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Arab World

Lebanon Follows up Closely on Recent Syrian-Israeli Tensions

Lebanese Army soldiers ride on their military vehicles in Ras Baalbek, Lebanon August 28, 2017. REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah
Lebanese Army soldiers ride on their military vehicles in Ras Baalbek, Lebanon August 28, 2017. REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah
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Lebanon Follows up Closely on Recent Syrian-Israeli Tensions

Lebanese Army soldiers ride on their military vehicles in Ras Baalbek, Lebanon August 28, 2017. REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah
Lebanese Army soldiers ride on their military vehicles in Ras Baalbek, Lebanon August 28, 2017. REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun is leading consultations with the country's security and political officials to study the repercussions of the recent tensions between Syria and Israel, which have emerged when a Syrian anti-aircraft missile downed an Israeli warplane on Saturday.

The Lebanese Foreign Affairs Ministry condemned in a statement on Saturday the Israeli air strikes on Syria, asserting the country's right to defend itself against any Israeli attacks.

"The Foreign Affairs Minister instructed Lebanon's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York to file a complaint with the Security Council against Israel, condemning and warning against its use of Lebanese airspace to launch attacks on Syria," the statement said.

"Such an aggressive policy adopted by Israel threatens stability in the region," it added, calling on the concerned countries to exert efforts to end the Israel's practices and stop its attacks.

The National News Agency (NNA) reported that remnants of missiles from the Israeli raid on Syria fell in the town of Saarin, while shrapnel fell in the town of Ali al-Nahri in the Bekaa (eastern Lebanon). A SAM anti-aircraft missile landed in the Hasbani Valley, south of Lebanon, which was fired at Israeli aircraft from the Syrian territories, according to the NNA.

Aoun discussed the recent developments in Syria following the Israeli strikes early Saturday with Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, who is currently outside the country. He also received reports on the situation from Defense Minister Yaacoub Sarraf and Army Commander General Joseph Aoun.

Well-informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Lebanese government has not put forward any plan for action, awaiting the return of Hariri to Beirut.

The head of the Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc, MP Walid Jumblatt, tweeted on Saturday: "It seems that there are major disturbances lurking in the horizon... It will not be useful to think of separating tracks since the Israelis have already linked them."

Jumblatt called on "decision-makers in Lebanon" to stay away from "huge and costly projects."

"The best thing is to apply reform and austerity while awaiting the storms. History repeats itself," he added.

The Lebanese Army said in a statement on Saturday that four Israeli warplanes violated the Lebanese airspace over the sea west of Tyre, reaching the village of Kfarshouba at around 8:45 am on Saturday.

Four other Israeli warplanes later breached the national airspace, flying over the Lebanese territories, the LAF statement added.

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Arab World

Egypt Sends Delegation to Israel to Broker a Cease-fire between Israel and Hamas

A picture shows a view of a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 26, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 26, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Egypt Sends Delegation to Israel to Broker a Cease-fire between Israel and Hamas

A picture shows a view of a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 26, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 26, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Egypt sent a high-level delegation to Israel on Friday with the hope of brokering a cease-fire agreement with Hamas in Gaza, two officials said. At the same time, it warned that a possible Israeli offensive focused on Gaza's city of Rafah — on the border with Egypt — could have catastrophic consequences for regional stability.
Egypt's top intelligence official, Abbas Kamel, is leading the delegation and plans to discuss with Israel a “new vision” for a prolonged cease-fire in Gaza, an Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the mission freely.
As the war drags on and casualties mount, there has been growing international pressure for Hamas and Israel to reach an agreement on a cease fire.
Friday's talks will focus at first on a limited exchange of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners, and the return of a significant number of displaced Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza “with minimum restrictions,” the Egyptian official said.
The hope is that negotiations will then continue, with the goal of a larger deal to end the war, he said.
The official said mediators are working on a compromise that will answer most of both parties’ main demands.
Hamas has said it will not back down from its demands for a permanent cease-fire and full withdrawal of Israeli troops, both of which Israel has rejected. Israel says it will continue military operations until Hamas is defeated and that it will retain a security presence in Gaza afterwards.
Ahead of the talks, senior Hamas official Basem Naim told The Associated Press “there is nothing new from our side,” when asked about the negotiations.
Overnight, Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group fired anti-tank missiles and artillery shells at an Israeli military convoy in a disputed border area, killing an Israeli civilian.
Low-intensity fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border has repeatedly threatened to boil over as Israel has targeted senior Hezbollah militants in recent months.
Rafah also abuts the Gaza-Egypt border. While in Israel, Kamel, who heads Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, plans to make clear that Egypt “will not tolerate” Israel’s deployments of troops along that border, the Egyptian official said.
The official said Egypt shared intelligence with the United States and European countries showing that a Rafah offensive would inflame the entire region.
A Western diplomat in Cairo also said that Egypt has intensified its efforts in recent days to reach a compromise and establish a short cease-fire in Gaza that will help negotiate a longer truce and avert a Rafah offensive.
The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the developments.
On Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi cautioned that an Israeli attack on Rafah would have “catastrophic consequences on the humanitarian situation in the strip, as well as the regional peace and security.”
El-Sisi’s comments came in a phone call with Prime Minister Mark Rutte of The Netherlands, the Egyptian leader’s office said.
Egypt has also said an attack on Rafah would violate the decades-old peace deal between Egypt and Israel.
The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the Hamas’ Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel, in which Hamas killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 people as hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to local health officials, around two-thirds of them children and women.

