Slovenia urges more countries to follow its lead and recognize Palestinian statehood

Update Appeal to the international community followed an informal, high-level meeting, chaired by Slovenia in its role as president of the UN Security Council this month, between council members and the secretary-general and other representatives of the Arab League. (SPA)
1 / 2
Appeal to the international community followed an informal, high-level meeting, chaired by Slovenia in its role as president of the UN Security Council this month, between council members and the secretary-general and other representatives of the Arab League. (SPA)
Short Url
Updated 27 September 2024
Follow

Slovenia urges more countries to follow its lead and recognize Palestinian statehood

Slovenia urges more countries to follow its lead and recognize Palestinian statehood
  • It follows meeting, chaired by the country’s foreign minister, between members of the UN Security Council and representatives of the Arab League
  • Arab participants back US and French proposal for 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, say Arab Peace Initiative deal remains on the table for Israel

WASHINGTON: Slovenia’s foreign minister on Thursday called for an end to Israel’s wars against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and for peace in the wider Middle East.

Tanja Fajon also urged more countries to follow in the footsteps of her nation by recognizing Palestine as a sovereign and independent state, and called on the Israeli government to withdraw from the Palestinian territories it occupies, follow the rules of international law and respect the UN Charter.

Her appeal to the international community followed an informal, high-level meeting, chaired by Slovenia in its role as president of the UN Security Council this month, between council members and the secretary-general and other representatives of the Arab League.

Of the 193 members of the UN, 146 now formally recognize Palestinian statehood. Slovenia became one of them in June, following a vote in which 52 members of its parliament voted in favor and none against. Norway, Spain and Ireland similarly recognized Palestinian statehood in May.

“I urge other countries to follow our example and recognize the Palestinian state as a sovereign state, an independent state, and give a hope to the Palestinian population,” said Fajon.

Regarding Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, the first anniversary of which is approaching, and the recent escalation of hostilities against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Fajon said she was very concerned about the possibility that hostilities might spread across the region.

She said Slovenia has called for restraint and peace since the beginning of the conflict and added: “It’s our collective responsibility to respect the resolutions of the Security Council and to do everything in our power to have a political solution because there is no military solution that can bring peace to the region.”

More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7 last year, many of them women and children, and thousands have been injured.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the secretary-general of the Arab League, said that overall, the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, had been “constructive.”

The participants included representatives from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Iraq, the current members of the Arab Summit Troika, a rotating group of three nations that monitors the implementation of resolutions and commitments adopted by the Arab League.

He said the Arab representatives listened to the views expressed during the meeting and highlighted the need for an end to hostilities in Lebanon and support for the current proposal by the US and France for a 21-day ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.

They also discussed with members of Security Council the current situations in Gaza and Lebanon and reiterated that the Saudi-proposed Arab Peace Initiative endorsed by an Arab League summit in Beirut in 2002 remains on the table for Israel.

It calls for Israeli authorities to withdraw from all occupied Arab territories in Palestine and the Golan Heights in Syria, in exchange for full recognition of the State of Israel and full diplomatic ties with all Arab nations.

Aboul Gheit said the meeting provided “an opportunity to show the members of the Security Council and the rest of the UN that the Arab world and Arab countries are still insisting on offering Israel the Arab Peace Initiative that (includes) recognition (of Israel in exchange for) withdrawal” from occupied Arab territories.


Lebanese Druze call for quelling sedition in Syria, condemn Israeli intervention

Members of Syria’s security forces deploy during an operation on the outskirts of the town of Sahnaya, south of Damascus.
Members of Syria’s security forces deploy during an operation on the outskirts of the town of Sahnaya, south of Damascus.
Updated 57 min 55 sec ago
Follow

Lebanese Druze call for quelling sedition in Syria, condemn Israeli intervention

Members of Syria’s security forces deploy during an operation on the outskirts of the town of Sahnaya, south of Damascus.
  • Intervention came a day after clashes near the Syrian capital Damascus left a reported 13 people dead
  • Fighting was prompted after an audio clip supposedly of a senior Druze figure insulting the Prophet Muhammad circulated, promoting violence on Jaramana

BEIRUT: The Druze community in Lebanon, represented by its political and spiritual leaders, unanimously agreed in an urgent meeting on Wednesday in Beirut on the “necessity of quelling sedition in Syria in light of the bloody events that unfolded in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya.”

