United Nations, Arab League Agree to Activate Cooperation

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit (L) meets with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in Cairo on February 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / MOHAMED EL-SHAHED
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit (L) meets with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in Cairo on February 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / MOHAMED EL-SHAHED
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United Nations, Arab League Agree to Activate Cooperation

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit (L) meets with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in Cairo on February 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / MOHAMED EL-SHAHED
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit (L) meets with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in Cairo on February 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / MOHAMED EL-SHAHED

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit and UN chief Antonio Guterres have agreed to activate the cooperation agreement signed between the two organizations last year.

Aboul Gheit met Guterres at the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Cairo-based organization’s spokesman Mahmoud Afifi said.

Afifi added that the agreement comes in the framework of seeking to strengthen UN-Arab League cooperation in several areas, such as preventing and settling disputes, combating terrorism, preserving, building and making peace, protection of human rights and assisting refugees and those displaced.

The officials also discussed developments in a number of important international and regional issues, especially those related to the Palestinian issue and the crises in Syria, Libya, Yemen and the situation in Iraq.

Aboul Gheit and Guterres agreed that the coming period demands more efforts to be exerted by the international community in order to pressure Israel to respect resolutions issued under international legitimacy and return to the negotiating table with the Palestinians.

International efforts need to be exerted to push for a political settlements for crises in Syria, Libya and Yemen, especially in light of the rising phenomenon of terrorism and extremism, and the effects and implications of humanitarian cases worldwide.

Aboul Gheit stressed that the Arab League seeks to re-engage strongly in dealing with the crises experienced by some Arab countries, while welcoming the positive role that the United Nations can play in dealing with them.



Israel Fired at Vehicles Belonging to Syria's New Military, Killing 3

An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Israel Fired at Vehicles Belonging to Syria's New Military, Killing 3

An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

The Israeli army said it fired at vehicles in Syria loaded with weapons near a buffer zone established under a 1974 agreement between Syria and Israel.
The strike in the town of Ghadir al-Bustan in Quneitra province killed three people, including two members of Syria's Military Operations Administration, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Military Operations Administration is run Syria’s de facto leadership under Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which did not comment on the attack. The attack coincided with Syrian security operations to search homes for weapons, according to the war monitor.
The Israeli military said they located vehicles carrying weapons and “fired a warning shot adjacent to the vehicles, and the vehicles drove away from the area.” Asked about casualties, the Israeli military said it had no information, reported The Associated Press.
Israeli forces captured the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights following former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s fall last month. The military has been also conducting incursions outside the buffer zone, prompting local protests.