Browsing: Region
A Palestinian worker breaks up concrete while working on rubble in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 19, 2026. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY…
A woman walks past a giant billboard reading “The Strait of Hormuz remains closed” at the Revolution Square in Tehran. (AFP) Iran warned last week that submarine cables in the Strait of Hormuz were a vulnerable point for the region’s digital economy, raising concerns about potential attacks on critical infrastructure. The narrow waterway, already a chokepoint for global oil shipments, is equally vital for the digital world. Several fibre-optic cables snake across the seabed of the strait, connecting countries from India and Southeast Asia to Europe via the Gulf states and Egypt. Subsea cables are fibre-optic or electrical cables laid on the sea floor to transmit data and power. They carry around 99% of the world’s internet traffic, according to the ITU, the United Nations specialised agency for digital technologies. They also carry telecommunications and electricity between countries, and are essential for cloud services and online communications. “Damaged cables mean the internet slowing down or outages, e-commerce disruptions, delayed financial transactions … and economic fallout from all of these disruptions,” said geopolitical and energy analyst Masha Kotkin. Gulf countries, particularly the UAE and Saudi Arabia, have been investing billions of dollars in artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure to diversify their economies away from oil. Both nations have established national AI companies serving customers across the region — all reliant on undersea cables to move data at lightning speed. Major cables through the Strait of Hormuz include the Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1), connecting Southeast Asia to Europe via Egypt, with landing points in the UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia; the FALCON network, connecting India and Sri Lanka to Gulf countries, Sudan, and Egypt; and the Gulf Bridge International Cable System, linking all Gulf countries including Iran. Additional networks are under construction, including a system led by Qatar’s Ooredoo. While the total length of submarine cables has grown considerably between 2014 and 2025, faults have remained stable at around 150-200 incidents per year, according to the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC). State-sponsored sabotage remains a risk, but 70-80% of faults are caused by accidental human activities — primarily fishing and ship anchors, according to the ICPC and experts. Other risks include undersea currents, earthquakes, subsea volcanoes, and typhoons, said Alan Mauldin, research director at telecom research firm TeleGeography. The industry addresses these by burying cables, armouring them, and selecting safe routes, he said. The Iran war, nearing the two-month mark, has brought unprecedented disruption to global energy supply and regional infrastructure, including hits to Amazon Web Services data centers in Bahrain and the UAE. Subsea cables have been spared so far. However, an indirect risk exists from damaged vessels inadvertently hitting cables by dragging anchors.“In a situation of active military operations, the risk of unintentional damage increases, and the longer this conflict lasts, the higher the likelihood of unintentional damage,” Kotkin said. A similar incident occurred in 2024,when a commercial vessel attacked by Iran-aligned Houthis drifted in the Red Sea and severed cables with its anchor. The degree to which damage to the cables might impact connectivity in Gulf countries depends largely on how much individual network operators rely on them and what alternatives they have, according to TeleGeography. Repairing damaged cables in conflict zones poses a separate challenge to securing them. While the physical repair itself is not overly complicated, decisions by repair vessel owners and insurers may also be impacted by the risk of damage from fighting or the presence of mines, experts say. Permits to access territorial waters add another layer of difficulty. “Often one of the biggest problems with doing repairs is you have to get permits into the waters where the damage is. That can take a long time sometimes and can be the biggest source (of problems),” Mauldin said. Once the conflict ends, industry players will also face the challenge of re-surveying the sea floor to determine safe cable positions and avoid ships or objects that may have sunk during hostilities, he said. While potential damage to subsea cables would not cause a complete connectivity loss — due to land-based links – experts agree that satellite systems are not a feasible replacement, as they cannot handle the same volume of traffic and are more expensive. “It’s not as though you could just switch to satellite. That’s not an alternative,” Mauldin said, noting that satellites rely on connections to land-based networks and are better suited for things in motion, like airplanes and ships. Source link
The United Arab Emirates will withdraw from the Opec and Opec+ oil cartels to focus on “national interests”, it announced yesterday, causing fresh shockwaves as energy prices soar over the Middle East war. The UAE, one of the world’s top oil producers, which has previously chafed at Opec production quotas, will pull out on Friday, a statement carried by the official WAM news agency said. The UAE has been an Opec member through the emirate of Abu Dhabi since 1967, four years before the former British protectorate became a country. The last Opec member to withdraw from the cartel was Angola in 2024. “This decision reflects the UAE’s long-term strategic and economic vision and evolving energy profile,” the UAE statement said. “During our time in the organisation, we made significant contributions and even greater sacrifices for the benefit of all,” it added.