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Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Badr Abdelatty, discussed efforts to reduce tensions and promote stability in the region during a phone call on Tuesday with Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East.In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt said the two officials reviewed developments in the course of US-Iran negotiations and exchanged views on ways to advance the diplomatic process.The discussions also focused on efforts to reach a mutually acceptable settlement that could help ease tensions between the two sides, according to the statement. Related Story Source link
The Muslim World League strongly condemned the continued incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli settlers under the protection of Israeli forces, as well as the raising of Israeli flags within the mosque compound.In a statement, the organisation denounced the provocative actions, warning that they violate the historic and legal status of Jerusalem, undermine peace efforts, and threaten regional stability.The League also urged the international community to fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities by taking immediate action to halt such violations. Related Story Source link
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Sudan’s Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, who is visiting Turkiye, discussed Tuesday bilateral relations between the two countries, along with regional and international developments.The meeting addressed ways to develop and enhance joint cooperation between the two countries across all fields were reviewed, in addition to discussing a number of regional and international issues of common interest. Related Story Source link
Kuwait’s General Staff of the Armed Forces announced late Tuesday that the country’s air defence systems were responding to hostile missile and drone attacks.In a statement, the General Staff said that any explosions heard were the result of air defence systems intercepting the incoming attacks. Related Story Source link
A Hamas delegation is due to meet with mediators in Egypt on Wednesday to discuss ways of advancing the fragile Gaza ceasefire, officials from the Palestinian Islamist movement told AFP.The Palestinian territory remains gripped by daily violence, with the Israeli military and Hamas accusing one another of violating the truce in effect since October.A transition to the second phase of the ceasefire, which was supposed to involve Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army, has been stalled for months.”Egypt has invited Hamas and other factions to participate in talks with mediators on Wednesday… which will also include Qatari and Turkish officials,” a Hamas official said, declining to be identified as he was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.”The mediators have presented ideas for formulating a new, revised proposal acceptable to both Hamas and Israel.”The official said the Hamas delegation, headed by chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, as well as representatives from other Palestinian factions, was expected to arrive in Cairo starting Tuesday for the talks to be held in the Mediterranean town of El-Alamein.”Hamas believes a breakthrough and progress are possible if Israel does not create new obstacles and if there is a genuine Israeli will to reach a solution,” the official added.One of the key sticking points to advancing the ceasefire negotiations has been the issue of Hamas’s disarmament.”The resistance factions will not accept disarmament under conditions imposed by the occupation,” a second Hamas official told AFP.Hamas has repeatedly said it is not opposed to handing over some of its arsenal, but only as part of a Palestinian political process.Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to take control of 70 % of the Gaza Strip, in defiance of the ceasefire’s terms.Hamas at the time accused Netanyahu of a “blatant violation”, condemning the “complete silence” of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace and its high representative for Gaza, Nickolay Mladenov.The second Hamas official on Monday said mediators were planning a meeting between the group and Mladenov in Egypt, where discussions would focus on reconstruction efforts and handing over administration of the Palestinian territory to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza.The 15-member technocratic committee was formed to handle day-to-day governance under the supervision of the Board of Peace, but it has not yet been able to enter the territory.Violence, meanwhile, continues to rock Gaza.Israel has killed at least 932 people since the ceasefire began, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.The Israeli military says it has lost five soldiers in Gaza over the same period. Source link
