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Egypt, Türkiye Unite in Efforts to Stop Israel’s Looming Offensive in Gaza’s Rafah

A handout photo made available by the Turkish President's Press Office shows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) shaking hands during their meeting in Cairo, Egypt, 14 February 2024. (EPA/Turkish Presidential Press Office Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Turkish President's Press Office shows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) shaking hands during their meeting in Cairo, Egypt, 14 February 2024. (EPA/Turkish Presidential Press Office Handout)
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Egypt, Türkiye Unite in Efforts to Stop Israel’s Looming Offensive in Gaza’s Rafah

A handout photo made available by the Turkish President's Press Office shows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) shaking hands during their meeting in Cairo, Egypt, 14 February 2024. (EPA/Turkish Presidential Press Office Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Turkish President's Press Office shows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) shaking hands during their meeting in Cairo, Egypt, 14 February 2024. (EPA/Turkish Presidential Press Office Handout)

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Edrogan united their efforts Wednesday in Cairo, calling for a halt to Israel’s looming offensive on a southern Gaza city in its war against Hamas.

Erdogan's visit comes as ties between Ankara and Cairo are back on track after years of tensions and frosty relations. Türkiye has long been a backer of the Muslim Brotherhood group, which has been outlawed as a terrorist organization in Egypt.

The Turkish leader arrived in the Egyptian capital, his first visit to Cairo in over a decade, after visiting the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, where he met with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Erdogan met with Sisi at Cairo’s Ittihadiya palace, according to Egypt’s state-run media. Their talks focused on bilateral relations and regional challenges, especially efforts to stop the war in Gaza, Sisi later said at a joint news conference.

“We agreed on the need for an immediate cease-fire (in Gaza) and the need to achieve calm in the West Bank” to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks with the ultimate goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state, Sisi said.

The war in Gaza has reached a critical point, with an impeding Israeli offensive on the city of Rafah, along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt, where some 1.4 million people — over half the territory’s population — are crammed into tent camps and overflowing apartments and shelters.

Speaking at the news conference with Sisi, Erdogan urged Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to avoid a ground offensive in Rafah and accused the Israeli government of committing “massacres” in Gaza.

“Efforts to depopulate Gaza are not acceptable,” he said.

Egypt is concerned that a ground assault on Rafah would push hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians across the border and into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. It has threatened to suspend the country's decades-old peace treaty with Israel.

Egypt, together with Qatar and the United States, a key Israel ally, has been working to try and broker a ceasefire and the return of the remaining 130 hostages held by Hamas, around a fourth of whom are believed to be dead. The negotiators held talks in Cairo on Tuesday but there were no signs of a breakthrough.

The war began with Hamas’ assault into Israel on Oct. 7, in which the militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. The overall Palestinian death toll in Gaza has now surpassed 28,000 people, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, and a quarter of the territory's residents are starving.

“Before the region is exposed to harsher threats, we need to stop the massacre in Gaza now,” Erdogan said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Tuesday.

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Arab World

Palestinian Foreign Ministry Condemns US Ambassador to Israel’s Statements

The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
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Palestinian Foreign Ministry Condemns US Ambassador to Israel’s Statements

The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)
The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, seen from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP)

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned statements by the US ambassador to Israel, in which he claimed that Israel has the right to exercise control over the entire Middle East.

The ministry emphasized that these provocative statements constitute a blatant call for aggression against the sovereignty of states.

It added that they support the continuation of the occupation’s war of genocide and displacement, as well as the implementation of its annexation and expansionist plans against the Palestinian people, SPA reported.

The Palestinian foreign ministry pointed out that the statements contradict religious and historical facts and international law, SPA reported.

It called on the US administration to take a clear stance regarding its ambassador to Israel’s remarks, which are completely at odds with the US president’s position rejecting the annexation of the West Bank.

Arab World

Israel Carries Out More Strikes in Lebanon amid Lack of Int’l Assurances on Wider Regional Escalation

People gather near a building damaged in an Israeli strike in the village of Bednayel in eastern Lebanon, 21 February 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
People gather near a building damaged in an Israeli strike in the village of Bednayel in eastern Lebanon, 21 February 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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Israel Carries Out More Strikes in Lebanon amid Lack of Int’l Assurances on Wider Regional Escalation

People gather near a building damaged in an Israeli strike in the village of Bednayel in eastern Lebanon, 21 February 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
People gather near a building damaged in an Israeli strike in the village of Bednayel in eastern Lebanon, 21 February 2026. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

Lebanese officials say the country has yet to obtain firm or decisive Western guarantees that it will be spared from a larger confrontation in the region as speculation grows over a potential US strike on Iran.