“However, the time has come to focus our efforts on what our national interest dictates.” The decision, in the midst of the biggest oil shock since the 1970s, is likely to weaken Opec, dominated by the UAE’s neighbour Saudi Arabia, indicating further turbulence for markets, analysts said.Gulf oil shipments are currently being strangled by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which flows past the UAE and normally carries one-fifth of the world’s oil. Given the restrictions on oil shipments in the strait, the UAE did not want to be constrained by quotas once the situation was back to normal, a source close to the energy ministry told AFP. The UAE, hard-hit by Iranian attacks, has also faced trouble in its relationship with Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, after a stand-off between rival forces backed by the two countries in Yemen. Pre-war, the UAE was the fourth biggest producer in the 22-member Opec+, behind Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq.Jorge Leon, an analyst at Rystad Energy, said its withdrawal may not immediately impact oil markets while Hormuz shipments remain on hold. Jamie Ingram, managing editor for the Middle East Economic Survey, posted that Opec is losing 13% of its production capacity with the UAE’s departure, citing the International Energy Agency.Founded in 1960, the 12-member Opec cartel in 2016 partnered up with 10 other producers to form Opec+ to gain more clout. Source link
His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani Tuesday joined Their Majesties and Highnesses the GCC leaders and heads of delegations at a consultative summit held in Jeddah, where discussions focused on regional and international developments.HH the Amir was accompanied by senior officials, including His Excellency Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani, His Excellency Chief of the Amiri Diwan Abdullah bin Mohammed al-Khulaifi, His Excellency Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi, along with other members of the official delegation. Following the meeting, HH the Amir attended a luncheon hosted by Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, in honour of the participating Gulf leaders.Earlier, HH the Amir was received upon arrival at the Royal Terminal at King Abdulaziz International Airport by Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. Secretary-General of GCC, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi was also present at the reception, alongside Deputy Governor of Makkah Region, Prince Saud bin Mishaal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, Qatar’s ambassador Bandar bin Mohammed al-Attiyah, and Saudi ambassador to Qatar Prince Saad bin Mansour bin Saad bin Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud as well as senior Saudi officials.Later, HH the Amir departed Saudi Arabia following his participation in the consultative summit. Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, expressed his gratitude to the GCC leaders for their efforts at the Consultative Gulf Summit hosted by the Kingdom. This summit reflects the kingdom’s commitment to strengthening communication and consultation, and supporting coordination and joint action to achieve regional security and stability, he said. Related Story Source link
A child looks through damaged wall at an open-air art exhibition at the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip Tuesday. (AFP) Israeli authorities are systematically depriving people in Gaza of the water they need to live, Doctors Without Borders warned Tuesday, decrying a campaign of “collective punishment” against Palestinians. The extensive destruction of civilian water infrastructure in Gaza coupled with obstruction of access constitutes “an integral part of Israel’s genocide”, said the medical charity, which goes by its French acronym MSF. In a report entitled “Water as a Weapon”, MSF said the “engineered scarcity” was occurring alongside “direct killing of civilians, the devastation of health facilities, (and) the destruction of homes”. Together, this amounted to “the deliberate infliction of destructive and inhumane conditions of life on the Palestinian population in Gaza”, warned the report, based on testimonies and data MSF collected in 2024 and 2025. “Israeli authorities know that without water, life ends,” MSF emergency manager Claire San Filippo said in a statement. “Yet they have deliberately and systematically obliterated water infrastructure in Gaza, whilst consistently blocking water-related supplies from entering.” Despite an October ceasefire that largely halted the Gaza war that began after Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel, the territory remains gripped by daily violence as Israeli strikes continue and both the Israeli military and Hamas accuse each other of breaking the truce. ‘Engineered’ scarcityThe MSF report, which was slammed by Israel, pointed to data from the United Nations, European Union and World Bank indicating that Israel had destroyed or damaged nearly 90% of water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza. “Desalination plants, boreholes, pipelines and sewage systems have been rendered inoperable or inaccessible,” it said. The charity documented several incidents where its clearly identified water trucks and boreholes had been shot at or destroyed. “Palestinians have been injured and killed simply trying to access water,” San Filippo said. The charity said that besides the local authorities, it was the largest producer and main distributor of drinking water in Gaza. Last month, it provided more than 5.3 million litres of water each day, which meets the minimum needs of more than 407,000 people, or a fifth of Gaza’s population. However, throughout the war, “Israeli military displacement orders have locked our teams out of areas where we had provided water to hundreds of thousands of people,” the MSF statement said. ‘Perfect storm’MSF said a third of its requests to bring in critical water and sanitation supplies, including water desalination units, pumps, water tanks, insect repellent, chlorine and other chemicals to treat water, had “been rejected or left unanswered”. San Filippo also cautioned that the deprivation of water, “combined with dire living conditions, extreme overcrowding, and a collapsed health system, create a perfect storm for the spread of diseases”. MSF called on Israel to “immediately restore water for people at the required levels in Gaza”. It urged Israel’s allies to “use their leverage to pressure Israel to stop impeding humanitarian access”. COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs, harshly criticised “the baseless claims” presented in the report. It maintained in a statement that “water supply in Gaza consistently exceeds humanitarian thresholds”, insisting that “far from ‘preventing’ access, Israel facilitates and provides water from its own sources”.MSF’s “operational delays” were a result of the organisation’s “refusal to follow standard registration protocols and their history of employing individuals linked to terror”, COGAT charged. Contacted by AFP, MSF did not wish to react to Israel’s accusations. Related…