Arab World

Hezbollah Ambushes Israeli Military Convoy, Killing Civilian 

Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Shouba on April 25, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. (AFP)
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Shouba on April 25, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. (AFP)
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Hezbollah Ambushes Israeli Military Convoy, Killing Civilian 

Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Shouba on April 25, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. (AFP)
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Shouba on April 25, 2024 amid ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. (AFP)

Lebanon’s Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles and artillery shells at an Israeli military convoy in a disputed area along the border, killing an Israeli civilian, the group and Israel’s military said Friday.

Iran-backed Hezbollah said that its fighters ambushed the convoy shortly before midnight Thursday, destroying two vehicles. The Israeli military said the ambush wounded an Israeli civilian doing infrastructure work, and that he later died of his wounds.

Low-intensity fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border has repeatedly threatened to boil over as Israel has targeted senior Hezbollah fighters in recent months.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the border. On the Israeli side, the cross-border fighting has killed 10 civilians and 12 soldiers, while in Lebanon, more than 350 people have been killed, including 50 civilians and 271 Hezbollah members.

On Thursday, Palestinian hospital officials said Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip killed at least five people.

More than half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million have sought refuge in Rafah, where Israel has conducted near-daily raids as it prepares for an offensive in the city. The Israeli military has massed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in the area in what appears to be preparations for an invasion of Rafah.

In central Gaza, four people were killed in Israeli tank shelling.

The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which gunmen killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the gunmen are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

The war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, around two-thirds of them children and women.

Arab World

Pederson: Syria Treated by Many as a Space for Settling Scores

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen (Reuters/File)
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen (Reuters/File)
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Pederson: Syria Treated by Many as a Space for Settling Scores

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen (Reuters/File)
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen (Reuters/File)

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said on Thursday that Syria has become a "sort of free-for-all space for settling scores," warning that each month, trends are moving further in the wrong direction.
In a briefing to the Security Council, the UN envoy noted that this last month, the grim specter of regional conflict loomed over Syria once again after the April 1 strikes on Iranian diplomatic premises in Damascus, Iran’s 13 April strikes on Israel, attacks in Iran, Iraq and Syria, and others on US bases in northeast Syria.
“I remain extremely alarmed at this dangerous and escalatory spiral. I have long warned that Syria is treated by many as a sort of free-for-all space for settling scores,” Pedersen told the Security Council.
Also, the UN envoy said he is not only worried about these regional spillover effects and the grave dangers of miscalculation and escalation. “I am also deeply worried about the conflict in Syria itself, which continues to blight the lives of the long-suffering Syrian people,” he said. “Any temptation to ignore or merely contain the Syrian conflict itself would be a mistake.”
Pedersen then spoke about the situation in the northwest of Syria, where Security Council-listed terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched multiple crossline attacks.
In the northeast, he said there were reports of Turkish drone-strikes, exchanges of fire between armed opposition groups and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), alongside a growing insurgency by some tribal elements against the SDF.
Pedersen then said that in the southwest, security incidents remain at elevated levels with reports of open clashes between former armed opposition groups and Syrian government forces, as well as incidents related to criminal activities on the border.
“We need regional de-escalation, starting with an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza,” he said, adding that all players must work towards a nationwide ceasefire in Syria too.
Tackling the humanitarian situation, Pedersen said, “it is as bleak as ever.”
As for the economic situation, the UN envoy said it remains perilous. “The WFP says that the cost of a food basket doubled within a year, while the cost of living increased by 104%. The Syrian pound has reached around 15,000 per US dollar on the parallel market,” he noted.
Pedersen stressed the need to move forward on the safe, calm and neutral environment that is necessary for a political process to unfold, and also for safe, dignified and voluntary returns.
He then noted that “a mix of de-escalation, containment and humanitarian assistance – brokered through partial arrangements and piecemeal formats – is what we are seeing in practice.”
Without this the situation would be even worse, Pedersen stressed.

