18 February at 10:55

Juventus Chief Football Executive Fabio Paratici spoke

on Radio Uno

about the Old Lady’s transfer strategies as well as the upcoming Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid: “The Champions League is one of our targets, a motivation to improve and do well.

We need many things in order to win it, including a bit of luck. Allegri? He is perfect for our project. I am sure his future doesn’t depend on the Champions League and that he will remain with us for a long time. We are always looking for new motivations, we want to improve the team every year”.

DYBALA-SALAH SWAP – “Right now it’s just fantasy, we are still in February and we don’t know what will happen in June- I believe we’ve already signed a big player and it’s Ramsey who has 350 appearances with Arsenal. He is already a big signing for us”.

ICARDI – “We didn’t want to disturb Inter last summer. There were contacts and we asked Icardi if Juve could be an interesting pick for his future in case he wanted to leave the team. We had no contacts with Mrs. Icardi of late, we are in February, questions about the player will be more actual in the summer”.

DYBALA – “He is 25, he is a player of Juventus and he has already proven a lot. I am sure he will become a legend and a leader of Juve, he has the technical skills to do it”.

MAROTTA – “Why did he leave? I’m not the right man to answer this question”.

A US woman who ran away from home at the age of 20 to live in ISIL’s so-called ‘caliphate’ says she “deeply regrets” her decision, and has pleaded with US authorities to allow her to return home.

Hoda Muthana, now aged 24, told the Guardian newspaper that she made a “big mistake” when she left the US four years ago, claiming she was brainwashed into doing so online.

Speaking from al-Hawl refugee camp in northern Syria, the same camp where British teenager Shamima Begum is being kept, Muthana said she misunderstood her faith when she left her home in Alabama and aligned herself to the the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL, also known as ISIS] group.

“We were basically in the time of ignorance … and then became jihadi, if you like to describe it that way,” she said.

“I thought I was doing things correctly for the sake of God,” she added.

According to previous reports, Muthana tricked her parents into letting her go to Atlanta for a school field trip, but then used her college tuition to board a plane from the US to the Middle East, first flying to Turkey and then traveling onto Syria.

Muthana said she settled in Raqqa, the former de facto capital of ISIL, where she married an Australian fighter, Suhan Rahman, the first of her three husbands.

It was during this time that Muthana became a high-profile advocate of ISIL on Twitter where she famously uploaded a picture of four passports – American, Canadian, UK, and Australian.

“Bonfire soon, no need for these anymore, alhamdulliah [thanks be to God],” she captioned the image.

After her husband Rahman was killed in the Syrian town of Kobani, she also angrily wrote: “Terrorize the kuffar [non-Muslims] at home”.

In a second Tweet: “Americans wake up! Men and women altogether. You have much to do while you live under our greatest enemy, enough of your sleeping! Go on drivebys, and spill all of their blood, or rent a big truck and drive all over them. Veterans, Patriots, Memorial, etc day … Kill them”.

‘I was brainwashed’

For several months in 2015, her Twitter feed was full of praise of ISIL and she says she “remained a zealot” until the following year. She also told the Guardian that her account was taken over by others.

“I look back now and I think I was very arrogant,” she said.

“Now I’m worried about my son’s future … I was brainwashed once and my friends are still brainwashed.”

With her 18-month-old son playing beside her, Muthana described to the Guardian her time with ISIL as “mind-blowing,” and claimed she was “traumatised by my experience”.

“It was like a movie. You read one book and think you know everything. I’m really traumatised by my experience. We starved and we literally ate grass”.

According to the Guardian, Muthana is the only US citizen among an estimated 1,500 foreign women and children at the al-Hawl refugee camp of 39,000 people, which is around two hours from Baghuz, a small, remote village in Deir Az Zor province where the final battle against ISIL is being completed.

The US officially declared victory against ISIL in December and since then has urged European nations and other countries to repatriate and prosecute their citizens who travelled to join the armed group.

In a series of Tweets on Sunday, US President Donald Trump today told western countries to repatriate them or Washington would be forced to release them.

“The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial. The Caliphate is ready to fall. The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them.”

Devon, United Kingdom – Brigadier Stephen Goodall has always fought on the winning side -and hopes he will be doing so again in what he admits will be his last battle: Brexit.

Sitting upright in his armchair at his home in Devon, England, the 96-year-old British Army veteran recalls the ultimate sacrifice made by comrades to end warfare in Europe.

“My own experience of the Second World War has convinced me that we must defend the peaceful and democratic Europe that so many of my generation died for,” he says.

“I am an old man and the outcome won’t affect me – but it will affect my family and many people that I know for years to come.”

