Turkey Arrests Five Suspects in Connection with Hacking QNA

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Gargash. Reuters
UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Gargash. Reuters
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Turkey Arrests Five Suspects in Connection with Hacking QNA

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Gargash. Reuters
UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Gargash. Reuters

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is set to start his Gulf tour on Sunday, while UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Gargash said that Qatar’s decision to return its ambassador to Tehran is accompanied by a large and confusing justification campaign, pointing out that this is the case of the change in stances exercised by Doha in its position towards Yemen and Iran.

Qatar’s "sovereign decision should not be shy or confused, but it’s arrogance and adolescent behavior makes it so”, Gargash tweeted.

He also criticized Qatar’s mismanagement of the crisis and said its approach mainly focused on making media gains, lacked a strategic dimension and did not look after the interest of the country and its people.

"It's justification is not convincing,” he stated.

He also said that Qatar refers to UAE restoring trade with Iran to justify its decision, ignoring that Iran's main interests in the Gulf are in the gas fields of Qatar.

“Qatar is managing the crisis in an adolescent way,” the UAE FM said, adding the ambassador’s return to Tehran lays bare its true policy and embarrasses Doha.

On the other hand, five suspected computer hackers have reportedly been arrested in Turkey in connection with a cyberattack on the state Qatar News Agency (QNA) in April.

Qatari officials suggested that the QNA website was hacked and inflammatory comments attributed to Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani were broadcast on news stations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Qatar got help from the FBI in investigating the crime, and in July they made their findings public and accused the UAE of carefully orchestrating the hack of QNA.

“Our friends in Turkey answered us a short time ago. Five people were arrested and they are being investigated," said Qatar’s General Prosecutor Ali al-Marri on Friday, following his meeting with Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul in Ankara.

"Prosecutors in Qatar are working with the Turkish authorities to follow up with this case,” al-Marri added.

Regarding Lavrov’s Gulf tour, the Russian Minister is seeking to exert more international efforts to find solutions to the Qatari crisis.

The head of Russian diplomacy takes the opportunity to establish trade partnerships, increase investment exchange and develop cooperation in the fields of energy, industry, agriculture, infrastructure and others. However, the Syrian file will head the topics that will be addressed by Lavrov in his Gulf tour, which will include Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar.

Thu Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow intends to inform its Arab partners on “the efforts exerted by Russia to settle the crisis in Syria in the framework of Astana talks.”

“Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will be in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar on August 27-30 to discuss the crisis between Gulf countries and the conflict in Syria,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a news conference on Thursday.

Zakharova said that "Russia has been consistently calling on the interested states to abandon confrontational rhetoric, discuss the accumulated matters in dispute at the negotiating table and reach a compromise."

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters on Thursday that the US remains "very deeply concerned with the status of the dispute" between Qatar and the Arab quartet, adding that “It's gone on for far too long. It really has”.



MWL Condemns Knesset’s Motion to Impose Sovereignty' over West Bank

The Muslim World League (MWL) logo
The Muslim World League (MWL) logo
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MWL Condemns Knesset’s Motion to Impose Sovereignty' over West Bank

The Muslim World League (MWL) logo
The Muslim World League (MWL) logo

The Muslim World League (MWL) has strongly condemned the Israeli Knesset's approval of a declaration calling for the imposition of "Israeli sovereignty" over the West Bank, the Saudi Press Agency said on Thursday.

MWL said the move reflects Israel's continued provocations against the Arab and Islamic nations and all peace-and justice-loving peoples around the world. The MWL denounced Israel's ongoing disregard for international laws and norms, and its deliberate undermining of all efforts aimed at stopping war and achieving peace.

In a statement issued by the MWL General Secretariat, MWL Secretary-General and Organization of Muslim Scholars Chairman Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa denounced the Israeli government's persistent policy of undermining the lives, dignity, and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. He stressed that Israel continues to violate all international and humanitarian laws and values in the Palestinian territories, describing the extremist government's criminal behavior as a major obstacle to a just and comprehensive peace and the stability sought by all in the region.

Al-Issa reiterated the justice and centrality of the Palestinian cause in the Arab and Islamic consciousness, as well as in the conscience of every fair-minded person. He stressed the historical and legal rights of the Palestinian people that no de facto situation can strip away.

He also called on the international community to take a sincere and serious stand and to fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities to end the ongoing humanitarian tragedy facing the Palestinian people. The secretary-general urged support for the Palestinians' legitimate right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with relevant international legitimacy resolutions.