Algeria Finalizes Preparations for Arab Summit

Algiers completes logistical and security preparations to host the Arab summit. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Algiers completes logistical and security preparations to host the Arab summit. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Algeria Finalizes Preparations for Arab Summit

Algiers completes logistical and security preparations to host the Arab summit. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Algiers completes logistical and security preparations to host the Arab summit. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Algerian officials announced the completion of arrangements for the upcoming 31st Arab Summit, which will be held in Algiers on Nov. 1-2.

The country’s official news agency (APS) published a video on the preparations, describing the event “the most important in the history of the Arab summits,” especially, according to the agency, after the success of Algeria’s effort to gather the Palestinian factions to sign a reconciliation agreement on Oct. 13.

Media outlets launched a major promotion campaign for Algeria’s preparation for the Arab meeting, under the slogan, “Uniting the Arab League” raised by Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

The campaign highlighted the president’s efforts to persuade Arab leaders, including kings and heads of states, to participate in the summit, during visits he made to many Arab capitals over the past months.

In recent remarks, Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra said his country “wants the Arabs to unite on the occasion of this summit, just as the Palestinian ranks were unified.”

In an interview with a local newspaper last month, Tebboune said: “Our keenness to organize the Arab summit in our country stems from our determination to make it a unifying event... It will be, God willing, a new start for the Arab world that is suffering from rupture...”

Prime Minister Aymen Benabderrahmane said on Saturday that the Arab meeting would be an occasion “to reaffirm support for the Palestinian cause, as a central Arab cause, by emphasizing the common Arab position represented in the Arab Peace Initiative, which is the framework that guarantees the protection of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”

On Wednesday, Interior Minister Ebrahim Murad gathered security officials to “discuss the arrangements related to the important Arab event,” according to a statement by the ministry.



Sinwar Says Hamas Ready for 'Long War of Attrition'

FILE PHOTO: A billboard with a picture of newly appointed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is displayed on a building in a street in Tehran, Iran, August 12, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A billboard with a picture of newly appointed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is displayed on a building in a street in Tehran, Iran, August 12, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
TT

Sinwar Says Hamas Ready for 'Long War of Attrition'

FILE PHOTO: A billboard with a picture of newly appointed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is displayed on a building in a street in Tehran, Iran, August 12, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
FILE PHOTO: A billboard with a picture of newly appointed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is displayed on a building in a street in Tehran, Iran, August 12, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar said on Monday the Palestinian group was prepared for prolonged fighting against Israel, in a message to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militias nearly a year into the Gaza war.

"We have prepared ourselves to fight a long war of attrition that will break the enemy's political will," the Hamas leader said, according to Agence France Presse.

He asserted that the militants in Gaza and allied Iran-aligned groups in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen would defeat Israel.

The message followed a rare missile attack on central Israel on Sunday claimed by the Houthis.

The attack caused no casualties but sparked vows of retaliation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sinwar said in the message addressed to Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi: "I congratulate you on your success in sending your missiles deep into the enemy entity, bypassing all layers and defense and interception systems."

The Houthis said they had "penetrated" Israel's air defenses, while Israel said the missile likely fragmented mid-air but was not destroyed.

"Our combined efforts with you" and with groups in Lebanon and Iraq "will break this enemy and inflict defeat on it," Sinwar added.