Kuwaiti ministry supports efforts by 30 charities to aid victims of quake in Turkiye

Kuwaiti ministry supports efforts by 30 charities to aid victims of quake in Turkiye
Rescuers carry out searches through the rubble of a collapsed building in the southeastern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, on February 8, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 08 February 2023

Kuwaiti ministry supports efforts by 30 charities to aid victims of quake in Turkiye

Kuwaiti ministry supports efforts by 30 charities to aid victims of quake in Turkiye
  • Social Affairs Minister Mai Al-Baghli ordered all government agencies to cooperate so that relief supplies can be delivered as quickly as possible

KUWAIT: Kuwait’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Community Development is supporting the work of 30 charities and agencies in the country that are involved in a nationwide campaign for donations to help the victims of the Turkiye earthquake, officials said.
Ministry spokesperson Ahmad Al-Enezi said the Defense Ministry has been asked to provide a plane to transport emergency aid to Turkiye, the Kuwait News Agency reported on Wednesday.
He added that the social affairs minister, Mai Al-Baghli, ordered all government agencies to fully cooperate and integrate with the aid effort to ensure the relief supplies can be delivered as quickly as possible and alleviate the suffering of the those affected by the disaster, including Syrian refugees in Turkiye.
More than 11,000 people were killed and thousands injured when the 7.8-magnitude earthquake and a series of aftershocks caused devastating damage in parts of southeastern Turkiye and northern Syria in the early hours of Monday.


Tense Ramadan ahead for Palestinians as Israeli excesses continue

Tense Ramadan ahead for Palestinians as Israeli excesses continue
Updated 13 sec ago

Tense Ramadan ahead for Palestinians as Israeli excesses continue

Tense Ramadan ahead for Palestinians as Israeli excesses continue
  • On Sunday, four Israeli settlers threw flammable material at the house of Ahmed Awashreh in Sinjil north of Ramallah

RAMALLAH: Palestinian sources have warned that Israel has no intention of de-escalating during Ramadan, following a weekend of attacks in the West Bank and incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

On Sunday, four Israeli settlers threw flammable material at the house of Ahmed Awashreh in Sinjil north of Ramallah, a village repeatedly targeted by settlers from Givat Harel, Shilo and Ma’ale Libouna.

It comes weeks after fierce settler attacks on Huwara, Burin, and Qaryut, south of Nablus, where dozens of homes and vehicles were burned.

Awashra, 35, said he and his family of six had to flee for their lives and it was a miracle no one was killed.

Palestinian leaders have warned of a repeat of the 2015 attack in Duma, south of Nablus, when settlers burned the house of the Dawabsha family. 

Ali Dawabsha, who was 18 months old, was killed in the fire while his parents, Saad and Riham, died of their injuries days later. Their four-year-old son, Ahmed, suffered severe burns but survived.

Yossi Dagan, head of the Israeli Settlements Council in the northern West Bank, on Sunday opened an office near Huwara to protest against the lack of security for settlers passing through the area.

The move is reminiscent of Itamar Ben-Gvir, minister for internal security, who set up an office in the Sheikh Jarrah area of East Jerusalem last year when Palestinians resisted the attempted seizure of their homes by settlers.

Meanwhile early on Sunday, the Israeli army arrested five Palestinians from Tulkarem and Huwara and closed off Nablus hours after two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a drive-by shooting in Huwara.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said that it had carried out the attack. 

Dozens of settlers gathered in Huwara and attacked Palestinian vehicles with stones near the Deir Sharaf roundabout in northern Nablus, leaving some cars damaged.

Elsewhere, dozens of heavily armed settlers stormed the Old City of Hebron on Saturday night, chanting racist slogans amid a heavy deployment of the Israeli forces.

Israeli police officers and border guards meanwhile stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Saturday, forced all worshipers to leave, seized phones and arrested two people, Palestinian sources said.

Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the imam of Al-Aqsa, told Arab News that Israel was prosecuting a fierce campaign against the mosque that violated the freedom to worship.

“We did not see any facilities from the Israeli authorities during this Ramadan. Rather, we saw thousands of people gather at the Qalandia and Bethlehem checkpoints after the occupation prevented them from reaching Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform Friday prayers,” Sabri said.

Sabri added that the influx of worshippers to Al-Aqsa during Ramadan, whose numbers have exceeded those of previous years, is a response to Israel.

He said that a further tension and escalation depended on the actions of Israel.

“It depends entirely on the actions and procedures of the occupation. If the situation escalates, there will be tension, and if it does not, calm will prevail,” Sabri. “Whoever calls for calm must not take any action that provokes the feelings of Muslims."

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the incursions into Al-Aqsa and the ongoing incitement by settlers. It said the eviction of worshippers was a crime and an offense against the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and Ramadan.


Houthis attack Yemeni forces in Shabwa amid militia’s escalating operations

Houthis attack Yemeni forces in Shabwa amid militia’s escalating operations
Updated 30 min 59 sec ago

Houthis attack Yemeni forces in Shabwa amid militia’s escalating operations

Houthis attack Yemeni forces in Shabwa amid militia’s escalating operations
  • Houthis attacked Shabwa Defense Forces on Saturday in a range of mountains
  • Government troops said that the Houthis were forced to suspend the assault and withdraw

AL-MUKALLA: Yemeni government troops in the southern province of Shabwa announced on Sunday that they had repelled a Houthi assault on their positions in the face of the militia’s continuing expansion of military operations.