Twelve players are poised to make their FIFA World Cup debut with Qatar as the national team intensifies preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be held from June 11 to July 19 across the United States, Canada and Mexico.Qatar, drawn in Group B, will begin its campaign against Switzerland on June 13 in San Francisco, before facing Canada in Vancouver on June 18. The Asian champions will conclude their group-stage fixtures against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Seattle on June 24.Head coach Julen Lopetegui has placed his trust in a new generation of talent, naming 12 players who were not part of Qatar’s historic maiden World Cup appearance at Qatar 2022.The newcomers include goalkeepers Salah Zakaria and Mohammed Abunada, alongside Ahmed Al Janahi, Ahmed Fathi, Edmilson Junior, Al Hashmi Al Hussein, Ayoub Al Alawi, Tahseen Mohammed, Sultan Al Brake, Issa Laye, Mohammed Manai and Youssef Abdurisag.Their inclusion highlights Qatar’s strategy of blending experienced international players with emerging talent as the team aims to deliver a more competitive performance on football’s biggest stage.Many of these players played influential roles in Qatar’s successful qualification campaign, which culminated in securing a World Cup berth through the Asian playoff stage.Several members of the new generation also contributed to Qatar’s triumph at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, helping the nation retain its continental crown after winning back-to-back Asian titles in 2019 and 2023.Having gained valuable experience through domestic and continental competitions, the players are expected to provide added depth, energy and versatility to the squad as Qatar seeks to make a stronger impact at the 2026 tournament.The team is currently holding its final training camp in the United States, following a friendly match against Republic of Ireland on May 28.Qatar will complete its preparations with one final warm-up match against El Salvador in Los Angeles on June 6 before turning its full focus to the World Cup challenge ahead. Related Story Source link
Israeli military says it will strike Beirut suburb if Hezbollah keeps up attacks on Israeli towns and citiesIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered attacks on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut yesterday, signalling the risk of further escalation in a war that has complicated mediation towards resolving the US-Iran conflict.Iranian state TV later said a ceasefire agreed between Iran and the US was very likely to end if Israeli attacks persisted in Lebanon, where war has raged since Hezbollah entered the regional conflict on Tehran's side on March 2.People began fleeing Beirut's southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, in response to news of Netanyahu's order — the latest wave of displacement in a conflict that has uprooted more than 1 mn people in Lebanon.Having pounded Beirut's southern suburbs in the early weeks of the war, Israel has carried out only two strikes on the area since US President Donald Trump announced a Lebanon ceasefire on April 16, even as hostilities have raged in southern Lebanon. ‘There will be no situation in which Hezbollah attacks our cities and our citizens, and its headquarters in Beirut, in Dahiyeh, will remain out of bounds,’ Netanyahu said in a video statement.Netanyahu said Israel was continuing to deepen its ground activity in Lebanon, where Israeli troops have carved out a self-declared security zone in the south, saying they aim to shield northern Israel from Hezbollah attacks.The Israeli military later said it would strike targets in the southern suburbs if Hezbollah continued to launch rockets at Israeli towns and cities, and warned residents to leave the area.Hezbollah, established by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982, said its fighters had fired a missile salvo targeting Israeli military infrastructure in the Israeli city of Tiberias at 1 a.m. on Monday, among other attacks it said were in response to Israeli ceasefire violations.On Sunday, Hezbollah said that it had fired rockets at Israeli military infrastructure in the city of Nahariya.Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said there would be no ‘calm’ in Beirut if there was no ‘calm’ in northern Israel.Lebanese authorities say more than 3,400 people have been killed in the country as a result of Israeli attacks since March 2, when Hezbollah opened fire at Israel as it came under U.S.-Israeli attack.Israel says 24 of its soldiers and four civilians have been killed over the same period.Hostilities intensified in the south over the weekend, with Israeli troops capturing the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle, located on a strategic ridge overlooking the border zone.’This is the third time since the ceasefire that we're going from place to place,’ said Naji Musulmani, 61, driving a pick-up truck full of mattresses through clogged Beirut streets away from the southern suburbs.Having fled the south in recent days, Musulmani said he would head to the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon. Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said that Israeli attacks in Lebanon were among factors delaying the diplomatic process to end the U.S.-Iran war, and reiterated that a Lebanon ceasefire was an integral part of any deal.