non-government organisations like NGO Monitor with innocuous-sounding names that seek to marginalise voices critical of the Israeli government…but these organisations never criticise the Israeli government’s oppression of Palestinians,” said Omar Shakir, the Israel-Palestine director at HRW.

“These groups don’t operate alone,” Shakir added. “They tend to be funded [by] or coordinate with the Israeli government.”

Al Jazeera contacted NGO Monitor for comment, but it did not respond by the time of publication.

Western funding – ‘the journey will end’

European donors and partners have also refrained from expressing solidarity with Arab media outlets – when they usually would – after they were censored or smeared for their reporting on Israel-Palestine, two Arabic media organisations told Al Jazeera.

A journalist from one Arab media outlet, who asked to remain anonymous so as not to compromise funding for his organisation, said Western donors appeared happy to support independent media organisations only so far as they do not infringe on their own support for Israel.

“How the West will reconcile its endorsement of ‘independent media’ and ‘freedom of expression’ with criticisms levelled at its tacit or explicit endorsement of the death of [11,000] Palestinians…remains to be seen in full,” the source told Al Jazeera.

“But there are indications that some Western organisations have responded by prioritising their support for Israel over their commitment to regional press and civil society organisations,” he added.

The founder of another media outlet, which also relies heavily on Western donors, added that many partners – albeit not all – have continued to support independent journalism in the region, including his own outlet.

“We always knew that this reliance on Western funding is a trade-off, but as long as we are unrestricted editorially then it is worth doing. When or if that funding becomes more restricted, then the journey will end,” the source told Al Jazeera.

Position of UN agencies ‘defies logic’

Regional civil society organisations are also losing faith in UN institutions which either have not spoken out against Israeli atrocities in Gaza or have only done so after considerable delay, despite mounting evidence that such actions may amount to war crimes.

Ayman Mhanna, executive director of the Samir Kassir Foundation (Skeyes), which advocates for press freedom across the Levant, said he was particularly disappointed in the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF), which partners with his organisation but has been mostly silent on the issue of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza and violence in the West Bank.

“They are silent. They have not taken action against independent media [that they support], but their silence isn’t something that’s really understandable right now,” he told Al Jazeera.

Mhanna added that he expects UN bodies to continue reiterating the stance of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who called for a ceasefire, raised the issue of Israel’s occupation as a root cause of violence and urged all sides to refrain from committing war crimes during a speech he gave on October 24. “We are not expecting them to take a completely pro-Palestine position, but what is happening right now defies any logic.”

On November 6, the heads of several UN bodies issued a joint statement along with global aid groups calling for a complete ceasefire. But Martin Griffiths, who leads the Office for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordination (OCHA), later requested a “humanitarian pause”.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian envoy to the UN, urged Griffiths and others to call for a full ceasefire.

Almali, from MIFTAH, said the silence from various institutions and Western countries that claim to support international law risks completely eroding the credibility of human rights work in Palestine, the wider Arab region and even the world. Other activists echoed the same sentiment.

He added that the global community had failed Palestinians long before October 7.

“They have failed us for 75 years,” he said, referencing the Nakba – or catastrophe – when 700,000 Palestinians were dispossessed from their land during the creation of Israel. “But right now, we’re really feeling it.”

Shaheen Afridi and Shan Masood have replaced Babar as T20 and Test captains, respectively.

Babar Azam has stepped down as Pakistan’s cricket captain days after his team’s group-stage exit from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, the star batter announced in a statement.

Babar captained Pakistan in all three formats starting October 2019, and led them to number one in ICC one-day international (ODI) rankings for the first time in May.

Opening batter Shan Masood has been announced by the Pakistan Cricket Board ( as the new test captain, while pacer Shaheen Afridi will be the Twenty20 (T20) captain.

Pakistan slid from the spot after finishing fourth in the Asia Cup and fifth in the World Cup.

“It’s a difficult decision but I feel it is a right time for this call,” the 29-year-old wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“I will continue to represent Pakistan as a player in all three formats. I am here to support the new captain and the team with my experience and dedication.”

pic.twitter.com/8hZqS9JH0M

— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) November 15, 2023

His resignation comes two days after Pakistan bowling coach Morne Morkel stepped down.

The PCB accepted his resignation.

“After consultation with his family, Babar decided to step down and PCB stands behind his decision,” it said in a statement.

Azam is ranked by ICC as a top-five batsman in all three formats, and is Pakistan’s most successful captain in T20 Internationals, with 42 wins.

Pakistan have a tough tour of Australia coming up where they play three Tests, starting in Perth from December 12.

They have lost all of their last 14 Tests in the country, with their most recent victory coming back in 1995.

