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Gargash: UAE Hails Efforts to Bolster Gulf Unity

UAE State Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Gargash. (AFP)
UAE State Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Gargash. (AFP)
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Gargash: UAE Hails Efforts to Bolster Gulf Unity

UAE State Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Gargash. (AFP)
UAE State Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Gargash. (AFP)

United Arab Emirates State Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Gargash said on Tuesday that his country appreciates efforts by Kuwait and the United States to strengthen Gulf Arab unity.

In a Twitter post, he also praised Saudi Arabia’s “good endeavors on behalf of the four states” – a reference to the Gulf row.

In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar over its support and financing of terrorism. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait said last Friday that progress had been made towards resolving the dispute.

Gargash added that the UAE looked forward to a “successful” Gulf Arab summit, which is due to take place this month.

An Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement on Tuesday that Cairo hoped the recent efforts to end the rift would result in a “comprehensive solution that addresses all causes behind the crisis and guarantees serious and strict commitment”.

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Etidal, Telegram Remove Over 2 Million Extremist Posts During Hajj

Etidal and Telegram have been collaborating since 2022 to prevent and combat terrorism and violent extremism (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Etidal and Telegram have been collaborating since 2022 to prevent and combat terrorism and violent extremism (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Etidal, Telegram Remove Over 2 Million Extremist Posts During Hajj

Etidal and Telegram have been collaborating since 2022 to prevent and combat terrorism and violent extremism (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Etidal and Telegram have been collaborating since 2022 to prevent and combat terrorism and violent extremism (Asharq Al-Awsat)

During this year’s Hajj season, the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology (Etidal) and Telegram removed over 2 million pieces of extremist content.

Etidal and Telegram also noted a 12.82% increase in propaganda activity from ISIS, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and al-Qaeda in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter, a trend that typically spikes during Hajj.

Etidal has been collaborating with Telegram on preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism by reviewing online content posted in Arabic.

Both organizations have agreed to expand their coordination to detect and remove Arabic material glorifying terrorism.

On June 17, the start of Hajj, extremist propaganda was at its peak. The partnership between Etidal and Telegram led to the removal of more than 18 million pieces of extremist content and the closure of 660 terrorist-linked channels in the second quarter of 2024.

The joint efforts targeted three groups: ISIS, with 14.8 million pieces of content removed and 305 channels shut down; Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), with 3.5 million pieces removed and 281 channels closed; and al-Qaeda, with 231,354 pieces removed and 74 channels shut down.

Among items referred were media files — PDFs, videos, and audio — uploaded by the groups on Telegram and public Telegram channels hosting the material.

The cooperation agreement between Etidal and Telegram aims to protect the platform’s users from extremist content, ideological influences, and attempts to exploit the platform in trading the content.

Since February 2022, the partnership between Etidal and Telegram has removed nearly 94 million pieces of extremist content and closed over 14,000 channels.

Etidal, launched in May 2017 by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and other world leaders in Riyadh, focuses on monitoring and blocking extremist content.