Jordan’s Safadi and EU’s Borrell meet in Madrid to discuss Palestinian statehood

Jordanian Foreign Affairs Minister Ayman Safadi met in Madrid on Friday with the EU’s foreign affairs and security chief Josep Borrell. (Petra)
Jordanian Foreign Affairs Minister Ayman Safadi met in Madrid on Friday with the EU’s foreign affairs and security chief Josep Borrell. (Petra)
Short Url
Updated 13 September 2024
Follow

Jordan’s Safadi and EU’s Borrell meet in Madrid to discuss Palestinian statehood

Jordan’s Safadi and EU’s Borrell meet in Madrid to discuss Palestinian statehood
  • Two officials discussed escalation of violence in the West Bank and efforts to halt Israeli aggression in Gaza Strip

LONDON: Jordanian Foreign Affairs Minister Ayman Safadi met in Madrid on Friday with the EU’s foreign affairs and security chief Josep Borrell.

The two men discussed an escalation of violence in the West Bank and efforts to halt Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip, the Jordan News Agency reported.

Safadi and Borrell also spoke about wider regional developments and the development of relations between Jordan and the EU.

They met on the sidelines of a high-level meeting involving several Muslim and European countries which looked at ways to end the Israel-Hamas conflict and called for a clear schedule for the implementation of a two-state solution.

Safadi and Borrell reaffirmed their ongoing coordination and collaboration which is focused on reducing escalation in the West Bank, achieving an immediate and complete truce in Gaza, safeguarding civilians, and ensuring sufficient and sustainable humanitarian supplies reach all areas of the Strip.

Safadi warned of dire repercussions if Israel persisted in its actions in the West Bank and violation of Islamic and Christian sanctities in Jerusalem.


Iranian president says Israel, backed by West, is ‘killing innocent people’

Iranian president says Israel, backed by West, is ‘killing innocent people’
Updated 3 sec ago
Follow

Iranian president says Israel, backed by West, is ‘killing innocent people’

Iranian president says Israel, backed by West, is ‘killing innocent people’
  • Masoud Pezeshkian: ‘I would like to say to Israel: stop killing innocent people. Stop bombing residential buildings, people who have nothing anyway’
MOSCOW: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday that Israel should “stop killing innocent people,” and that its actions in the Middle East were backed by the United States and the European Union.
Pezeshkian was speaking to a Russian state TV reporter on the sidelines of an international meeting in Turkmenistan.
Israel in recent weeks has sharply escalated its assault on Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, including by killing its top leaders, sending ground troops into southern Lebanon and bombing the capital Beirut.
An Israeli strike late on Thursday in the heart of Beirut killed 22 people and injured more than 100, Lebanese authorities said.
Israel says the operations in Lebanon aim to allow tens of thousands of its residents to return home after being forced to leave northern Israel due to Hezbollah rocket fire over the past year.
Hezbollah is firing at Israel in support of its ally Hamas, which triggered Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza following an Oct. 7 attack on communities in southern Israel.
“I would like to say to Israel: stop killing innocent people. Stop bombing residential buildings, people who have nothing anyway,” said Pezeshkian, accusing Israel of violating every kind of international agreement.
“It does this because it knows that the US and the European Union are behind it,” he said.
The Middle East remains on high alert for further escalation in the region, awaiting
Israel’s response to an Iranian missile strike on Oct. 1.

Leaders of Jordan and southern Europe meet in a bid to help de-escalate Middle East crisis

Leaders of Jordan and southern Europe meet in a bid to help de-escalate Middle East crisis
Updated 5 min 44 sec ago
Follow

Leaders of Jordan and southern Europe meet in a bid to help de-escalate Middle East crisis

Leaders of Jordan and southern Europe meet in a bid to help de-escalate Middle East crisis
  • Jordan’s King Abdullah will join the leaders of the so-called MED9 — including Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Portugal and Croatia
  • Leaders will also focus on helping clinch a ceasefire deal between Israeli forces and Hamas in the Gaza strip

