A side of Thursday's no-confidence session against Tunisia's Ghannouchi in Parliament | EPA
Tunisia’s parliament speaker and veteran leader of the Ennahda Movement, Rached Ghannouchi, narrowly survived a confidence vote after opposition lawmakers failed to gather enough no-confidence votes to overthrow him.
Ghannouchi’s slim margin of victory may only deepen the country's political divisions after the resignation of the prime minister and the opposition vowing to continue to try to remove Ghannouchi from office.
Some 97 members of parliament on Thursday voted against Ghannouchi, falling short of the 109 needed to overthrow him. Only 133 MPs voted while 84 lawmakers abstained from attending the voting session, including Ghannouchi and his first deputy Samira al-Shawashi.
The vote took place after a tumultuous session, which was broadcast by the Tunisian media, and during which deputies from different political blocs exchanged strong accusations. Some blamed the stalling of the normal functioning of parliament and its committees on Ghannouchi and the Ennahda party, and the parties allied with it like the Heart of Tunisia and the Karama and the Future coalition blocs.
Others blamed the stumbling of parliament on the Free Destourian Party and its leader Abir Moussi and their allies in the battle to overthrow Ghannouchi, especially the following parties: the Democratic Current led by Mohamed Abbou, People's Movement led by Zuhair al-Meghzawi and Tahya Tounes headed by ex-PM Youssef Chahed.
“A total of 133 members of parliament took part in the vote. 97 deputies voted against Ghannouchi, 16 voted in favor of him, and 18 votes were annulled,” said the second Deputy Speaker of Parliament Tarek Fetiti at a plenary session.
Fetiti confirmed that the winner of the vote is democracy in Tunisia and the choice to resolve disputes among Tunisians through political means and voting, not violence.
The plenary session, which was supposed to be conducted without debate to hold a vote by secret ballot, took place in a heated atmosphere, marked by altercations and exchange of accusations between deputies.
Members of the army-backed Popular Resistance march in Omdurman in support of the military’s campaign in Darfur, Kordofan, and Blue Nile State (AFP).
Fighting has intensified once again between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) across several fronts in the western Darfur region, as military tensions also mount around the city of El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, where both sides are reinforcing their positions.
Over the past two days, the Sudanese army and allied Joint Forces, a coalition of armed groups, have launched operations in West and North Darfur targeting strategic border areas as part of an effort to expand their battlefield presence and open new fronts.
Local sources said army units are advancing toward El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, under the cover of warplanes that have carried out airstrikes on military positions inside the city. The advance marks one of the army’s most significant military gains in Darfur in months as fighting continues to spread across Sudan.
The renewed clashes come as attention remains focused on El Obeid, where military escalation has intensified amid continued drone attacks and troop buildups despite international calls for a ceasefire and restraint.
Former Sudanese army Chief of Staff Hashim Abdel Muttalib told Asharq Al-Awsat that the army and its allies had carried out what he described as a successful maneuver that returned the fighting to Darfur, reflecting a new phase in military planning. He said the army had regained the initiative and predicted further developments in the region, adding that recent advances in western and northern Darfur were part of plans previously announced by Assistant Commander-in-Chief Lt. Gen. Yasser Al-Atta.
On Monday, the Joint Forces announced they had seized the border town of Kulbus in West Darfur near Chad and said they remained in control of Tina, Karnoi, and Ambro in North Darfur.
The Sudanese army also said it had carried out operations across Darfur, Kordofan, and Blue Nile, inflicting heavy losses on the RSF. The paramilitary group did not immediately comment.
The El Fasher Resistance Committees Coordination, a local civic group, said in a Facebook statement that army forces were approaching El Geneina under the cover of airstrikes targeting military sites inside the city.
The RSF captured Kulbus and nearby towns in October 2025. The town lies about 140 kilometers (87 miles) from El Geneina.
Military analyst Abdullah Mohammed told Asharq Al-Awsat that the renewed fighting in Darfur could prolong and widen the conflict, pushing the war into a more violent phase. He said one of the main objectives of military campaigns is to cut an opponent’s supply lines and deny access to strategic positions, suggesting the army’s operations in West Darfur are aimed at regaining control of the border with Chad.
By contrast, Mohammed Al-Nayer, spokesman for the Sudan Liberation Army Movement, said it was too early to conclude that the war had shifted decisively back to Darfur. He described the operation in Kulbus as a temporary incursion by army-allied Joint Forces that lasted only a few hours before withdrawing after large RSF reinforcements arrived.
Al-Nayer said the objective was to tie down RSF forces in attritional battles inside Darfur, limiting their ability to sustain operations in Kordofan and Blue Nile.
WHO: 120 Dead in Latest Sudan Cholera Outbreakhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5291128-who-120-dead-latest-sudan-cholera-outbreak
Cholera epidemic affects children and displaced people in Nigeria (Reuters - Archival)
A cholera outbreak in Sudan has killed 120 people, with another 1,102 suspected cases since May in isolated war zones, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
More than three years of war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have decimated the country's healthcare system.
This is Sudan's third wave of cholera in as many years, and began only two months after the last outbreak was declared over in March, reported AFP.
Between July 2024 and March 2026, over 124,400 people were infected and 3,500 killed during the last wave, according to government figures.
Endemic to the northeast African country, cholera used to come "in a cyclic manner every three years", the WHO's Sudan chief Dr Shible Sahbani told reporters.
But now the country faces near-continuous outbreaks "due to the conflict, constraints in access and limited supplies," he said.