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, writing on X after Netanyahu ordered the attacks on Dahiyeh, said a ceasefire in place between Iran and the US since April was ‘unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon’.’Violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts. The US and Israel are responsible for the consequences of any violation,’ he wrote.Hostilities have continued in Lebanon despite a series of rare meetings between the Lebanese and Israeli governments, overseen by Washington.A US official said on Sunday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Netanyahu on the diplomatic negotiations between Israel and Lebanon and proposed a plan to allow for ‘gradual de-escalation’.As a first step, Hezbollah would stop all attacks on Israel and in return Israel would refrain from escalation in Beirut, the US official said.The official added that Aoun tried to advance the proposal and secure an agreement. However, they said Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who claimed to ‘guarantee’ Hezbollah's commitment to a ceasefire, placed the burden on Israel to stop ‘shooting first’.Berri, a Hezbollah ally, in a comment reported by Lebanese media on Sunday, said he would guarantee ‘full and immediate commitment to a ceasefire’ by Hezbollah. ‘But the question is, who will compel Israel to stop its aggression?’ he said.A senior Lebanese source told Reuters that the US proposal had involved a halt to Hezbollah’s attacks on northern Israel in exchange for sparing Beirut and its suburbs further strikes, as a step towards a full ceasefire.The source said Berri, however, wanted a full and comprehensive ceasefire instead of a piecemeal approach. Source link
The International Atomic Energy Agency is offering the United Arab Emirates technical as well as moral support, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said yesterday after a visit to the site of a nuclear power plant that came under a drone attack last month.Grossi said Emirati authorities had reacted very quickly to the attack at the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant by shutting down a reactor because of the loss of external power. The plant, the Arab world’s first commercial nuclear power station, came under a drone attack last month that the Gulf country said was launched from Iraq.The drone that penetrated the UAE’s defences hit an electric generator outside the inner perimeter of the plant, according to Emirati officials. It was one of three drones that were targeting the plant and only two were intercepted, according to the UAE’s defence ministry. The IAEA chief said a number of activities would take place to complete repairs at the plant. He told Reuters that it could be a “matter of weeks” for the repairs to be completed. Grossi said there was a need for physical repair and also maintenance to an external power line. “The repairs are under way already,” he said.After that drone strike, the UAE’s Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation said the plant remained safe and that no radioactive material had been released due to the attack. While hostilities have mostly calmed since a ceasefire came into effect in April, drones have been launched from Iraq towards Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.Iraq is home to powerful militia groups that have claimed attacks against “enemy bases in Iraq and the region” during the US-Israeli war on Iran Source link
Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi speaks during a press conference in Abu Dhabi, yesterday. The UAE’s nuclear plant was “carefully targeted” last month by attackers who aimed to cause a major incident, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday. The drone attack on May 17 hit an electricity facility at the plant, risking potentially shutting it down — a “serious situation indeed”, Rafael Grossi said.”From what we saw this was a very carefully targeted operation,” Grossi told journalists in Abu Dhabi after visiting the Barakah plant. The United Arab Emirates blamed militants in Iraq for the incident, which followed weeks of attacks by Iranian drones and missiles during the Middle East war.”In spite of the fact that the Emirati professionals acted very quickly and could address the situation, (it could have taken) out the reactor because of the loss of external power,” Grossi said. “This means that whoever was behind this knew exactly what they were doing. This is of extreme gravity.”Grossi said he was also visiting the UAE’s Gulf neighbours, who could be affected by any accident at the Arab world’s only nuclear plant. “I think this is pretty serious and this is why we have been very vocal,” he told AFP in separate remarks. “I’ve been to Kuwait…, now here, and I’m heading to Riyadh because several countries in the region have serious concerns,” he added.Grossi said he would hold a special session of the IAEA’s board of governors and that the body is providing technical expertise and support for the UAE. The “worst-case scenario” would be a direct hit on Barakah or Iran’s Bushehr