 

 

Arab World

UNICEF: Extreme Weather Put Yemeni Children at Risk

An internally displaced Yemeni family sit outside their shelter at Al-Suwaidan camp in Marib city, Yemen, June 2021 (UNHCR)
An internally displaced Yemeni family sit outside their shelter at Al-Suwaidan camp in Marib city, Yemen, June 2021 (UNHCR)
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UNICEF: Extreme Weather Put Yemeni Children at Risk

An internally displaced Yemeni family sit outside their shelter at Al-Suwaidan camp in Marib city, Yemen, June 2021 (UNHCR)
An internally displaced Yemeni family sit outside their shelter at Al-Suwaidan camp in Marib city, Yemen, June 2021 (UNHCR)

A recent UN report has revealed that climate change provokes displacement in Yemen and contributes to poverty, conflict, violence, and exploitation, putting children at risk.
“Children are most at risk due to exposure to climate and environmental shocks and their vulnerability to those shocks because of limited access to essential water and sanitation, education and health services,” UNICEF revealed in a report on landscape analysis for children in Yemen.
It said that the national climate policies and strategies that guide the climate, environment and energy agenda in Yemen are not child-sensitive, sometimes lacking any reference to children and youth.
Similarly, the report found that child-relevant sectoral strategies make weak connections with climate challenges and how they affect their sectors.
It said rising temperatures will intensify and extend heatwaves and droughts, exacerbating land degradation and water scarcity, and damage coastal ecosystems. Also, annual rainfall is decreasing while becoming more variable and unpredictable.
“Water scarcity coupled with flood events endanger livelihoods, trigger conflicts over land and water resources, and provoke greater displacement and urban migration,” UNICEF said in the report.
It added that Yemen’s agriculture is under duress leading to reduced food security.
Also, the report found that water is a key factor, either due to erratic rains or to flood damage. “The agricultural sector consumes 91% of water in Yemen, contributing to depleted groundwater resources,” it said, adding that urban encroachment, coastal groundwater salinity, overgrazing, soil erosion, droughts and desert locusts all impact the struggling sector.
As for the energy sector, the report said it depends on petroleum products, with the largest consumers being transportation, households and electricity production.
“Domestic oil production has plummeted since 2015, and fuel prices have soared. Even prior to the conflict, Yemen had the lowest installed electricity generation capacity as well as the lowest electricity access rate in the region,” it said.
Heavy Burden
The report said Yemen contributes a tiny portion of global CO2 emissions, noting that solar photovoltaic energy continues to gain ground as Yemenis seek reliable off-grid alternatives, and farmers have adopted solar for irrigation, placing additional pressure on fragile aquifers.
While wind and geothermal energy potential are largely untapped, the report said they remain promising.
Of the global burden of disease attributable to climate change, the report said 88% is borne by children. “Children are most at risk of the impacts of extreme weather events and heatwaves, aggravated by malnutrition and scarcity of clean water,” it noted.
The report then anticipated increases in water and vector-borne diseases in Yemen, as well as heightened child deprivation due to repeated climate shocks that overwhelm traditional coping mechanisms.
It said that when urgent care for children is required, access to health services is a challenge for many Yemeni families.
Meanwhile, UNICEF said land degradation and food and water insecurity provoke displacement and contribute to poverty, conflict, violence, and exploitation, putting children at risk.
It said climate-driven humanitarian disasters drive large-scale displacement and require responsive child protection services – psychosocial support, prevention of gender-based violence, and family reunification – to meet the challenge.
Damage to Health, Education
UNICEF’s report then predicted that population growth coupled with more frequent droughts will lead to greater competition for water for domestic uses, irrigation and industry.
“Water supply coverage in Yemen is dangerously low, and 39% of the population have limited access or unsafe drinking water,” it said.
Also, climate and environmental threats exacerbate poor access, poor retention and poor learning outcomes for Yemen’s school children. Floods damage poorly designed or situated schools, and heatwaves call for investment in school ventilation and more greenspaces.
In urban environments, the report noted that air pollution threatens children’s health, raising their risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease later in life.
Yemen is a sub-tropical, largely arid country. It is hot and humid along the west coast, temperate in the western mountains, and hot, harsh desert in the east.
Temperatures range widely depending on elevation or, in the coastal areas, distance from the sea. Mean temperatures in the highlands range from below 15°C in winter to 25°C in summer, and in the coastal lowlands from 22.5°C in winter to 35°C in the summer.
The annual mean temperature has increased at a rate of approximately 0.39˚C per decade since 1960, more rapidly than the global average.
The increase has been faster in summer (Jun-Aug) at an average rate of 0.56˚C per decade and slower in winter (Dec-Feb) at 0.21˚C per decade.
The 120-year record of average annual mean temperature shows this increasing trend and greater variability.