They condemned “every insult made against the Prophet” and called for calm, dialogue, and for the Syrian administration to conduct a transparent investigation into what happened.

The intervention came a day after clashes near the Syrian capital Damascus left a reported 13 people dead. The fighting was prompted after an audio clip supposedly of a senior Druze figure insulting the Prophet Muhammad circulated, promoting violence on the predominantly Druze town of Jaramana.

Former leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, announced during the meeting his willingness to travel to the Syrian Arab Republic and meet President Ahmed Al-Sharaa “to engage in dialogue for the sake of preserving brotherhood.”

Jumblatt emphasized his rejection of “Israeli intervention through the use of Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif’s followers to entangle the Druze of Lebanon and Syria in a conflict against all Muslims,” stressing his disapproval of “the repeated visits made by Druze delegations to Israel seeking its support, which have not been successful.”

He expressed his concern regarding “the involvement of figures from the former Syrian regime in inciting discord.”

Jumblatt said there are “hundreds like Ibrahim Huweija,” referring to the Syrian officer who was arrested in Syria last March and is accused of assassinating the Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt in the 1970s.

On Wednesday morning, Jumblatt engaged in extensive communications that “included the new Syrian administration, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan,” as stated in a release from the Progressive Socialist Party.

He urged “the relevant parties to work toward establishing a ceasefire in the Ashrafiyat Sahnaya area to halt the bloodshed.”

Jumblatt requested that “matters be addressed based on the principles of the state and the unity of Syria with all its components.”

According to PSP, “as a result of the communications, an agreement was reached to implement a ceasefire that has come into effect.”

Sheikh Akl Sami Abi Al-Mona, the Druze spiritual leader, said at the beginning of the meeting: “The objective is to avert the worsening situation for our people in Syria, with whom we share ties of faith, kinship, and Arab and Islamic identity.”

He warned of “a discord plot that was being prepared in Syria, based on a video clip on social media that turned out to be fabricated to sow discord between the Druze and Sunnis in Syria, a country currently fertile ground for this changing reality.”

Abu Al-Mona affirmed that “Druze are unitarians and our religion is Islam.”

He added: “We refuse to be an independent national identity and we only embrace our Arab and Islamic affiliation. We refuse to be in confrontation with the Sunnis, with whom we share the Islamic faith.

“What happened in Syria proves that there is a hidden hand working on fueling the conflict.

“Not only do we condemn the action, the reaction and the clash on social media, but also the violation of holy sites, and we will work to stop the hateful rhetoric.

“The Syrian state must control the fragmented factions and intervene immediately to stop the ongoing security collapse.”

Abu Al-Mona stressed that “Israel seeks to execute its expansion plans,” adding that “we will only accept our Arab and Islamic affiliation.”

He described the situation as “critical” and the reactions as “hasty.”

Abu Al-Mona held local and external calls, notably with Syria’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Osama Al-Rifai and Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, as part of the cooperative efforts to control the situation in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya and to address potential dangers.

The main road linking Beirut to Damascus was blocked in Aley, Mount Lebanon, this afternoon, in protest against the developments taking place in Jaramana.


Migrants’ dreams buried under rubble after deadly strike on Yemen center

Migrants’ dreams buried under rubble after deadly strike on Yemen center
Updated 30 April 2025
Follow

Migrants’ dreams buried under rubble after deadly strike on Yemen center

Migrants’ dreams buried under rubble after deadly strike on Yemen center
  • In a nearby hospital in Saada, emaciated African men were recovering from their wounds after surviving the attack that tore their friends to pieces
  • The tragedy brought back memories of a March 2021 blaze at a Sanaa migrant center that killed 45 people

SAADA: Africans in search of a better future became the latest casualties of Yemen’s decade-long conflict after a deadly strike blamed on the United States hit a migrant detention center, killing dozens of people.
The pre-dawn attack on Monday killed more than 60 people in their sleep, the country’s Houthi militants said, attributing the raid to the US military.
Rubble, blood and body parts dotted the grounds of the compound in Houthi-held Saada, with several buildings left in ruins, twisted metal glittering in the sun.
In a nearby hospital, emaciated African men were recovering from their wounds after surviving the attack that tore their friends to pieces.