Bahrain has revoked the citizenship of 69 people over what the country described as sympathy with Iran’s hostile acts and collaboration with foreign entities, the kingdom’s interior ministry said in a statement. The ministry said that the 69 people including family members of accused individuals were all of non-Bahraini origin.“The Bahraini nationality has been revoked from those individuals for glorifying or sympathising with the hostile Iranian acts, or engaging in contacts with external parties,” the ministry said. It said the revocations had been carried out in accordance with royal directives from King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa and were based on Article 10/3 of the Bahraini Nationality Law. The article provides for the revocation of citizenship in cases of “causing harm to the interests of the kingdom or acting in a manner that contradicts the duty of loyalty to it.”The interior ministry said the competent authorities were “continuing to study and review” who deserves Bahraini citizenship. Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Advocacy Director at the Britain-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), condemned the move, calling it “the beginning of a dangerous era of repression” and saying the decisions were “imposed without legal safeguards or any right of appeal.” BIRD said it was the first such revocation of citizenship in Bahrain since 2019. Between 2012 and 2019, Bahrain revoked the citizenship of at least 990 nationals, the group said. Iran fired at targets in Bahrain and other Gulf Arab states where the US has military bases after it was attacked on February 28. Bahrain’s National Communication Centre did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reuters) Source link
Smoke rises following explosions in southern Lebanon, near the Israel-Lebanon border, as seen from northern Israel, yesterday. (Reuters) The Israeli military began carrying out strikes in eastern Lebanon yesterday, expanding the scope of its bombing campaign during a ceasefire that has failed to fully halt hostilities with Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. The strikes on Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley marked the first time the area has been hit since a US-brokered ceasefire came into force on April 16, significantly reducing the pace of attacks without entirely stopping the exchanges of fire. Israel has continued to carry out strikes across southern Lebanon, and its troops are occupying a strip of the country’s south, destroying homes they describe as infrastructure being used by Hezbollah. The Iran-backed group, meanwhile, has kept up its drone and rocket attacks against Israeli troops in Lebanon and on northern Israel. A spokesperson for the Israeli military said it was beginning to strike Hezbollah infrastructure in the Bekaa as well as areas in southern Lebanon. Security sources told Reuters strikes had hit near the town of Nabi Chit, near Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria, with no immediate reports of casualties. Lebanon’s state media agency reported several strikes across the south that left at least three people wounded. Hezbollah said yesterday it had attacked an Israeli tank in southern Lebanon with a drone. The Israeli military said a drone launched by Hezbollah exploded near its troops in southern Lebanon, without causing casualties. More than 2,500 people have been killed in Israeli strikes across Lebanon since Hezbollah’s attack on Israel on March 2 in support of its ally Iran that triggered an Israeli ground and air campaign which has left swathes of southern Lebanon in ruins. The war has deepened differences among people in Lebanon, who are divided over Hezbollah’s arms and over prospective peace talks with Israel. The Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors to the United States have met twice to discuss the ceasefire, intended to pave the way for direct talks to secure a peace deal between the longtime foes. Hezbollah fiercely opposes direct negotiations, with its head Naim Qassem describing the talks in a written statement yesterday as a “humiliating and unnecessary concession.” “Let it be clear, these direct negotiations and their outcomes are considered nonexistent to us and do not concern us at all. We will continue our defensive resistance for Lebanon and its people,” Qassem said. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has defended the government’s move to engage in face-to-face talks and yesterday made a jab at Hezbollah without naming the group. “What we are doing is not treason; rather, treason is committed by whoever takes his country to war to achieve external interests,” he said in a statement released by his office, an apparent reference to Hezbollah’s decision to enter the regional war last month.“Some hold us accountable for deciding to go to negotiations on the pretext of the lack of national consensus, and I ask: When you went to war, did you first obtain national consensus?” Aoun said. Source link