 

Arab World

Syrian Kurdish Officials Hand over 50 Women and Children Linked to ISIS to Tajikistan

FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakeh province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakeh province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
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Syrian Kurdish Officials Hand over 50 Women and Children Linked to ISIS to Tajikistan

FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakeh province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the ISIS group in Hasakeh province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)

Kurdish-led authorities in northeastern Syria on Thursday handed over 50 women and children — family members of ISIS militants — to a delegation from Tajikistan for repatriation back home.
The 17 women and 33 children, all citizens of Tajikistan, were handed over to a delegation headed by the Tajik ambassador to Kuwait, Zubaydullo Zubaydzoda, Syrian Kurdish officials said.
After the ISIS group declared its caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq in June 2014, thousands of foreigners, including hundreds from Tajikistan, came to Syria to join the group and live with their families.
After ISIS was defeated, most of the militants' family members were held in the sprawling al-Hol camp and the smaller Roj camp in northeastern Syria.
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent said the women and children were taken to the airport of Qamishli where they boarded a plane “to be reunited with their families” in Tajikistan on Thursday.
The repatriation came almost a month after an attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people. The massacre was carried out by four suspected attackers who were arrested and identified as Tajik nationals. ISIS claimed responsibility and said four of its fighters had targeted the hall in Russia.
Over the past few years thousands of people, mostly Iraqis have been repatriated from al-Hol, which houses tens of thousands, mostly ISIS militants' wives and children but also supporters of the militant group.
The heavily-guarded al-Hol, overseen by Syrian Kurdish-led forces allied with the United States, was once home to 73,000 people, mostly Syrians and Iraqis. Over the past few years, the population dropped to about 43,000, according to Sheikhmous Ahmad, a Kurdish official overseeing camps for displaced people in northeastern Syria.
Tajikistan has said that at the height of ISIS, more than 1,000 fighters from the country joined extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, including ISIS. One of the most prominent was Gulmurod Khalimov, an officer with Tajikistan’s special forces who defected and joined ISIS in Syria in 2015.
Khalimov rose through ISIS ranks to become one of its top military commanders. In September 2017, the Russian military said he was killed in a Russian airstrike in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, which borders Iraq.
Thursday’s repatriation of Tajik citizens is not the first. Last May, 104 Tajik citizens were returned home, including 31 women and 73 children. And the year before, 146 women and children were repatriated.

Arab World

18 Countries Urge Hamas to Release Hostages, End Gaza Crisis

Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7 protest outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on April 25, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7 protest outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on April 25, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
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18 Countries Urge Hamas to Release Hostages, End Gaza Crisis

Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7 protest outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on April 25, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7 protest outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on April 25, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

The United States and 17 other countries on Thursday issued an appeal for Hamas to release all of its hostages as a pathway to end the crisis in Gaza, but the group vowed not to relent to international pressure.
"We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza now for over 200 days," a statement by the countries said, in what a senior US official called an extraordinary display of unanimity.

The 18 countries all have citizens held by Hamas six months after the Palestinian militant group launched its Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel.

