Category: 2. Middle East

Yemen’s Ansar Allah (Houthi) group announced yesterday that they had targeted the Israeli Nevatim Airbase with a hypersonic ballistic missile, saying the operation “successfully achieved its goal.”

Yahya Saree, the group’s military spokesman, said in a televised statement: “The missile force of the Yemeni armed forces [affiliated with the group] carried out a military operation targeting the Nevatim Airbase in the Negev region in southern occupied…

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) stated that the decision of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Executive Committee to approve the appointment of Hussein Al-Sheikh as vice president was a response to external dictates and an entrenchment of monopoly and exclusion.

In a press statement issued yesterday, Hamas said it considered this a reprehensible step, one that departs from national consensus and the will of the Palestinian people.

It stated that…

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have killed 31 people from the Salha area, including children, in the largest documented mass killing in the area, the Sudanese Doctors Network said yesterday.

The network warned that the mass killing of “unarmed civilians” threatens the lives of thousands of people in Salha, south of Omdurman.

It considered the mass killings a war crime and a crime against humanity, calling on the international community to take urgent action…

The Syrian presidency asserted yesterday its rejection of any attempts to impose a separatist status quo or to establish federal entities or autonomous administration that would fragment the country, stressing that “the unity of Syria, both its territory and its people, is a red line.”

These remarks were made in a statement issued by the Syrian Presidency in response to what it described as recent actions and statements by the leadership of the Syrian…

Two sources from Jaish al-Islam, a military faction now part of Syria’s transitional authorities, told AFP on Monday that its leader had been arrested at Dubai airport several days ago.

Since 2015, Issam Buwaydani has been head of Jaish al-Islam, a group that fought against now ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad and once controlled the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus.

After Syria’s new authorities announced the dissolution of armed groups following Assad’s December overthrow, Jaish al-Islam was…

A top Palestinian official told the International Court of Justice on Monday that Israel was blocking humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza as a “weapon of war”, starting off a week of hearings at the UN’s top court.

Israel is not participating at the ICJ but hit back immediately, dismissing the hearings as “part of the systematic persecution and delegitimisation” of the country.

The ICJ is hearing dozens of nations and organisations to draw up a so-called advisory opinion on Israel’s…

Morocco’s Justice and Development Party re-elected Abdelilah Benkirane as its secretary-general for a second term.

Benkirane received 69 per cent of the vote – 974 votes, while his rivals, Idriss Azami Idrissi won 374 votes, and Abdullah Bouanou 42 votes.

Benkirane praised his rivals, who stood by him during his victory speech, commending the smooth democratic process.

He stressed that leadership will not be an individual matter, as some imagine, saying that…

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has called on the United States and France, the guarantors of the ceasefire agreement with Israel, to shoulder their responsibilities and force Israel to immediately halt its attacks.

Aoun condemned the Israeli attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs yesterday evening, adding that Israel’s continued destabilising actions will exacerbate tensions and expose the region to real dangers that threaten its security and stability.

Israeli…

UN and Palestinian representatives at the International Court of Justice accused Israel of breaking international law by refusing to let aid into Gaza, on the first day of hearings about Israel’s obligations to facilitate aid deliveries, Reuters reports.

Since 2 March, Israel has completely cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip, and food stockpiled during a ceasefire at the start of the year has all but run out.

At the opening of…

Al-Azhar, the top Sunni Islamic scholarly institution in Egypt, yesterday condemned the fatal stabbing of a Muslim worshipper inside a mosque in the village of La Grand-Combe in the Gard region of southern France.

In a statement, Al-Azhar warned of the escalating activities of “white supremacist” groups in Europe and America, adding that these groups hide behind false and malicious slogans such as “white race” and “white nationalism” to justify their…