Dead bodies ripped apart, I can’t describe what I saw... A hand here, a leg there. I don’t want to remember

Abed Ibrahim Saleh, 34, from Ethiopia

“The planes struck close by twice. The third time they hit us,” said Abed Ibrahim Saleh, 34, a soft-spoken Ethiopian whose head and leg were wrapped in white gauze.
“Dead bodies ripped apart, I can’t describe what I saw... A hand here, a leg there. I don’t want to remember,” he said with a blank stare.
Since mid-March, Washington has conducted near-daily air strikes on the Iran-backed Houthis in a bid to stop their campaign of attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, launched in solidarity with Palestinians after the outbreak of the Gaza war.
US strikes on the militants began under former president Joe Biden, but have resumed and intensified under his successor Donald Trump.
Fleeing conflict
Footage broadcast by the Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV at the time of the attack showed bodies lying under the rubble as rescue teams searched for survivors.
The tragedy brought back memories of a March 2021 blaze at a Sanaa migrant center that killed 45 people and was sparked by teargas canisters fired by Houthi forces responding to a protest.
Each year, tens of thousands of migrants cross the Red Sea from the Horn of Africa, fleeing conflict, natural disasters and poor economic prospects.

This brutal aggression that killed the sons of Palestine and the Yemeni people is now targeting poor migrants

Ibrahim Al-Moallem from Yemen’s Somali community

Inspecting the wreckage, Ibrahim Abdul Qadir Mohammed Al-Moallem, a member of Yemen’s Somali community, denounced the “heinous crime” against innocent people.
“This brutal aggression that killed the sons of Palestine and the Yemeni people is now targeting poor migrants,” he said, blaming the United States for the attack.
The Houthis, who have also repeatedly launched missiles and drones at Israel, paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in Gaza, but had threatened to resume them after Israel cut off aid to the territory over an impasse in negotiations.
Before they could, however, the intensified US campaign resumed, hitting more than 1,000 targets in insurgent-held Yemen since March 15. The Houthi’s attacks since then have only targeted US warships.
“There is no justification for this,” Moallem said, calling on African leaders to take a stance and urging the international community to “break your silence.”
'Conducting assessment'
Asked about the strike, a US defense official told AFP the army was aware of reports of civilian casualties “and we take those claims very seriously.”
“We are currently conducting our battle-damage assessment and inquiry into those claims,” they said on condition of anonymity.
The United Nations expressed deep concern at Monday’s strike, while Niku Jafarnia of Human Rights Watch said US attacks “are appearing to kill and injure civilians in Yemen at an alarming rate over the past month.”
“Failing to take all feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law,” HRW said.


Qatar supplies Syria’s White Helmets with vehicles, logistical equipment

Qatar supplies Syria’s White Helmets with vehicles, logistical equipment
Updated 30 April 2025
Follow

Qatar supplies Syria’s White Helmets with vehicles, logistical equipment

Qatar supplies Syria’s White Helmets with vehicles, logistical equipment
  • Consignment of fire engines, mobile water tanks will be used in search and rescue operations
  • White Helmets’ director praises Qatari support

LONDON: Qatar has provided a consignment of vehicles, water pumps and other logistical equipment to the Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, to support its humanitarian and rescue efforts.

Since the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime late last year, the White Helmets have been at the forefront of rescue and first aid operations in Syria, providing essential relief services and contributing to rebuilding efforts.

The consignment was received at the Internal Security Force headquarters in Al-Duhail on Wednesday in the presence of Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed Al Saleh and Qatari Brig. Gen. Nawaf Majed Al-Ali, assistant commander for security operations at the internal force.

The equipment included fire engines, mobile water tanks, high-altitude rescue vehicles, water pumps and personnel transport vehicles that will be used in search and rescue operations and emergency response, the Qatar News Agency reported.

Mounir Moustafa, director of the White Helmets, praised Qatar’s support and said the equipment and training programs would significantly enhance their daily operations.