The signatories were the leaders of the United States, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and Britain.

"We emphasize that the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, that would facilitate a surge of additional necessary humanitarian assistance to be delivered throughout Gaza, and lead to the credible end of hostilities," the statement said.

"Gazans would be able to return to their homes and their lands with preparations beforehand to ensure shelter and humanitarian provisions," it said.

Senior Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that Hamas would not be influenced by the statement and said the United States needs to force Israel to end its aggression.

"The ball now is in the American court," said Abu Zuhri.

A senior US official, briefing reporters about the statement, said there were some indications that there might be an avenue for an agreement on the hostage crisis but that he was not totally confident.

He did not elaborate but said the resolution was dependent on "one guy," the Hamas Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar.

The hostage proposal put forward earlier this year calls for the release of sick, elderly and wounded hostages in Gaza in exchange for a six-week ceasefire that could be extended to allow for more humanitarian aid to be delivered into the enclave.
It permits the unrestricted return of Gaza citizens to northern Gaza, the official said.

Arab World

Israel Intensifies Airstrikes on Gaza's Rafah Before Ground Operation

25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians inspect a house that was destroyed following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians inspect a house that was destroyed following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
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Israel Intensifies Airstrikes on Gaza's Rafah Before Ground Operation

25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians inspect a house that was destroyed following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians inspect a house that was destroyed following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

Israel stepped up airstrikes on Rafah overnight after saying it would evacuate civilians from the southern Gazan city and launch an all-out assault despite allies' warnings this could cause mass casualties.
Medics in the besieged Palestinian enclave reported five Israeli airstrikes on Rafah early on Thursday that hit at least three houses, killing at least six people including a local journalist.
In the seventh month of a devastating air and ground war against Hamas, Israeli forces also resumed bombarding northern and central areas of the enclave, as well as east of Khan Younis in the south.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet was holding meetings "to discuss how to destroy the last vestiges, the last quarter of Hamas' battalions, in Rafah and elsewhere," government spokesperson David Mencer said.
He declined to say when or whether the classified forum might give a green light for a ground operation in Rafah.
Israeli warplanes had hammered the north for a second day on Wednesday, shattering weeks of comparative calm there.
The war, now in its seventh month, has killed at least 34,305 Palestinians, Gaza health authorities said on Thursday. The offensive has laid to waste much of the densely populated and widely urbanized enclave, displacing most of its 2.3 million people and leaving many with little food, water or medical care.
Escalating Israeli warnings about invading Rafah, the last refuge for around a million civilians who fled Israeli forces further north earlier in the war, have nudged some families to leave for the nearby al-Mawasi coastal area or try to make their way to points further north, residents and witnesses said.
But the number of displaced people departing Rafah, abutting Gaza's southern border with Egypt, remained small. Many were confused over where they should go, saying their experience over the past 200 days of war had taught them that no place was genuinely safe.

Western countries, including the United States, have pleaded with Israel to hold back from attacking the city, saying this could cause a humanitarian disaster given the presence of many displaced people with only rudimentary shelter and little food or access to medical care.

Arab World

Belgian Agency Aid Worker Dies in Gaza

25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians children walk next to a destroyed house following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians children walk next to a destroyed house following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
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Belgian Agency Aid Worker Dies in Gaza

25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians children walk next to a destroyed house following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa
25 April 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians children walk next to a destroyed house following an Israeli airstrike. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/dpa

An aid worker who was part of Belgium's development aid efforts in the Gaza Strip died in an Israeli strike on Rafah, the country's development minister, Caroline Gennez, said on Thursday.

"It is with deep sadness and horror that we learn of the death of our colleague Abdallah Nabhan (33) and his seven-year-old son Jamal, last night, following a bombardment by the Israeli army in the eastern part of the city of Rafah", the minister said in a statement.

Nabhan, whose nationality was not disclosed, worked for the Enabel agency, assisting small businesses, Reuters reported.
The statement said at least seven people were killed by the strike on a building that housed about 25 people, including displaced people from other parts of the Gaza Strip occupied by Israeli forces following an attack on Israel by Hamas last October.
"The indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure and innocent civilians goes against every international and humanitarian law and the rules of war," Gennez said.

