Author: Gulf News Week

Tom Barrack’s remarks to journalists trigger calls for an apology and media boycott.A top US diplomat has triggered outrage and calls for an apology in Lebanon after telling a group of local journalists to “act civilised”.Tom Barrack, the United States ambassador to Turkiye and the special envoy for Syria, made the comments on Tuesday after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut to discuss plans for the disarmament of Hezbollah.Briefing local media after the meeting, Barrack, who is of Lebanese descent, chided reporters for shouting out questions all at once, and appeared to draw a link between their behaviour and…

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes across Syria following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime last December.Six Syrian army officers have been killed in Israeli drone strikes south of Damascus, Syria’s state-run El Ekhbariya TV reported, a day after Syria condemned a new Israeli “military incursion” outside the capital.Israeli drones targeted Syrian army positions in the Damascus countryside near the city of al-Kiswah, the broadcaster reported early on Wednesday.Following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime last December, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes targeting military sites and assets across Syria.Israel also expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan…

Israelis demand a ceasefire and captive deal as the military intensifies bombardment across Gaza, killing dozens.Israeli protesters have taken to the streets in large numbers across the country, demanding the release of captives held in Gaza and an immediate end to Israel’s ongoing war on the besieged enclave.Demonstrators blocked major roads on Tuesday in Tel Aviv and other cities, holding pictures of captives taken during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack in southern Israel, and calling for an immediate ceasefire.Hundreds gathered outside Israel’s Ministry of Defence headquarters in central Tel Aviv in what was billed as a “Day of Disruption”,…

Palestinian families are choosing between braving Israel’s fierce bombardment at home or being forcibly displaced again.The Israeli military is pushing deeper into Gaza City, destroying entire neighbourhoods and leaving Palestinian families with nowhere safe to go, as it seeks to seize the Strip’s largest urban centre, while an Israeli-induced famine grips the besieged enclave.An attack on a popular market east of Gaza City on Tuesday killed at least five Palestinians and injured many others. Sources at al-Ahli Arab Hospital told media that two women were among those killed.Videos verified by media showed Palestinians fleeing the as-Saftawi area, north of Gaza…

Qatar’s foreign ministry said delegations were meeting in Doha to review the implementation of a truce signed in July.The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the M23 armed group have resumed negotiations in Qatar as violence deepens in the country’s mineral-rich eastern provinces in spite of a recently signed an agreement to reach a full peace deal.Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said delegations from Kinshasa and the M23 were meeting in Doha to review the implementation of a truce signed in July. “We’ve received the two parties here in Doha to discuss the earlier agreement,” Ansari said…

Iran told Germany, France, UK during meeting in Geneva they do not have the right to trigger the ‘snapback mechanism’.Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has said that Tehran warned Europe’s top three powers that reimposing United Nations sanctions on the country will have consequences, as senior officials met to discuss the renewal of nuclear inspections in Iran to avoid an economic sanctions “snapback mechanism” after they were lifted under the previous 2015 accord.Baghaei said Iran told Europeans during a meeting in Geneva on Tuesday that they do not have the right to trigger the mechanism, but that both sides…

Israel’s two strikes on Nasser Hospital are part of a pattern that has run the length of the war, monitors say.Israel has killed 20 people, including journalists and health workers, in a strike on Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip.In fact, it was two strikes that hit the hospital in Khan Younis on Monday 10 minutes apart about 10am (07:00 GMT).Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement released in English only that Israel deeply regretted what he characterised as a “tragic mishap” without explaining how Israel had hit the same hospital not once but twice in apparent…

Israel killed five journalists when it attacked Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Monday using a ‘double-tap’ attack.Israel has been widely condemned for an attack its forces conducted on Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis that killed at least 21 people, including five journalists, one of whom worked for media.The attack on Monday consisted of two strikes – or a ‘double tap’ – the second of which was captured on camera, showing journalists and rescuers on a staircase being directly hit.Israel has now killed more than 270 journalists and media workers in Gaza since its war started in October…

Israel has completely destroyed more than 1,000 buildings in the Zeitoun and Sabra neighbourhoods in Gaza City this month.Once a thriving, vibrant neighbourhood in Gaza City, Zeitoun was known for its bustling markets, olive groves, and tight-knit community. Generations of families lived here, building lives, memories, and futures.Today, Zeitoun is unrecognisable. Entire blocks have been flattened. Homes reduced to rubble, media’s Hani Mahmoud has been speaking with Palestinians who once called the neighbourhood home.“We were sleeping, and at midnight, the roof collapsed on our heads, and the pieces were all over us. We woke up terrified. I put on my…

Tom Barrack says Beirut will set out plan on Sunday. Hezbollah has rejected it as Israel continues attacks in violation of November ceasefire.Lebanon has agreed to present a plan aimed at persuading Hezbollah to disarm, and Israel will submit a corresponding framework for its military withdrawal, United States envoy Tom Barrack says, as the Lebanese armed group has repeatedly made clear it has no intention of doing so while Israel continues its attacks on the country and occupies parts of the south.Speaking on Tuesday after talks with President Joseph Aoun in Beirut, Barrack said the plan would be presented on…