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AL: Development Summit to Take Place in Mauritania Next November

Arab League Secretary-General during his meeting with the Mauritanian president in Cairo. (Arab League)
Arab League Secretary-General during his meeting with the Mauritanian president in Cairo. (Arab League)
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AL: Development Summit to Take Place in Mauritania Next November

Arab League Secretary-General during his meeting with the Mauritanian president in Cairo. (Arab League)
Arab League Secretary-General during his meeting with the Mauritanian president in Cairo. (Arab League)

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit has said that the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit will be held in Mauritania next November.

Aboul Gheit discussed on Monday with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani at AL’s headquarters the ongoing preparations for the Summit, in addition to developments in the region and the world.

In his welcoming speech before the League’s permanent representatives, Aboul Gheit said that the meeting with Ghazouani tackled AL’s responsibilities.

The Mauritanian President made a thorough explanation of the current preparations for the Mauritanian elections, according to the spokesman for the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Jamal Rushdi.

The AL Secretary-General congratulated Mauritania for kicking off natural gas production in the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim field at the end of this year, stressing the significance of laying the necessary legislation that would help the country’s social and economic development.

The President met with the League’s permanent representatives, and affirmed that his country backs international and Arab efforts to resolve the armed conflicts in Yemen, Syria, Libya, and Sudan, according to Rushdi.

Ghazouani highlighted in his speech, a copy of which was obtained by Asharq Al-Awsat, that developing joint Arab action is inevitable for the sake of restoring security and stability in all Arab states.

The first step toward achieving stability in the region, defeating terrorism and extremism, and establishing sustainable and comprehensive development is to end conflicts in Arab countries and back all states seeking to bring the conflicts in Yemen, Syria, and Libya to an end, he added.

The Mauritanian President further noted that his country supports the Palestinians’ rights.

He looked forward to hosting the fifth Arab Economic and Social Development Summit on November 6-7 to be “a unique stop to revive the joint Arab economic action.”

Ghazouani stressed that resolving inter-Arab conflicts contributes to the Arabs’ collective ability to survive the security, economic, and environmental crises facing the world.

Mohamed Orfy, Egypt's Permanent Representative to the Arab League, expressed his country’s confidence that the upcoming summit in Mauritanian would be a success.

He further lauded Mauritania’s keenness in promoting joint Arab development work in all vital fields in order to reinforce Arab citizens’ social and economic rights.

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Syria’s New Rulers Declare Crackdown as Tensions Flare in Coastal Area

Syrian opposition forces stop a vehicle as they form a checkpoint after taking control of the port of Tartous in western Syria on December 16, 2024. (AFP)
Syrian opposition forces stop a vehicle as they form a checkpoint after taking control of the port of Tartous in western Syria on December 16, 2024. (AFP)
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Syria’s New Rulers Declare Crackdown as Tensions Flare in Coastal Area

Syrian opposition forces stop a vehicle as they form a checkpoint after taking control of the port of Tartous in western Syria on December 16, 2024. (AFP)
Syrian opposition forces stop a vehicle as they form a checkpoint after taking control of the port of Tartous in western Syria on December 16, 2024. (AFP)

Syria's new authorities on Thursday launched a security crackdown in a coastal region where 14 policemen were killed a day before, vowing to pursue "remnants" of the ousted Bashar al-Assad government accused of the attack, state media reported.

The violence in Tartous province, part of the coastal region that is home to many members of Assad's Alawite sect, has marked the deadliest challenge yet to the new authorities which swept him from power on Dec. 8.

The new administration's security forces launched the operation to "control security, stability, and civil peace, and to pursue the remnants of Assad's militias in the woods and hills" in Tartous' rural areas, state news agency SANA reported.

Members of the Alawite minority wielded huge sway in Assad-led Syria, dominating security forces he used against his opponents during the 13-year-long civil war, and to crush dissent during decades of bloody oppression by his police state.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the former al-Qaeda affiliate which led the opposition campaign that toppled Assad, has repeatedly vowed to protect minority religious groups.

SANA reported that Mohammed Othman, the newly appointed governor of the coastal Latakia region that adjoins the Tartous area, met Alawite sheikhs to "encourage community cohesion and civil peace on the Syrian coast".

HOMS PROTEST

The Syrian information ministry declared a ban on what it described as "the circulation or publication of any media content or news with a sectarian tone aimed at spreading division" among Syrians.

The Syrian civil war took on sectarian dimensions as Assad drew on Shiite militias from across the Middle East, mobilized by his ally Iran, to battle the revolt.

Dissent has also surfaced in the city of Homs, 150 km (90 miles) north of Damascus. State media reported that police imposed an overnight curfew on Wednesday night, following unrest linked to demonstrations that residents said were led by members of the Alawite and Shiite religious communities.

Footage posted on social media on Wednesday from Homs showed a crowd of people scattering, and some of them running, as gunfire was heard. Reuters verified the location. It was not clear who was opening fire.

Assad's long-time Shiite regional ally, Iran, has criticized the course of events in Syria in recent days.

On Sunday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called on Syrian youth to "stand with firm determination against those who have orchestrated and brought about this insecurity".

Khamenei forecast "that a strong and honorable group will also emerge in Syria because today Syrian youth have nothing to lose", calling the country unsafe.

Syria's newly appointed foreign minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, said in a social media post on Tuesday that Iran must respect the will of the Syrian people and Syria's sovereignty and security.

"We warn them against spreading chaos in Syria and we hold them accountable for the repercussions of the latest remarks," he said.

Lebanon said on Thursday it was looking forward to having the best neighborly relations with Syria, in its first official message to the new administration in Damascus.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah played a major role propping up Assad during the civil war, before bringing its fighters back to Lebanon over the last year to fight in a bruising war with Israel - a redeployment that weakened Syrian government lines.