Author: Gulf News Week
A French court issues the warrants in connection with the bombing of a press centre in Homs in 2012 that killed two journalists.A French court has issued arrest warrants for seven former top Syrian officials, including ex-President Bashar al-Assad, for the bombing of a press centre in Homs, a judicial source and a human rights organisation said.A rocket hit the “informal press centre” on February 22, 2012, killing renowned US journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik and injuring two other journalists and an interpreter.Besides al-Assad, who fled to Russia in December 2024 when opposition fighters seized control of…
I was evacuated to France, where I saw the reason why the world is allowing my people to be slaughtered.I write this from Paris, a city wrapped in blue and yellow. All around me, Ukrainian flags hang like moral badges pinned to French facades.I arrived in this city just a few weeks ago as a survivor of the genocide in Gaza, leaving my country burning behind me. I had the privilege to be evacuated by the French government as a student admitted to a French university.What first struck me about Paris, this so-called city of liberty, was its curated grief,…
A history of outside incitement, along with present-day economic crisis and climate collapse, have contributed to intercommunal tensions.The flare-up of violence in Syria’s southern province of Suwayda in July has once again raised fears that the country may slip back into conflict. Media headlines were quick to paint this as another episode in the region’s longstanding “sectarian strife” between Druze and Sunni Bedouin communities. But such framing obscures more than it reveals.The reality is more complex. While sectarian identities have been invoked during periods of tension, the root causes of this conflict lie elsewhere: in historical disputes over land and…
More than 360 people, including 130 children, have died from hunger since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.A total of 185 people in Gaza died “due to malnutrition” in August, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, as an additional 13 people, including three children, have died in 24 hours since then as the catastrophic effects of Israeli-induced famine in the enclave worsen.The statement issued on Tuesday said more than 83 people, including 15 children, had died since the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a United Nations-backed global hunger-monitoring system, declared last month that parts of Gaza were…
Half of US voters believe Israel is committing genocide and six in 10 oppose further military aid, polls suggest.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been able to rely on the United States’ absolute backing throughout his country’s war on Gaza.While the administration of former US President Joe Biden may have occasionally expressed discomfort over the crises it was enabling in Gaza, the Donald Trump administration has yet to exhibit similar qualms, even going so far in February as to suggest that all of Gaza’s population be ethnically cleansed.US support has been vital to Israel’s war machine, providing weapons that helped…
The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army appeals for UN help to recover bodies from a village buried by a landslide after heavy rain.A landslide has destroyed an entire village in Sudan’s western Darfur region, killing an estimated 1,000 people, according to a rebel group that controls the area.News agencies said the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army issued a statement late on Monday reporting the disaster in the Marra Mountains area of Darfur.The rebel group said the landslide struck on Sunday after days of heavy rainfall in the area, and the village was “completely levelled to the ground”, leaving only one survivor.“Initial information indicates the…
Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot says his country will recognise Palestine this month and impose 12 ‘firm sanctions’ on Israel.Belgium will recognise the State of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) later this month, Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prevot has announced.“Palestine will be recognised by Belgium at the UN session! And firm sanctions will be imposed against the Israeli government,” Prevot, who is also the deputy prime minister, wrote on the social media platform X early on Tuesday.Israel will face 12 sanctions from Belgium, Prevot said, including a ban on the import of products from illegal Israeli…
Iran is facing multiple crises at home as Israel’s Western allies pile on the pressure and threaten more sanctions.Tehran, Iran – Iran’s currency has been sharply depreciating again as European powers push to reinstate United Nations sanctions against the country amid stalled diplomacy and fears of war with Israel and the United States.The US dollar hit a price of more than 1.06 million rials in Tehran’s open currency market on Monday, slightly higher than before Tehran and Washington started mediated negotiations in April.The Iranian government and central bank have once again said the sharp decline of the embattled national currency…
US envoy Barrack proposed the zone, but analysts say locals don’t trust Israel or the US’s ability to control it.The United States has floated a proposal for an economic zone in southern Lebanon in what analysts tell media is a far-fetched and poorly thought-out plan to incentivise the Lebanese government to push on with disarming Hezbollah.The US envoy to the Middle East, Thomas Barrack, floated the economic zone during a visit to Lebanon on Tuesday but provided few details other than hints at financing.“We, all of us – the Gulf, the US, the Lebanese – are all going to act…
The severe winds and unpredictable nature of the Mediterranean make organisers decide to turn around and set sail later.The Global Sumud Flotilla carrying aid to the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip has been forced to turn back due to poor weather, according to a statement by the group and sources travelling with the mission.The flotilla said on X that strong winds on Sunday of more than 30 knots (55.6 kilometres per hour, or 34.5 miles per hour) on the Mediterranean Sea could have posed a problem for smaller boats in the convoy.“The decision was made by the [flotilla] steering commission … to…