President Trump Announces That Israel And Sudan Have Agreed To Normalize Ties

 

CNN: Trump announces that Israel and Sudan have agreed to normalize relations 

President Donald Trump announced Friday that Sudan and Israel have agreed to normalize relations -- a foreign policy achievement for the incumbent president less than two weeks before the US presidential election. 

"President @realDonaldTrump has announced that Sudan and Israel have agreed to the normalization of relations— another major step toward building peace in the Middle East with another nation joining the Abraham Accords," White House spokesperson Judd Deere said on Twitter. 

It is unclear if the deal establishes full diplomatic relations between the two nations. His announcement came shortly after the White House said he had informed Congress of his intent to remove Sudan from the state sponsor of terrorism list. The rescission of the 27-year old designation was widely seen as being tied to the deal with Israel, despite Khartoum's desire to keep the issues separate. 

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 More News On President Trump Announcing That Israel And Sudan Have Agreed To Normalize Ties

Israel and Sudan reach U.S.-brokered deal to normalize ties -- Reuters 

BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump announces Sudan will become latest country to recognize Israel and removes it from list of state sponsors of terrorism in return -- Daily Mail/AP 

Sudan, Israel agree to normalise diplomatic relations with US help -- Fracne 24 

Sudan-Israel relations agreed, Donald Trump announces -- BBC 

Trump announces peace deal between Sudan and Israel, says more nations will normalize relations -- FOX News Sudan agrees to normalise relations with Israel, Trump says -- Middle East Eye

Reports Say Israel And Sudan Have Reached A Deal To Formalize Ties

 

Times of Israel: Israel, Sudan said to reach final agreement to normalize ties 

Announcement to be made over weekend or early next week, reports say, following trip by Israeli-US delegation to Khartoum 

Israel and Sudan will announce the establishment of diplomatic ties over the weekend or early next week in a US-brokered deal, Hebrew media reported Thursday, citing officials involved in the negotiations. 

The announcement will likely come after a phone call between US President Donald Trump, Sudan’s transitional leader Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Walla news site. 

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 More News On Reports That Say Israel And Sudan Have Reached A Deal To Formalize Ties 

Sudan-Israel normalization announcement likely this weekend -- Jerusalem Post 

Israeli delegation travels to Sudan to discuss normalization -Israeli radio Kan -- National Post/Reuters 

Gulf media speculates on Israel-Sudan relations, secret Lebanese talks -- Jerusalem Post 

Israel rushes to normalise ties with Sudan -- Middle East Monitor 

Sudan moves to normalise relations with Israel under US pressure, says report -- Middle East Eye

Conflicting Reports Of An Israeli Air Strike On A Military Installation In Sudan

Potential path of an IAF strike package to Sudan; GraphicMaps.com map

Times of Israel: Sudan denies attack after ‘foreign’ planes said to hit military site

Witnesses claim jets hitting area near Khartoum may have been Israeli, but army spokesman says no strike, though anti-aircraft fire used on object in sky

Officials and residents of the Sudanese city of Omdurman said foreign warplanes struck a military installation nearby late Tuesday night, a London-based Arabic news outlet reported early Wednesday.

However, a Sudanese army spokesperson denied that any Sudanese facilities had been struck, confirming only that anti-aircraft fire had been directed against an object in the sky.

Witnesses in Omdurman said they saw and heard large explosions at a military site near the city, which sits across the Nile River from the capital Khartoum, the Al-Araby news outlet reported.

