Browsing: Region
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the reprehensible drone attacks launched by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement, affirmed the Kingdom’s determination to preserve its security and sovereignty, deter aggressors, and its right to respond to the sources of aggression. The Ministry stressed the necessity for the Iraqi government to take all necessary measures to ensure that its territory is not used as a launchpad for attacks.Earlier, Major General Turki al-Maliki, the official spokesperson for the Saudi Ministry of Defense, stated that a number of drones had been intercepted and destroyed in recent hours, noting that they had attempted to target oil facilities in the Eastern Province and Riyadh.According to the Saudi Ministry of Defense statement, Major General al-Maliki said, “These terrorist attempts originated from Iraqi territory and were carried out by terrorist militias affiliated with Iran.” Source link
Syrian state media said Israeli forces carried out an incursion into the country’s south yesterday, a day after the visiting UN chief urged an end to Israeli violations and respect for Syria’s sovereignty.State news agency SANA said that “Israeli occupation forces carried out an incursion early yesterday into the villages of Maariya and Al-Aarda in the Yarmuk basin in the west of Daraa province”. It said the soldiers, accompanied by three military vehicles and a bulldozer, set up a checkpoint in Al-Aarda, and that forces “dropped leaflets in towns in the Yarmuk basin warning residents against closing roads or obstructing the advance of the vehicles”. After the December 2024 overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel sent troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Israeli-occupied Golan since 1974.It has carried out strikes and repeated incursions deeper into Syrian territory.Israeli officials have said they intend to keep forces in a “security zone” in southern Syria, where they seek a broader demilitarised zone. Also yesterday, SANA said Israeli forces fired artillery shells at farmland near the Quneitra province village of Taranja, without reporting casualties.Visiting UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday said that “violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are unacceptable and must cease.”“What is happening in the region around the Golan Heights is totally unacceptable,” he said, emphasising that “the Golan Heights are Syrian territory.” During a meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday, Guterres reaffirmed the UN’s “commitment to Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity, and expressed deep concern regarding violations by Israel” of the 1974 disengagement agreement, a UN statement said.Israel captured most of the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and later annexed the areas under its control, in a move not recognised by most of the international community. Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Saturday that “the continuation of Israeli military actions and the unlawful occupation of our land beyond the 1974 line is a direct threat to the security of the region”, demanding an “immediate and unconditional withdrawal”. Last month in the Yarmuk Basin area, state media and a local official said residents of the village of Abidin fled Israeli artillery fire after locals tried to block a road to stop an Israeli patrol that was advancing in the area.Despite tensions between the neighbours, Israel and Syria’s new authorities have held several rounds of direct talks and have agreed to establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism. Source link
Ahmed Abu Mahmoud, 64, sits at a mosque allegedly burned by Israeli settlers in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank…
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pledged help for Syrian reconstruction Saturday during the first visit to Damascus by a serving United Nations chief since 2009, before the start of a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa received Guterres at the presidential palace in Damascus, state news agency Sana said, without providing further details.”No country emerges from a very severe conflict and rebuilds itself on its own,” Guterres said after the talks with al-Sharaa at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.”We must help Syria in its determination and resolve to do so,” Guterres added.Al-Shaibani reiterated Syria’s request for more support from the international community, especially the European Union.He said Guterres’s talks with al-Sharaa – which al-Shaibani also attended – had focused on increasing UN support for reconstruction and a government plan to close displacement camps.Al-Sharaa, the former head of al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, was until November 2025 under terrorism-related sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council.Guterres’s visit is another milestone for Syria since rebels ousted president Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, ending the war that began in 2011 and launching a transitional period steered by an Islamist-led leadership.At the time, Guterres described “the end of the Syrian dictatorship” under Assad as a sign of hope for the region.In a post on X Saturday for what he described as a “visit of solidarity”, Guterres said: “The United Nations stands with Syria at this pivotal moment.”The UN chief will also meet other government officials and representatives of Syrian civil society and is expected to address the country’s parliament