A look at the 4 countries the US says sponsor terrorism

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A look at the 4 countries the US says sponsor terrorism

2017-11-22 12:59 Last Updated At：12:59

North Korea is on its way back onto a very short list of countries the United States says sponsor terrorism.

The designation, announced by President Donald Trump on Monday, will expand the already substantial array of sanctions the U.S. has imposed on trade with North Korea. It will clamp down further on the North's access to banks and other financial institutions and, more importantly, deepen the stigma any potential trading partners will have to take into account before doing business with Pyongyang.

Even though many of the punishments against North Korea have already been enacted under previous sanctions measures, putting any country on the list is a very serious move by Washington. There are only three other countries on the list: Sudan, Iran and Syria. Cuba, which had been on the list from 1982, was removed by then-President Barack Obama in 2015.

But how exactly does the terrorism charge fit North Korea? And how does North Korea compare to the other countries on the list?

Here's a look, country by country:

NORTH KOREA

In the 1980s, North Korea was particularly active in deadly acts of terrorism, including a bombing in Myanmar that killed South Korean Cabinet members and the downing of a South Korean commercial airliner. It was blacklisted in 1988, but delisted in 2008 as Washington tried to entice it into a nuclear deal.

The most glaring recent case of what could be seen as terrorism backed by North Korea is the assassination of leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half brother last February at the international airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Two young Southeast Asian women are now on trial for allegedly carrying out the killing, but authorities believe the plot was masterminded by North Korean agents who recruited, trained and supplied the women with the extremely toxic VX poison used in the assassination.

VX is a sophisticated nerve agent that is almost exclusively produced with state backing for military use. Moreover, the U.S. has accused the North of involvement in several highly disruptive cyber incidents that could fall into the terrorism rubric.

SYRIA

Syria has been on the blacklist since the designation was created in 1979. According to the U.S., Bashar Assad's regime supports a variety of terrorist groups that have a destabilizing effect well beyond the region. In particular, according to the U.S., it provides political and weapons support to Lebanon-based Hezbollah, while helping Iran to keep the group armed.

The U.S. claim against Syria also includes concerns about weapons of mass destruction — according to the State Department, it has used chemical weapons repeatedly against its own people.

IRAN

Iran's listing goes back to 1984. A State Department report in July called Iran the world's foremost sponsor of terrorism and said it has supported Shia militias in Iraq and attempted to smuggle weapons to Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza.

The WMD issue, also a factor with North Korea and Syria, has been cited by the State Department regarding Iran because of the proliferation threat posed by its nuclear program.

SUDAN

This East African nation, home to Osama bin Laden for several years in the 1990s, made the blacklist in 1993. But along with the terrorism links, and a president who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on genocide charges, the State Department has asserted that Sudan's government flouts the rule of law and lets its security forces commit abuses with impunity.

The U.S. government, however, has recently credited Sudan with some improvements. Just before leaving office, Obama issued an executive order that lifted decades-old sanctions on a probationary basis. Trump formalized that last month and is reportedly willing to delist Sudan if improvements continue.

The Latest | Egypt sends a cease-fire delegation to Israel and Hezbollah fires at an Israeli convoy

2024-04-27 00:28 Last Updated At：00:30

Egypt sent a high-level delegation to Israel in the hope of reaching a cease-fire agreement with Hamas in Gaza, while warning a possible new Israeli offensive focused on the southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt could have catastrophic consequences for regional stability, two officials said Friday.

Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group fired anti-tank missiles and artillery shells at an Israeli military convoy in a disputed area along the border late Thursday, killing an Israeli civilian, the group and Israel’s military said.

Earlier, Palestinian hospital officials said Israeli airstrikes on Rafah killed at least five people.

More than half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have sought refuge in the city. The Israeli military has massed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in the area in what appears to be preparations for an invasion of Rafah.

The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

The war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, around two-thirds of them children and women.

Currently:

— Premature baby girl rescued from her dead mother’s womb dies in Gaza after 5 days in an incubator

— A U.S.-led effort to bring aid to Gaza by sea is moving forward, but big concerns remain

— As some U.S. universities negotiate with pro-Palestinian protesters, others quickly call the police

— Students at prestigious Paris university occupy campus building in pro-Palestinian protest

— U.S. says it’s reviewing new information about Israeli unit accused of abuses before the war in Gaza

Here is the latest:

JERUSALEM — Missiles suspected to have been fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels landed in the Red Sea on Friday, a private security company said.

The attack follows an uptick in assaults launched by the Houthis in recent days after a relative lull in their monthslong campaign over Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The private security company Ambrey said three missiles could be seen in the attack, which landed closest to a Panama-flagged, Seychelles-registered tanker it described as being “engaged in Russia-linked trade.” The vessel was traveling from Primorsk, Russia, to Vadinar, India, Ambrey said.

Those details corresponded to a tanker called the Andromeda Star, which had been previously broadcasting its location off Mocha, Yemen, according to ship-tracking data.

The Houthis did not immediately claim the missile fire, though it typically takes the rebels several hours to acknowledge their attacks.

