عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Aoun Vows to Tackle All Pending Issues between Lebanon and Syria

10 January 2025, Lebanon, Baabda: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun waits to receive his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides at Baabda presidential palace. Photo: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
10 January 2025, Lebanon, Baabda: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun waits to receive his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides at Baabda presidential palace. Photo: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
TT
TT

Aoun Vows to Tackle All Pending Issues between Lebanon and Syria

10 January 2025, Lebanon, Baabda: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun waits to receive his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides at Baabda presidential palace. Photo: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
10 January 2025, Lebanon, Baabda: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun waits to receive his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides at Baabda presidential palace. Photo: Marwan Naamani/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun stressed on Sunday the importance of cooperation to address all pending issues between Lebanon and Syria.

He received a telephone call from head of Syria’s new authorities Ahmed al-Sharaa, who congratulated him on his election as president on Thursday.

Aoun underscored the “fraternal relations that bind the Syrian and Lebanese people.”

The officials also stressed the importance of building and developing positive relations between their countries.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati had visited Damascus on Saturday for talks with al-Sharaa.

The leaders stressed their keenness on building long-term strategic relations based on mutual respect and national sovereignty after decades of strained ties.

The trip was the first by a head of government to Syria since Bashar al-Assad was toppled by a sweeping opposition offensive on Dec. 8, and the first visit by a Lebanese premier to neighboring Syria in 15 years. Ties between Damascus and Beirut have often been fraught since they became independent states in the 1940s.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

France's Macron to Meet Palestinian President Abbas

French President Emmanuel Macron and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met in Egypt last month. Yoan VALAT / POOL/AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met in Egypt last month. Yoan VALAT / POOL/AFP
TT
TT

France's Macron to Meet Palestinian President Abbas

French President Emmanuel Macron and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met in Egypt last month. Yoan VALAT / POOL/AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met in Egypt last month. Yoan VALAT / POOL/AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Paris on Tuesday to discuss the "full implementation" of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, the Elysee said.

The meeting comes a month into a fragile truce between Hamas and Israel, following two years of war triggered by the Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack against Israel.

Abbas, 89, is the longtime head of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited control over parts of the West Bank and is being considered to assume governance in Gaza under the deal, AFP said.

The two leaders "will discuss the next steps in the peace plan, particularly in the areas of security, governance and reconstruction", said the French presidency.

Brokered by US President Donald Trump, the October 10 ceasefire has been tested by fresh Israeli strikes and claims of Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers.

Trump said last week he expected an International Stabilization Force tasked with monitoring the ceasefire to be in Gaza "very soon".

The meeting also follows Macron's decision in September to recognize a Palestinian state at a United Nations summit -- a move the Palestinian Authority hailed as "historic and courageous".

During talks with Abbas, Macron is expected to discuss the need to maintain humanitarian aid access for Gaza and to address changes within the Palestinian Authority.

Reforming the governing body is essential for a "democratic and sovereign Palestinian state, living in peace and security alongside Israel", the Elysee said.

Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The Israeli military's retaliatory campaign has since killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza's health ministry.

The ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations, does not specify the number of fighters killed within this total.

Arab World

Yemen's Houthis Signal that They've Stopped Attacks on Israel and Red Sea Shipping

Armed tribesmen participate in an anti-Israel gathering mobilizing more fighters, in Sana'a, Yemen, 05 November 2025. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
Armed tribesmen participate in an anti-Israel gathering mobilizing more fighters, in Sana'a, Yemen, 05 November 2025. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
TT
TT

Yemen's Houthis Signal that They've Stopped Attacks on Israel and Red Sea Shipping

Armed tribesmen participate in an anti-Israel gathering mobilizing more fighters, in Sana'a, Yemen, 05 November 2025. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB
Armed tribesmen participate in an anti-Israel gathering mobilizing more fighters, in Sana'a, Yemen, 05 November 2025. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

Yemen’s Houthis are signaling they’ve stopped their attacks against Israel and shipping in the Red Sea as a shaky ceasefire holds in the Gaza Strip.

In an undated letter to Hamas’ Qassam Brigades published online by the group, the Houthis offered their clearest signal that their attacks have halted, reported The Associated Press.

