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US hands back province to Iraqis

Iraqi forces have taken over security control of the central Shia province of Wasit from the US military, making it the 13th of the country’s 18 provinces to be returned to Baghdad.

“We received today the security responsibility of Wasit province,” Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq’s national security adviser, said on Wednesday at a transfer ceremony in the provincial capital of Kut, 160km southeast of Baghdad.

He said Wasit had achieved a level of efficiency and ability in civil and security matters.

The transfer of Wasit comes within a week of the return of nearby Babil province to the Iraqis.

With the transfer of Wasit, US forces will now withdraw to their bases and only participate in security operations at the request of the provincial governor.

‘Zero attacks’

Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin, the number two commander of American forces in Iraq, said Wasit was once a route for “enemies to move weapons … to attack Iraqi and coalition forces.”

Till seven months back, Wasit saw 16-18 attacks each week. Now the province frequently has reached zero attacks largely due to high level of co-operation between all security units,” he said.

Rubaie said that Baghdad would take control of the northern provinces of Kirkuk and the Salaheddin “within weeks”.

Apart from Kirkuk and Salaheddin, the other three provinces that remain under US military control are Baghdad, Nineveh and Diyala.

Nineveh and Diyala are known al-Qaeda strongholds where security forces have launched a series of military operations targeting anti-government fighters.

Wasit has a 200km border with Iran and the US military has regularly accused Iranian groups of smuggling in weapons into Iraq for attacks against its troops.

The Wasit handover came as Washington examined changes demanded by Baghdad to a draft agreement covering the long-term presence of US troops in Iraq.

The Status of Forces Agreement (Sofa) would allow US forces to stay in Iraq after their UN mandate ends in December.

Failure to seal the pact or renew the UN mandate would mean US operations would have to be halted.

The draft agreement calls for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq by the end of 2011 and includes a concession allowing US troops who breach Iraqi laws while off duty and off their bases to face trial.

Aid boat defies Gaza blockade

The trip was the second by Free Gaza activists
since August [File: AFP]

Activists from the ‘Free Gaza’ group have defied Israel’s siege of the territory, arriving at the port in Gaza City by boat from Cyprus.

Dignity, a 20-metre chartered cruise boat, reached the Gaza Strip on Wednesday carrying 27 activists from 13 countries and half a tonne of medical supplies.

“We have arrived here without having to apply for permission from the Israelis,” Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian MP from the West Bank, said at a news conference after arriving in Gaza.

Under normal circumstances Barghouti would require a permit from the Israelis to enter the territory.

“Today the embargo has been broken. It is a message to the people of Gaza that we have not been abandoned,” he said.

Gaza’s 1.5 million Palestinians have been suffering the effects of a crippling Israeli blockade since the Hamas movement took full control of the territory after pushing out security forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, in June 2007.

Since then there have been shortages of basic necessities such as food, fuel and medicines as Israel has strictly controlled all deliveries.

Medicine shortages

Last week, the International Committee of the Red Cross said that virtually no medical supplies were reaching the Gaza Strip, putting the lives of several hundred patients at risk.

“We got a list of zero stock medicines in Gaza, like baby formula, paracetamol, anti-histamine tablets,” Ibrahim Hamami, a Palestinian-Briton and family physician from Buckinghamshire, said.

“There are basic things we can get over the counter in Europe but they do not have a single pill.”

The trip was the second by the US-based group after two smaller fishing boats made the journey in August.

Organisers have said that they hope to make the trips into a monthly exercise in order to provide regular relief to the Gazans.

“We would like to do this once a month, but you need money to start a ferry service to Gaza,” Derek Graham, the protest organiser, said.

Israel had warned the activists ahead of both journeys not to enter the closed military zone it maintains around the Gaza Strip but did not interfere with either voyage.

“In the end it was decided at a high level Tuesday night to permit the boat to arrive,” Yigal Palmor, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, said.

Israel pulled its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but still patrols the waters off the territory.

both stories from news source aljazeera.net