Author: Gulf News Week
Families face flooded tents, sewage, extreme overcrowding, and deepening hardship amid ongoing displacement.Deir el-Balah, Gaza – After a night of relentless rain, Arafat al-Ghandour and his wife, Nour, finally exhaled in relief as the morning sun emerged, if only briefly, over the soaked displacement camp.The couple, parents of five, live in a worn tent riddled with holes. They spent the night battling water pouring in from every direction.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4US federal judge halts Trump’s National Guard operations in Californialist 2 of 4Olympics decision on gender eligibility to come in early 2026list 3 of 4Anger…
The US has rolled back a series of restrictive economic sanctions put in place during the rule of Bashar al-Assad.The United States House of Representatives has voted forward a bill that would end the restrictive Caesar Act sanctions on Syria, originally imposed during the rule of former leader Bashar al-Assad.The bid to repeal the sanctions was passed on Wednesday as part of a larger defence spending package, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3‘I belong in my own country’: Syrians celebrate a year after al-Assadlist 2 of 3One year since…
US military’s Central Command chief says there have been ‘multiple instances of collaboration’ with Syria against ISIL.The head of the US military’s Middle East-based Central Command, Brad Cooper, has said that the United States is working with Syrian forces to carry out operations against ISIL (ISIS), highlighting the collaboration between Washington and Damascus.Speaking virtually at a Middle East Institute event on Wednesday, Cooper said the US military is working to “foster cooperation” with Syrian authorities.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3‘They broke his neck’: Families of Syria’s disappeared still seek closurelist 2 of 3Bulgarian court rejects Lebanon’s extradition…
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the shortfall has already forced the loss of 300 jobs.The United Nations’ top human rights official says his office is struggling to operate after major funding cuts from donor governments, even as rights abuses escalate across the globe.Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said on Wednesday that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has $90m less than it needs this year. He told reporters the shortfall has already forced the loss of 300 jobs and reduced the organisation’s ability to monitor violations around the world.Recommended Stories…
media’s Justin Salhani compares Damascus on the day after al-Assad’s fall with one year later.Damascus, Syria – On the morning of December 5, 2025, a taxi drove me across the Lebanon-Syria border. This time was different from my first trip across, in the early hours of December 9, 2024, just a day after Bashar al-Assad fled Syria for Moscow.On that day, Syrian Army military vehicles were abandoned on the side of the highway to Damascus. Also abandoned, scattered along the highway’s shoulders, were the uniforms of the men who had once driven them.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of…
No senior figure has been held accountable since the devastating explosion more than five years ago.A Bulgarian court has rejected Lebanon’s request to extradite Igor Grechushkin, a Russian-Cypriot shipowner wanted in connection with the 2020 Beirut port explosion, a hammer blow for the city that came during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic and amid a deepening economic crisis.Grechushkin, 48, is the former owner of the Rhosus, the ship allegedly carrying the ammonium nitrate that detonated at Beirut port on August 4, 2020.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Removing Blair from Gaza’s TPC is necessary correction of…
Death of 21-year-old raises alarm as rights groups document systematic torture in detention facilities, as Israel accelerates violence in occupied territory.A young Palestinian man has died while being held in captivity by Israeli authorities, according to the Palestinian Authority, as Israeli military and settler violence across the occupied West Bank reaches levels unseen in decades, and its genocidal war on Gaza continues unabated.Abdul Rahman al-Sabateen, 21, from Husan near Bethlehem, died at a Jerusalem medical facility on Tuesday night after being arrested by Israeli soldiers in late June, the PA said in a statement.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1…
Tony Blair’s anticipated role quickly emerged as a source of deep concern for many stakeholders.Many actors involved in negotiations to end Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and begin its reconstruction breathed a collective sigh of relief when it was announced that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, one of the most polarising figures in international diplomacy, was removed from the proposed “board of peace”, tasked with overseeing the transitional phase in the Strip. The announcement came at a highly sensitive moment, just as negotiations entered their second phase, focused on the security and economic arrangements necessary for stabilising the Strip…
The military gains made by forces of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in southern Yemen mark a significant turning point in the country’s political and military conflicts.The latest fighting is between the STC and internationally recognised Yemeni government, known as the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), and led by Rashad al-Alimi. The irony here is that the STC, led by Aidarus al-Zubaidi, is also a member of the Yemeni PLC. But the relationship between the two groups is shaky and at times, turbulent.Recommended Stories list of 2 itemslist 1 of 2Who are the separatists that claim control of all south Yemen?list…
Khaled Meshaal tells media surrendering weapons will ‘remove the soul’ from the Palestinian group as ceasefire momentum slips.The Head of Hamas Abroad, Khaled Meshaal, has offered assurances that the group would take measures to curb any future attacks on Israel from the besieged Palestinian enclave, but added that surrendering its weapons would be like “removing the soul” from the group.In an interview with media Arabic’s Mawazin, to be aired on Wednesday evening, Meshaal laid out the group’s positions on key issues amid rising concern that momentum on ceasefire talks may fade as the first phase draws to a conclusion.Recommended Stories…