Sultan of Oman Becomes First Gulf Leader to Congratulate Assad on Reelection

Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. (Reuters)
Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. (Reuters)
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Sultan of Oman Becomes First Gulf Leader to Congratulate Assad on Reelection

Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. (Reuters)
Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. (Reuters)

Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq al-Said sent a cable of congratulations to Syria’s Bashar Assad to congratulate him on his reelection as president.

This marks the first message of congratulations by a Gulf leader to Assad since his reelection last week.

Oman’s state news agency reported that Sultan Haitham expressed his “sincerest congratulations to Assad, wishing him success in continuing to lead the brotherly Syrian people towards achieving their aspirations for stability, progress and prosperity.”

Oman had downgraded its diplomatic representation in Damascus after the eruption of the Syrian conflict in 2011. It did, however, restore full representation in 2020, by reinstating an ambassador to Damascus, becoming the first Arab and Gulf state to do so.



Saudi Arabia Strongly Condemns Israeli Attack on Displacement Camp in Gaza

A general view shows Palestinians gathering around craters (background) as they search for missing people following Israeli airstrikes on a designated humanitarian zone of Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 September 2024. (EPA)
A general view shows Palestinians gathering around craters (background) as they search for missing people following Israeli airstrikes on a designated humanitarian zone of Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 September 2024. (EPA)
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Saudi Arabia Strongly Condemns Israeli Attack on Displacement Camp in Gaza

A general view shows Palestinians gathering around craters (background) as they search for missing people following Israeli airstrikes on a designated humanitarian zone of Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 September 2024. (EPA)
A general view shows Palestinians gathering around craters (background) as they search for missing people following Israeli airstrikes on a designated humanitarian zone of Mawasi, west of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 10 September 2024. (EPA)

Saudi Arabia strongly condemned on Tuesday Israel’s targeting of a makeshift displacement camp in Mawasi in Gaza.

“This is yet another instance of violent attacks of unarmed civilians by the Israeli war machine,” said the Saudi Foreign Ministry in a statement.

The Kingdom reiterated its “categorical rejection of continued Israeli genocide, and called for an immediate ceasefire.”

It held the Israeli forces “fully responsible for the continued violation of all international and humanitarian norms and laws.”

It emphasized the “legal, humanitarian and moral responsibility of the international community to activate international accountability mechanisms and put an end to these ongoing violations of international law and resolutions by Israeli forces.”

An Israeli strike hit a crowded Palestinian tent camp early Tuesday in Gaza, killing at least 19 people and wounding 60, Palestinian officials said.

The overnight strike occurred in Mawasi, a sprawl of crowded tent camps along the Gaza coast that Israel designated as a humanitarian zone for hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians to seek shelter from the nearly year-old Israel-Hamas war.