PAPHOS: The leaders of nine southern European Union countries and Jordan are meeting in Cyprus on Friday to come up with ways to de-escalate the crisis in the Middle East that is threatening to engulf Lebanon and trigger a wider humanitarian crisis.
Jordan’s King Abdullah will join the leaders of the so-called MED9 — including Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Portugal and Croatia — as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to brainstorm initiatives aimed at protecting Lebanese civilians caught in the crossfire between Israel and Hezbollah.
The leaders will also focus on helping clinch a ceasefire deal between Israeli forces and Hamas in the Gaza strip in line with a UN Security Council resolution adopted unanimously in June.
Cyprus’ government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said Thursday the Jordanian monarch’s presence at the meeting lends additional weight to the proceedings given his country’s role in helping peace efforts in the region.
The meeting comes amid reports of an international diplomatic effort to degrade Hezbollah’s political hold in Lebanon.
“We want the Lebanese people to decide who their leaders ought to be, bottom line, and that has been our position,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Wednesday. “We certainly don’t want to dictate to the people of Lebanon who their leader is, and we’re not going to ... we want them to be able to do it absent a terrorist organization putting a gun to their head, which is the situation that Lebanon has been in for decades now.”
“Ultimately, we hope that Hezbollah is degraded enough that they are less of a force in Lebanese politics,” he added.
According to Letymbiotis, King Abdullah will also discuss with the leaders way of further bolstering his country’s relations with the EU. The Jordanian monarch and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides will put forward a joint proposal to create a regional firefighting hub in Cyprus through the permanent deployment of fire-fighting aircraft on the island nation to respond to regional emergencies.
Christodoulides will also raise EU efforts to deal with migration flows through the adoption a new asylum policy that would more evenly share the distribution of asylum seekers through all EU members. Cyprus is considered a front-line country that receives a significantly high numbers of asylum seekers relative to its population.
Climate change is also on the agenda as the east Mediterranean and the Middle East are considered particularly vulnerable areas to temperatures changes.
Christodoulides will also highlight Cyprus’ role in helping deliver humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor as well as a waystation for the repatriation of third-country nationals evacuated from Lebanon.
According to Letymbiotis, more than 2,400 third-country nationals from 20 countries have so far used Cyprus as a transfer point to their homeland.


Lebanon says new Israel attack wounds UN peacekeepers

Lebanon says new Israel attack wounds UN peacekeepers
Updated 12 min 35 sec ago
Follow

Lebanon says new Israel attack wounds UN peacekeepers

Lebanon says new Israel attack wounds UN peacekeepers
  • Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati denounces attack as a crime
  • Watchtowers and main UNIFIL base in Ras Naqura and Sri Lankan battalion’s base targeted

BEIRUT: Lebanon on Friday condemned an Israeli attack that it said wounded United Nations peacekeepers in the country’s south, after state media reported a second such attack in as many days.

In a statement, the foreign ministry condemned “the targeting... carried out by the Israeli army” on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.

It said the bombing targeted “watchtowers and the main UNIFIL base in Ras Naqura, and on the Sri Lankan battalion’s base, which led to a number of wounded.”

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati denounced what he said was an attack on the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon on Friday as a crime.

He also said he had discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The official National News Agency said an Israeli “Merkava tank targeted one of the UNIFIL towers on the main road linking Tyre and Naqura,” wounding personnel from a Sri Lankan battalion.

It added that “enemy forces” also “fired an artillery shell, targeting the main entrance of the UNIFIL command center in Naqura, leading to damage to the entrance.”

UNIFIL did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.

On Thursday, UN peacekeepers said Israeli fire on their headquarters in south Lebanon wounded two Blue Helmets, sparking condemnation from European members of the mission.

Israel acknowledged its forces had opened fire in the area, saying the Hezbollah militants on whom it is waging an escalating war operate near UN posts.

UNIFIL, which has about 10,000 peacekeepers stationed in south Lebanon, has called for a ceasefire since an escalation between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on September 23, after almost a year of cross-border fire.

The peacekeepers did not suffer serious injuries Thursday “but they remain in hospital,” UNIFIL had said, while a spokeswoman said those wounded were from Indonesia, a major contributor of troops to the force.


Spain’s PM Sanchez urges international community to stop selling weapons to Israel

Spain’s PM Sanchez urges international community to stop selling weapons to Israel
Updated 17 min 19 sec ago
Follow

Spain’s PM Sanchez urges international community to stop selling weapons to Israel

Spain’s PM Sanchez urges international community to stop selling weapons to Israel
  • UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres condemns Israeli shooting of UNIFIL forces
  • UNIFIL has about 10,000 peacekeepers stationed in south Lebanon

MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday urged the international community to stop selling weapons to Israel as he condemned attacks by Israel’s armed forces against the United Nations’ peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, Russia, China and Italy have similarly condemned Israeli forces for the attacks on the UN peacekeeping units.

Israeli forces fired at an observation post used by UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon on Friday, injuring two, a UN source said, the third day in a row peacekeepers have reported Israeli fire at their positions as Israel wages war on Hezbollah.

None of the Spanish soldiers who were part of the mission were hit, the Spanish Defense Ministry said on Friday.

Spain has deployed 650 peacekeepers in Lebanon and a Spanish general leads the mission.

“Let me at this point criticize and condemn the attacks that the Israeli armed forces are carrying out on the United Nations mission in Lebanon,” Sanchez, whose country has been critical of Israel in the recent escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, said after meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican.