The Israeli occupation continued its attacks on southern Lebanon on Tuesday, violating the ceasefire that began on April 16.The Lebanese National News Agency reported that Israeli warplanes launched three airstrikes on the town of Zawtar Al-Sharqiyah in the Nabatieh district. Meanwhile, a number of people remain missing following an airstrike on the town of Haris in the Bint Jbeil district, southern Lebanon.In a related development, Israeli warplanes also attacked the town of Jabal Al-Batoum in the Tyre district, while occupation forces fired heavy machine guns in Bint Jbeil.On another note, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced today that four people were killed and 51, including three children, were injured in Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon Monday night.By continuing its strikes on southern Lebanon, the Israeli entity is violating the 10-day ceasefire that began on April 16 and was later extended for three weeks last Friday. Source link
The flow of Iraqi fuel oil shipments through Syrian territory towards the port of Baniyas in Tartus governorate on the Mediterranean Sea constitutes a qualitative step that paved the way for a strategic corridor for oil flows towards the Mediterranean.Director of Corporate Communications at the Syrian Petroleum Company Safwan Sheikh Ahmad said that this step reflects Syria’s return to playing an important role as an energy corridor in the region, and the country’s preparedness for operational capabilities.He explained that the ongoing transport operations are carried out according to an integrated logistics system that currently relies on land transport via dedicated tankers, where the receiving, unloading and storage operations are organised within prepared facilities, leading to re-pumping via the Baniyas outlet.He revealed that the transition to the level of pipelines, including historical projects such as Kirkuk-Baniyas, requires broader arrangements, in addition to infrastructure rehabilitation and modernisation works. He also pointed out that this route provides direct revenues related to transit and storage services.Ahmad noted that Syria has a unique geographical location that qualifies it to be a pivotal energy corridor towards the Mediterranean Sea. With the development of infrastructure and the strengthening of partnerships, this role can be expanded to include a wider range of transport and export operations in light of the regional need to diversify supply routes and enhance their reliability.Director of Local and International Relations at the General Authority for Ports and Customs in Syria, Mazen Alloush, echoed similar views pertaining to the latest developments. Alloush explained that the procedures included simplifying and standardising customs transactions, adopting dedicated routes so as to ensure convoys reach their destination with high efficiency and without registering obstacles.He pointed out that the authorities faced several challenges due to the damaged infrastructure they inherited from the previous regime. For example, Al Tanf crossing, which is the passage through which Iraqi fuel convoys pass needed comprehensive rehabilitation. Despite this, he said that things are smooth as the authorities are addressing these challenges through continuous maintenance. Alloush added that the Authorities are working in light of regional changes to implement a strategic vision to enhance Syria’s role as a regional energy transit corridor, through developing the infrastructure of border crossings in parallel with rehabilitating ports and modernizing their operational infrastructure, introducing modern operating systems and increasing capacity, adopting advanced operating models, as well as developing the customs work system in line with international standards. He noted that Syria has a pivotal strategic location on the regional energy transport map, with its geographical advantages and logistical infrastructure that qualify it to play an active role in transporting and exporting Iraqi oil and the oil of other countries to the Mediterranean Sea. He pointed out that reactivating this role in light of the current changes serves common economic interests and enhances opportunities for regional integration. Concluding his remarks to QNA, Alloush stressed the Authority’s commitment to providing a safe and efficient transit environment that supports trade and energy in the region, and contributes to consolidating Syria’s position as a key player in the regional energy equation. Source link
A Syrian court conducted the first hearing Sunday in the trial of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad and senior figures from his government, one of whom appeared in person.Assad and his brother Maher have fled Syria and will be tried in absentia, but one of their relatives, former security official Atef Najib, was in the dock in handcuffs.”Today we begin the first trials of transitional justice in Syria,” judge Fakhr al-Din al-Aryan declared as he opened the session.”This includes a defendant in custody, present in the dock, as well as defendants who have fled justice,” he said.A judicial source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the proceedings marked the beginning of preparations for the trials of Assad, his brother and other prominent figures like Najib.Najib, who was arrested in January 2025 in the aftermath of the collapse of the Assad government, appeared in court in Damascus in a striped prison jersey.He previously headed Syria’s political security branch in the southern province of Daraa, where Syria’s 2011 uprising first erupted.He is accused of leading a broad campaign of repression and arrests there.Assad fled to Moscow as Islamist-led forces closed in on Damascus in December 2024, ending more than five decades of his family dynasty’s rule.The judge did not question Najib during Sunday’s session, which was dedicated to “preparatory administrative and legal procedures”, and announced that a second hearing would be held on May 10.The judicial source said in-person trials will include Wassim al-Assad, another relative of the ousted president, former grand mufti Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun, as well as military and security officials arrested by the new authorities in recent months. Source link