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Biden’s Mideast Trip Upended by Gaza Hospital Strike 

US President Joe Biden boards Air Force One as he departs Joint Base Andrews for a high-stakes visit to Israel, in Maryland, US, October 17, 2023. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden boards Air Force One as he departs Joint Base Andrews for a high-stakes visit to Israel, in Maryland, US, October 17, 2023. (Reuters)
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Biden’s Mideast Trip Upended by Gaza Hospital Strike 

US President Joe Biden boards Air Force One as he departs Joint Base Andrews for a high-stakes visit to Israel, in Maryland, US, October 17, 2023. (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden boards Air Force One as he departs Joint Base Andrews for a high-stakes visit to Israel, in Maryland, US, October 17, 2023. (Reuters)

US President Joe Biden's wartime trip to Israel and Jordan faltered before it got off the ground Tuesday, after the Amman leg was canceled following a strike on a Gaza hospital that killed hundreds of people.

The trip was always set to be the riskiest of Biden's presidency as he tried to juggle support for Israel after the October 7 Hamas attacks with efforts to prevent a humanitarian disaster in Gaza and to avert a wider war.

But his regional balancing act came undone on the eve of his visit with news of the hospital explosion -- for which Hamas blamed Israeli strikes, while Israel said it was caused by a rocket misfired by militants in Gaza.

As Biden, 80, climbed the steps of Air Force One, Jordan announced that a planned four-way summit with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was off.

It would be held "when the decision to stop the war and put an end to these massacres has been taken," said Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.

Biden later said he was "outraged" by the "explosion" at the hospital and had told his national security team to get more information on what had happened.

'Solidarity'

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby however told reporters aboard the presidential plane said that the Israelis "feel very strongly this was not caused by them."

He added that it was a "mutual decision" to cancel the Jordan trip after Abbas said he wanted to return home for three days of mourning, and that Biden would speak to him and Sisi by phone on the plane home.

Yet Biden will now be flying into an even more volatile situation than before, with the hospital strike sparking anger across the region.

Furious protesters tried to storm the Israeli embassy in Amman where Biden was due to meet the other leaders, while in Tehran hundreds rallied outside the French and British embassies.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah called for a "day of rage" over the strike to coincide with Biden's arrival, fueling fears of the very escalation by Tehran and its allies that Biden's visit is supposed to warn against.

The White House said Biden wanted to "continue to stand in solidarity with Israel" after Hamas burst through its heavily fortified Gaza border, shooting, stabbing and burning to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.

Biden would hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin and his war cabinet, as well as meeting the families of some of those killed and missing in the attacks, it said.

Kirby insisted however that Biden would ask Netanyahu "tough questions" about his plans for the war.

'Risks'

The NSC spokesman added that he was "optimistic" that aid would start to get through to stricken Gaza.

The Democratic president deliberated carefully before accepting the invitation to visit from right-winger Netanyahu, who has ordered preparations for what is expected to be a bloody ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza.

There was always a risk that by coming to Israel Biden would find himself too closely associated with the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which has leveled huge swaths and killed more than 3,000 people, and the siege of the enclave.

Even before the hospital attack, the New York Times called it a "trip fraught with risks."

Anger over the hospital strike could meanwhile undermine the wider purpose of Biden's visit as he tries to prevent the Israel-Hamas war engulfing the wider Middle East.

Biden has warned Iran and Hezbollah not to get involved and has dispatched two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean to deter them.

Kirby again said there were no plans to put US boots on the ground but added that the American military assets were in place to "demonstrate a sincere capability of protecting and defending" US national security interests.

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Arab World

Al-Zaidi: Iraq Eyes Europe as It Seeks to Diversify Oil Exports

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi attend a press conference in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi attend a press conference in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP)
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Al-Zaidi: Iraq Eyes Europe as It Seeks to Diversify Oil Exports

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi attend a press conference in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP)
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, right, and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi attend a press conference in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP)

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said on Tuesday that he discussed selling oil to Europe during visits to France and Germany, as Baghdad seeks to diversify its export routes and reduce its reliance on the Strait of Hormuz.

During a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin, al-Zaidi said: "We want to expand and diversify our export routes".

He added that "Iraq cannot remain hostage to a single corridor" as recent events have demonstrated, referring to the Strait of Hormuz, which has been blockaded by Iran during the Middle East war.

Al-Zaidi said that he had discussed oil exports to Europe with Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, whom he met in Paris on Monday.

Crude oil sales account for nearly 90 percent of Iraq's revenue but its exports have been hurt by the outbreak of the Middle East war between Iran and the United States.

Before the war began in February, Iraq produced around four million barrels per day, and exported an average of 3.4 million bpd, mostly via Hormuz.

Most of its oil exports go to East Asia, with China and India its largest buyers.

Due to the disruption, Iraq began exporting crude using tanker trucks through Syria, as well as through a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, although these routes can handle only a fraction of its usual sea-bound trade.

Al-Zaidi said that Baghdad could "double its oil exports through the Mediterranean" to supply markets in Europe and the United States.

Al-Zaidi, who hopes to increase Iraq's oil production to 10 million barrels per day, said that "a large share, or nearly half, can go to European countries and the West".

He said that Iraq and Germany were expected to reach "an understanding on the export of crude oil" while Baghdad would purchase German technology and equipment.

Merz said that the main focus for Iraqi-German cooperation is the economy.

"Many German companies are now active in Iraq. They are developing new solutions, for example for energy supply," he said, adding that "the best example is an agreement on Iraq's electricity supply, which we will sign today".

Merz also expressed his concerns after Yemen's Houthis cemented their control over the Bab al-Mandeb waterway at the entrance to the Red Sea.

