King Abdullah tells US Jordan will not be drawn into Gaza conflict

King Abdullah tells US Jordan will not be drawn into Gaza conflict
King Abdullah also stressed the importance of continued support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees to ensure it can fulfill its humanitarian mission. (Petra)
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Updated 12 August 2024
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King Abdullah tells US Jordan will not be drawn into Gaza conflict

King Abdullah tells US Jordan will not be drawn into Gaza conflict
  • King Abdullah also called for urgent efforts to de-escalate tensions and secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

AMMAN: King Abdullah told a delegation of US Congressional aides on Sunday at Al-Husseiniya Palace that Jordan will not be drawn into the ongoing Gaza conflict and will prioritize the safety of its citizens.

While reaffirming Jordan’s commitment to regional stability, King Abdullah also called for urgent efforts to de-escalate tensions and secure an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. He warned that the conflict poses a significant threat to the region and urged intensified international efforts to prevent it from escalating into a broader war.

He highlighted the dangers of extremist settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and violations at Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. He reiterated the need for a political solution based on the two-state framework as the only path to lasting peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis.

King Abdullah also stressed the importance of continued support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees to ensure it can fulfill its humanitarian mission.

The meeting also covered opportunities to strengthen US-Jordan relations, with King Abdullah expressing gratitude for the continued American support. The US delegation, in turn, acknowledged Jordan’s crucial role in promoting peace and stability in the region under the King Abdullah’s leadership.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi; Dr. Jafar Hassan, the director of the King’s Office; and Jordan’s ambassador to Washington, Dina Kawar.

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Netanyahu assails media as he testifies for first time in his corruption trial

Netanyahu assails media as he testifies for first time in his corruption trial
Updated 8 sec ago
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Netanyahu assails media as he testifies for first time in his corruption trial

Netanyahu assails media as he testifies for first time in his corruption trial
“I have been waiting for eight years for this moment to tell the truth,” Netanyahu told the three-judge court
“But I am also a prime minister … I am leading the country through a seven-front war. And I think the two can be done in parallel”

TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the witness stand for the first time on Tuesday in his long-running corruption trial, saying he was being hounded for his hawkish security policies.
Netanyahu, 75, is Israel’s first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime. He is testifying at the same time Israel is engaged in a war in Gaza and facing possible new threats posed by regional turmoil, including in Syria.
Last week judges ruled that Netanyahu, indicted in 2019, must testify three times a week, forcing the longtime Israeli leader to juggle between the courtroom and the war room at Israel’s Defense Ministry, minutes away from the courthouse.
The leader of the right-wing Likud party, Netanyahu assailed the Israeli media for what he called its leftist stance and accused journalists of having hounded him for years because his policies did not align with a push for a Palestinian state.
“I have been waiting for eight years for this moment to tell the truth,” Netanyahu told the three-judge court. “But I am also a prime minister … I am leading the country through a seven-front war. And I think the two can be done in parallel.”
Prosecutors accuse Netanyahu of granting regulatory favors worth around 1.8 billion shekels (about $500 million) to Bezeq Telecom Israel (BEZQ.TA) in return for positive coverage of himself and his wife Sara on a news website controlled by the company’s former chairman.
He is also accused of negotiating a deal with the owner of Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper for better coverage in return for legislation to slow the growth of a rival paper.
Netanyahu denies the allegations against him and has pleaded not guilty. He stood rather than sat in the witness box throughout his morning testimony.
“Had I wanted good coverage all I would have had to have done would be to signal toward a two-state solution. ... Had I moved two steps to the left I would have been hailed,” he said.
In lengthy replies, he portrayed himself as a staunch defender of Israel’s security, withstanding pressures from international powers and a hostile domestic media.

TRIAL IN UNDERGROUND COURTROOM
Netanyahu smiled confidently when he entered the Tel Aviv District Court around 10 a.m. (0800 GMT). The trial was moved from Jerusalem for undisclosed security reasons and convened in an underground courtroom.
Before Netanyahu took the stand, his lawyer Amit Hadad laid out for the judges what the defense maintains are fundamental flaws in the investigation. Prosecutors, Hadad said, “weren’t investigating a crime, they were going after a person.”
A few dozen protesters gathered outside the courthouse, some of them supporters and others demanding he do more to negotiate the release of some 100 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Israel has been waging war in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group for more than a year, during which Netanyahu had been granted a delay for the start of his court appearances. But last Thursday, judges ruled that he must start testifying.
Charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, Netanyahu will testify three times a week, the court said, despite the Gaza war and possible new threats posed by wider Middle East turmoil.
Netanyahu was indicted in three cases involving gifts from millionaire friends and for allegedly seeking regulatory favors for media tycoons in return for favorable coverage. He denies any wrongdoing.
In the run-up to his court date, Netanyahu revived familiar pre-war rhetoric against law enforcement, describing investigations against him as a witch hunt. He denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty.

DIVISIONS AMONG THE ISRAELI PUBLIC
Before the war, Netanyahu’s legal troubles bitterly divided Israelis and shook Israeli politics through five rounds of elections. His government’s bid last year to curb the powers of the judiciary further polarized Israelis.
The shock Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing Gaza war swept Netanyahu’s trial off the public agenda as Israelis came together in grief and trauma. But as the war dragged on, political unity crumbled.
In recent weeks, while fighting abated on one front after Israel reached a ceasefire with Hamas’ Lebanese ally Hezbollah, members of Netanyahu’s cabinet, including his justice and police ministers, have clashed with the judiciary.
His domestic legal woes were compounded last month when the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant along with a Hamas leader, for alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict.