Monday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said earlier this week.He will underline that the country has an opportunity “not only to recover from conflict, but also to lay the foundations for a future for Syria that will be more stable, more inclusive, and more prosperous for all Syrians”, Dujarric said.Guterres is expected to be in Damascus for several days, but the full schedule of his visit has not been released by his office.He is visiting just weeks after two bombs exploded near a hotel in Damascus where French President Emmanuel Macron spent the night, overshadowing the first visit to Syria by a European Union head of state since Assad was toppled.Al-Sharaa’s government is seeking to rebuild Syria’s international ties and economy after nearly 14 years of war and decades of isolation under Assad family rule.The transition has been marred by two major episodes of sectarian bloodshed that have tested al-Sharaa’s repeated pledges to protect Syria’s religious minorities.Guterres expressed alarm over both bouts of violence and has called for accountability.Al-Sharaa, who broke ties with Al Qaeda in 2016, led an alliance of Islamist rebel factions that ousted Assad in a lightning offensive in December 2024.Since taking power, his government has sought to re-establish Syria’s diplomatic ties to expand beyond Assad’s longtime allies, Russia and Iran.Last year, al-Sharaa became the first Syrian president since 1967 to take part in the UN General Assembly in New York.The United States has lifted most sanctions on Syria and US President Donald Trump informed al-Sharaa earlier this month that he intended to remove Syria from Washington’s list of state sponsors of terrorism.Guterres is also expected during his trip to visit a UN peacekeeping force that has maintained a buffer zone between Israeli and Syrian forces for decades, Dujarric said.Israeli troops have occupied new areas in southern Syria after Assad was ousted.Damascus has demanded they withdraw and return to a 1974 disengagement agreement.Saturday Guterres called for an end to Israeli violations in Syria.”We underscore the importance of fully respecting Syria’s sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity,” he said at the joint press conference.”Violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are unacceptable and must cease. What is happening in the region around the Golan Heights is totally unacceptable,” Guterres said, adding: “I’d like to remind the international community that the Golan Heights are Syrian territory.”Israeli officials have said that they intend to keep forces in a “security zone” in southern Syria. Related Story Source link
Israeli soldiers warn a man on a scooter to leave as Palestinians are evacuated Saturday from the market in the old city of Hebron while Israeli…
An Israeli airstrike has killed the head of the Hamas-led police force in the northern Gaza Strip, Brigadier-General Abdel-Nasser al-Maqadma, the Hamas-run interior ministry and medics said yesterday.Maqadma, one of at least five Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes yesterday, was also known as the governor of the northern Gaza Strip.He was killed in the Sheikh Radwan area north of Gaza City, medics said.The Israeli military said that he was also part of Hamas’s military wing.Israel has killed dozens of members of the Hamas-led police force, including senior officials, in the past months, accusing many of them of being members of the Hamas armed wing who posed imminent threats to Israel and its forces inside Gaza.Hamas says Israeli attacks on the police force and its headquarters are intended to sow chaos and anarchy in the enclave and violate the US-brokered October ceasefire.Another Israeli strike yesterday killed a Palestinian medic in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.They added that a police officer wounded by an Israeli airstrike last week had passed away.The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident.An Israeli airstrike also killed two people in a house in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave, medics said.The Israeli military said the strike targeted a fighter of the Islamic Jihad group.Later in the day, an Israeli airstrike, also in Khan Younis, killed Khaled al-Breim, a high school student, taking the death toll yesterday to at least five.Relatives said al-Breim was killed as he sought to bring sweets to distribute to relatives and friends who had flocked into his family home to offer their congratulations as he had just concluded high school and was preparing for university.The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the student’s death.The latest deaths add to a toll of more than 1,180 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed by Israeli attacks since an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, according to Gaza health officials.Hamas does not usually disclose its losses.The truce halted full-scale fighting but has not ended near-daily Israeli strikes.Four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza over the same period. Source link
Iran said on Sunday it has halted retaliatory attacks in the region after the United States stopped its strikes on the country for the past two nights.” These attacks continued until two nights ago, but over the past two nights the Americans have stopped their attacks,” said army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia. “Since… our strategy has essentially been retaliatory, we have also halted our retaliatory operations.” Source link
