Browsing: Region
Minister of State at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs Noura bint Mohammed al-Kaabi (L), Syrian Minister of Religious Endowments Mohammed Abu al-Khair Shukri (2nd L),…
The Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) said Tuesday that six people were killed and seven others injured as Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon continued. It said that Israel launched an airstrike on an inhabited house in Kfar Dounine in southern Lebanon, killing six people and injuring seven others, in addition to carrying out two more strikes on the town of Srifa. The agency added that Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of the towns of Al Mansouri and Majdal Zoun. Warplanes also carried out a series of airstrikes on towns. Related Story Source link
Kuwait announced Tuesday that four men detained earlier this month while attempting to slip into the country by sea have confessed to being officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, prompting Kuwait City to summon Tehran’s ambassador and lodge a formal protest.The interior ministry, in a statement carried by the state news agency Kuna, identified the four detainees as IRGC officers — two navy colonels, a captain and a first lieutenant — who admitted under questioning that they had been tasked with infiltrating Bubiyan Island, Kuwait’s largest island, located in the northwest of the Gulf close to the Iranian coast.The group attempted to land on May 1 aboard a fishing boat specifically chartered to carry out hostile acts against Kuwait, the ministry said. The infiltrators opened fire on Kuwaiti troops stationed on the island, wounding one serviceman, while two of the Iranian operatives were injured in the exchange. Two others managed to escape. Investigators have since opened a wider probe based on the detainees’ confessions to uncover any further plots aimed at undermining the country’s security and stability.The foreign ministry summoned Iranian ambassador Mohammad Totonji later in the day to receive the protest note. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hamad Suleiman al-Mashaan condemned the operation as a hostile act and a flagrant violation of Kuwaiti sovereignty, international law, the UN Charter and Security Council Resolution 2817 (2026). He demanded that Iran immediately and unconditionally halt such actions and bear full responsibility for them, while reaffirming Kuwait’s right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter and to take all necessary measures to safeguard its territory, citizens and residents.It is the fourth time Kuwait has summoned the Iranian envoy since the Middle East war erupted and Tehran launched its retaliatory campaign against Gulf states in late February. In the months since, Kuwaiti authorities have moved aggressively against individuals and networks suspected of ties to Iran, including the arrest in mid-April of 24 people accused of financing terrorist entities — among them, according to a security source, five former members of parliament. Source link
GCC Secretary General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi praised the Gulf states for building a development model that balances cultural identity with global openness, saying Gulf Cooperation Council nations have strengthened their regional and international influence through deeper political, economic, and technological integration. Speaking at the Gulf Achievements Forum in Riyadh, Albudaiwi highlighted major advances in security, digital transformation, healthcare, education, and energy connectivity, stressing that the Gulf citizen remains at the heart of the bloc’s development strategy. He said the GCC’s achievements, including freedom of movement, employment, investment, education, and healthcare access across member states, reflect the growing success of joint Gulf cooperation ahead of the council’s 45th anniversary on May 25. Albudaiwi also warned that accelerating global and regional changes make Gulf unity a strategic necessity, urging younger generations to continue strengthening regional cohesion and long-term economic competitiveness. Related Story Source link
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) shot and injured a young Palestinian man on Monday, after storming Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied city of Jerusalem (Al-Quds).WAFA news agency reported that the IOF stormed the vocational training institute opposite the camp and fired a barrage of tear gas, stun grenades, and live ammunition, injuring a young man who had sustained a serious head injury as a result of the attack.The occupied West Bank has witnessed an escalation in the Israeli occupation’s attacks in recent months, as occupation forces have intensified raids, arrests, and indiscriminate shooting in various Palestinian cities and towns. Source link
A Palestinian child was injured by Israeli occupation forces last night in Aida refugee camp, north of Bethlehem.Security sources told (WAFA) news agency that occupation forces stationed in the military tower opposite the camp fired live ammunition at residents’ homes, resulting in the serious injury of the child, who was shot in the chest. Source link