US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping spent some four hours together on Wednesday in their first face-to-face meeting in a year.

As they convened at the Filoli Estate in northern California, the two leaders were aiming to make some headway in rebuilding ties strained over a whole host of issues – from trade to Taiwan, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the pandemic.

Biden talked of “real progress” after the meeting, where talks continued over a lunch of ravioli, chicken and broccolini, and during a stroll around the estate’s manicured gardens.

China’s state media described a “candid and in-depth exchange of views”.

Here are five takeaways from the talks:

Military and personal communication

In probably the most substantive outcome of the talks, the two leaders agreed to resume military contacts that China severed after the then Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022.

According to the Pentagon’s most recent report on China’s military power, Beijing had “denied, cancelled or ignored” military-to-military communications and meetings with the Pentagon, which raised “the risk of an operational incident or miscalculation spiralling into crisis or conflict”.

The Biden-Xi agreement means that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will be able to speak to his Chinese counterpart once someone is named to the job, a senior US official told reporters, and that similar engagements would be possible up and down the military chain of command.

The Pentagon welcomed the move and said it was key to avoiding inadvertent conflict.

“Maintaining open lines of communication between our two militaries is essential to avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations that could lead to crisis or conflict,” a Pentagon spokesperson said.

 

The US president also emphasised the importance of open communications between the two presidents.

“He and I agreed that each one of us can pick up the phone call directly, and we’ll be heard immediately,” Biden told reporters after the meeting.

Biden and Xi have had a long working relationship, dating from when they were both vice presidents.

“It was 12 years ago,” Xi said in brief public remarks. “I still remember our interactions very vividly, and it always gives me a lot of thoughts.”

Biden also emphasised the length of their relationship and the value of those interactions.

“We haven’t always agreed, which was not a surprise to anyone, but our meetings have always been candid, straightforward and useful,” Biden said.

Taiwan

According to China’s state broadcaster, the island of Taiwan was a key area of discussion for Xi.

Beijing claims the self-ruled democracy as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island.

The United States, on the other hand, while maintaining formal diplomatic relations with Beijing, follows a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan and is the island’s main source of weapons.

A US official described the talks as “clear-headed” and “not heated” with Biden chiding China over its massive military build-up around the island and declaring the US was committed to continuing to help Taiwan defend itself.

For his part, Xi insisted that the island was part of China.

“The US side should … stop arming Taiwan, and support China’s peaceful reunification,” Xi told Biden, according to China’s Foreign Ministry. “China will realise reunification, and this is unstoppable.”

Taiwan is one of China’s so-called “red lines” in discussions and it has reacted angrily to visits by US and other Western politicians, as well as to overseas engagements by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and her deputy William Lai.

Lai is currently the frontrunner in elections due in January, and during Wednesday’s talks, Biden urged China to respect Taiwan’s electoral process.

Economic issues

The economy – both at home and abroad – was the other main priority for Xi, according to state media.

As they began their talks, Xi noted that a lot had happened since the two men last met in Bali.

“The world has emerged from the COVID pandemic but is still under its tremendous impacts. The global economy is recovering, but its momentum remains sluggish,” he said.

Describing the US-China relationship as “the most important bilateral relationship in the world”, Xi said he and Biden “shoulder heavy responsibilities” and that they could not turn their backs on each other.

China’s recovery from the pandemic has been hampered by its growing debt and an ageing population, but it has also been affected by sanctions and US export controls for sensitive equipment.

“Stifling China’s technological progress is nothing but a move to contain China’s high-quality development and deprive the Chinese people of their right to development,” a readout from the Chinese side quoted Xi as saying. “China’s development and growth, driven by its own inherent logic, will not be stopped by external forces.”

The two leaders also spoke about developments in artificial intelligence (AI).

Here, the senior US official said both sides were “very much focused” on practices regarding AI that could be dangerous or destabilising, but not ready for any mutual declaration.

Fentanyl

There was progress in efforts to tackle the production of fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that is the leading cause of drug overdoses in the US.

Xi agreed to help stem the export of chemicals related to the production of illicit fentanyl and go after specific chemical companies.

“It’s going to save lives, and I appreciated President Xi’s commitment on this issue,” Biden said at a press conference after his meeting.

Biden added he would “trust but verify” Chinese actions on the drug.

Middle East

Xi and Biden touched on the ongoing war in Gaza as the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for extended humanitarian “pauses” in the besieged enclave.

More than 11,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the territory since October 7 when the armed group Hamas led a surprise assault on Israel killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 200 others captive.

Amid concerns about the potential for a regional escalation, Biden asked China to weigh in with Iran, which backs Hamas, and urge it to avoid steps that could be seen as provocative, according to the US official.