Tunisian Security Arrests Former Ennahda Figure

Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Ennahda Movement. (EPA)
Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Ennahda Movement. (EPA)
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Tunisian Security Arrests Former Ennahda Figure

Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Ennahda Movement. (EPA)
Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Ennahda Movement. (EPA)

Tunisian special forces have arrested former Ennahda Movement senior official Mohamed Ben Salem.

He is also a former Minister of Agriculture.

Media reports revealed that he was arrested during his attempt to cross the Tunisian-Libyan border.

The Tunisian judiciary had questioned Ben Salem as part of an ongoing investigation about “money laundering and receiving funds from abroad” through a charity association.

He was banned from traveling in September to receive treatment, and again in October and for the third time in December.

The Labor and Achievement Party - headed by Abdul Latif al-Makki - confirmed that it has no information about the arrest, knowing that Ben Salem is a prominent party figure.

“Ben Salem is targeted because of his political stances,” according to the party, which was founded by independent leaders from Ennahda Movement.

It added that Ben Salem has recently faced a campaign of fabrications against him by suspicious Facebook pages.

Furthermore, it urged rights activists in Tunisia to stand by Ben Salem and support him.

The party held the authorities responsible for his health and safety, urging them to stop the campaign of arrests against opposition members and the violation of freedoms.

The Tunisian judiciary has recently issued prison sentences against several Ennahda leaders, while it kept Rached Ghannouchi, head of the movement, free despite summoning him several times for questioning.

Some prominent Ennahda leaders have been accused of conspiracy against the state.



Israel Confirms Calling Up Reservists for Gaza War Expansion

Israeli armored vehicles take position on Israel's border with the Gaza Srip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
Israeli armored vehicles take position on Israel's border with the Gaza Srip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
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Israel Confirms Calling Up Reservists for Gaza War Expansion

Israeli armored vehicles take position on Israel's border with the Gaza Srip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
Israeli armored vehicles take position on Israel's border with the Gaza Srip on May 4, 2025. (Photo by Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

Israel's army on Sunday confirmed it was calling up "tens of thousands" of reservists to expand its war in Gaza, army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said.

"This week we are issuing tens of thousands of orders to our reservists to intensify and expand our operation in Gaza," Zamir said in a statement, adding the army would destroy all Hamas infrastructure, "both on the surface and underground.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet on Sunday to discuss the expansion of the Gaza offensive and a possible resumption of aid into the besieged enclave, two government officials said.
In a video message posted on the social media platform X on Sunday, hours after part of a missile launched from Yemen by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia fell close to Israel's main gateway, Ben Gurion Airport, Netanyahu said he was convening the security cabinet to discuss "the next stage" of the war in Gaza.
It was unclear if the ministers will give final approval at the meeting.
Already in control of almost a third of Gaza's territory, Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade that it imposed in March after the collapse of a US-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months.
Ministers have justified the blockade by saying that Hamas has seized aid intended for civilians and kept it for its own fighters or sold it, charges that Hamas has denied. At the same time, Israel has faced warnings of famine in Gaza as supplies run low.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported last week that a new plan was in the works by which aid will soon be distributed by private foreign companies, rather than UN agencies, in a new designated humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza area of Rafah, to which civilians would be moved after security checks.
New aid plans will be discussed at Sunday's security cabinet meeting, two officials said.
Aid has been a contested issue within the Israeli leadership and defense establishment for months. The military has pushed back against calls by some politicians who want Israel to seize Gaza for good and have Israeli soldiers hand out aid.