Iran said on Sunday it had made progress in talks with Oman on management of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway crucial for oil and gas trade that both countries border.The latest talks come after the United States resumed attacks on Iran in an effort to end Tehran’s control of the strait, following a June memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war that had briefly eased tensions. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said several rounds of negotiations were held in Iranian capital Tehran on Friday and Saturday between Iranian and Omani deputy foreign ministers.The discussions focused on “common principles and operational mechanisms” for ensuring the safe passage of shipping through the strait while respecting the sovereign rights of the two states, Baqaei said. He described the talks as “useful” and said progress had been made, adding that “technical and political consultations between the two sides were continuing”. Source link
Lebanon's army on Sunday condemned ongoing Israeli military activities in the country's south that it said were preventing its full deployment under a framework deal reached with Israel last month.’Israeli occupation forces continue their attacks and violations of current understandings and of international laws through the systematic destruction and bulldozing of homes, bombardment and sweeps with automatic weapons in several southern areas,’ an army statement said, adding that ‘the continuation of these attacks obstructs the army's full deployment according to current agreements and prevents the return of residents to their villages and town Source link
Members of the Israeli military stand guard following what locals say was an attack by Israeli settlers, in Sarra near Nablus. (Reuters) Four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed near a Palestinian village yesterday in a confrontation that added to a growing toll over recent weeks as Israeli settler violence has intensified against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The incident near the village of Tal, southwest of the city of Nablus, followed a sharp increase in settler attacks on Palestinian villages since the start of the year, according to figures from the UN.Israel’s military said it had received reports that Israeli civilians hiking in the area had been attacked near the village, in the so-called Area A of the West Bank. The area is under Palestinian Authority civil and security control and Israelis are officially prohibited from entering. The military said a Palestinian man took a weapon from Israeli security personnel from the nearby settlement of Havat Gilad and opened fire, wounding several Israelis before being killed. It said four Palestinians were killed in the incident.Local Palestinian officials said a large group of Israeli settlers had tried to break into two houses and were then confronted by villagers. Israeli troops set up roadblocks in the area around Tal and Nablus and said they were pursuing individuals involved in the incident. The military said it was preparing for “extensive operational activity in the sector” and had cancelled leave. “Following the recent events, and especially this morning’s attack, there is concern about escalation throughout Judea and Samaria. We are carrying out operations to prevent the area from spiraling into further violence,” Major General Avi Bluth, head of the Israeli military’s central command said in a statement. The Israeli military said it had apprehended two men in a hospital in Nablus where they had been taken after being injured while carrying out the attack. It said “they were apprehended by the soldiers and transferred to the security forces for further processing.” Palestinian officials said the Israeli military had raided the hospital and assaulted medical staff in the emergency department. Hardline Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Palestinian villages near Tal should be cleared of their inhabitants and new settlements built to establish security. “This is our appropriate Zionist answer to those who desire to harm our grip on the areas of our country,” he said in a statement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had conducted a security assessment into the incident, along with the defense minister and the military’s chief of staff.Three months before Israelis go to the polls, Netanyahu’s pro-settler government has stepped up preparations to expand settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians view it as part of their state along with Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. In a separate incident, the Palestinian Authority foreign ministry said settlers had attacked a village near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, wounding two people and setting fire to trees and cars. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa also reported a number of other settler attacks in various parts of the West Bank. According to figures from the Palestinian Authority, 87 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank this year, including 21 killed by Israeli settlers. UN figures indicate some 850 Palestinians have been wounded in the context of attacks by Israeli settlers since the start of the year. Essam Saifi, a local leader in the Palestinian Fatah party from Tal, told Reuters by phone that about 25 to 30 settlers initially attacked the eastern area of Tal and tried to break into two houses there.When residents came out to confront them, he said the settlers opened fire before leaving.Half an hour later, he said they returned and attacked the western part of the town, leading to a chaotic shootout that also involved the Israeli military. Source link