Qatar urges open dialogue on Syria’s future

Qatar urges open dialogue on Syria’s future
Updated 35 min 37 sec ago
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Qatar urges open dialogue on Syria’s future

Qatar urges open dialogue on Syria’s future

DUBAI: Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has reiterated its commitment to engaging with all parties in Syria to shape the country’s future.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari emphasized that “all doors and channels of communication” are open, highlighting the importance of collaborative efforts to achieve progress.

Al-Ansari described the situation as “historic days for the region,” and that it was a “ray of hope” for the Syrian people to fulfill their aspirations amid ongoing challenges.

He criticized Israel’s actions in Syria, stating it was unacceptable for Tel Aviv to “exploit” the current circumstances and violate that nation’s sovereignty.


Mohamed Al-Bashir named Caretaker PM of Syrian transitional government

Mohamed Al-Bashir named Caretaker PM of Syrian transitional government
Updated 55 min 8 sec ago
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Mohamed Al-Bashir named Caretaker PM of Syrian transitional government

Mohamed Al-Bashir named Caretaker PM of Syrian transitional government

In a televised statement, Mohamed Al-Bashir announced on Tuesday his appointment as the Caretaker Prime Minister of Syria’s transitional government.

Bashir will hold the position until March 1, 2025.

Al-Bashir's leadership comes during a critical period for Syria as efforts continue to navigate the country’s complex political and humanitarian challenges.

Further details about his plans for the transitional period are expected in the coming days.


Jordanian man returns home after 38 years in Syria’s prisons

Jordanian man returns home after 38 years in Syria’s prisons
Updated 10 December 2024
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Jordanian man returns home after 38 years in Syria’s prisons

Jordanian man returns home after 38 years in Syria’s prisons
  • Kodat said the man’s relatives reported his disappearance in 1986, when he was just 18, and that he had been in jail ever since

AMMAN: A Jordanian man has returned to his home country after spending 38 years in Syrian jails, an official said on Tuesday, after the fall of president Bashar Assad ended an agonizing wait for his family.
The man, named as Osama Bashir Hassan Al-Bataynah, was found in Syria “unconscious and suffering from memory loss,” Jordanian Foreign Ministry Soufian Al-Kodat told AFP.
Kodat said the man’s relatives reported his disappearance in 1986, when he was just 18, and that he had been in jail ever since.
“He was transferred from Damascus to the Jaber border crossing (with Jordan) where he was handed over to border guards,” added Kodat, saying the man had been reunited with his family on Tuesday morning.
The oposition forces who swept Assad from power on Sunday also opened the prisons and released thousands of detainees.
Civil society groups had long accused Assad of presiding over a brutal regime of arbitrary arrests, torture and murder in prisons.
Many foreigners were being held, including Suheil Hamawi from Lebanon who returned to his country on Monday after being locked up for 33 years.
The Arab Organization for Human Rights in Jordan said Tuesday there were still 236 Jordanians detained in Syria.
Amnesty International has documented thousands of killings at Saydnaya prison, whose name has become synonymous with the worst atrocities of Assad’s rule, and dubbed it a “human slaughterhouse.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated in 2022 that more than 100,000 people had died in the jails since the start of an uprising in 2011 that led to the civil war.


Asma Assad: From ‘rose in the desert’ to international pariah

Asma Assad: From ‘rose in the desert’ to international pariah
Updated 10 December 2024
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Asma Assad: From ‘rose in the desert’ to international pariah

Asma Assad: From ‘rose in the desert’ to international pariah
  • Vogue published gushing profile of Syria’s ex-first lady weeks before Arab Spring
  • She and her husband now in exile in Moscow after fall of regime in Damascus

LONDON: The transformation of Asma Assad from a vaunted English “rose in the desert” to international pariah is the subject of fresh media scrutiny after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.

A gushing March 2011 Vogue profile of former President Bashar Assad’s wife, published weeks before the Arab Spring and later deleted, highlights the destruction of her reputation, the Daily Mail reported.

The “Power Issue” profile described the London-born computer science graduate as “on a mission to create a beacon of culture and secularism” in the Middle East.

“The first impression of Asma Assad is movement: A determined swath cut through space with a flash of red soles,” it said.

The “thin, long-limbed beauty with a trained analytic mind who dresses with cunning understatement” reportedly wanted Syria’s youth to spearhead modernization by becoming “active citizens.”

But soon after the profile was published, she and her husband became the public face of a brutal crackdown on popular protests that culminated in Syria’s 13-year civil war, leading to more than 600,000 deaths and the displacement of millions.

Asma Assad turned to London law firm Carter Ruck as the civil war broke out. Newspapers who covered the family’s affairs received threatening letters, but nothing could prevent her and her husband from becoming international pariahs after regime forces carried out a series of chemical weapons attacks against civilians.

Vogue removed the “rose in the desert” profile as a WikiLeaks email hack revealed that she had spent $318,000 on luxury furniture during the first year of the civil war. US estimates put the Assad family’s wealth at $2 billion.

Asma Assad was placed under US sanctions in 2020 and described as one of Syria’s “most notorious war profiteers.”

The former first lady owns at least 18 luxury apartments in Moscow’s skyscraper district, where she is set to begin a new life in exile with her husband.