More News On Reports Of An Israeli Air Strike On A Military Installation In Sudan

Did IAF strike military targets in Sudan? -- Israel Hayom
Sudan aims anti-aircraft fire at 'target' near capital: army -- AFP
Loud explosions heard in Sudanese capital of Khartoum thought to be Israeli air raid -- IBTimes
Israeli jets strike Sudan - report -- Globes
Sudan's anti-aircraft weapons confront moving object over military area: army -- Xinhua
Sudan Claims it Shot Down Israeli Drone -- Arutz Sheva
Israeli drone shot down over Sudan: report -- Al Bawaba
Sudan denies attack on its facilities, says it intercepted 'object' -- i24 News
Sudanese army says it downed Israeli UAV north of Khartoum -- YNet News

Analyzing Israel's Latest Attack On The Yarmouk Weapons Factory Near Khartoum

Click on Image to Enlarge

U.S. And Israeli Officials Analyze Sudan Attack -- David Fulghum, Aviation Week

A bombing raid on the Yarmouk weapons factory near Khartoum, Sudan, destroyed dozens of shipping containers thought to carry rockets and other weapons headed for Egypt's lawless Sinai Peninsula and Hamas-run Gaza.

About 200 tons of material, including rockets, were torched. Witnesses said they heard jet engine noises just before the explosions started shortly after midnight on Oct. 24. Multiple explosions that blew burning projectiles into adjacent neighborhoods were videotaped and quickly posted to the Internet. The fires, fueled by many small explosions within the plant's compound, raged for hours.

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My Comment:  More evidence that a covert war between Israel and it's enemies is continuing.

Was The Bombing Raid On A Weapons Factory In Sudan A Dry-Run For An Iran Strike?

Did Israel And The U.S. Just Cooperate On A Dry-Run For An Iran Intervention? -- Jonathan Schanzer, The New Republic

Within hours of a bombing raid on a weapons factory in Sudan last month, the international media was pointing fingers at Israel. Some reports suggested that the strike looked like a dry run for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. But lost in the reporting was the fact that thousands of US troops, including senior military officials, were in Israel the day Sudan was attacked. If the U.S. indeed cooperated with Israel in the attack, then this might have been a dry run of an entirely different sort—one that would belie the very public disagreements between the two countries over intervention in Iran.

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My Comment: I am still trying to understand why they decided to bomb this particular munitions factory .... as if there are not enough munitions factories in the region. As to the idea that the U.S. and Israel cooperated on this strike .... I just don't see it .... if there was cooperation, it was Israel telling the U.S. that if American ships in the region and/or their base in Djibouti (or Saudi Arabia for that matter) spotted planes on their radar screens, they should not do anything about it.

Why Did israel Bomb A Sudanese Munitions Factory (If They Did Bomb It)

Why Would Israel Bomb Sudan? Theories Cite Iran, Hamas, Even The U.S. -- Max Fisher, Washington Post

A military factory in Sudan was destroyed in a mysterious explosion last week, killing two, which the Sudanese government quickly blamed on an Israeli airstrike. It would not have been the first such strike, although Israeli officials did not comment on the explosion. Sudan is thought to provide a conduit for Iranian arms shipments through Egypt to Gaza, where Hamas and other anti-Israeli groups operate.

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Update: Monitoring Group: Sudanese Factory Hit by Airstrike -- Voice of America

My Comment: I have been asking the same question .... why bomb a munitions factory in the middle of the Sudan? What was there that had to involve a considerable amount of analysis and planning .... followed by conducting a mission that had to be very dangerous and complex to undertake. I suspect that the real story has yet to be told .... and we will probably learn about it (if ever) only a few years from now.

Was Airstrike Against A Sudanese Military Factory A Message To Iran?

Israel's 'Dry Run' For A Strike Against Iran: Two Killed As Jets Bomb Sudanese Rockets Factory -- Daily Mail

* Sudan vowed to take 'decisive steps' in retaliation against Israeli interests
* Two people died in a series of explosions at the arms factory

Israel has destroyed a Sudanese weapons factory in a bombing raid, it was claimed yesterday.

Sudan vowed to take ‘decisive steps’ in retaliation against Israeli interests, which it said are now ‘legitimate targets’.

The Yarmouk arms factory, in the south of the capital Khartoum, was destroyed in a series of explosions on Wednesday last week, in which two people died.

Sudan immediately pointed the finger of blame at Israel, while an American monitoring group said satellite images of the aftermath of the explosion suggest the site was hit in an airstrike.

