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Arab, International Solidarity with Morocco after Devastating Earthquake

Destruction in an old mosque in the historic city of Marrakesh following the earthquake (Reuters)
Destruction in an old mosque in the historic city of Marrakesh following the earthquake (Reuters)
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Arab, International Solidarity with Morocco after Devastating Earthquake

Destruction in an old mosque in the historic city of Marrakesh following the earthquake (Reuters)
Destruction in an old mosque in the historic city of Marrakesh following the earthquake (Reuters)

Arab and Western countries offered their condolences to Morocco for the victims of the Friday earthquake, which killed at least 1,305 people and injured 1,832, and expressed their solidarity.

-Saudi Arabia

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, sent a cable of condolences to King Mohammed VI of Morocco for the victims of the earthquake that resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries.

They expressed their sympathies, praying for solace to the families of the deceased and wishing speedy recovery to the injured.

Saudi Arabia expressed condolences and sympathy to the government and people of Morocco for the earthquake that hit the country and led to the death and injury of hundreds of people.

The Kingdom expressed solidarity with Morocco in this time of great affliction and deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and wished the injured a speedy recovery and Morocco safety and security.

-UAE

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan sent a message of condolence to King Mohammed VI of Morocco over the victims of the earthquakes that hit the country, wishing a speedy recovery to all the injured.

The President ordered the creation of a humanitarian airbridge to enable the charity institutions affiliated with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives to send relief aid to those affected by the earthquake in Morocco.

Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum also dispatched similar messages to King Mohammed VI, wishing Morocco safety and security.

-Qatar

On Saturday, Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani expressed deep condolences to the Moroccan King following the devastating earthquake that affected several regions of the Kingdom.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani also spoke to his Moroccan counterpart Aziz Akhannouch via phone.

Sheikh Tamim directed urgent aid and rescue crew.

-Kuwait

Kuwait's Emir Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah directed the government to provide all necessary relief supplies for Morocco.

-Bahrain

Bahrain also offered condolences to Morocco for the earthquake victims.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry expressed its sympathy and solidarity with Morocco, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

-Oman

The Sultanate of Oman sympathized with the Moroccan government and people after the earthquake.

In a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, the Sultanate expressed sincere condolences to the victims' families and its wishes for a speedy recovery for the injured.

-Algeria

Algeria said it would open its air space for humanitarian and medical flights to Morocco. In a statement, Algeria's presidency said it was ready to provide humanitarian aid and offer all its material and human capabilities in solidarity with the Moroccan people if Morocco requests such help.

-Egypt

Egypt offered its deepest condolences to Morocco following the deadly earthquake.

The Foreign Ministry reaffirmed Egypt's unwavering solidarity with Morocco, its government, and its people as they grapple with the devastating consequences of this tragic and painful incident.

-Jordan

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry expressed its warmest condolences and sincere sympathy to Morocco for the earthquake victims that occurred Friday evening and resulted in several victims and injuries.

-The OIC

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) voiced solidarity with Morocco after the powerful earthquake.

In a statement, OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha expressed his deepest condolences and sincere sympathy, affirming the solidarity of the OIC and its support for Morocco and its people in facing the effects of this devastating tragedy and overcoming this humanitarian ordeal.

-Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed all government bodies and forces to provide any necessary assistance to the people of Morocco, including the preparations for sending an aid delegation to the area.

Netanyahu expressed the Israeli government and people's sympathy with the Moroccan people during this tragedy, offering his sincerest condolences to the families who fell victim to the quake.

He delegated to all specialized forces in Israel to be on standby to head to Morocco and extend a helping hand to the local troops in rescuing those who were stuck and administering aid to survivors.

The Israeli government also added that the Ministry of Defense and the Israeli army are on standby to offer help through their specialized rescue forces.

-Europe

French President Emmanuel Macron said he was "devastated" by news of the quake, adding that "France stands ready to help with first aid."

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she "learned with grief of the tragic toll" from the quake and pointed to "Italy's willingness to support Morocco in this emergency."

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed his solidarity and support to the people of Morocco in the wake of this terrible earthquake, asserting that "Spain is with the victims of this tragedy."

The Spain military emergency unit and our embassy and consulates are at the disposal of Morocco," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said at the G20 meeting in New Delhi.

Foreign Secretary of the UK James Cleverly announced his country's readiness to help Morocco however it can, noting that the UK continues to support British nationals in the region.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed sympathy with the Moroccan people, while top EU diplomat Joseph Borrell said the bloc is ready to provide Morocco "the assistance it wishes."

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed similar sentiments and said in a message to Morocco's King, "We share the pain and the mourning of the friendly Moroccan people."

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his "deepest condolences to HM King Mohammed VI and all Moroccans for the lives lost in the horrible earthquake."