Goodall is an icon in the campaign for a second referendum on the UK’s relationship with the European Union after a first vote in 2016 started the clock ticking towards withdrawal on March 29.

He made headlines by volunteering to lead the first march for a “People’s Vote”, calling for a plebiscite – just as he had volunteered to fight fascism in 1942.

He is also the honorary commanding officer of the Veterans for Europe anti-Brexit campaign, launched by former military personnel.

The European Union was designed for peace, and personally, I believe that Brexit is the single most cowardly thing this country has done because we are running away from our friends and allies.

Stuart Thomson, Veterans for Europe cofounder

As the People’s Vote campaign intensifies its pressure on the UK’s divided parliament, the former brigadier epitomises the sense of duty that has prompted veterans to put their heads above the parapet.

“It is essential to do all we can to build international institutions like the EU that reduce the need to risk the lives of young men and women in the future,” he says.

The brigadier exudes a strong sense of duty as he recalls the 31 years he spent serving his country.

Wounded in Burma during the campaign against Japan, he returned to Europe where he served in Germany before running the Royal School of Military Engineering, which brought him into close contact with former European friends and foes.

Goodall reels off a list of reasons why he believes Brexit would be bad for Britain and is “unpatriotic”, from threatening to break up the UK to barring immigrant professionals who care for elderly people.

But he is particularly angry at the “shambolic” approach taken by Theresa May’s government to this issue: “Where are we being taken by these idiots?”

Veterans for Europe

Goodall epitomises the prominent role military veterans have at times assumed in the campaigns for and against Brexit.

For example, 97-year-old British veteran Harry Shindler – who now lives in Italy – led a failed legal sortie at the European Court of Justice to declare the result of the 2016 vote invalid for excluding 1 million UK expatriates.

The Veterans for Europe campaign was launched after the 2016 referendum to dispel the idea that military personnel are instinctively pro-Brexit.

Cofounder Stuart Thomson says: “The European Union was designed for peace, and personally, I believe that Brexit is the single most cowardly thing this country has done because we are running away from our friends and allies.”

Thomson, a Royal Air Force communications engineer from 1987 to 2000 who served throughout Europe, stresses the strong EU links formed by military personnel in their personal lives.

Many have European spouses after being stationed with the British Army of the Rhine, at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in Belgium, or at bases in Cyprus and Gibraltar, and Brexit calls their right to remain in the UK into question.

Duncan Hodgkins, another cofounder, heads up work supporting those European spouses. He is married to a Dutch woman.

An army administrative official who served for 10 years in Germany, he revealed that Veterans for Europe was attracting the interest of colleagues in EU countries and had already gained members from France and Germany

“We are now looking to expand Veterans for Europe on the continent because we have the unity and we all believe in the same thing, peace in Europe,” he says.

Veterans for Brexit

Not all military veterans oppose Brexit, however, and some fix their bayonets against European integration.

The campaigning organisation Veterans for Britain was created during the 2016 referendum to make the case for EU withdrawal, but has since taken a lower profile; it did not respond to requests by Al Jazeera for comment.

Other veterans not aligned with any group spoke of their support for Brexit.

Lewis Campbell, a 68-year-old from Surrey, served in Northern Ireland with the Royal Green Jackets between 1969 and 1979, where he lost seven friends in action.

He voted for Brexit.

“I didn’t mind being a member of the European community, but became disillusioned when they started to impose rules that we must obey,” he says.

Campbell, who also served in Germany and was a corporal when he left the army, opposes the free movement implied by membership of Europe’s single market.

“The way things are going, we won’t be a country if we don’t get out of Europe.”

Michael Massey-Beresford, 81, from north London, served in the Green Jackets for 27 years, ending up as a major before retiring from the military in 1981.

He spent long periods in Germany and insists that European military integration threatens NATO.

“I served NATO, which is effective, but then there’s the European army, which would not be,” he says. “You can’t have both: it just doesn’t make sense.”

However, while both former soldiers have different reasons for backing Brexit, there is one thing they share with their adversaries: criticism of May’s handling of this issue.

Campbell says: “It’s a hell of a mess.”

Massey-Beresford adds: “I just don’t understand what’s going on in Westminster, it’s absolute turmoil.”

Military symbolism

As the UK’s Brexit preparations take centre stage, with the deadline for quitting the EU fast approaching, the military itself is being deployed.

Thousands of troops have been put on standby to support government contingency plans if Britain ends up crashing out without a deal.

This reflex, to see the armed forces as a source of stability in times of crisis, helps to explain why veterans have emerged as powerful symbols in the Brexit debate.

