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Egypt Begins Repatriating 3,000 Citizens Stranded in Qatar

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly during a visit to a factory in Cairo on Saturday, June 13, 2020. (Egyptian government)
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly during a visit to a factory in Cairo on Saturday, June 13, 2020. (Egyptian government)
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Egypt Begins Repatriating 3,000 Citizens Stranded in Qatar

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly during a visit to a factory in Cairo on Saturday, June 13, 2020. (Egyptian government)
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly during a visit to a factory in Cairo on Saturday, June 13, 2020. (Egyptian government)

The Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation has started operating 18 special flights via the Omani capital, Muscat, to bring back around 3,000 Egyptian citizens stranded in Qatar.

Egyptians stuck in Qatar would be repatriated via a company from Doha to Muscat, from where they would be flown to Cairo International Airport, the ministry said in a statement.

Despite suspending flights mid-March, the government has recently repatriated tens of thousands of stranded citizens from various world countries.

It has pledged to repatriate all its citizens who want to return to Cairo.

Meanwhile, Minister of Health Hala Zayed dismissed director of El Mataria Teaching Hospital in Cairo from his post over his dereliction of duty.

The director was also referred to an investigative panel after the death of a Sudanese patient at the hospital.

Zayed took her decision after a video went viral on social media, documenting the death of the Sudanese patient.

Each patient has the right to access health services, the minister said, adding that no leniency will be shown in this regard.

A committee uncovered some technical and administrative violations by the hospital, and it will continue its work to identify the shortcomings and refer the negligent officials to the judiciary.

A woman published a video on social media showing a patient who had died inside the hospital and who was still in his bed alongside other patients who are still receiving treatment.

“Directly after the incident, Zayed directed opening an urgent and immediate probe,” the statement read, adding that the results will be presented to the Minister of Health and Population to be referred later to competent authorities.

Separately, in line with the government’s efforts to resume various activities, Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly visited Saturday a number of factories in the 6th of October City.

He was accompanied by Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea and Executive Director of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones Mohamed Abd El Wahab.

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Israel’s Retaliatory Responses to Houthis Must Begin by Drawing Intelligence Plan

A person inspects damage at the site where a projectile fired from Yemen landed in Tel Aviv on December 21, 2024 (EPA)
A person inspects damage at the site where a projectile fired from Yemen landed in Tel Aviv on December 21, 2024 (EPA)
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Israel’s Retaliatory Responses to Houthis Must Begin by Drawing Intelligence Plan

A person inspects damage at the site where a projectile fired from Yemen landed in Tel Aviv on December 21, 2024 (EPA)
A person inspects damage at the site where a projectile fired from Yemen landed in Tel Aviv on December 21, 2024 (EPA)

Israel is considering options to respond to repeated attacks fired from Yemen in the past few days, the latest of which was a Houthi missile strike that injured more than a dozen people in Tel Aviv.
But military experts say Israel should first consider an intelligence plan for confronting the new front after it faced significant difficulties in both defending against and responding to the Houthi attacks.
On Saturday morning, Houthis launched a missile that triggered sirens throughout central Israel at 3:44 am. It was the second attack since Thursday.
Israel's military said the projectile landed in Tel Aviv's southern Jaffa area, adding that attempts to intercept a missile from Yemen failed.
“The incident is still being thoroughly investigated,” the army said, adding that following initial investigations by the Israeli Air Force and Home Front Command, “some of the conclusions have already been implemented, both regarding interception and early warning.”
Israeli military experts say the recent Houthi attacks have revealed serious security gaps in Israel's air defense systems.
“The pressing question now is why none of the other of Israel’s air defense layers managed to intercept the warhead,” wrote Yedioth Ahronoth's Ron Ben-Yishai. “The likely explanation is the late detection and the flat trajectory, which prevented the operation of all available defense apparatus.”
He said these incidents might expose a critical vulnerability in the army’s air defense system protecting Israel’s civilian and military home front.
According to Ben-Yishai, two main reasons might explain Saturday’s interception failure.
The first is that the missile was launched in a “flattened” ballistic trajectory, possibly from an unexpected direction.
As a result, Israeli defenses may not have identified it in time, leading to its late discovery and insufficient time for interceptors to operate.
He said the second, and more likely scenario is that Iran has developed a maneuverable warhead.
Such a warhead separates from the missile during the final third of its trajectory and maneuvers mid-flight—executing pre-programmed course changes—to hit its designated target, he wrote.
And while Israel has launched initial investigations into the failure of Israeli defense systems to intercept the missiles, it is now examining the nature, date and location of its response.
When Houthis launched their first missile attack on Israel last Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned them, saying, “The Houthis will learn the hard way.”
But Israeli political analyst Avi Ashkenazi wrote in the Maariv newspaper that Israel should look at reality with open eyes and say out loud that it cannot deal with the Houthi threat from Yemen, and has failed to face them.
Last Thursday, 14 Israeli Air Force fighter jets, alongside refuelers and spy planes, flew some 2,000 kilometers and dropped over 60 munitions on Houthi “military targets” along Yemen’s western coast and near the capital Sanaa.
The targets included fuel and oil depots, two power stations, and eight tugboats used at the Houthi-controlled ports.
But the Maariv newspaper warned about the increasing involvement of Iran in supporting the Houthi forces.
“Iran has invested more in the Houthis in recent weeks following the collapse of the Shiite axis, making the Houthi movement a leader of this axis,” the newspaper noted.
Underscoring the failures of Israel’s air defense systems, Maariv said the “Arrow” missile defense system, Israel's main line of defense against ballistic missiles, had failed four times in a row to intercept missiles, including three launched from Yemen and one from Lebanon.
Yedioth Ahronoth's Ben-Yishai also warned that the threat posed by maneuvering warheads on Iran's heavy, long-range missiles would become existential for Israel should Iran succeed in developing nuclear warheads for these missiles.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Channel 12 said that in recent months, the Middle East has changed beyond recognition.
The channel said that for the first time in more than half a century, a direct and threat-free air corridor has been opened to Iran through the Middle East. Israel will benefit from this corridor to launch almost daily attacks on the border crossings between Syria and Lebanon, it said.
Channel 12 also reported that according to the Israeli military, the new threat-free corridor will help Israel launch a future attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
“From Israel's perspective, the fall of the Assad regime and the collapse of the Iranian ring of fire are changing the balance of power in the Middle East,” the report added.