UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs heads to Singapore to talk trade


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The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, yesterday met Singapore's president during a visit to the South Asian city-state.

Sheikh Abdullah attended a dinner hosted by president Tony Tan Keng Yam in honour of the 12th Asia Security Summit, which concludes today.

The pair discussed the need to enhance trade relations between the two countries, particularly in energy and investment, according to Wam, the state news agency.

Sheikh Abdullah also participated in the security summit and discussed security issues with the US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel.

The summit's keynote speech was given by John Chipman, director general of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"Sheikh Abdullah's participation in the summit is part of the UAE's commitment to promote international security cooperation and increase security transparency," Wam said.

"It also highlights the UAE's interest to maintain security in the Asian and Pacific Ocean region, which is indivisible from the security of the Gulf region."

newsdesk@thenational.ae

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The major Hashd factions linked to Iran:

Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.

Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.

Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.

Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.

Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.

Saraya Al Khorasani:  The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.

(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)

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