Zelensky Wants Ukraine To Become A 'Big Israel' After The War
Plus: Russia evades sanctions via Syrian loan schemes, Yemen's exiled president steps aside, Turkish court transfers Khashoggi murder trial, Jordan's Prince renounces his title, and much more.
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Ukraine will become a big Israel
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he wants his country to become a 'big Israel' with its own face after the Russian invasion ends, stressing that security would likely be the main issue in Ukraine during the post-war period.
In comments to local media posted on the president's official website on Tuesday, April 5, Zelenskyy stressed that his vision for Ukraine's post-conflict future included having armed forces in "all institutions, supermarkets, cinemas, there will be people with weapons."
"We will not be surprised that we will have representatives of the Armed Forces or the National Guard in all institutions, supermarkets, cinemas, there will be people with weapons. I am sure that our security issue will be number one in the next ten years," Zelensky said.
In Israel, images of armed civilians, settlers, and soldiers are commonplace, and the government invokes security frequently.
Russia evades sanctions via Syria
According to an exclusive report from New Lines magazine, Russia evades sanctions via Syrian loan schemes.
The Russian Federation extended two loans totaling $1 billion to Syria with the condition that the money is used exclusively for payment to specific Russian companies during a six-month window.
Companies controlled by oligarchs Gennady Timchenko and Yevgeny Prigozhin, who the US and European Union (EU) have sanctioned for their role in facilitating President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine, stand to gain substantially from the loans, suggesting that they may have been designed from the Russian side as a scheme for sanctions evasion and may have already been used to that effect.
Read the full report on New Lines.
Yemen
Yemen's exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi stepped aside and transferred his powers to a presidential council on Thursday, April 7, as international and regional efforts to end the country's long-running civil war gained momentum with a two-month truce. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, major players in the conflict, appear to have played a role in President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's decision, quickly welcoming it with a pledge of $3 billion in aid. The head of the new council has close ties to Riyadh.
Hadi said the newly established council would run the internationally recognized government and lead negotiations with the Iranian-backed Houthis. After years of infighting and disputes, the move is meant to unify the anti-Houthi camp.
Read more on the Associate Press.
Turkey
A Turkish court ruled Thursday, April 7, to suspend the trial in absentia of 26 Saudis accused in the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and for the case to be transferred to Saudi Arabia.
Khashoggi was killed on October 2, 2018, at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
The prosecutor in the case recommended that the case be transferred to Saudi Arabia, arguing that the trial in Turkey would remain inconclusive.
The court's decision comes despite warnings from human rights groups that turning the case over to the kingdom would lead to a cover up of the killing, which cast suspicion on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
It also comes as Turkey, which is in the throes of an economic downturn, has been trying to repair its troubled relationship with Saudi Arabia and an array of other countries in its region.
Read more on the Associated Press.
Jordan
Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, half-brother of Jordan's King Abdullah II, said on Sunday, April 3, he is renouncing his title of prince.
"After what I have witnessed over the past years, I have come to the conclusion that my personal convictions and the values that my father instilled in me... are not in line with the approaches, trends or modern methods of our institutions," he wrote in the statement posted on Twitter.
In April 2021, the king had placed Hamzah under house arrest for an alleged plot to destabilize the kingdom.
Israel and Iran nuclear deal
Israeli security experts are divided on the question of the new agreement nearing completion to curb Iran's nuclear program. Israel's official line insists that the emerging deal is bad and dangerous. It is incumbent upon Israel to pull out all the stops to convince the Americans and their five partners to avoid signing it.
However, some experts argue that reviving the 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers would grant Israel and its allies in the region and elsewhere an additional eight to nine years of relative calm before Iran resumes its race for a bomb.
Read the full analysis by Ben Caspit on Al-Monitor.
Algeria
Sonatrach, Algeria's state-owned energy company, said it couldn't replace Russian gas deliveries to Europe.
Sonatrach CEO Toufik Hakkar explained that Algeria currently has some billions of cubic meters of gas in surplus. Still, they cannot replace Russian gas deliveries to meet Europe's gas needs.
This comes in parallel with mounting tension between the EU and Russia due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On Friday, April 1, the CEO of Sonatrach said that the company plans to invest 40 billion US dollars in oil and gas exploration and production between 2022 and 2026.
Banks in the Middle East amid the Ukraine war
According to the latest S&P Global Ratings report, banks in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will remain relatively insulated from the fallout of the Russia-Ukraine conflict due to limited dealings with Russian and Ukrainian counterparts.
Meanwhile, Turkish, Egyptian, and Tunisian banks are most likely to suffer from the adverse indirect effects arising from the conflict.
The major indirect effects of the conflict will include higher oil prices, higher food prices, and increased investor risk aversion, which could increase the vulnerability of banking systems with substantial net external debt.
Read more on Arabian Business.
Libya
According to Doctors Without Borders, over 90 people have died in international waters attempting to reach Europe from Libya in an overcrowded boat on Friday night, April 1.
Four survivors have since been forcibly returned to Libya. The International Organization for Migration described 2021 as the deadliest for migration routes to and within Europe since 2018.
At least 1,315 people died on the central Mediterranean crossing last year.
That's all for this week. Thanks for reading Inshallah. Share this article and subscribe to be up to date about news from the Middle East every week. It's free.
About me
My name is Dario Sabaghi, a freelance journalist. I am interested in human rights and international news focusing on the MENA region.
Check out my work at dariosabaghi.com.
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Cover photo: AFP/Middle East Eye