Arab World

Biden Names New Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues

Internally displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, take shelter near the border with Egypt, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 20 April 2024. EPA/HAITHAM IMAD
Internally displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, take shelter near the border with Egypt, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 20 April 2024. EPA/HAITHAM IMAD
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Biden Names New Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues

Internally displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, take shelter near the border with Egypt, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 20 April 2024. EPA/HAITHAM IMAD
Internally displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, take shelter near the border with Egypt, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 20 April 2024. EPA/HAITHAM IMAD

US President Joe Biden on Thursday appointed Lise Grande as the new special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues, the State Department said in a statement.

Grande, who replaces David Satterfield, is currently head of the independent US Institute of Peace.

She previously worked for the United Nations for more than 25 years, a career that included running aid operations in Yemen, Iraq and South Sudan.

The United Nations has long complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza in the six months since Israel began an aerial and ground offensive against the Gaza Strip's Hamas.

Israel's military campaign has reduced much of the territory of 2.3 million people to a wasteland with an unfolding humanitarian disaster since October, when Hamas ignited war by storming into southern Israel.

Satterfield said on Tuesday that Israel has taken significant steps in recent weeks on allowing aid into Gaza, but considerable work remained to be done as the risk of famine in the enclave is very high.

Arab World

Ship Comes Under Houthi Attack off Coast of Yemen

FILED - 27 January 2024, Yemen, Gulf of Aden: The Marlin Luanda vessel on fire in the Gulf of Aden after it was reportedly struck by an anti-ship missile fired from a Houthi controlled area of Yemen. Photo: Indian Navy via ZUMA Wire/dpa
FILED - 27 January 2024, Yemen, Gulf of Aden: The Marlin Luanda vessel on fire in the Gulf of Aden after it was reportedly struck by an anti-ship missile fired from a Houthi controlled area of Yemen. Photo: Indian Navy via ZUMA Wire/dpa
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Ship Comes Under Houthi Attack off Coast of Yemen

FILED - 27 January 2024, Yemen, Gulf of Aden: The Marlin Luanda vessel on fire in the Gulf of Aden after it was reportedly struck by an anti-ship missile fired from a Houthi controlled area of Yemen. Photo: Indian Navy via ZUMA Wire/dpa
FILED - 27 January 2024, Yemen, Gulf of Aden: The Marlin Luanda vessel on fire in the Gulf of Aden after it was reportedly struck by an anti-ship missile fired from a Houthi controlled area of Yemen. Photo: Indian Navy via ZUMA Wire/dpa

A ship traveling in the Gulf of Aden came under attack Thursday, officials said, the latest assault likely carried out by Yemen's Houthis over Israel's ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The attack comes after the US military said early Thursday an allied warship shot down a Houthi missile targeting a vessel the day before near the same area. The Houthis claimed Wednesday's assault, which comes after a period of relatively few attacks on shipping in the region over Israel’s ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In Thursday's attack, a ship was targeted just over 25 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Aden, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.
The captain “reports a loud bang heard and a splash and smoke seen coming from the sea,” the UKMTO said. “Vessel and all crew are safe.”
The attack was also reported by the private security firm Ambrey.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attack, though it typically takes them hours to acknowledge an assault. European Union forces separately shot down a drone launched from Houthi territory on Thursday, Gen. Robert Brieger said.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the US Maritime Administration.
Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the group has been targeted by a US-led airstrike campaign in Yemen and shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat.
American officials have speculated that the Houthis may be running out of weapons as a result of the US-led campaign against them and firing off drones and missiles steadily in the last months.
However, Wednesday's attack was the first one by the Houthis in some time. An explosion struck some 130 kilometers (80 miles) southeast of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden, the UKMTO said.
Early Thursday, the US military’s Central Command said the explosion came from a coalition warship shooting down the missile likely targeting the MV Yorktown, a US-flagged, owned and operated vessel with 18 US and four Greek crew members.
“There were no injuries or damage reported by US, coalition or commercial ships,” Central Command said.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, claimed the attack but insisted without evidence that the missile hit the Yorktown. Saree also claimed the Houthis targeted another ship in the Indian Ocean, without providing proof. The Houthis have made repeated claims that turned out to not be true during their yearslong war in Yemen.
The Houthis have said they will continue their attacks until Israel ends its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
Most of the ships targeted by the Houthis have had little or no direct connection to Israel, the US or other nations involved in the war.