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has condemned the attack that targeted a police post in the Bannu area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan, which resulted in the deaths and injuries of a number of security personnel.In a statement, the OIC General Secretariat reiterated its firm stance rejecting terrorism and extremism in all their forms and manifestations.Pakistani authorities announced that at least three police officers were killed and others were injured in a car bomb attack followed by an armed clash targeting a security center in the Bannu area in northwestern Pakistan. Source link
Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior announced on Saturday the arrest of 41 individuals belonging to an organization linked to Iran.In a statement by the Bahrain News Agency, the Ministry stated that security services uncovered the organization based on the findings of investigations and security reports, and what was established by previous investigations conducted by the Public Prosecution in cases of espionage with foreign entities and sympathy with blatant Iranian aggression.The statement added that 41 members of the organization’s main body had been arrested.The Ministry noted that legal procedures are being completed against the individuals concerned, while search and investigation operations continue to take the necessary measures against anyone proven to be involved in the activities of this organization and to have committed acts in violation of the law. Source link
A suspected oil spill covering dozens of square kilometres of sea near Iran’s main oil hub of Kharg Island has been seen on satellite imagery this week.The likely spill – appearing on images as a grey and white slick – covered waters to the west of the 8km (5-mile) long island, pictures from Copernicus’s Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 satellites showed on May 6-8.”The slick appears visually consistent with oil,” said Leon Moreland, researcher at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, who estimated that it was covering an area of approximately 45sq km.Louis Goddard, co-founder of consultancy Data Desk, which focuses on climate and commodities, agreed that the images likely showed an oil slick, which he said was potentially the largest to occur since the start of the US-Israel war against Iran 70 days ago.The US military and Iran’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the images.The cause of the possible spill and the point of origin are currently unknown, Moreland added, noting that images from May 8 showed no evidence of additional active spills.Kharg Island, where US forces said they had destroyed military targets earlier in the war, is the hub for 90% of Iran’s oil exports, much of which is bound for China.The US Navy has been blockading Iran’s ports in an attempt to stop Tehran’s tankers from entering and exiting, while US and Iranian forces have clashed in the Gulf.The war has also trapped hundreds of ships in the Gulf and caused the world’s biggest disruption to crude oil supply, as well as hitting global supplies of oil products and liquefied natural gas. Related Story Source link
Somalia faces a severe malnutrition crisis and urgently needs more aid funding to avert a catastrophe, the UN World Food Programme said yesterday, warning it may be forced to halt humanitarian support from July without additional financing. A combination of multiple failed rain seasons, which have wiped out crops and livestock, and ongoing conflict and insecurity is pushing people in Somalia into dangerous levels of hunger at a time of radical cuts in foreign aid and aid shortages sparked by the war on Iran, the WFP said.Some 6 mn people in Somalia, or almost one in three, are facing acute hunger, while 1.9 mn children are acutely malnourished, according to the WFP.”Somalia faces a really severe malnutrition crisis and is one of the biggest malnutrition hotspots in the world,” Matthew Hollingworth, WFP assistant executive director for programme operations, told reporters in Geneva. He spoke via video link from Rome. Somalia faces several overlapping conflicts, including a long-running Islamist insurgency by the Al-Shabaab militant group against the federal government as well as political disputes between Mogadishu and regional states over power and security.The situation in the country bears similar warning signs to 2022, when Somalia was on the brink of famine following a prolonged drought, but the difference this time is that aid agencies do not have the funding to respond at a massive scale, the WFP said.The agency, which manages 90% of the food security response to Somalia, has had to reduce the number of people it can reach to 500,000 from 2 mn, and could have to halt its services altogether by July due to funding cuts, Hollingworth added. The WFP and the wider humanitarian sector also face widespread shortages of life-saving aid, with Ready-to-use-Therapeutic-Food facing delays of up to 40 days, due to supply chain disruption sparked by the war in the Middle East, Hollingworth said. Related Story Source link