A 13-year hiatus ends: Turkish foreign minister attends Arab League summit

Special A 13-year hiatus ends: Turkish foreign minister attends Arab League summit
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit at the league’s foreign ministers meeting in Cairo, Egypt, Sept. 10, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 10 September 2024
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A 13-year hiatus ends: Turkish foreign minister attends Arab League summit

A 13-year hiatus ends: Turkish foreign minister attends Arab League summit
  • Ankara sees Fidan’s visit as a strategic move to strengthen ties with bloc members while exploring new avenues for cooperation
  • Country’s previous military operations in Libya, Somalia and Syria have strained relations with the Arab League, which has frequently criticized such actions

ANKARA: As Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan attends the 162nd Ordinary Council of Foreign Ministers of the Arab League in Cairo on Tuesday, attention is focused on how this will impact Turkiye’s ongoing efforts to further normalize relations with its Arab neighbors after years of strained ties.

It has been 13 years since a Turkish foreign minister attended a summit of the 22-member Arab League. Ankara sees the visit as a strategic move to strengthen Turkiye’s regional ties with the members on a more institutionalized basis, while exploring new avenues for cooperation and mutual benefit.

The country’s previous military operations in Libya, Somalia and Syria have strained relations with the Arab League, which has frequently criticized such actions.

Fidan’s presence at the summit is particularly noteworthy because, as the former head of intelligence, he was instrumental in initiating the normalization process with Gulf countries in 2020.

Since becoming foreign minister last year, he has continued his efforts to improve relations with the region, holding several meetings with Arab diplomats and Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

Political consultations were also held in Ankara in February between Deputy Foreign Minister Ambassador Ahmet Yildiz and Arab League Deputy Secretary-General Ambassador Hossam Zaki.

More recently, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi made a long-awaited visit to Turkiye after years of bitter rivalry.

In response to the Gaza conflict, Turkiye has joined a joint contact group formed at a summit of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to seek an end to the violence.

On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed an alliance among Islamic countries to counter Israeli “expansionism.”

Soner Cagaptay, senior fellow at The Washington Institute, told Arab News: “There seems to be a wide consensus among Arab League members that the Syrian regime should be rehabilitated and integrated into the international system. One piece of this is Turkish-Syrian normalization.

“Key members of the Arab world, including those that have financial ties with Turkiye such as Saudi Arabia and UAE, have long insisted that Ankara also normalize ties with Egypt, which has happened, but I think that those two countries are also driving the normalization process between Ankara and Damascus.”

In the meantime, Turkiye and the Gulf Cooperation Council are currently negotiating a free trade agreement.

Syria’s return as a full member of the Arab League last year and Damascus’s approval of Turkiye’s participation in the summit are also significant for the latter’s ongoing normalization talks with Syria since the countries broke off relations in 2011.

While Turkiye has improved relations with the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, its efforts to normalize ties with Damascus are progressing gradually.

Galip Dalay, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, thinks Fidan’s presence at the summit reflects the level of normalization achieved between Turkiye and the Arab world so far.

“Recent developments had tested this to some extent, not least the Gaza war. Rather than undermining it, the war has underpinned this normalization process as Turkiye has pursued a policy prioritizing Arab agencies on the subject,” he told Arab News.

Dalay thinks this also signifies revisiting Turkiye’s pre-Arab Spring regional policies, favoring good relations with Arab governments and elites.

“It indicates a gradual, economy-focused regional policy centered on positive interactions with Arab elites. Syria, in any case, had no luxury to reject Turkiye’s participation in the Summit,” he added.

According to widespread rumors over the summer, Turkiye is expected to extend an invitation to Syrian President Bashar Assad “any time” for possible talks to restore bilateral relations. Alternatively, both parties could meet in a third country. Speaking at the NATO summit in July in Washington, Erdogan said he had assigned Turkiye’s foreign minister to follow up on this issue.

In the meantime, the country’s spy chief, Ibrahim Kalin, recently visited Libya to help overcome the ongoing political impasse over oil exports.

“By the final months of 2020, not only Ankara but also all the capitals of the Middle East, including Tel Aviv, began initiating normalization processes with one another. This shift was a natural consequence of a pragmatic reassessment of the region’s political climate, which has been tense since 2011,” Betul Dogan-Akkas, assistant professor of international relations at Ankara University’s international relations department, told Arab News.

“Minister Fidan, as the chief of intelligence, has played a key role in shaping strategic normalization efforts with the Gulf, Egypt and Syria. His actions as foreign minister reflect this new era in regional diplomacy,” she added.