Sudan's rainy season is set to surge in the coming weeks, during which cholera cases balloon as millions lack access to clean water and the rains further impede access.
The Sudanese government declared the latest outbreak this week in the flashpoint West Kordofan state, the dividing line between army and paramilitary zones of control.
Constant deadly drone strikes launched by both sides have made commercial and aid access to the Kordofan region increasingly dangerous, and brought hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation.
The WHO said the outbreak appears to be spreading, following reports of close to 300 suspected cases and three deaths in neighboring North Kordofan, where the United Nations has warned the RSF is preparing to mount a deadly ground assault on state capital El-Obeid.
Drone strikes on the city's power stations are already "disrupting access to lifesaving drinking water and electricity", UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said Tuesday, warning of the risk of mass atrocities.
Three years into the war, which aid groups estimate may have killed more than 200,000 people, nearly all of the country's hospitals have been forced entirely or partially out of service.
"Forty percent of health facilities are non-functional at all, and the remaining almost 60 percent are only partially functioning, meaning they are providing only a few services, or not enough to patients in the area," Sahbani said.
Gifted Students Complex in Marib: From the Heart of War to Building the Futurehttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5291122-gifted-students-complex-marib-heart-war-building-future
Gifted Students Complex in Marib: From the Heart of War to Building the Future
More than 200 high-achieving students have enrolled at the complex since its official opening in 2024 (Asharq Al-Awsat)
In a city more familiar with rockets than school bells, a different morning begins at the Model Complex for Gifted Students in Marib.
Built and fully funded by the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen, the complex is now home to dozens of students studying science and mathematics, a scene that captures the triumph of knowledge over years of war.
Four years ago, at the height of Houthi attacks on Marib in 2022, Asharq Al-Awsat visited the site for the first time. The building was then in its final stages of preparation, while nearby neighborhoods, including al-Rawda and al-Matar, were under repeated Houthi ballistic missile fire.
One missile struck a house only about 500 meters from the gifted students’ center, offering a stark image of two opposing projects: one that builds people, and another that destroys them.
Even as the war reached one of its fiercest stages, the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen pushed ahead. What seemed at the time like an educational gamble in the middle of a battlefield has become one of Yemen’s clearest examples of investment in people.
The center was no ordinary education project. It was a dream long held by Sheikh Sultan al-Arada, vice president of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council and governor of Marib. He recalled proposing the idea to the Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al-Jaber, who quickly approved the establishment and full equipping of the project.
When Asharq Al-Awsat returned to the center, the scene had changed completely. The building that stood silent in 2022 under the shadow of war was alive with students. Laboratories were busy, and classrooms echoed with discussion and scientific experiments.
Since its official opening in 2024, more than 200 high-achieving students have enrolled at the center. Many come from different Yemeni provinces after the war forced their families to flee to Marib.
Here, in a city often described as the last line of defense for the republic, Saudi Arabia is fighting a different kind of battle: a battle to build minds, based on the belief that rebuilding people comes before rebuilding nations.
Dr. Mohammed al-Qairi, director of the gifted students’ complex in Marib, said the center’s opening in 2024 marked a turning point for quality education in the province. Demand, he said, exceeded expectations from the first day.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that 246 students applied for the first intake, with only 120 selected after a series of scientific tests.
Dr. Mohammed al-Qairi, director of the gifted students’ complex in Marib (Asharq Al-Awsat)
In the current academic year, 213 students applied and only 90 were admitted, after the administration decided to reduce admissions to focus more closely on the quality of educational outcomes.
Qairi said the complex no longer serves Marib alone. It now represents all of Yemen, bringing together students who fled with their families from most Yemeni provinces and turning Marib into a wartime hub for the country’s scientific elite.
Applicants sit rigorous tests in Arabic, English, mathematics and science, as well as a special intelligence assessment. To remain at the complex, students must maintain an average of at least 80 percent.
The complex's students achieved first and second place in Physics and Chemistry during the scientific forum in Marib (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Qairi said Marib had long been seen as distant from quality education projects, and few had imagined it would host a model school for top-performing students of this standard.
“We had a limited experience in the capital Sanaa, but establishing a complex for gifted students in Marib was not something anyone expected,” he said.
“What has been achieved here came thanks to the support of our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, whose role was not limited to implementing service projects, but extended to investing in people. The gifted students’ complex was one of the most important of these projects,” he added.
Applicants sit rigorous tests in Arabic, English, mathematics and science, as well as a special intelligence assessment (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The complex currently teaches students in the first and second years of secondary school. Preparations are underway to open the third secondary year next year, a step those in charge describe as the first real test of the experiment.
Their ambition is clear: to see their students rank among the top performers in the Republic of Yemen.
Although the project is still new, results have come quickly. Students from the complex won first place in physics at the Marib province level and second place in chemistry at the scientific forum, achievements that project officials see as an early sign of success.
“We are still at the beginning of the road, but we aspire for this complex to become a factory for the top students of the republic, and a model to be followed in the rest of the provinces,” Qairi said.
The complex marked a turning point in the journey of quality education in Marib Governorate (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The ambitions are not limited to male students. Qairi said plans would soon be announced to establish a similar complex for high-achieving female students, widening access to quality education.
He said the building is equipped with classrooms, laboratories, furniture and administrative equipment, but still needs supporting facilities, including shaded areas to protect students from the heat and the completion of a guard room.
Such needs, he said, do not diminish the value of the project, but would strengthen its educational environment.
“In a country exhausted by war, discovering a gifted student or preparing a researcher, doctor, or engineer, becomes another form of reconstruction,” he said.
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