Chief concerns center on whether Hezbollah would be targeted as part of any large-scale strike, or whether the group might intervene militarily alongside Tehran.

Ministerial sources said Israeli airstrikes on Hamas in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, as well as overnight raids targeting Hezbollah in the eastern Bekaa Valley fall within the pattern of ongoing military operations Lebanon, particularly targeted assassinations against figures linked to both groups.

The sources told Asharq Al-Awsat Lebanon has not received explicit Western assurances that it would not be drawn into a wider confrontation if the conflict expands.

On Hezbollah’s position, the sources noted that the group has not offered a clear position on how it would respond to potential developments.

They pointed to behind-the-scenes efforts led primarily by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri who believes “Hezbollah will not take any step if Iran is struck.”

Although Hezbollah has previously declared it “would stand idle” in case of escalation, the sources said the party has not announced any specific military plans.

Statements made by its officials have been vague, they added, citing remarks by head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc Mohammad Raad, who stressed on Friday the party’s commitment to “the security and stability of the country and the continuation of normal life.”

In Lebanon’s official response, President Joseph Aoun strongly condemned the Israeli raids carried out overnight by land and sea, which targeted the Sidon area and towns in the Bekaa.

He described the continued attacks as “blatant aggression” aimed at sabotaging Lebanon’s diplomatic efforts with brotherly and friendly nations - foremost among them the United States - to consolidate stability and halt Israeli hostilities.

Aoun said the strikes were a renewed violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and a clear breach of international obligations, particularly United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for a cessation of hostilities and full implementation of its provisions.

The president renewed his appeal to countries supporting regional stability to assume their responsibilities by pressing for an immediate halt to the attacks and ensuring respect for international resolutions in a way that preserves Lebanon’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity, and prevents further escalation.

Arab World

Syrian President Confident in Implementation of SDF Agreement

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa shakes hands with Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, in Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA)
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa shakes hands with Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, in Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA)
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Syrian President Confident in Implementation of SDF Agreement

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa shakes hands with Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, in Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA)
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa shakes hands with Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, in Damascus on March 10, 2025. (SANA)

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is confident in both the mechanism and the pace of implementation of the agreement with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), sources in the capital told Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday.

The sources, who met al-Sharaa days earlier, said the president believes he has “a thousand solutions to every problem” related to unifying Syria “as land and people,” despite what they described as attempts by a hardline faction within the SDF to derail the process.

The government appears determined to move forward. Damascus has begun implementing what it calls an “integration” of state institutions with the Kurdish-led group’s administrative and military structures.

Political writer Ibrahim al-Jabin said al-Sharaa is also closely managing developments in Hasakah province through understandings with the international coalition and the US military, which is vacating bases and transferring them to Syria’s Ministry of Defense.

Al-Jabin, who attended a recent meeting between the president and Arab writers participating in the Damascus International Book Fair, said al-Sharaa projected assurance about the agreement’s trajectory.

He pointed to a “hardline current” within the SDF seeking to push matters toward collapse, describing recent remarks by Ilham Ahmed as efforts to provoke Damascus while containing dissatisfaction among supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who are critical of what they see as concessions by the SDF.

At the same time, al-Jabin said a strong current within the SDF is leaning toward pragmatism and compromise, shifting from a militia mindset to a governing role. He cited Decree No. 13, which grants Syrian Kurds long-demanded rights, including citizenship for those previously denied it and recognition of Kurdish-language instruction in areas with significant Kurdish populations. These measures, he added, are proceeding in parallel with US support for Damascus’ approach.

On Friday, Ilham Ahmed, co-chair of the Autonomous Administration’s Department of Foreign Relations, told the Kurdish channel Ronahi that many provisions of the Jan. 29 agreement had yet to be implemented, warning of “the risk of a new war in Syria.”

She accused the government of resisting meaningful Kurdish participation in state institutions and said hate speech from some sectors was obstructing progress.

Kurdish political researcher Mahdi Daoud described Ahmed’s remarks as “provocative,” arguing that the Democratic Union Party (PYD) benefits from heightened tensions and feels stronger in times of instability.

Daoud said it was too early to fully assess the integration mechanism, but noted that a plane landed at Qamishli airport on Saturday without incident, a sign of relative calm.

In a related development, Syria’s General Authority of Civil Aviation formally assumed control of Qamishli airport under the January 29 agreement.

Authorities also released 51 detainees from Alaya prison, still run by the SDF, in coordination with Hasakah Governor Noureddine Ahmad and local tribal leaders, alongside a presidential amnesty issued by al-Sharaa.