“During a critical visit to Ankara last week, President El-Sisi emphasized Egypt’s eagerness to collaborate with Turkiye to strengthen regional peace, including addressing conflicts in Libya and Syria. Initially, his comments were interpreted as an attempt to leverage Cairo’s role in Turkiye-Syria cooperation.”

According to Dogan-Akkas, combining these dynamics suggests that Turkiye has proposed a new diplomatic approach to the Arab world, one that seeks to move beyond political controversies and establish strategically significant diplomatic channels since the end of 2020.

“If Turkiye successfully navigates this process and underscores its constructive role in the region, it could lead to a long-term strengthening of relations with both Syria and Egypt,” she said.


Blast in residential block blast near Iran’s Qom, source says not Israeli attack

Blast in residential block blast near Iran’s Qom, source says not Israeli attack
Updated 13 sec ago
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Blast in residential block blast near Iran’s Qom, source says not Israeli attack

Blast in residential block blast near Iran’s Qom, source says not Israeli attack
  • The agency said the residents of the building were ordinary citizens

DUBAI: An explosion at a residential building injured seven people in the Pardisan neighborhood of Qom city, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported, going on to quote an unnamed source saying it was not the result of any Israeli attack.
“Four residential units were damaged in the blast. Initial assessments show that the cause of the incident was a gas leak, and follow-ups are continuing in this regard,” the director of Qom’s fire department told Fars.
The agency said the residents of the building were ordinary citizens.
Iran’s regional arch-rival Israel has a record of assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists, whom it considers part of a program that directly threatens Israel. Tehran maintains its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.
Since the end of a 12-day air war last month between Iran and Israel, in which Israel and the United States attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, several
explosions
have occurred in Iran, but authorities have not blamed Israel.
“People should not worry about rumors (of Israeli attacks). If a hostile action occurs in the country, the news will immediately reach the people and alarm bells will simultaneously be activated in the Occupied Territories,” Fars quoted an unnamed Iranian source as saying following the blast in Qom.


Anger turns toward Washington in West Bank town mourning two men killed by settlers

Anger turns toward Washington in West Bank town mourning two men killed by settlers
Updated 14 July 2025
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Anger turns toward Washington in West Bank town mourning two men killed by settlers

Anger turns toward Washington in West Bank town mourning two men killed by settlers
  • Residents of area call for stronger action from Washington
  • Many residents have American citizenship, family ties to US

AL-MAZRA’A ASH-SHARQIYA, West Bank: Frustration among Palestinians grew toward the United States on Sunday as mourners packed the roads to a cemetery in the Israeli-occupied West Bank town of Al-Mazr’a Ash-Sharqiya for the burial of two men, one of them a Palestinian American, killed by settlers.
Palestinian health authorities and witnesses said Sayfollah Musallet, 21, was beaten to death, and Hussein Al-Shalabi, 23, was shot in the chest by settlers during a confrontation on Friday night.
Most of the small town’s roughly 3,000 residents share family ties to the United States and many hold citizenship, including Musallet, who was killed weeks after flying to visit his mother in Al-Mazr’a Ash-Sharqiya, where he traveled most summers from Tampa, Florida.
“There’s no accountability,” said his father Kamel Musallet, who flew from the United States to bury his son.
“We demand the United States government do something about it ... I don’t want his death to go in vain.”
Israeli killings of US citizens in the West Bank in recent years include those of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Palestinian American teenager Omar Mohammad Rabea and Turkish American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.
A US State Department spokesperson said on Friday it was aware of the latest death, but that the department had no further comment “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the victim.
Many family and community members said they expected more, including that the United States would spearhead an investigation into who was responsible.
A US State Department spokesperson on Sunday referred questions on an investigation to the Israeli government and said it “has no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas.”
The Israeli military had earlier said Israel was probing the incident. It said confrontations between Palestinians and settlers broke out after Palestinians threw rocks at Israelis, lightly injuring them.

‘Betrayal’
Musallet’s family said medics tried to reach him for three hours before his brother managed to carry him to an ambulance, but he died before reaching the hospital.
Local resident Domi, 18, who has lived in Al-Mazr’a Ash-Sharqiya for the last four years after moving back from the United States, said fears had spread in the community since Friday and his parents had discussed sending him to the United States. “If people have sons like this they are going to want to send them back to America because it’s just not safe for them,” he said.
He had mixed feelings about returning, saying he wanted to stay near his family’s land, which they had farmed for generations, and that Washington should do more to protect Palestinians in the West Bank.
“It’s a kind of betrayal,” he said.
Settler violence in the West Bank has risen since the start of Israel’s war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza in late 2023, according to rights groups.
Dozens of Israelis have also been killed in Palestinian street attacks in recent years and the Israeli military has intensified raids across the West Bank.
Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war.
US President Donald Trump in January rescinded sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of being involved in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.
Malik, 18, who used to visit Musallet’s ice-cream shop in Tampa and had returned to the West Bank for a few months’ vacation, said his friend’s death had made him question his sense of belonging.
“I was born and raised in America, I only come here two months of a 12-month year, if I die like that nobody’s going to be charged for my murder,” he said, standing in the cemetery shortly before his friend was buried. “No one’s going to be held accountable.” 


