Arab League Slams US State Dept over Removal of 'Palestine' From Its Site

A general view of the Arab League delegates meeting in Cairo, Egypt December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
A general view of the Arab League delegates meeting in Cairo, Egypt December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
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Arab League Slams US State Dept over Removal of 'Palestine' From Its Site

A general view of the Arab League delegates meeting in Cairo, Egypt December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
A general view of the Arab League delegates meeting in Cairo, Egypt December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

The Arab League denounced the US State Department’s deletion from its website, of the name of the occupied Palestinian territories or the Palestinian Authority from the list of Middle East countries.

The League said the move was “a new hostile action that threatens to liquidate the Palestinian Cause.”

In a statement, Saeed Abu Ali, Arab League Assistant Secretary-General for Palestine and the Occupied Arab Territories, stressed that this [US] decision was strongly rejected by Arab countries as well as by the overwhelming majority of countries around the world, which expressed on more than one occasion their support for the Palestinian rights and adherence to the principles of law and international legitimacy.

This US measure will be added to the series of previous isolating moves, which have been rejected internationally, including by the Arab world, according to the League official.

He went on to say that the US decision would not affect “the determination and steadfastness of the Palestinian people and leadership in their just struggle to achieve their independence and complete the building of their state with the support of the Arab nation.”



Syrian Opposition March Through the Capital in a Show of Force

A drone view of a military parade held by Khaled Brigade, a part of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), after Syria's Bashar al-Assad was ousted, in Damascus, Syria, December 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano
A drone view of a military parade held by Khaled Brigade, a part of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), after Syria's Bashar al-Assad was ousted, in Damascus, Syria, December 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano
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Syrian Opposition March Through the Capital in a Show of Force

A drone view of a military parade held by Khaled Brigade, a part of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), after Syria's Bashar al-Assad was ousted, in Damascus, Syria, December 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano
A drone view of a military parade held by Khaled Brigade, a part of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), after Syria's Bashar al-Assad was ousted, in Damascus, Syria, December 27, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano

Hundreds of members of the main opposition group that overthrew former President Bashar Assad from power marched through the streets of the capital in a show of force.
The fighters with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, gathered at the Abbasiyeen square on Friday afternoon before driving vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns through different neighborhoods of Damascus.
The show of force by HTS came days after members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect protested in different parts of the country, leading to exchanges of fire in some areas.
Until Assad’s fall earlier this month, Alawites held senior positions in the military and security agencies in Syria. HTS fighters are Sunni Muslims who are the majority sect in the country.