Arab Coalition Downs Houthi Drone Fired at Khamis Mushait

Arab coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki. (Reuters)
Arab coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki. (Reuters)
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Arab Coalition Downs Houthi Drone Fired at Khamis Mushait

Arab coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki. (Reuters)
Arab coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki. (Reuters)

The Saudi-led Arab coalition announced on Monday that it had intercepted and downed a booby-trapped drone, launched by the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen towards Saudi territories.

Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said the aircraft was flown towards civilian areas in Khamis Mushait city.

He slammed the “terrorist operation”, saying it was another example of the Houthis’ deliberate targeting of civilians. The latest such incident took place on Saturday with the militias attempting to attack Saudi Arabia’s Najran city.

The Houthis’ ongoing hostile and terrorist acts are a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” he added.

The coalition will take all firm measures to “neutralize and destroy the Houthi capabilities in order to protect innocent civilians from such reckless acts,” Malki vowed.



Qatar PM Hopes Palestinian Authority Will Return to Gaza When War Ends

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2025. (AFP)
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2025. (AFP)
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Qatar PM Hopes Palestinian Authority Will Return to Gaza When War Ends

Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2025. (AFP)
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani speaks during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 21, 2025. (AFP)

Qatar's Prime Minister said in Davos on Tuesday he hoped the Palestinian Authority would return to play a governing role in Gaza once the war with Israel comes to an end.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Switzerland, two days after the ceasefire Qatar helped broker came into effect in Gaza, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani cautioned that Gazans -- and not any other country -- should dictate the way the enclave will be governed.

"We hope to see the PA back in Gaza. We hope to see a government that will really address the issues of the people over there. And there is a long way to go with Gaza and the destruction," he said.

How Gaza will be governed after the war was not directly addressed in the deal between Israel and Hamas movement that led to an immediate ceasefire and hostage releases after nearly 15 months of talks mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US.

Israel has rejected any governing role for Hamas, which ran Gaza before the war, but it has been almost equally opposed to rule by the Palestinian Authority, the body set up under the Oslo interim peace accords three decades ago that has limited governing power in the West Bank.

The PA, dominated by the Fatah faction created by former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, faces opposition from rival faction Hamas, which drove the PA out of Gaza in 2007 after a brief war.