Arab press: Washington tightens sanctions on al-Assad family, Egypt follows Qatar's actions in southern Sudan

On Wednesday, Arab newspapers have discussed the US sanctions against the Damascus government, in addition to the Qatari actions in Sudan, and the Libyan situation.

"Washington punishes the Syrian central bank and is pursuing the family of al-Assad wife."

The beginning is with the Syrian issue, and in this context, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper said: "The United States of America imposed new sanctions on 18 persons and entities affiliated with the Syrian regime, including the" Syrian Central Bank "and the family of Fawaz Al-Akhras, father of President Bashar Al-Assad's wife.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday that “the new sanctions target the names of Assad’s wife and members of her family, namely: Fawaz al-Akhras, Sahar Otari al-Akhras, Firas al-Akhras, Iyad al-Akhras, and Kifah Milhem, the head of Syrian Military Intelligence, in accordance with Law No. 13,894, (Because of the accumulation of their illicit wealth at the expense of the Syrian people), through air control over a dense and illegal network with links in Europe, the Gulf and other places, ”adding:“ As the Syrian people continue to wait in long lines to obtain bread, fuel and medicine, they choose the regime Assad cut off support for these basic necessities that the Syrians need. ”

"Amid Egyptian concern ... Qatar is looking for influence in southern Sudan."

Regarding Qatar’s actions, Al-Arab newspaper said: “Egypt has followed the visit of the security advisor to the President of South Sudan, Tut Qalwak, to Doha with great concern, given its doubts about the steps Qatar will take, as it seeks to build new influence in Juba, to compensate for its loss after the fall Its ally Omar al-Bashir is in Sudan. "

Political sources in Cairo stated that, during the visit to Qalwak, Doha was keen to know the limits reached by relations between Juba and Cairo, and whether southern Sudan had promised Egypt to grant it a military base or not.

Qatar is trying to compensate for the decline of its influence in Khartoum with a new political rotation to control its relationship with Juba, so that it is not far from one of the areas that are becoming increasingly vital, with the escalation of the roles of the forces involved in its developments, and its relationship to the crises that plague it.

And Doha remained for a while, without formal diplomatic relations with the State of South Sudan, despite Juba's access to independence nine years ago.

Although the reasons for delaying the diplomatic move are unknown to some and ambiguous to others, this expresses an interest that can be explained in light of the failure of Doha's bets on Sudan, which declined with the increasing inclinations of the Transitional Sovereignty Council in Khartoum to move away from the axis of Qatar, and its determination to move forward in measures to undermine the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir, and his remnants within the Islamic movement.

Qatar built strong relations with the Bashir regime, and was able to entrench itself in many joints of power, and used its political, security, social and economic arms to stabilize its position, before the Sudanese revolution changed this position.

Qalwak’s visit to Doha coincided with a positive pace of relations between Juba and Cairo, especially after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi visited South Sudan for the first time, before the end of last November, as part of moves aimed at developing relations with the Nile Basin countries.

"Italian leaks: Haftar chooses the candidate for prime minister"

In Libya, Al-Bayan newspaper said: “While the level of optimism about the formation of a new executive authority in Libya has receded according to the outcomes of the Tunis Forum, and Western reports considered that time has pardoned what was proposed for power-sharing between Aqila Saleh, the current speaker of parliament as president of the Presidential Council, and the Minister of Interior in Accord Government, Fathi Bashagha as head of government, the Libyan arena witnessed widespread controversy over Italian leaks that talked about a message conveyed last week by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, from the President of the Presidency Council Fayez al-Sarraj to the Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, related to his invitation to Personal proposal that he deems appropriate to head the government.

The Italian newspaper "La Repubblica" said: During his private visit to Rome, which lasted for four days, he entrusted the Italian government to deliver a letter to Field Marshal Haftar inviting him to nominate a prime minister for the next stage.

The newspaper pointed out that Conte and Day of Mayo, who visited Benghazi last Thursday, with the aim of resolving the issue of the detained Italian fishermen, conveyed to Haftar the message of al-Sarraj, noting that he entrusted Italy with a new political proposal, after spending 4 days on a private visit to Rome with his wife and his secretary.

Although al-Sarraj's office denied these leaks, the reactions were loud, especially from the forces of political Islam, coinciding with the talk of well-informed Libyan sources about the existence of a firm conviction among the Tripoli authorities and the army leadership in Benghazi of the failure of the dialogue, and the inability of the participants in it to define a serious mechanism for selecting leaders This means that Sarraj will remain in his position after being convinced by regional and international parties to do so.

According to the sources, Al-Sarraj caved to pressure from Turkey and some Western capitals to continue to preside over the Presidency Council, and to keep the security and foreign policy files in his hands, in exchange for relinquishing the rest of the files to a new prime minister, but all indications are that this is not progressing in the direction of the solution, unless it was done in agreement with the army leadership.

T/S

ANHA