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Syria's Sharaa Heads to UAE for Second Visit to a Gulf Country as Leader

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa attends an interview with Reuters at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria March 10, 2025. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi/File Photo
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa attends an interview with Reuters at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria March 10, 2025. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi/File Photo
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Syria's Sharaa Heads to UAE for Second Visit to a Gulf Country as Leader

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa attends an interview with Reuters at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria March 10, 2025. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi/File Photo
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa attends an interview with Reuters at the presidential palace, in Damascus, Syria March 10, 2025. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi/File Photo

Syria's Ahmed al-Sharaa will travel to the United Arab Emirates for his second visit to a Gulf state as president on Sunday, Syria's official news agency reported.

Sharaa will be accompanied by foreign minister Assad al-Shibani, who visited the UAE earlier this year.

They are expected to discuss issues of mutual interest, the SANA state news agency reported.

Sharaa visited Saudi Arabia in February on his first foreign trip since assuming the presidency in January.

According to Reuters, the West is watching Syria's leaders closely to ensure they create an inclusive government with effective institutions, maintain order in a country fractured by civil war and prevent a resurgence of ISIS or al Qaeda.

Syria is in desperate need of sanctions relief to revive its economy after 14 years of war, during which the United States and Europe imposed wide-ranging sanctions on Assad's regime.

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Arab World

UN Peacekeepers Say Israeli Forces Fired on Them in Southern Lebanon

Peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) ride in armored vehicles during a patrol along the border with Israel by the village of Kfar Kila in south Lebanon on June 4, 2025. (AFP)
Peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) ride in armored vehicles during a patrol along the border with Israel by the village of Kfar Kila in south Lebanon on June 4, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Peacekeepers Say Israeli Forces Fired on Them in Southern Lebanon

Peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) ride in armored vehicles during a patrol along the border with Israel by the village of Kfar Kila in south Lebanon on June 4, 2025. (AFP)
Peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) ride in armored vehicles during a patrol along the border with Israel by the village of Kfar Kila in south Lebanon on June 4, 2025. (AFP)

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said Sunday that Israeli soldiers had shot at its peacekeepers from a tank near an army position in the country's south.

UNIFIL has been working with the Lebanese army to consolidate a truce between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah reached last November.

"This morning, the Israel Forces fired on UNIFIL peacekeepers from a Merkava tank from near a position Israel has established in Lebanese territory," the peacekeepers said in a statement, adding heavy machine gun rounds hit about five meters from their personnel, AFP reported.

The force said the peacekeepers were able to "leave safely thirty minutes later" after the tank withdrew inside the Israeli position.

UNIFIL said the shooting "represents a serious violation of UN Security Council resolution 1701", which ended a 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, and also formed the basis of last November's truce.

That ceasefire sought to end more than a year of hostilities between the parties that broke out after the start of the Gaza war.

Under the deal, Israel was to withdraw its forces from south Lebanon, but it has kept them at five areas it deems strategic.

It has also kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, mainly saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites and operatives.

Sunday's incident was not the first in which UNIFIL accused Israel of endangering its peacekeepers.

"Yet again, we call on the Israeli army to cease any aggressive behavior and attacks on or near peacekeepers," the force said.

Arab World

Israeli Leaders Voice Opposition to Palestinian State before UN Gaza Vote

17 May 2025, Bavaria, Munich: A protester waves a Palestinian flag during a demonstration on Koenigsplatz. (dpa)
17 May 2025, Bavaria, Munich: A protester waves a Palestinian flag during a demonstration on Koenigsplatz. (dpa)
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Israeli Leaders Voice Opposition to Palestinian State before UN Gaza Vote

17 May 2025, Bavaria, Munich: A protester waves a Palestinian flag during a demonstration on Koenigsplatz. (dpa)
17 May 2025, Bavaria, Munich: A protester waves a Palestinian flag during a demonstration on Koenigsplatz. (dpa)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his government underscored their opposition to a Palestinian state ahead of a UN Security Council vote Monday on a resolution endorsing a US-backed Gaza peace plan.

The draft resolution would follow up on the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas brokered by US President Donald Trump, giving the council's blessing for a transitional administration and a temporary international security force in the devastated territory.

Unlike previous drafts, the latest version of the resolution mentions a possible future Palestinian state, which the Israeli government is vehemently against, according to AFP.

"Our opposition to a Palestinian state on any territory has not changed," Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

Netanyahu had come in for criticism from coalition members, including far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who had accused him of failing to respond to a recent wave of recognition of Palestinian statehood by Western countries.

"Formulate immediately an appropriate and decisive response that will make it clear to the entire world -- no Palestinian state will ever arise on the lands of our homeland," Smotrich urged Netanyahu on X.

The premier replied Sunday that he did "not need affirmations, tweets, or lectures from anyone".

Other ministers likewise expressed their opposition to Palestinian statehood, though none explicitly referred to the resolution.

"Israel's policy is clear: no Palestinian state will be established," Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X Sunday.

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also said on X that the country would "not agree to the establishment of a Palestinian terror state in the heart of the Land of Israel".

Far-right firebrand and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir went even further, calling the Palestinian identity an "invention".

The Security Council resolution would effectively usher in the second phase of the US-backed deal reached last month, which brought about a ceasefire after two years of war sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

The first phase has seen the release of the last 20 living Israeli hostages and nearly all of the 28 dead captives held by Palestinian militants.

In exchange, Israel has freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and returned 330 bodies.

Arab World

Palestinian Killed by Israeli Army in West Bank

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 Killed by Israeli Army in West Bank

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 Israeli military said Sunday it had killed one person overnight during an operation in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, with the Palestinian health ministry reporting a teenager had been shot dead.

"Overnight (Sunday), reserve soldiers... conducted an operational activity in the area of Nablus during which a terrorist hurled an explosive device towards the soldiers," the military said in a brief statement, AFP reported.

"The soldiers responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist. No army injuries were reported."

The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said: "Hassan Ahmed Jamil Moussa (19 years old) was killed last night by fire from the occupation forces in the Askar refugee camp."

The Askar camp for Palestinian refugees is at the eastern end of Nablus, in the northern West Bank. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

Majed Abu Kishk, the head of the Askar services committee, said the teenager was shot at around midnight during a raid on the camp.

He was detained by the Israeli forces and when he was handed over to the Palestinian ambulance services, "he was already dead".

Violence in the Palestinian territory has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023.

At least 1,006 Palestinians, including militants, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the war started, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

During the same period, 43 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the West Bank, according to official Israeli figures.