Egypt, UAE Resume First Qatar Flights since 2017

A mask-clad traveller checks in at Doha airport as Qatar and Egypt resumed direct flights for the first time since 2017. (AFP)
A mask-clad traveller checks in at Doha airport as Qatar and Egypt resumed direct flights for the first time since 2017. (AFP)
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Egypt, UAE Resume First Qatar Flights since 2017

A mask-clad traveller checks in at Doha airport as Qatar and Egypt resumed direct flights for the first time since 2017. (AFP)
A mask-clad traveller checks in at Doha airport as Qatar and Egypt resumed direct flights for the first time since 2017. (AFP)

The first direct flights since 2017 between Qatar and its former rivals Egypt and the UAE took to the skies on Monday, following the end of a regional crisis.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar over its support for terrorism.

The quartet agreed to heal the rift at a Gulf summit on January 5 in Saudi Arabia’s AlUla.

The first commercial flight from Qatar to Egypt in three and a half years, an EgyptAir service to Cairo, took off from windswept Doha airport.

It was followed shortly after by the arrival of an Air Arabia flight from Sharjah in the UAE.

A Qatar Airways plane was due to also make the trip to Cairo later Monday.

Flights between Doha and Saudi Arabia, which has also opened its land border to Qatar, resumed on January 11.



Saudi Arabia Condemns Far-Right Israeli Minister’s Storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

 A general view of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as Muslim worshippers attend the last Friday prayers of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Jerusalem, March 28, 2025. (Reuters)
A general view of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as Muslim worshippers attend the last Friday prayers of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Jerusalem, March 28, 2025. (Reuters)
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Saudi Arabia Condemns Far-Right Israeli Minister’s Storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound

 A general view of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as Muslim worshippers attend the last Friday prayers of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Jerusalem, March 28, 2025. (Reuters)
A general view of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound as Muslim worshippers attend the last Friday prayers of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Jerusalem, March 28, 2025. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia strongly condemned on Wednesday the storming of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry slammed the repeated “flagrant Israeli violations of the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

It also condemned Israeli forces for attacking an UNRWA clinic in northern Gaza, saying it was another in a series of attacks by Israel against UN and relief agencies.

“The Kingdom condemns the continued Israeli violations of international law and international humanitarian law, underscoring its categorical rejection of everything that may undermine the historic and legal status of Jerusalem and its holy sites,” said the ministry.

It called on the international community to “put a stop to the Israeli war machine that has no regard for any human values or law or international norms.”

It warned that the international community’s failure to deter these dangerous and ongoing violations will undermine opportunities to achieve peace and undermine the credibility of international law, as well as impact regional and global security and stability.