Trump says hopes to get Gaza ‘straightened out’ over next week

Trump says hopes to get Gaza ‘straightened out’ over next week
Updated 14 July 2025
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Trump says hopes to get Gaza ‘straightened out’ over next week

Trump says hopes to get Gaza ‘straightened out’ over next week
  • The US is backing a 60-day ceasefire with a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and talks to end the conflict

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, United States: US President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday that talks are ongoing over Israel’s conflict in Gaza and he hopes for progress in the next week, even as ceasefire negotiations in Doha stalled.
“Gaza — we are talking and hopefully we’re going to get that straightened out over the next week,” Trump said, echoing similarly optimistic comments he made July 4.


Search called off for crew of Houthi-hit ship, maritime agencies say

Search called off for crew of Houthi-hit ship, maritime agencies say
Updated 14 July 2025
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Search called off for crew of Houthi-hit ship, maritime agencies say

Search called off for crew of Houthi-hit ship, maritime agencies say
  • The strikes on the two ships marked a resumption of a campaign by the Iran-aligned fighters who attacked more than 100 ships from November 2023 to December 2024 in what they said was solidarity with the Palestinians

ATHENS: Maritime agencies Diaplous and Ambrey said on Sunday they had ended their search for the remaining crew of the Eternity C cargo ship that was attacked by Yemen’s Houthi militants last week.
The decision was made at the request of the vessel’s owner, both agencies said.
The Liberia-flagged, Greek-operated Eternity C sank on Wednesday morning following attacks over two consecutive days, according to sources at security companies involved in the rescue operation.
Ten of the ship’s complement of 22 crew and three guards were rescued. The remaining 15 are considered missing, including five who are believed to be dead, maritime security sources said. The Houthis said they had rescued some of the crew.
The crew included 21 Filipinos and one Russian. Three armed guards were also on board, including one Greek and one Indian, who were both rescued.
“The decision to end the search has been taken by the vessel’s Owner reluctantly but it believes that, in all the circumstances, the priority must now be to get the 10 souls safely recovered alive ashore,” maritime risk management firm Diaplous and British security firm Ambrey said in a joint statement.
The Houthis also claimed responsibility for a similar assault last Sunday targeting another ship, the Magic Seas. All crew from the Magic Seas were rescued before it sank.
The strikes on the two ships marked a resumption of a campaign by the Iran-aligned fighters who attacked more than 100 ships from November 2023 to December 2024 in what they said was solidarity with the Palestinians. 

 


Israel’s Netanyahu aide faces indictment over Gaza leak

Israel’s Netanyahu aide faces indictment over Gaza leak
Updated 13 July 2025
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Israel’s Netanyahu aide faces indictment over Gaza leak

Israel’s Netanyahu aide faces indictment over Gaza leak
  • Netanyahu’s close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024
  • The prime minister has described probes against Urich and other aides as a witch-hunt.

JERUSALEM: An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on security charges pending a hearing, Israel’s attorney general said on Sunday, for allegedly leaking top secret military information during Israel’s war in Gaza.

Netanyahu’s close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024. The prime minister has described probes against Urich and other aides as a witch-hunt.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement that Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from the Israeli military and leaked it to German newspaper Bild. Their intent, she said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu and influence the discourse about the slaying of six Israeli hostages by their Palestinian captors in Gaza in late August 2024.

The hostages’ deaths had sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostage families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing ceasefire talks that had faltered in the preceding weeks for political reasons.
Netanyahu vehemently denies this. He has repeatedly said that Hamas was to blame for the talks collapsing, while the militant group has said it was Israel’s fault no deal had been reached.

Four of the six slain hostages had been on the list of more than 30 captives that Hamas was set to free were a ceasefire to be reached, according to a defense official at the time.

The Bild article in question was published days after the hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza.
It outlined Hamas’ negotiation strategy in the indirect ceasefire talks and largely corresponded with Netanyahu’s allegations against the militant group over the deadlock.
Bild said after the investigation was announced that it does not comment on its sources and that its article relied on authentic documents.
A two-month ceasefire was reached in January this year and included the release of 38 hostages before Israel resumed attacks in Gaza. The sides are presently engaged in indirect negotiations in Doha, aimed at reaching another truce.