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More News On Israel's 'Dry Run' For A Strike Against Iran

Israel used Sudan bombing as ‘dry run’ for attack on Iran, British newspaper claims -- Times of Israel
Israel's Sudan attack Iran rehearsal? -- Voice of Russia
Israel accuses Sudan of aiding Iranian arms flow, but keeps silent on mysterious airstrike -- FOX News/AP
Monitors: Satellite Images Show Air Strike Damage in Sudan -- ABC News
Sudan-Iran Links Under Scrutiny After Arms Factory Blast -- Defense News/AFP
Sudan denies Iran role in arms factory -- AFP
Sudan denies Iran link to Khartoum plant allegedly attacked by Israel -- Haaretz
Target in Sudan: Arms shipment -- Ron Ben-Yishai, YNet News

My Comment: Steve Ganyard at ABC News explains why this is not a 'dry run' against Iran.

George Clooney's Satellite Images Suggest Airstrike On Sudan Military Factory

Satellite Images Suggest Sudan Factory Was Bombed -- Jerusalem Post/Reuters

The Satellite Sentinel Project says imagery of the site shows six large craters, each 16 meters in diameter and consistent with those created by air-delivered munitions.

UNITED NATIONS - Analysis of satellite imagery of a Sudanese munitions factory that Khartoum accused Israel of bombing earlier this week suggests the site may have been hit with aerial bombardment as Sudan claims, a monitoring group said on Saturday.

The Satellite Sentinel Project, whose founders include Hollywood actor George Clooney and the Enough Project, said it conducted a comparative analysis of DigitalGlobe imagery of the arms factory in Khartoum, where a huge explosion on Tuesday killed two people and caused a large fire.

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More News On Satellite Images That Suggest That A Sudan Factory Was Bombed

Arab Parliament condemns 'brutal' Israeli attack on Sudanese military facility -- Ahram Online
Satellite Images Suggest Airstrike on Sudan Site -- ABC News/AP
Sudan reporter: Local communications severed prior to arms factory blast -- Haaretz
George Clooney's Satellite Offers The Closest Proof Yet That An Airstrike Took Out Sudan's Arms Plant -- Business Insider
Here's Why Israel (Probably) Bombed A Factory In Sudan -- Business Insider

Sudan Accuses Israel Of Bombing A Weapons Factory

Khartoum Fire Blamed On Israeli Bombing -- Al Jazeera

Four Israeli aircraft behind attack on factory in Sudan's capital that left two people dead, a Sudanese minister says.

Sudan has accused Israel of bombing a military arms factory, threatening retaliation after a resulting fire killed two people and injured a third.

"We think Israel did the bombing," Culture and Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman told a news conference.

"We reserve the right to react at a place and time we choose."

The minister said four "radar-evading" aircraft were involved in the attack, which occurred at about midnight (2100 GMT) on Tuesday at the Yarmouk military manufacturing facility in south Khartoum.

It took troops several hours to contain the blaze.

Evidence pointing to Israel was found among remnants of the explosives, Osman said, adding that the cabinet would hold an urgent meeting at 8:00pm.

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More News On Sudan Accusing Israel Of Bombing A Military Arms Factory

Sudan blames Israel for Khartoum arms factory blast -- BBC
Sudan blames Israel for military factory explosion -- L.A. Times/AP
Sudan Blames Israel for Blast at Arms Factory -- Voice of America
Sudan says Israel behind arms factory fire -- Reuters
Sudan says Israel bombed arms factory -- UPI
Sudan accuses Israel of factory airstrike -- Deutsche Welle
Sudan accuses Israel of bombing weapons factory, threatens to retaliate -- RT
Sudan accuses Israel of bombing, threatens to retaliate -- Ahram Online
Israeli planes bombed weapons factory near Khartoum: Sudan -- Al Arabiya
Sudan claims Israel bombed Khartoum weapons factory -- Al Bawaba