"Ukraine stands in solidarity with Morocco during this tragic time," he said on social media.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan supported "our Moroccan brothers in every way in this difficult hour."

-Asia

China. Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a "message of condolence" to King Mohammed VI.

"I am shocked to learn that a strong earthquake has occurred in your distinguished country, causing great casualties and property damage," Xi said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is hosting the G20 summit this weekend, said he was "extremely pained by the loss of lives due to an earthquake in Morocco."

-The US

US President Joe Biden said he was deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by the earthquake in Morocco.

Biden announced that the US administration is in contact with Moroccan officials and stands ready to provide any necessary assistance for the Moroccan people.

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the quake as "heartbreaking," adding: "We stand ready to support the immediate health needs."

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Arab World

Sources to Asharq Al-Awsat: Meshaal Contacts Gaza Factions on Fate of Weapons

Fighters from Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades in Rafah, southern Gaza. (Reuters, file)
Fighters from Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades in Rafah, southern Gaza. (Reuters, file)
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Sources to Asharq Al-Awsat: Meshaal Contacts Gaza Factions on Fate of Weapons

Fighters from Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades in Rafah, southern Gaza. (Reuters, file)
Fighters from Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades in Rafah, southern Gaza. (Reuters, file)

Hamas is holding internal talks and consulting Palestinian factions on the fate of weapons in Gaza, an issue central to US President Donald Trump’s plan, which calls for full disarmament and links it to reconstruction.

Talks have slowed in recent weeks amid the US-Israeli war on Iran. Still, Hamas and faction sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas’ political bureau abroad and a contender to lead the movement, has contacted leaders in Gaza to discuss the weapons file.

A Hamas source said most contacts took place before the war on Iran, as part of ongoing coordination to forge a unified Palestinian position on “resistance weapons,” their future, and how to preserve core Palestinian principles.

A source from a Gaza faction involved in the consultations said leaders told Meshaal there are no longer “heavy weapons” as defined by Israel, including long or short-range rockets.

Remaining capabilities are limited, including small numbers of anti-armor rounds, improvised explosive devices, and light arms such as Kalashnikov rifles, as well as some DShK machine guns mounted on pickup trucks, which they said do not pose a threat.

The source said factions proposed handing over a limited number of pickup trucks fitted with DShK weapons, which Israel classifies as heavy arms. They also suggested exploring mechanisms with mediators to allow the “resistance” to retain light weapons under guarantees, with mediators overseeing the process in exchange for a long-term truce.

On tunnels, sources said most have been targeted and largely destroyed by Israeli forces, with only a few remaining that do not affect Israel.

Both sources said the ideas remain at the consultation stage, adding the weapons issue has not been formally raised by mediators, though informal contacts have taken place.

Israel insists on the surrender of all weapons. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said he wants Hamas to hand over 60,000 Kalashnikov rifles.

Palestinian sources said such numbers are not available in Gaza, calling the demand unrealistic after a two-year war that devastated the enclave.

Palestinian factions and mediators are awaiting a formal US proposal outlining its disarmament vision, but it has been delayed by the war on Iran. Limited recent contacts with mediators on humanitarian issues could revive discussions.

Leaders and field commanders in Gaza factions insist on discussing any approach to the weapons file and reject imposing terms on the “resistance.” A Hamas source said factions cannot easily give up their weapons after decades of sacrifices.

A Hamas delegation has been in Cairo for about a week discussing ways to ease Gaza’s dire humanitarian situation amid ongoing Israeli breaches, with expectations that mobilization could resume on issues related to a Gaza administrative committee and an international stabilization force.

Arab World

Lebanon’s Electricity Authority Says Israeli Attack Put a Main Substation in South Out of Service

Smoke rises from Khiam, a Lebanese village near the border with Israel, amid escalation between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, and amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from northern Israel, March 18, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke rises from Khiam, a Lebanese village near the border with Israel, amid escalation between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, and amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from northern Israel, March 18, 2026. (Reuters)
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Lebanon’s Electricity Authority Says Israeli Attack Put a Main Substation in South Out of Service

Smoke rises from Khiam, a Lebanese village near the border with Israel, amid escalation between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, and amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from northern Israel, March 18, 2026. (Reuters)
Smoke rises from Khiam, a Lebanese village near the border with Israel, amid escalation between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, and amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, as seen from northern Israel, March 18, 2026. (Reuters)

The Lebanese state electricity company said on Thursday that Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon earlier that day ‌had put ‌a main ‌power ⁠substation out of service, ⁠a sign of expanding Israeli attacks on Lebanese infrastructure.

