A senior Russian diplomat urged a top official of the Palestinian movement Hamas on Monday to keep to its commitment to release a Russian hostage held by the group since its raid on Israel in October 2023. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov raised the issue in talks in Moscow with Musa Abu Marzuk, a member of Hamas’s Politburo, Russia’s…
US President Donald Trump is expected on Tuesday to stop US engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Council and continue a halt to funding for the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, a White House official said on Monday. The move coincides with a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long…
Israeli occupation soldiers who plan to travel are deleting their social media accounts for fear of prosecution on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and Lebanon. Dozens of Israeli soldiers are reportedly deleting their social media accounts, including Facebook and Instagram, before travelling to Brazil in the coming weeks to participate…
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday where she is expected to hold talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Meloni arrived in Jeddah and was was welcomed by Deputy Governor of Makkah Region Prince Saud bin Mishaal bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. She arrived in Jeddah…
Republican President Donald Trump said on Saturday he has instructed the US military to release a hold imposed by Democratic former President Joe Biden on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. The move was widely expected. “We released them. We released them today. And they’ll have them. They paid for them and they’ve been…
President Joe Biden on Sunday welcomed the ceasefire taking hold between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, saying the “region has been fundamentally transformed.” “After so much pain, death and loss of life, today the guns in Gaza have gone silent,” the outgoing president said, just hours after the ceasefire took effect. Biden was speaking during a visit…
UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Friday that Israel’s military operations and “occupation” in south Lebanon must cease, nearly two months after the truce that ended the war with Hezbollah. “The continued occupation by the Israel (military) inside the UNIFIL area operations and the conduct of military operations in Lebanese territory are violations of resolution…
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Wednesday that a deal had been reached to release hostages held in Gaza. His comments, made on his Truth Social platform, came after an official said that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire deal in the Gaza war. “WE HAVE A DEAL FOR THE HOSTAGES IN THE MIDDLE…
Negotiators were meeting in Qatar on Tuesday hoping to finalize details of a plan to end the war in Gaza, after US President Joe Biden indicated a ceasefire and hostage release deal was imminent. More than four hours after talks began there was still no word on an outcome. Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told a…
Lebanon and Syria will work together to secure their land borders, as well as to delineate both land and sea borders, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Saturday in Damascus. In the first trip by a Lebanese prime minister to neighboring Syria in 15 years, Mikati addressed a joint news conference in Damascus…
The maps show Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria as part of Israeli territory. The Arab League strongly condemned Wednesday the publication by official Israeli accounts of maps depicting parts of Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria as part of Israeli territory. Secretary General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit “warned that the international community’s failure to…
Biden administration will also shift $7.5 mln intended for Israel to Lebanon, according to a notice sent to Congress The US has reallocated $95 million in military aid for Egypt to Lebanon, a source familiar with the matter told Al Arabiya English. Congress will need a reprogramming request, but sources believe it will be passed easily. The…
Lebanese Armed Forces commander, IMF official among favorites Lebanon is preparing for Thursday’s parliamentary session to elect a new president, but it remains unclear whether a new commander-in-chief will fill the two-year-old vacancy despite a flurry of shuttle diplomacy to Beirut in recent days. The country has been without a president since October 2022. Since…
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan has met with US Envoy to Lebanon Amos Hochstein where the two discussed current regional issues, including developments in Lebanon. The meeting was held at the ministry’s headquarters in Riyadh, the Kingdom’s foreign ministry said in a statement early on Monday. The visit comes as Israel and Hezbollah accused…
France’s top diplomat and defense chief arrived on Monday in Lebanon, where a fragile truce since late November ended intense fighting between Israel and militant group Hezbollah. Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu met with Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun, and on Tuesday are due to visit UN peacekeepers near the Israeli border. A…