plant — which has also been targeted in the war — with the potential for a leak of radioactive material, he told AFP.Cutting the power “has the practical effect of… necessitating emergency generation to keep the safety functions of the plant running”, he said.”To get to a meltdown would take much, much more. We would be talking of a situation where you would completely run out of external power.”Hamad al-Kaabi, deputy chairman of the Board of Management of the Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, said Grossi’s visit “reflects the international community view that an attack on such a plant is not acceptable”.He said Barakah, which has been fully operational since 2024, remains a “cornerstone” of energy infrastructure in the oil-rich country. “Whether we expand (nuclear power) in the future is yet to be decided, but I think Barakah makes a compelling case,” he told AFP. “If anything, it’s proved that these plants can be maintained safely and securely.” Source link
In a south Lebanon hospital heavily damaged by deadly Israeli strikes nearby, Dr Nasser al-Masri held a new-born baby, calling him “a message of life and hope” despite the war.Israeli strikes near the Jabal Amel hospital in Tyre on Monday killed four people and wounded 127, including four doctors, 27 nurses, and eight administrative employees, Lebanon’s health ministry said.They also caused “severe and extensive damage” to the facility, it added.”Despite everything that happened yesterday, there was a scheduled delivery today… (and) the mother insisted on delivering at the hospital,” Dr Masri said.”This baby was born today, he’s just a few minutes old… He brought us a message of life and a message of hope for the future.”Glass was scattered across some hospital rooms on Tuesday, while dust and debris covered beds and tables.Medication was strewn on corridor floors, and staff tried to work as others cleaned up around them.”We’re taking in any patient that comes to us,” Dr Masri said, adding that “even two hours after the raids, we were able to work normally, and the administration is determined to stay and work”.Around the hospital, the devastation was stark: a nearby building had been levelled, others were severely damaged and debris was scattered round near parked ambulances.The roof of the hospital’s parking collapsed, crushing several vehicles. Bulldozers worked to clear away the rubble.Inspecting the damage, Mohammad Derbaj, head of the hospital’s maintenance department, charged that “the civilian buildings were not the intended target, but rather Jabal Amel was targeted in order to put it out of service, but we are steadfast”.”What happened has increased our determination and strength,” he added, as the hospital administration “made a decision yesterday that the hospital will return… We will work day and night to restore the hospital to what it was”.Israeli strikes have not spared Lebanese hospitals since the start of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war on March 2.The health ministry says 17 hospitals have been damaged, with three forced to close, and 128 rescuers and medical personnel have been killed.The Lebanese Italian hospital in Tyre was also damaged by an Israeli attack in April.A strike last month near the city’s Hiram hospital wounded 13 staff and damaged it, according to the ministry.At Jabal Amel hospital on Tuesday, Hussein Qassir, head of the intensive care unit, told AFP they transferred patients from one ICU ward after it sustained significant damage in the airstrikes.”We were expecting a strike near or adjacent to the hospital… but I didn’t expect that the intensive care unit would be this damaged (but) the situation could have been so much worse.”Despite this, we continue… it is our duty.”Abdinasir Abubakar, World Health Organisation Representative to Lebanon, said on Tuesday that “two out of three hospitals” in the Tyre district, Jabal Amel and Hiram, “are damaged although continuing to function, and the third hospital is overwhelmed as it deals with an influx of injured patients”.The historic city in southern Lebanon, which still hosts thousands of displaced people from nearby areas, has been subject to repeated Israeli strikes that have continued despite an April 17 ceasefire agreement that has not been respected by either Israel or Hezbollah.Israel’s military has repeatedly warned residents of Tyre and its surroundings to evacuate in preparation for what it said are operations against Hezbollah.Staffer Khalil Mustapha, displaced from the border town of Aitaroun, took shelter in the hospital after losing his home.”I no longer have a home. Israel destroyed it and I came to the hospital. I never expected their level of criminality would reach this point,” he said.Zainab Fakih, who works in the laboratory, was sitting with her colleagues when the attack came.”We were terrified… We opened the doors and rubble rained down on us, but luckily no one was hurt,” she said.”We didn’t think they would bomb the area around the hospital. But we come here because this is our job, even though our families object”, fearing for their safety. Source link