Author: Gulf News Week

Turkish foreign minister hosts Syrian counterpart in Ankara; defence ministers sign military cooperation memorandum of understanding.Turkiye has said that Israel and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) must stop threatening the security and stability of Syria as Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan hosted his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani in Ankara.Speaking at a joint news conference on Wednesday, Fidan accused Israel and the SDF of wilfully undermining the country’s recovery efforts after the devastation of a 14-year civil war and the ouster of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad last December by a lightning rebel offensive.Fidan said Israel had “fuelled certain difficulties” in Syria…

The security chief’s visit comes after Iran expressed opposition to a government plan to disarm Hezbollah.Lebanon’s president has told a senior Iranian official that Beirut rejects any interference in its internal affairs and has criticised Tehran’s statements on plans to disarm Hezbollah as “unconstructive”.Iran’s Supreme National Security Council chief Ali Larijani’s visit to Beirut on Wednesday comes a week after the Lebanese government ordered the army to devise plans by the end of 2025 to disarm the Iran-aligned Lebanese armed group.Iran expressed opposition to the plan to disarm Hezbollah, which before a war with Israel last year was believed to…

The so-called E3 group says they are ready to trigger the ‘snapback’ mechanism in the 2015 nuclear deal.France, Germany and the United Kingdom have told the United Nations they are prepared to reinstate sanctions on Iran, according to a joint letter.The letter, sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council, said the three European powers were “committed to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon” unless Tehran meets a deadline to speak with them.“We have made it clear that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic…

A transit corridor pact signed by Azerbaijan and Armenia could be game-changing, according to several experts.Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, his late father and predecessor Heydar Aliyev and some of their closest political allies hail from Nakhchivan.The name of this tiny, mountainous and underdeveloped Azeri area sandwiched between Armenia, Iran and Turkiye sounds unfamiliar to those outside the strategic South Caucasus region.But Nakhchivan’s name and geopolitical significance resurfaced after United States President Donald Trump hosted a White House summit between Azeri and Armenian leaders on Friday.Azerbaijan’s Aliyev and the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a preliminary peace deal to end…

Human rights groups have warned that expelling the population from Gaza would violate international law.Israel is in discussions with South Sudan about forcibly relocating Palestinians from Gaza to the East African country, according to six people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press.The proposal is part of an Israeli effort to displace Palestinians from Gaza – a move human rights groups warn would amount to forcible expulsion, ethnic cleansing, and would violate international law.Critics of the transfer plan fear Palestinians would never be allowed to return to Gaza and that mass departure could pave the way for…

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres puts both countries ‘on notice’ over documented pattern of sexual violence.United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has put Israel and Russia “on notice” that their armed forces and security personnel could be listed among parties “credibly suspected” of committing sexual violence in conflict zones.The warning on Tuesday resulted from “significant concerns regarding patterns of certain forms of sexual violence that have been consistently documented by the United Nations”, Guterres wrote in a report seen by the Reuters news agency.In his annual report to the UN Security Council on conflict-related sexual violence, Guterres said that Israel and…

The Argentinian president will dedicate his $1m Genesis Prize to a new diplomatic initiative called the ‘Isaac Accords’.President Javier Milei of Argentina has proposed a new $1m initiative to strengthen relations between Latin America and Israel, ahead of an anticipated visit from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.On Monday, the Genesis Prize Foundation — a group that offers an annual award to members of the Jewish community — announced that Milei, its most recent winner, would use his prize money to launch a new nonprofit, the American Friends of the Isaac Accords (AFOIA).“AFOIA is a vehicle to promote Milei’s bold vision…

Yasser Abu Shabab escaped prison and has since emerged as an Israeli-backed militia leader in southern Gaza.In June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted to arming and supporting the Popular Forces militia in Gaza to oppose Hamas.“What’s wrong with this?” he said in a short video he tweeted. “It only saves the lives of Israeli soldiers.”He did not clarify what the Popular Forces would do exactly, but experts believe Israel is backing the militia and its leader, Yasser Abu Shabab, to put a Palestinian face on the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.The 31-year-old Abu Shabab, a previously unknown member of Gaza’s…

A Sebastia resident’s ordeal highlights Israel’s escalating campaign of humiliation, violence, and land appropriation.On July 2, Khaled Azem was pulled from his car at a checkpoint in the northern occupied West Bank, he tells media.Israeli soldiers beat and humiliated him, forcing him to say: “I love Israel”, while filming him on his phone, then posting it to his social media.Azem, 25, and his brother-in-law had just left the Azem home in Sebastia, a village to the northwest of Nablus, to work on a construction site.That’s when he fell victim to one of the increasing attacks that villagers say are part…

It also focused on supporting ‘the Syrian government’s efforts to consolidate’ a ceasefire in the Druze-majority Syrian province of Suwayda, as Syria’s minority communities continue to express concerns for their safety.Foreign ministers from Syria and Jordan, as well as a United States envoy have met in Amman to discuss ways to support the rebuilding of Syria under its new government, as Damascus seeks investment deals with international companies to revive an economy battered by 14 years of civil war.Syria’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that its top diplomat Asaad al-Shaibani met with Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and US envoy…