Category: 2. Middle East

Gaza’s Ministry of Interior and National Security announced today that it is mourning Brigadier General Ahmed Al-Qudra, chief of the anti-narcotics police and member of the police command council, after he was assassinated in an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis early this morning, the Palestinian Information Centre reported.

In a statement, the Interior Ministry said Al-Qudra had remained dedicated to his job throughout the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza and…

Amnesty International has called on German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to cancel his planned meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, citing the Israeli prime minister’s role in war crimes and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

“Steinmeier’s visit is definitely not appropriate,” said Katja Muller-Fahlbusch, a Middle East expert at Amnesty International’s German branch, in an interview with Anadolu.

“His planned meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…

A Saudi-American summit opened in the capital Riyadh today in the presence of US President Donald Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, according to Saudi media.

Al-Ikhbariya TV said the official summit is taking place at the Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh, during which new agreements between the two countries will be signed.

Trump was welcomed by Bin Salman at the royal palace and given an official reception.

At the ceremony, Trump and Bin Salman welcomed…

The French Development Agency (AFD) said it would invest €150 million ($167 million) in Western Sahara in 2025-2026, following Paris’ recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed desert territory, Reuters reports.

The long-frozen conflict, dating back to 1975, pits Morocco, which considers the territory as its own, against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks an independent state called the Sahrawi Republic in Western Sahara.

The…

Malnutrition rates are rising in Gaza, emergency treatments to counter it are running out and hunger could have a lasting impact on “an entire generation”, a World Health Organisation official said today according to Reuters.

Israel has blockaded supplies into the enclave since early March, when it resumed its devastating military campaign, and a global hunger monitor warned yesterday that half a million people there faced starvation.

WHO representative…

Egypt’s Suez Canal will offer a 15 per cent discount on transit fees for container ships with net tonnage of at least 130,000 metric tonnes, to encourage trade back now the security situation has eased and help ships offset rising insurance costs, its authorities said today according to Reuters.

The discounts will be applied for 90 days from Thursday on container ships that meet the standards, whether full or empty, Suez Canal Authority said in a statement.

Britain’s decision to allow the export of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel, despite accepting they could be used in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza, was unlawful, a Palestinian rights group told London’s High Court today, Reuters reports.

Al-Haq, a group based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is taking legal action against Britain’s Department for Business and Trade over its decision to exempt F-35 parts when it suspended some…

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Donald Trump will meet with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during his trip to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, a White House official confirmed to Al-Monitor. 

The surprise meeting comes five months after a coalition of rebel groups led by Sharaa toppled Syria’s longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad, and installed an interim government. 

The Trump administration has avoided official engagement with Sharaa, a former Islamist insurgent whose group, Hayat Tahrir…