Sanchez said Spain stopped selling weapons to Israel in October 2023 and urged the rest of the world to do the same to prevent further escalation in the region.

“I think it is urgent given what is happening in the Middle East that the international community stops exporting weapons to the Israeli government,” he said.

“I am telling Israel these incidents are intolerable,” the UN chief said.

Guterres warned Israel there must be no repeat of an “intolerable” incident in which its forces fired on peacekeepers in Lebanon, wounding two.

“There was naturally a reaction from many sides in solidarity with the peacekeepers that were wounded and in telling Israel very clearly that this incident is intolerable and cannot be repeated,” Guterres said after talks with Southeast Asian leaders at a summit in Laos.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was “outraged” by what it said was an Israeli military attack on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon and demanded that Israel refrain from any “hostile actions” against them.

“Moscow is outraged by the actions of the Israeli military,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“The Russian side demands that it refrain from any hostile actions against the UNIFIL peacekeepers carrying out their mission in Lebanon in accordance with the existing mandate of the United Nations Security Council, and expresses its support and wishes the wounded a speedy recovery,” it said.

China statement

“China expresses grave concern and strong condemnation over the Israeli Defense Forces’ attack on UNIFIL positions and observation posts, which resulted in injuries to UNIFIL personnel,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said, referring to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

UN peacekeepers said Israeli fire on their headquarters in south Lebanon Thursday left two Blue Helmets injured, sparking condemnation from European members of the mission.

Israel acknowledged its forces had opened fire in the area, saying the Hezbollah militants on whom it is waging an escalating war operate near UN posts.

Italy: This is a war crime

Israeli forces have acted illegally by shooting at positions used by UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said on Thursday, denouncing it as a possible war crime.

The UN peacekeeping mission known as UNIFIL is stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities along the demarcation line with Israel — an area that has seen serious clashes between Israeli troops and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.

“This was not a mistake and not an accident,” Crosetto told a news conference. “It could constitute a war crime and represented a very serious violation of international humanitarian law,” he said.

Crosetto said he had contacted his Israeli counterpart to protest and had also summonsed the Israeli ambassador to Italy to demand an explanation, which was not yet forthcoming.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Unlike some European countries, Italy has been highly supportive of Israel throughout its year-long war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Italy has traditionally supplied a large number of troops to UNIFIL, and although none of its contingent was injured this week, Crosetto said the Israeli actions would not be accepted.

Israel has sought to shift the UNIFIL peacekeepers away from the border, but Italy said it had no right to do so.

“I told the ambassador to tell the Israeli government that the United Nations and Italy cannot take orders from the Israeli government,” Crosetto said.

Israel acknowledged its forces had opened fire in the area, saying the Hezbollah militants on whom it is waging an escalating war operate near UN posts.

Italy, a major contributor of troops to the force, said the acts “could constitute war crimes” while Washington said it was “deeply concerned.”

UNIFIL, which has about 10,000 peacekeepers stationed in south Lebanon, has called for a ceasefire since an escalation between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on September 23, after a year of cross-border fire.


Iran says ready to ‘defend sovereignty’ against Israel attack

Iran says ready to ‘defend sovereignty’ against Israel attack
Updated 11 October 2024
Follow

Iran says ready to ‘defend sovereignty’ against Israel attack

Iran says ready to ‘defend sovereignty’ against Israel attack
  • The Islamic republic launched the missiles at Israel on October 1 in retaliation for the killing of two of its closest allies
  • Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi: ‘We do not want a war’ but ‘we are not afraid of it, and we will be ready for any scenario’

TEHRAN: Iran said it is “fully prepared to defend its sovereignty” if its arch-foe Israel attacks as it has threatened to do in response to a barrage of about 200 missiles.
The Islamic republic launched the missiles at Israel on October 1 in retaliation for the killing of two of its closest allies, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, along with an Iranian general.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed this week that his country’s response would be “deadly, precise and surprising.”
In an address to the UN Security Council on Thursday, Iran’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, said the Islamic republic “stands fully prepared to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity against any aggression targeting its vital interests and security.”
Iran, he said, was not seeking “war or escalation” but would exercise its “inherent right to self-defense fully in line with international law and will notify the Security Council of its legitimate response.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said meanwhile in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic on Thursday that “we do not want a war,” but “we are not afraid of it, and we will be ready for any scenario.”
The warnings come against the backdrop of a war between Israel and Iran-allied Palestinian militant group Hamas that has been raging for more than a year and has expanded to include Lebanon in recent weeks.
“Lebanon stands on the brink of a humanitarian collapse, and the international community must not allow this catastrophe to worsen,” Iran’s UN representative Iravani said.