Category: Middle East

CAIRO: Jordan’s King Abdullah II has received on Wednesday the President of the Syrian Arab Republic Ahmed Al-Sharaa who is visiting Jordan to discuss boosting ties between the two neighbors. 

Al-Sharaa is accompanied by Syria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Asaad Al-Shibani and a number of officials, according to state-run Petra News Agency.   

The visit is the leader’s third foreign trip along with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye since he came to power after leading an offensive which ousted Bashar Assad.

TEHRAN: Iran on Wednesday condemned a new round of US sanctions as a “clear sign of hostility” after Washington blacklisted more than 30 people and vessels linked to its oil trade.
Washington announced the measures on Monday, targeting the head of the national oil company and others accused of brokering oil sales.
It was the second wave of sanctions in less than a month since US President Donald Trump reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy on Tehran.

RISHON LE’ZION: Thousands of mourners, carrying flags and orange balloons, gathered Wednesday for the funeral procession of Shiri Bibas and her sons, who were killed in Gaza captivity.
The bodies of Shiri Bibas and her children — Kfir and Ariel — were returned to Israel last week by Hamas as part of the ongoing ceasefire that has halted the more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza.

BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun expressed hope that “the upcoming extraordinary Arab Summit, scheduled to be held next week in Cairo, would yield a unified Arab position to address the region’s current challenges, especially since it targets the joint interests of the brotherly Arab countries.”

Aoun received on Wednesday Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al-Busaidi, who was accompanied by a diplomatic delegation.

CAIRO: The United Nations’ food agency says it has temporarily paused aid distribution in Sudan’s famine-hit Zamzam displacement camp of a half-million people as fighting intensifies between the country’s warring sides, and it warns that thousands could now starve.
The World Food Program said Wednesday that fighting in the past two weeks between the military and a paramilitary group in Sudan’s civil war has forced its partners to leave the camp in western Darfur for safety.

CAIRO: Egypt rejected on Wednesday an Israeli opposition leader’s proposal that it take over the administration of Gaza, calling the idea “unacceptable” and contrary to the longstanding Egyptian and Arab position on the Palestinian cause.
“Any notions or proposals that circumvent the constants of the Egyptian and Arab stance (on Gaza)… are rejected and unacceptable,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Tamim Khalaf was quoted as saying by the state news agency MENA, a day after Israel’s Yair Lapid floated the idea.

GAZA CITY: A senior Hamas official told AFP that the Palestinian movement will not hold a public ceremony for the handover of the bodies of four Israeli hostages on Thursday.
“The handover will take place without public presence to prevent the occupation from finding any pretext for delay or obstruction,” the official said on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

KHIAM, Lebanon: Residents of southern Lebanon have been gradually returning to their villages to find their homes heavily damaged by the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
As they scour what remains, they are discovering that the battle-scarred walls of their houses served as a canvas for Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah supporters that tell the story of the war.

CAIRO: The war in Sudan appears to be reaching a critical juncture after nearly two years of fighting that has killed tens of thousands, driven millions from their homes and seen bloody atrocities.
For the first time, the military has been making steady advances against its rival, the notorious paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, and it could soon wrest back control of the capital, Khartoum.
The RSF responded by announcing at a gathering in Kenya that it and its allies will establish a parallel government.

TUNIS: A Tunisian court sentenced eight defendants to death on Tuesday over the 2013 assassination of leftist opposition figure Mohamed Brahmi, according to local reports.
Charges included “attempting to change the state’s nature” and “inciting armed conflict,” local media reported.
Three of the defendants also received additional death sentences for “deliberate participation in premeditated murder,” according to the reports.