USA

USA

INDIA

India

BANGLADESH

BANGLADESH

NEPAL

Nepal

FIJI

FIJI

PAKISTAN

Pakistan

Melody Media Productions

Excellence in Broadcasting!

Pervez Saleem

(Producer/Director)

Muslim-majority Chad opens embassy in Israel

Courtesy: Dawn News/Reuters

JERUSALEM: Chadian President Mahamat Deby, in Israel to open an embassy on Thursday, heard his hosts’ concern about what they described as the clout of their arch-foes Iran and Hezbollah in Africa’s Sahel region.

Israel only confirmed Deby’s visit on Wednesday, a day after he arrived. The trip included a rare stop at the Mossad intelligence headquarters — a sign that bilateral ties re-established five years ago have national security importance.

Chad’s embassy is in Ramat Gan, a town abutting Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. “This is a great day, an historic day for Chad and for Israel, too,” Deby said in a videotape of the inauguration.

“I offer a prayer to God that, with the formal opening of our embassy here, relations between our countries will bring value to both peoples, yours and ours.” Standing beside the Chadian president, Netanyahu said: “We are strengthening our friendship, and our common interest in pursuing peace, security and prosperity.”

Meeting Deby earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant “raised the importance of narrowing the influence of Iran and Hezbollah in the Sahel region, as a key to ensuring stability, and thwarting the export of terrorism,” Gallant’s office said.

There was no immediate comment from the government in Chad or Tehran. In Beirut, Hezbollah’s media office declined comment.

The existence or level of Iranian influence in the Sahel has been disputed.

Morocco cut ties with Iran in 2018, accusing it of working through Hezbollah to train and arm the Polisario Front group, which is waging an armed independence struggle for the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Rabat has also warned of Iranian incursion in the Sahel using Algeria as a gateway.

Algeria and the Polisario have denied this and analysts say they have seen no evidence of such Iranian activity.

Muslim-majority Chad has not publicly spoken of any significant presence by Iran or Hezbollah, a Tehran-backed Lebanese political party with a powerful militia, in the Sahel, parts of which are contending with Sunni Islamist insurgencies.

In 2018, Chad’s then-president Idriss Deby visited Israel, reversing decades of diplomatic distance over its policies toward the Palestinians, whose statehood struggle continues. At the time, Idriss Deby cited a joint fight against terrorism.

Having returned to power last month, Netanyahu has vowed to expand the circle of Arab or Muslim countries that recognise Israel — even as he contends with a deepening and violent stalemate with the Palestinians.

There was no immediate comment on the Chadian embassy opening from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ administration. Abbas’ rival Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which spurns coexistence with Israel, condemned Chad’s move.

Israel has no plan to open an embassy in N’Djamena, and runs contacts with Chad out of its embassy in Senegal, an official said.

Disclaimer:
Sada-E-Watan provides news and opinion articles as a service to our readers. These articles and news items come from sources outside of our organization. Where possible, the author and the source are documented within each article. Statements and opinions expressed in these articles are solely those of the author (reporter/newspaper) or authors (reporters/newspapers) and may or may not be shared by the staff and management of Sada-E-Watan. Sada-E-Watan was created to provide one convenient central location where a user can quickly scan headlines from many news sources. The headlines listed on Sada-E-Watan pages are links to stories on the sites where these stories are located. The goal of Sada-E-Watan is to help readers access stories on web sites that they would normally not have time to view on a regular basis and to add value to the news source sites by mentioning their name on top, so readers can view these sites..

The Sada-E-Watan takes no responsibility for any loss or damage suffered as a result of using the linked websites or as a result of using the information published on any of the pages of the linked websites.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure downloadable content is free from viruses, Sada-E-Watan cannot accept any liability for damages resulting from virus infection. You should take adequate steps to ensure your virus check regularly when using any device.

If you have any questions or comments about Sada-E-Watan, please contact us at: radio@sada-e-watan.com