“We are closely monitoring developments and declare that if the enemy resumes its aggression against Gaza, we will return to our military operations deep inside the Zionist entity, and we will reinstate the ban on Israeli navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas,” the letter from Maj. Gen. Yusuf Hassan al-Madani, the Houthi military's chief of staff, reads.

The Houthis have not offered any formal acknowledgment their campaign in the region has halted. Israel's military, which has launched attacks killing senior Houthi leaders, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Houthis gained international prominence during the Israel-Hamas war with their attacks on shipping and Israel, which they said were aimed at forcing Israel to stop fighting. Since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, no attacks have been claimed by the group.

The Houthi campaign against shipping has killed at least nine mariners and seen four ships sunk. It upended shipping in the Red Sea, through which about $1 trillion of goods passed each year before the war. The Houthis’ most recent attack hit the Dutch-flagged cargo ship Minervagracht on Sept. 29, killing one crew member on board and wounding another.

While insisting its campaign targeted Israel-affiliated vessels, the ships attacked at time had limited — if any — relationship to the Israel-Hamas war.

The US launched an intense bombing campaign targeting the group earlier this year that President Donald Trump halted just before his trip to the Mideast. The Biden administration also conducted strikes against the Houthis, including using America's B-2 bombers to target what it described as underground bunkers used by the Houthis.

The Houthis have taken dozens of workers at UN agencies and other aid groups as prisoners, alleging without evidence that they were spies — something fiercely denied by the UN and others.

Arab World

Large-Scale Israeli Exercise in West Bank Simulates October 7 Attack 

An Israeli soldier takes position during clashes with Palestinian farmers and international activists after they try to reach olive farms outside the village of Beit Led and close to an Israeli settler outpost, near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, 07 November 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli soldier takes position during clashes with Palestinian farmers and international activists after they try to reach olive farms outside the village of Beit Led and close to an Israeli settler outpost, near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, 07 November 2025. (EPA)
TT
TT

Large-Scale Israeli Exercise in West Bank Simulates October 7 Attack 

An Israeli soldier takes position during clashes with Palestinian farmers and international activists after they try to reach olive farms outside the village of Beit Led and close to an Israeli settler outpost, near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, 07 November 2025. (EPA)
An Israeli soldier takes position during clashes with Palestinian farmers and international activists after they try to reach olive farms outside the village of Beit Led and close to an Israeli settler outpost, near the West Bank city of Qalqilya, 07 November 2025. (EPA)

The Israeli Army kicked off on Monday large-scale multi-branch military exercises across the West Bank and Jordan Valley to boost readiness and simulate events similar to the Oct. 7, 2023 in the Gaza Strip.

The three-day “Lion's Roar” exercise involves forces of the army’s Central Command, as well as “special units,” the air force, the army Technology and Logistics Directorate and other military branches and security forces, according to an army spokesperson.

A military statement said drones and various weapons will be used during the drill, and “increased movement of security forces and aircraft will be felt in the area.”

The drill is taking place as part of the Operations Directorate’s training schedule, aimed at training and implementing operational plans with a multi-arena perspective. This exercise was preplanned as part of the Army’s annual training program for 2025, the army statement said.

Renewed calls for annexation

The exercises come while Israeli transportation Minister Miri Regev said her ministry is already enforcing “de facto sovereignty” over the occupied West Bank through a network of state-funded infrastructure projects, effectively implementing annexation on the ground.

Speaking on Israel’s Channel 12 News, Regev described road construction and transportation development in the territory as practical acts of sovereignty, reflecting a broader governmental strategy to integrate settlements into Israel’s national infrastructure grid.

Her statements appear to challenge the decision of US President Donald Trump, who said last month he will now allow Israel to annex the West Bank.

Israel plans to annex 82% of the West Bank to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The Oslo Accords have divided the West Bank into three areas: A, B, and C, each with a different level of Palestinian and Israeli control.

Area A (18% of the West Bank) is under full Palestinian Authority (PA) civil and security control.

Area B (21% of the West Bank) is under PA civilian control with Israeli security control while Area C (61% of the West Bank) is under full Israeli civil and military control.

Although Trump has said he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, Israel has pushed for large-scale settlement projects and has given settlers a free hand to control more areas of the West Bank.

According to Palestinian figures, there are 200 Israeli settlements, 243 settlement outposts and 129 farm outposts in the West Bank.