Houthis attacked Shabwa Defense Forces on Saturday in a range of mountains which connect the Merkhah Al Ulya district with the adjacent Bayda province, resulting in a fierce battle that reportedly killed and wounded many soldiers on both sides.

Government troops said that the Houthis were forced to suspend the assault and withdraw after failing to capture control of the highlands, and that military reinforcements were sent to the front line to repel any future action.

Unofficial Houthi media sources said that its troops had moved 8 km into government-held territory in Merkhah Al Ulya.

A Yemeni official in Shabwa told Arab News that the Houthi attacks had been intended to distract government soldiers rather than occupy the province.

The official, who requested anonymity, said: “Rather than a full-scale military action in the area, the purpose of the strike is to stir up sluggish waters.”

The Houthi military buildup in Shabwa comes only days after heavy combat erupted in the central province of Marib when government soldiers were attacked in rural areas of Hareb.

The fighting subsided on Sunday amid reports that government forces had regained villages held by the Houthis.

Meanwhile, Taiz Gov. Nabil Shamsan said on Twitter that Houthis had attacked his convoy for 90 minutes on Saturday with a guided missile, mortars, and artillery bombs as he was returning to Taiz from the city of Mocha on the Red Sea.

One of his bodyguards was killed and two others were injured in the incident.

Houthi assaults and the militia’s military escalation have sparked outrage and warnings of the impending failure of UN-led diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

Separately, Yemen’s Ministry of Human Rights said on Sunday that Houthis had encircled ancient areas in the city of Ibb and had detained scores of people, including two social media activists who took part in a rally against the militia last week.

The burial of a social media influencer turned into a protest against the Houthis on Thursday.

Protesters accused the militia of kidnapping, torturing, and executing Hamdi Abdel-Razzaq, also known as Al-Mukahal, an influencer abducted by the Houthis in October for criticizing corruption.

The Yemeni government said that armed Houthi forces in military vehicles surrounded Ibb, where the influencer had lived, and conducted raids on homes, detaining many people.

The government’s statement added: “The ministry has monitored the savage Houthi terrorist militia’s campaign of arbitrary arrests against Ibb residents, looting and destruction of their property, and terrorization of children and women.”


UAE slams Israeli decision to permit new settlements in Occupied Territories

UAE slams Israeli decision to permit new settlements in Occupied Territories
Updated 26 March 2023

UAE slams Israeli decision to permit new settlements in Occupied Territories

UAE slams Israeli decision to permit new settlements in Occupied Territories
  • Gulf state reaffirms rejection of violations of international law, threats to regional stability

DUBAI: The UAE has strongly condemned Israel’s decision to allow resettlement in northern West Bank areas, and to permit new settlement units in the Occupied Territories, the Emirates News Agency reported on Sunday.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation reaffirmed the UAE’s rejection of all practices that violate international law and threaten to aggravate regional escalation and instability. 

The ministry also emphasized the importance of supporting all regional and international efforts to advance the Middle East peace process, as well as ending illegal practices that jeopardize the two-state solution, and establishing an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

 


Iraq’s Kurdistan region to hold elections on Nov. 18 — spokesman

Iraq’s Kurdistan region to hold elections on Nov. 18 — spokesman
Updated 26 March 2023

Iraq’s Kurdistan region to hold elections on Nov. 18 — spokesman

Iraq’s Kurdistan region to hold elections on Nov. 18 — spokesman
  • The vote should elect both a parliament and a president for Kurdish regions

SULAIMANIYA: Elections will be held in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq on Nov. 18, the regional government spokesman said on Sunday.
Iraqi Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani issued a decree on Sunday and approved the date, KRG spokesman Dilshad Shahab told a news conference.
The vote should elect both a parliament and a president for Kurdish regions which have gained self-rule in 1991.


GCC appeals to US over Israeli minister’s Palestinian comments

GCC appeals to US over Israeli minister’s Palestinian comments
Updated 26 March 2023

GCC appeals to US over Israeli minister’s Palestinian comments

GCC appeals to US over Israeli minister’s Palestinian comments
  • The US State Department said they had found Smotrich’s comments “innacurate, dangerous”

LONDON: The Gulf Cooperation Council said on Sunday it had written to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemning controversial comments made by Israel’s finance minister in which he denied the existence of a Palestinian people.

Secretary General Jassem Mohamed Albudaiwi said that the foreign ministers of the GCC had sent the joint letter, which embodied the position of the leaders of the GCC countries regarding the Palestinian cause, Saudi Press Agency reported.

In the letter, the GCC called on Washington “to assume its responsibilities in responding to all measures and statements that target the Palestinian people,” and also called on the US “to play its role in reaching a just, comprehensive and lasting solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He added that the letter praised the American position which rejected the statements made by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

Albudaiwi said the 155th session of the GCC Ministerial Council, which was held on March 22 and met in Riyadh, stressed the GCC's support for the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over all Palestinian lands occupied since June 1967, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, that guarantees all the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, and rejects settlements in the occupied Palestinian lands.

The US State Department said they had found Smotrich’s comments “to not only be inaccurate but also deeply concerning and dangerous.”

Smotrich is part of veteran Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government that took office in December.

* With AFP