Arab League: Ceasefire in Sudan Is Top Priority

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit holds talks in Cairo on Sunday with head of Sudan’s Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (Taqaddum), former PM Abdalla Hamdok. (Arab League)
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit holds talks in Cairo on Sunday with head of Sudan’s Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (Taqaddum), former PM Abdalla Hamdok. (Arab League)
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Arab League: Ceasefire in Sudan Is Top Priority

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit holds talks in Cairo on Sunday with head of Sudan’s Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (Taqaddum), former PM Abdalla Hamdok. (Arab League)
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit holds talks in Cairo on Sunday with head of Sudan’s Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (Taqaddum), former PM Abdalla Hamdok. (Arab League)

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit stressed on Sunday that halting the war in Sudan and maintaining the country’s territorial integrity is a top priority for the pan-Arab body.

“The Arab League is fully ready to provide any needed assistance to the Sudanese parties to solve the crisis,” Aboul Gheit said during talks in Cairo with former prime and head of Sudan’s Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (Taqaddum) Abdalla Hamdok.

A delegation from Taqaddum, led by Hamdok, kicked off on Friday a visit to Cairo to hold talks with senior Egyptian officials, officials from the Arab League and Sudanese figures residing in Egypt.

This is the former PM’s first visit to Egypt since the eruption of the war in mid-April 2023.

Gamal Roshdy, spokesman for the Arab League's secretary-general, said Aboul Gheit listened to a briefing by Hamdok about Taqaddum' efforts to swiftly reach a ceasefire and political process through inclusive Sudanese dialogue that brings together all parties to save the country and stop the bloodshed.

Aboul Gheit stated that stopping war and protecting the territorial integrity of Sudan are among the Arab League’s priorities, adding that it is fully ready to provide any required assistance to unify the Sudanese parties in pursuit of solving the crisis and helping the Sudanese state in any initiative in this respect.

Roshdy said Hamdok thanked Aboul Gheit for the initiative he took through the appeal he issued on March 5 to the Sudanese parties to hold a ceasefire during the holy month of Ramadan, hoping they will build on it to reach a political solution to the crisis.



Israel’s Netanyahu: Attempt by Hezbollah to Assassinate Me Is ‘A Grave Mistake’

Israeli security forces secure a road near where Israel's government says a drone launched toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house in Caesarea, Israel Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)
Israeli security forces secure a road near where Israel's government says a drone launched toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house in Caesarea, Israel Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)
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Israel’s Netanyahu: Attempt by Hezbollah to Assassinate Me Is ‘A Grave Mistake’

Israeli security forces secure a road near where Israel's government says a drone launched toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house in Caesarea, Israel Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)
Israeli security forces secure a road near where Israel's government says a drone launched toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's house in Caesarea, Israel Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attempt of Iran's proxy Hezbollah to assassinate him and his wife on Saturday was "a grave mistake," after his spokesman said a drone was launched from Lebanon at his holiday home.

None of the groups firing on Israel over the last year, including the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, have claimed responsibility for that attack.

Israel’s government said a drone was launched toward the prime minister’s house Saturday, with no casualties.  

Sirens wailed Saturday morning in Israel, warning of incoming fire from Lebanon, with a drone launched toward Netanyahu’s house in Caesarea, the Israeli government said.

Neither he nor his wife were home, said his spokesperson in a statement.

The strikes into Israel come as its war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah — a Hamas ally — has intensified in recent weeks.  

Hezbollah said Friday that it planned to launch a new phase of fighting by sending more guided missiles and exploding drones into Israel. The armed group’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in late September, and Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon earlier in October.  

A standoff is also ensuing between Israel and Hamas, which it’s fighting in Gaza, with both signaling resistance to ending the war after Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar this week.  

On Friday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said Sinwar’s death was a painful loss but noted that Hamas carried on despite the killings of other Palestinian militant leaders before him.  

“Hamas is alive and will stay alive,” Khamenei said.