Sudan’s army leader Burhan appoints an acting prime minister, statement says

Sudan’s army leader Burhan appoints an acting prime minister, statement says
Updated 30 April 2025
Follow

Sudan’s army leader Burhan appoints an acting prime minister, statement says

Sudan’s army leader Burhan appoints an acting prime minister, statement says
  • Dafallah Al-Hajj Ali appointed on Wednesday as acting prime minister

Sudan’s army leader Abdel Fattah Burhan appointed diplomat Dafallah Al-Hajj Ali as acting prime minister on Wednesday, weeks after the army’s recapture of Khartoum.
Burhan, chairman of Sudan’s transitional sovereign council, also approved the appointment of Omar Seddik, a current ambassador, as foreign minister, a council statement said.
In March, the Sudanese army drove Rapid Support Forces militia from most of Khartoum after two years of devastating conflict that split the country into rival zones of control. The RSF is still deeply embedded in western Sudan.
The war erupted in April 2023 over disputes about the integration of the two forces after they worked together to oust civilians with whom they had shared power after the uprising that toppled autocrat Omar Al-Bashir.
In February, Burhan said there would be changes to the country’s interim constitution, which military sources said would remove all references to partnership with civilians or the RSF, placing authority solely with the army which would appoint a technocratic prime minister who would then appoint a cabinet.


Moroccan-based cardinal says Church does not need Francis ‘impersonator’

Moroccan-based cardinal says Church does not need Francis ‘impersonator’
Updated 30 April 2025
Follow

Moroccan-based cardinal says Church does not need Francis ‘impersonator’

Moroccan-based cardinal says Church does not need Francis ‘impersonator’
  • “It doesn’t necessarily have to be a Francis mark II, a Francis impersonator,” said Lopez
  • Born in Spain, Lopez has been the archbishop of the Moroccan capital Rabat since 2017

ROME: Cardinal Cristobal Lopez Romero, the Spanish-born archbishop of Rabat, admits he is a little anxious ahead of his first conclave, although also curious.
The 72-year-old is among 133 cardinals from around the world who will vote for a successor to Pope Francis starting May 7.
“I haven’t decided anything,” he told AFP when asked whom he would vote for as the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
“We believe in the Holy Spirit and we will see what it shows us and where we have to go.”
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a Francis mark II, a Francis impersonator,” said Lopez, who the Argentine pontiff appointed as a cardinal in 2019.
“I am happy for him to be a good impersonator of Christ, that he is a good Christian, a good person and pays attention to what happens in the world.”
Born in Spain, Lopez has been the archbishop of the Moroccan capital Rabat since 2017.
There, he claims to have experienced a “conversion” — not to Islam, the overwhelming majority religion in the North African country, but in his approach to his work.
“I hear confession barely once every six months,” Lopez said. Christians make up less than one percent of Morocco’s population of 38 million people.
“That helped me to realize that I wasn’t there to serve the Church but rather, as the Church, to serve the world — in this case the Muslim world.”
Lopez has been taking part in the daily cardinal meetings, known as “general congregations,” in which those present discuss the priorities for the new pope and future direction of the 2,000-year-old Church.
“We are listening to people who we have never listened to before... and that guides you,” said Lopez, who is a Paraguayan citizen, having lived there for almost two decades.
The cardinals taking part in the conclave — those aged under 80 and able to attend — are staying in the relatively modest Casa Santa Marta on the Vatican’s grounds where Francis lived during his papacy.
They are, however, sworn to lifelong secrecy about what happens inside the Sistine Chapel during the conclave.
Smartphones are banned, the room will be swept for listening devices and cardinals are barred from reading newspapers, listening to the radio or watching television.
“I’m not worried, but I am curious,” said Lopez. “A little apprehensive because I know the responsibility that this entails, but calm because I believe in the Holy Spirit.”
In fact, Lopez even feels “a certain happiness” about the whole process — but hopes it will not last more than “two or three days.”
There are up to four votes a day until at least two-thirds of the cardinals agree on a single candidate.
Two days were needed to elect Francis and his predecessor Benedict XVI, but the longest ever conclave lasted three years.
“It’s already many days that I have been out of Morocco and I’m eager and need” to return, said Lopez.
Like Francis, Lopez wants a missionary Church pushing out especially into areas where Catholicism has few adherents, such as Morocco.
“Thanks to Pope Francis this has become much clearer, that the Church is universal, Catholic, that there are no geographic borders that limit us,” he said.
And Lopez has not ruled out the next pope hailing from outside the traditional Catholic heartlands.
“After 50 years of a Polish pope, a German pope and an Argentine pope, why not think about a pope from Myanmar, East Timor or Australia, or North America, or Africa. It’s all open,” he said.
However, he is ruling himself out of the running.
“It’s as if I said (Lionel) Messi is going to retire and I’m going to replace” the Argentine football legend, he joked.