"This further exacerbates the situation on the energy markets, and also affects Germany," he said.

Arab World

Lebanon Prosecutor Requests Charges for Ex-President Aoun Over Beirut Port Blast

Lebanon's then President Michel Aoun is pictured at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon April 7, 2021. (Dalati Nohra/Handout via Reuters)
Lebanon's then President Michel Aoun is pictured at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon April 7, 2021. (Dalati Nohra/Handout via Reuters)
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Lebanon Prosecutor Requests Charges for Ex-President Aoun Over Beirut Port Blast

Lebanon's then President Michel Aoun is pictured at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon April 7, 2021. (Dalati Nohra/Handout via Reuters)
Lebanon's then President Michel Aoun is pictured at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon April 7, 2021. (Dalati Nohra/Handout via Reuters)

A Lebanese prosecutor on Tuesday requested that former president Michel Aoun be indicted over the 2020 Beirut port blast that killed more than 200 people, a judicial official told AFP. 

The prosecutor at Lebanon's Court of Cassation asked the judge overseeing the case, Tarek Bitar, to "press charges against (former) president Aoun," said the official, requesting anonymity. 

The official added that charges were being sought against Aoun because he "had prior knowledge of the presence of ammonium nitrate at the port and its danger, without taking the necessary measures" or referring it to the country's Higher Defense Council. 

The massive explosion on August 4, 2020 killed more than 220 people, injured more than 6,500 and laid waste to swathes of the capital. 

Lebanese authorities have said the explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been stored haphazardly for years, despite repeated warnings to senior officials. 

Nobody has been punished for the blast despite public anger and families of the blast victims demanding justice in a country long plagued by official impunity. 

In March, a judicial official told AFP that judge Bitar had completed his probe. 

He referred the case to the public prosecutor who was to study it, and prosecutor Mohammad Saab submitted his review on Tuesday, the official said. 

The review specified the responsibility of more than 70 defendants, including current and former politicians, security and military officials, and civil servants, some of whom were previously charged by Bitar. 

The charges remain up to Bitar, who could issue them in the coming weeks. 

The case had been bogged down by political and legal wrangling since 2023, after Iran-backed Hezbollah led a campaign demanding Bitar's removal and dozens of lawsuits also sought to remove him from the case. 

However, Bitar resumed his investigations last year as Lebanon's balance of power shifted. 

President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam took office following a 2023-2024 war between Israel and Hezbollah, which weakened the Lebanese armed group. 

Since then, several legal impediments to Bitar's work have also been removed, including the lifting of a travel ban against him. 

Arab World

Alarmed Yemenis Flee South as Houthis Keep Up Attacks

Salma Mohammed, 60, a displaced Yemeni woman, sits inside her tent at the Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP)
Salma Mohammed, 60, a displaced Yemeni woman, sits inside her tent at the Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP)
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Alarmed Yemenis Flee South as Houthis Keep Up Attacks

Salma Mohammed, 60, a displaced Yemeni woman, sits inside her tent at the Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP)
Salma Mohammed, 60, a displaced Yemeni woman, sits inside her tent at the Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, just outside Aden, Yemen, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP)

After a drone strike sent shrapnel flying into his wife's chest, killing her, Muhammad Aiyash and his three children fled with no belongings to a new makeshift camp for the displaced in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, the interim capital.

Panic has spread as Yemen's Houthis captured territories along the country's Red Sea coast that has enabled the Iran-aligned militants to seize another part of the country and tighten their grip over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's most important shipping routes for goods and commodities, including oil.

"By God, we do not possess even a single grain of flour. We have no mattresses and no clothes," said Aiyash, who is in his 60s and left his home behind in the ancient port city of Mokha in ‌a desperate search ‌for shelter in Yemen's latest crisis.

The UN refugee agency said on Tuesday ‌that ⁠more than 100,000 people ⁠had been internally displaced by the renewed conflict in Yemen, and that thousands more have fled by sea to Djibouti.

In the latest round of fighting, the Houthis have extended their control from the northern, most populous areas of Yemen, to cities and towns and islands in the west.

They have also opened a new area of combat in the Iran war, increasing pressure on ⁠global energy markets following the earlier effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The ‌Houthis have also stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia.

'THE WAR CAME SUDDENLY'

At the Aden camp, families ‌sat beside tents, tending sheep and trying to assemble rudimentary shelters. Children stayed close to their parents as ‌adults carried belongings.

One displaced man, Tawfiq al-Kharij, showed a shrapnel injury to his leg as he sat with relatives outside a tent. He said he escaped with nothing but the clothes he was wearing.

"We were living peacefully in God's care, then the war came suddenly,” Kharij said. "Some died, and others survived."

UNHCR said on Tuesday that humanitarian access ‌remained "a major challenge".

"Insecurity, damaged roads, telecommunications disruptions and movement restrictions are affecting operations," the agency said in a statement.

Khadija Kudaf and her children had to walk for ⁠three days to get to ⁠Aden, a port city. "We didn't even bring the children's clothes," she said.

Yemenis are all too familiar with suffering.

The Arab world's most impoverished country has been mired in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014, leading to a civil war that led to one of the world's biggest humanitarian crises.

A UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted major fighting, despite expiring six months later, but efforts to turn it into a lasting political settlement have stalled as regional tensions have intensified.

In Taiz province, northwest of Aden, another newly erected camp has begun to receive people fleeing fighting. Women and children carried water in jerrycans at the camp, while others washed clothes and gathered around tents.

A displaced woman there, Taghreed Salem, said families were struggling to find basic supplies.

“We arrived fleeing from the war, from the shells, from the missiles, from the aircraft that strike,” Salem said. “We came as newly displaced people. We want water, we want anything from them,” she said.