Egypt Calls for ‘International Solidarity’ to Make COP27 a Success

 Egypt's ambassador to Berlin Khaled Galal presents the priorities of the Egyptian presidency for the COP27 climate summit. (Egypt’s Foreign Ministry)
Egypt's ambassador to Berlin Khaled Galal presents the priorities of the Egyptian presidency for the COP27 climate summit. (Egypt’s Foreign Ministry)
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Egypt Calls for ‘International Solidarity’ to Make COP27 a Success

 Egypt's ambassador to Berlin Khaled Galal presents the priorities of the Egyptian presidency for the COP27 climate summit. (Egypt’s Foreign Ministry)
Egypt's ambassador to Berlin Khaled Galal presents the priorities of the Egyptian presidency for the COP27 climate summit. (Egypt’s Foreign Ministry)

Egypt has called for “international solidarity” to make the upcoming 27th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) a success.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry underlined the need for the international community to assume its responsibilities towards the global food and climate change crises, which have become more relevant to maintaining international peace and security.

He affirmed that the success of COP27 requires concerted efforts from all parties to raise ambition in the various components of climate action and sustain its financing.

Meanwhile, Presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said Cairo welcomes the participation of Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and all the leaders and heads of states and governments in the upcoming summit in response to the invitation of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Egypt will host the COP27 on Nov.6 till 18 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Rady said Egypt looks forward to Meloni’s major contribution as an extension of Italy's active role at the international level.

In this context, the White House announced in a statement on Saturday that US President Joe Biden will travel to Egypt to participate in the COP27 UN climate change summit on November 11 as part of his foreign tour to Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia.

“Biden would use COP27 to build on the significant work the United States has undertaken to advance the global climate fight and help the most vulnerable build resilience to climate impacts,” the statement read.

Separately, Egypt's ambassador to Berlin Khaled Galal took part in an expanded session organized by the German Foreign Ministry on COP 27.

According to a statement by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday, Galal touched on his country’s efforts to bridge the gap between the stances of industrialized countries, developing countries and different geographical groups on the priorities of climate action.

He underscored the burdens borne by the budgets of developing countries, especially African countries, to implement their nationally determined climate contributions and commitments to adapt and address losses and damages.

He also called for implementing the pledge to provide $100 billion annually in climate finance and facilitating access to international financing alternatives, in a way that enhances the ability of developing countries to link their development plans with the implementation of climate commitments.

Galal affirmed Sharm El-Sheikh’s readiness to host the summit and Egypt’s commitment to facilitating the participation of governmental and non-governmental parties concerned with international climate action in the event, in line with the UN rules and regulations.



Israeli Strike Hits North Lebanon as Raids Pummel Beirut Suburbs

FILED - 29 September 2024, Lebanon, Beirut: A Lebanese man stands among rubble, debris and smoke that is still billowing from the site of the massive Israeli air strike that killed pro-Iranian Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburb. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa
FILED - 29 September 2024, Lebanon, Beirut: A Lebanese man stands among rubble, debris and smoke that is still billowing from the site of the massive Israeli air strike that killed pro-Iranian Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburb. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa
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Israeli Strike Hits North Lebanon as Raids Pummel Beirut Suburbs

FILED - 29 September 2024, Lebanon, Beirut: A Lebanese man stands among rubble, debris and smoke that is still billowing from the site of the massive Israeli air strike that killed pro-Iranian Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburb. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa
FILED - 29 September 2024, Lebanon, Beirut: A Lebanese man stands among rubble, debris and smoke that is still billowing from the site of the massive Israeli air strike that killed pro-Iranian Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburb. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa

An Israeli strike hit Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli for the first time early on Saturday, a Lebanese security source said, after more bombardment hit Beirut's suburbs and Israeli troops sought to make new ground incursions into southern Lebanon.

The source told Reuters a Hamas official, his wife and two children were killed in the strike on a Palestinian refugee camp in Tripoli. Hamas-affiliated media said the strike killed a leader of the group's armed wing.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike on Tripoli, a port city.

Israel has sharply expanded its strikes on Lebanon in recent weeks after nearly a year of exchanging fire with Lebanon's Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah. Fighting had been mostly limited to the Israel-Lebanon border area, taking place in parallel to Israel's year-old war in Gaza against Hamas.

Israel has been carrying out nightly bombardment of Beirut's once densely populated southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah. Overnight, a military spokesman issued three alerts for residents there to evacuate, and Reuters witnesses then heard at least one blast.

On Friday, Israel said it had targeted Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in the southern suburbs and was assessing the damage after a series of strikes on senior figures in the group.

Israel has eliminated much of Hezbollah's senior military leadership, including Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah in an air attack on Sept. 27.

Lebanon's government says more than 2,000 people have been killed there in the past year, most in the past two weeks. Strikes on medical teams and facilities, including the Lebanese Red Cross, Lebanese public hospitals and rescue workers affiliated to Hezbollah, have also increased.

Lebanon's government says more than 1.2 million Lebanese have been forced from their homes, and the United Nations says most displacement shelters in the country are full. Many had gone north to Tripoli or to neighboring Syria, but an Israeli strike on Friday closed the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric called the toll on Lebanese civilians "totally unacceptable".

IRAN DEFIANT, ISRAEL WEIGHS OPTIONS

Israel has been weighing options in its response to Iran's ballistic missile attack on Tuesday.

Oil prices have risen on the possibility of an attack on Iran's oil facilities as Israel pursues its goals of pushing back Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and eliminating their Hamas allies, also backed by Tehran, in Gaza.

US President Joe Biden on Friday urged Israel to consider alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields, adding that he thinks Israel has not yet concluded how to respond to Iran.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in a rare appearance leading Friday prayers, told a huge crowd in Tehran that Iran and its regional allies would not back down.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi landed in Syria on Saturday for talks after a visit to Lebanon, in which he reiterated support for Lebanon and Hezbollah.

In Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs, many buildings have been reduced to rubble. "We're alive but don't know for how long," said Nouhad Chaib, a 40-year-old man already displaced from the south.

On Friday, Hezbollah fired more than 200 rockets into Israel, according to the Israeli military, and air raid sirens continued to sound in its north on Saturday.

The latest bloodletting in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered by the Palestinian Hamas group's attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 and in which about 250 were taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's subsequent assault on Gaza has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, and displaced nearly all of Gaza's population.

GROUND OPERATIONS

The Lebanese government has accused Israel of targeting civilians, pointing to dozens of women and children killed. It has not broken its total death toll down between civilians and Hezbollah fighters.

Israel says it targets military capabilities and takes steps to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians. It accuses Hezbollah and Hamas of hiding among civilians, which they deny.

Israel, which began ground operations targeting southern Lebanon this week, says they are focused on villages near the border and has said Beirut "was not on the table", but has not specified how long the ground incursion would last.

It says the operations aim to allow tens of thousands of its citizens to return home after Hezbollah bombardments, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, forced them to evacuate from its north.

Iran's missile salvo was partly in retaliation for Israel's killing of Nasrallah, a dominant figure who had turned the group into a powerful armed and political force with reach across the Middle East.

Axios cited three Israeli officials as saying that Hashem Safieddine, rumored to be Nasrallah's successor, had been targeted in an underground bunker in Beirut on Thursday night, but his fate was not clear.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted a photo of Safieddine and Nasrallah on X on Saturday and urged Khamenei to "take your proxies and leave Lebanon."