Professor William Philpott, of the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, said Britain’s military role in Europe has been central to its self-image.

“In the 20th century we fought two world wars in Europe, and that certainly shaped our national psyche and our relationship with it,” he says.

He noted that warfare has shaped two ideas in the popular imagination: an image of Britain standing alone and an image of Britain as a force for good in the world, both evident in Brexit debates.

“There are those who will be attracted to that atavistic view that we don’t need to be with the Europeans,” he adds.

“And on the other side, there are those that appreciate that Britain has been and always will be part of Europe.”

Yemen’s warring sides have agreed on the first phase of a pullback of forces from the key city of Hodeidah, in a deal the United Nations has described as “important progress”.

Hodeidah, which is located on Yemen’s western coast and provides access to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait – the fourth busiest waterway in the world – has been in Houthi hands since 2014, when the armed group staged a takeover of large swaths of Yemen.

The move prompted the military intervention of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and allies the following year on behalf of the embattled government, triggering what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Following two days of talks in Hodeidah city, the government and Houthis finalised a deal on the first phase of the pullback and also agreed in principle on the second phase, a UN statement said on Sunday.

“After lengthy but constructive discussions facilitated by the RCC Chair, the parties reached an agreement on Phase 1 of the mutual redeployment of forces,” the UN statement said.

The sides made “important progress on planning for the redeployment of forces” but no date was given to begin the demilitarisation.

“The parties also agreed, in principle, on Phase 2 of the mutual redeployment, pending additional consultations within their respective leadership.”

The redeployment from Hodeidah is a critical part of a ceasefire deal reached in December in Sweden that calls on the government and Houthi rebels to move forces away from ports and parts of city.

Under the vaguely worded agreement, three of Hodeidah’s ports – Hodeidah, Saleef and Ras Isa – which serve as a major lifeline for more than 18 million Yemenis who live in the rebel-held territory, were expected to fall under the control of “local forces”.

Under the Stockholm agreement, the pullback was supposed to have taken place two weeks after the ceasefire went into force on December 18, but that deadline was missed.

Food rotting in Hodeidah

The UN is hoping that the de-escalation in Hodeidah will allow desperately needed food and medical aid to reach millions in need in Yemen.

The Red Sea port is the entry point for the bulk of imported goods and relief aid to Yemen and home to the Red Sea Mills silos – which are believed to contain enough grain to feed several million people.

But according to the World Food Programme, the granary has been off-limits to aid organisations for months putting the food at risk of rotting.

Earlier this week, the UN said that four years of war had pushed two-thirds of Yemen to “pre-famine” levels, while one-third faced “acute vulnerabilities”.

“An estimated 80 percent of the population, 24 million, require some form of humanitarian or protection assistance, including 14.3 million who are in acute need,” the OCHA statement said.

“Severity of needs is deepening, with the number of people in acute need a staggering 27 percent higher than last year.”

The war in Yemen has been at a stalemate for years, with the coalition and Yemeni forces being unable to dislodge the Houthis from the capital Sanaa and most urban centres.

According to the charity Save the Children, an estimated 85,000 children may have starved to death over the past four years of war.

Iran is ready to work with all of its neighbours to secure peace in the Middle East in the face of US and Israeli aggression, President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been fighting proxy wars for years, backing opposing sides in conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

However, pressure is building on Tehran after President Donald Trump pulled the US out of a 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers and reimposed sanctions. Saudi Arabia welcomed the move.

“Iran is ready to work with regional states to preserve security in the Middle East,” Rouhani said in a public speech in the southern Hormozgan province, broadcast live on state TV.

“We want to establish brotherly ties with all countries of the region… Iran has never started any aggression in the region,” he said.

“Those regional states that believe Israel and America can establish security are wrong. We, the Muslims, should ensure the regional security,” Rouhani said to chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.

‘No possibility’

Rouhani’s previous overtures to Saudi Arabia, such as after his election in 2013 and efforts by his Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in 2017, have had no success, and some analysts were sceptical his latest attempt would be different.

“Considering the ongoing hostility, there is no possibility of a dialogue between the arch enemies,” said Tehran-based analyst Hamid Farahvashian.

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of supporting armed groups that carry out attacks against Iranian forces, including a suicide bombing on Wednesday in Iran’s southeastern province that borders Pakistan.

Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for the ethnic minority Baluchis, claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 27 members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The Revolutionary Guard has threatened Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan with retaliation.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan deny backing Jaish al-Adl. Iran’s foreign ministry on Sunday summoned Pakistan’s ambassador to protest Wednesday’s attack.