The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was injured in a car accident and brought to the hospital Friday after visiting the scene of a stabbing attack in central Israel, according to Israeli police and Hebrew media.

Ben-Gvir’s office said he was in good condition. The statement also said that Ben-Gvir’s daughter, a security guard, and a driver were lightly injured.

He had just visited the scene where Israeli police said a young woman had been stabbed several times in the back by a militant on Friday. Paramedics brought her to the hospital in serious condition.

Israel’s police chief said the attacker was chased by civilians for about a kilometer before he tried to stab another woman. He was then shot dead by a civilian with a licensed weapon.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, Palestinians have carried out a number of attacks against Israelis, some of them deadly. Violence also has surged in the West Bank, with 489 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and settlers, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The car accident involving Ben-Gvir injured three people, police said. Hebrew media aired footage of a black car overturned on the road and quoted a witness who said that the car had run a red light.

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday denied rumors that drones and ballistic missile strikes from Iran's attack on Israel on April 13 were intercepted due to early detection by a NATO radar base in southeastern Turkey.

“The radar center in Kurecik (Malatya province) does not and cannot have any relationship, bond or contact with any state other than the security of our country and our alliance,” he said

Speaking at a televised pro-Palestinian event, Erdogan also reiterated that Turkey has cut diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel and will impose more trade restrictions.

“From a commercial perspective, the only country that imposes export restrictions on Israel in 54 product groups is Turkey.” Erdogan said.

Turkey, a staunch critic of Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip, announced that it was restricting exports of 54 types of products to Israel in early April. They include aluminum, steel, construction products, jet fuel and chemical fertilizers. In response, Israel banned products from Turkey.

The heads of Israel’s major research universities signed a letter Friday expressing deep concern over what they viewed as a surge of antisemitism at American colleges as pro-Palestinian protests sweep campuses across the United States.

In the letter, the university heads allege that the recent demonstrations have created “a climate where Israeli and Jewish students and faculty members feel compelled to hide their identities or avoid campuses altogether for fear of physical harm.” The letter did not include specific examples.

The statement comes as pro-Palestinian protesters set up encampments at universities across the country.

Many are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict.

Israel and its supporters have branded the protests as antisemitic, while critics of Israel say it uses such allegations to silence opponents.

While some protesters have been caught on camera making antisemitic remarks or violent threats, organizers of the protests, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.

“Freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate are vital to the health of any democracy,” wrote the college presidents, whose association goes by the acronym VERA in Israel. “However, these freedoms do not include the right to to engage in violence, make threats against communities, or call for the destruction of the state of Israel.”

They said that they would help Jewish students and faculty wishing to move to Israel.

CAIRO — Egypt sent a high-level delegation to Israel in the hope of reaching a cease-fire agreement with Hamas in Gaza, while warning a possible new Israeli offensive focused on the southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt could have catastrophic consequences for regional stability, two officials said Friday.

Egypt’s top intelligence official, Abbas Kamel, is leading the delegation and plans to discuss a “new vision” on establishing a prolonged cease-fire in Gaza with Israeli officials, an Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the mission.

Talks will focus at first on a limited exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners, along the return of a significant number of displaced Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza “with minimum restrictions,” the official said.

The hope is that negotiations will then continue, with the goal of a larger deal to end the war, he said.

Hamas has said it will not back down from its demands for a permanent cease-fire and full withdrawal of Israeli troops, both of which Israel has refused. Israel says it will continue military operations until Hamas is definitively defeated and will retain a security presence in Gaza afterwards.

Israel has also been conducting near-daily raids on Rafah, a city in which more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have sought refuge.

While in Israel, Kamel plans to make clear that Egypt “will not tolerate” Israel’s deployments of troops along Gaza’s borders with Egypt, the Egyptian official said.

A Western diplomat in Cairo also said that Egypt has intensified its efforts in recent days to reach a compromise and establish a short cease-fire in Gaza that will help negotiate a longer truce and avert the Rafah offensive.

The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the developments.

— Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group fired anti-tank missiles and artillery shells at an Israeli military convoy in a disputed area along the border, killing an Israeli civilian, the group and Israel’s military said Friday.

Hezbollah said that its fighters ambushed the convoy on Thursday shortly before midnight, destroying two vehicles.

The Israeli military said the ambush wounded an Israeli civilian doing infrastructure work, and that he later died of his wounds.

The incident took place in a disputed area known in Lebanon as the Kfar Chouba hills and in Israel as Har Dov. The area was captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war and is are part of Syria’s Golan Heights that Israel annexed in 1981. The Lebanese government says the area belongs to Lebanon.

Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire on a near-daily basis along the border since the start of the war in Gaza nearly seven months ago. Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with the Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, which triggered the war with its deadly Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel.

The low-intensity fighting has repeatedly threatened to boil over as Israel has targeted senior Hezbollah militants in recent months.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the border.

On the Israeli side, the cross-border fighting has killed 10 civilians and 12 soldiers. In Lebanon, more than 350 people have been killed, including 50 civilians and 271 Hezbollah members.