Author: Gulf News Week
Army commander to brief government on the progress of the mission to disarm Hezbollah amid complex tensions.Beirut, Lebanon – At the end of last year, Lebanon’s army first took journalists and then international diplomats on tours that were meant to show what had been achieved in terms of dismantling Hezbollah’s military infrastructure along the country’s southern border with Israel.At the time, Israel was increasing threats to expand its attacks if Lebanon failed to disarm Hezbollah.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Israel-Lebanon talks: Everything you need to knowlist 2 of 4Israel, Lebanon officials meet as pressure mounts to disarm Hezbollahlist…
Fermin Lopez and Raphinha star for Barca as Yamal comes on as a late sub in the Super Coppa semifinal in Jeddah.Fermin Lopez scored one goal and laid on two more as Barcelona tore through Athletic Bilbao to record a 5-0 victory in their Spanish Super Cup semifinal played in Jeddah.Raphinha scored twice while Ferran Torres and Roony Bardghji were also on target in a dominant display, extending their team’s winning run to nine matches on Wednesday.Hansi Flick’s team overpowered their Basque rivals by scoring four times in the first half while star forward Lamine Yamal watched from the bench.Barcelona…
Secessionist STC had de facto control over most of southern Yemen, but then squandered it by going too far.Landing at Aden International Airport on a trip in late 2017, the plane had two flags visible as it moved along the tarmac. One was the flag of the former South Yemen, resurrected as a symbol of Yemen’s secessionist southern movement. The other was of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the movement’s primary backer.Passing one checkpoint after another on the road out of Aden, the flag of the actual Republic of Yemen wasn’t visible, and only made an appearance towards the city…
Secessionist leader took a boat to Berbera and then boarded a pane that flew to Abu Dhabi via Mogadishu, coalition says.The Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen has announced that the leader of the secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC) has fled to the United Arab Emirates via Somaliland after skipping planned peace talks in Riyadh.In a statement on Thursday, the coalition said Aidarous al-Zubaidi “escaped in the dead of night” on Wednesday aboard a vessel that departed Aden in Yemen for the port of Berbera in Somaliland.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Saudi-led coalition targets Yemen separatists after leader skips…
Volker Turk’s description of the occupied West Bank’s situation as ‘apartheid’ marks first time a United Nations human rights chief has used term.The United Nations human rights office has called on Israel to “dismantle all settlements” in the occupied West Bank, saying its “oppression and domination” of Palestinians resembles “apartheid”.In a new report on Wednesday, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights slammed Israel’s “systemic discrimination” against Palestinians, citing restrictions on movement through checkpoints, and “limited access to roads, natural resources, land and basic social facilities”.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Press association condemns Israel’s continued…
Doctors Without Borders says Israel continues to block deliveries of tents and temporary housing to war-ravaged enclave.Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are experiencing respiratory infections, skin diseases, and other health problems, a humanitarian group warned, as Israel maintains strict curbs on crucial shelter supplies despite freezing winter temperatures.Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, said on Wednesday that babies are “suffering from severe cold” as displaced Palestinian families live in makeshift shelters across the bombarded enclave.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Gaza waits as reports suggest Rafah crossing may reopenlist 2 of 3Israeli assault on Palestinian…
After withstanding charges of genocide, the issue of ultra-Orthdox enlistment in the military may bring Israel’s coalition down.The killing of 14-year-old Yosef Eisenthal, who was run over by a bus during an anti-recruitment protest in an Orthodox district of West Jerusalem on Tuesday night, has brought renewed attention to one of the most contentious issues in Israeli politics: the exemption of ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service.According to numerous analysts, the scale of the fissure is such that it poses an existential threat to the right-wing coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has so far weathered multiple accusations of…
Army chief hits out at foreign ‘rhetoric’ targeting Iran, threatens decisive action to ‘cut off hand of any aggressor’.Iran’s top judge warned protesters who have taken to the streets during a spiralling economic crisis there will be “no leniency for those who help the enemy against the Islamic Republic”, accusing the US and Israel of sowing chaos.“Following announcements by Israel and the US president, there is no excuse for those coming to the streets for riots and unrest,” said Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei on Wednesday in comments on the deadly protests carried by Fars news agency.Recommended Stories list of…
Trump and Rubio say they want to use the oil to help Venezuelans. That’s not what the US track record shows.United States President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio say they want to free up the flow of Venezuelan oil to benefit Venezuelans after US forces abducted President Nicolas Maduro from Caracas.“We’re going to rebuild the oil infrastructure, which requires billions of dollars that will be paid for by the oil companies directly,” Trump said at a media briefing at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida hours after Maduro was seized on Saturday. “They will be reimbursed for what…
2025 was the year the world relearned a fundamental truth: conflicts are not confined within discrete borders. A war in one region now pushes migration across continents, disrupts food and energy markets, strains humanitarian systems, and reshapes global alliances. If the battlefield is local, the shockwaves are global.Two small states, Norway and Qatar, have in this environment made mediation not an instrument of goodwill, but a core instrument of security policy. Diplomacy is, for both of us, not a matter of public ritual or symbolic gesture: it is a strategic responsibility in a world where unresolved conflicts return inevitably through…