In a ⁠statement carried ‌by ‌Lebanon’s state ‌media, the electricity ‌authority said the attack damaged various parts of the ‌station in Bint Jbeil, impacting ⁠power ⁠provision in the city and surrounding towns.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Arab World

Palestinians Were Bystanders to the Iran War. Now They’re Victims Too

Family members mourn the death of one of the three Palestinian women killed in Iranian missile attacks, in Beit Awa town near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron on March 19, 2026. (AFP)
Family members mourn the death of one of the three Palestinian women killed in Iranian missile attacks, in Beit Awa town near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron on March 19, 2026. (AFP)
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Palestinians Were Bystanders to the Iran War. Now They’re Victims Too

Family members mourn the death of one of the three Palestinian women killed in Iranian missile attacks, in Beit Awa town near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron on March 19, 2026. (AFP)
Family members mourn the death of one of the three Palestinian women killed in Iranian missile attacks, in Beit Awa town near the occupied West Bank city of Hebron on March 19, 2026. (AFP)

For nearly three weeks, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have mostly been bystanders as Israel and Iran have exchanged airstrikes. But on Wednesday, four women became victims of the war.

In the town of Beit Awa, women and their daughters were inside a small beauty salon when an Iranian missile struck only steps away, sending shrapnel tearing through walls and shelves stacked with boxes of acrylic nails and bottles of turquoise and scarlet polish.

More than a dozen were injured and four were killed, including a single mother who was six months pregnant and her daughter, the Palestinian Red Crescent and eyewitnesses said.

The morning after the strike, hundreds of coffee cups and acrylic nails lay scattered across a floor red with dried blood. The salon — a business run out of a metal container in a family’s yard — was pocked with holes, with parts laying in debris piles beside a small crater where the strike hit.

Ambulances delayed in critical ‘golden hour’

Salon owner Hadeel Masalmeh lost friends and her business partner, Sahera Atileh. She said she heard sirens from the Israeli settlement of Negohot about 2 miles (3 kilometers) away. “We didn’t pay much attention and didn’t expect any shrapnel or anything like that to fall on us,” she said.

Much of life in Israel has been centered around those sirens and alerts since the war started, sending Israeli's running to shelters, often several times a day. But Palestinians, who have not been targeted by Iranian strikes, have gone about their business as usual throughout much of the last three weeks, barely pausing when distant sirens blare or the rare phone with Israeli service sounds a warning alert.

The drive to Beit Awa should have taken less than 10 minutes but stretched to 25, leaving the victims without medical care for crucial minutes, Abedullraziq Almasalmeh said. He heard rockets whoosh overhead and then fall, his house shaking as he reached to dial for ambulances after 10 p.m.

The Palestinian Red Crescent attributed delays to Israeli gates outside Beit Awa that forced ambulances to take a longer route.

Wednesday's victims were the first Palestinian fatalities in the West Bank since the start of the Iran war. But the Red Crescent had warned that the hundreds of new Israeli gates and roadblocks slicing up the territory were increasingly preventing them from reaching Palestinians in need of emergency care.

Qusai Jabr, the manager of the group’s disaster risk management department, told The Associated Press that in the first week of the war that included women in labor, elderly men having strokes and victims of a growing number of Israeli settler attacks.

“This forced closure caused significant delays, compelling ambulances to take long, rugged alternative routes, which critically impacted the ‘golden hour’ essential for life-saving interventions,” Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement.

Israeli authorities have not imposed the kind of full lockdown seen during last year’s 12-day war with Iran. But for emergency crews like Palestinian Red Crescent, movement hasn't gotten easier and ambulances have found many gates often closed. Jabr said there were about 800 gates during last year’s war and now there are roughly 1,100, both manned and unmanned.

Palestinians lack shelters

The beauty salon strike underscored how Palestinians who live close enough to see Israel from their homes lack the shelters and medical assistance that have effectively minimized Israeli deaths and injuries throughout nearly three weeks of Iranian airstrikes.

Israel operates a system of sirens and phone alerts directing residents to fortified shelters that can protect them from incoming missiles or their remnants, which fall after being intercepted by Israel’s air defense systems.

Not all of Israel enjoys equal access to shelters, especially Arab-majority towns, but its building codes have required them in homes since the first Gulf War and public shelters are nearby for those who don't have them.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank — both in crowded cities and rural areas — lack such protections. The West Bank isn't an Iranian target but had previously been hit by shrapnel pieces and debris.

Israel operates a system of sirens and phone alerts directing residents to fortified shelters that can protect them from incoming missiles or their remnants, which fall after being intercepted by Israel’s air defense systems.

The nature of the strike Wednesday was unclear. Israel’s military called it a direct hit, rather than debris or shrapnel that fell after being intercepted by Israel’s air defense system and said it was a submunition from a cluster bomb. Those missiles can explode midair and disperse smaller bomblets across wide areas, trading precision for coverage.