عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Moroccan King Will Soon Call for Al-Quds Committee Meeting

Palestinian scout bands parade through Manger Square at the Church of the Nativity, ahead of the midnight Mass, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020. (AP)
Palestinian scout bands parade through Manger Square at the Church of the Nativity, ahead of the midnight Mass, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020. (AP)
TT
TT

Moroccan King Will Soon Call for Al-Quds Committee Meeting

Palestinian scout bands parade through Manger Square at the Church of the Nativity, ahead of the midnight Mass, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020. (AP)
Palestinian scout bands parade through Manger Square at the Church of the Nativity, ahead of the midnight Mass, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020. (AP)

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI announced he will soon call for holding the 21st session of the Al-Quds Committee in Rabat, six years after it last convened in Marrakech, without specifying a date.

In a message to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, he said the meeting aims at considering means of consolidating the preservation of the special status of Jerusalem and contributing to safeguarding the inviolability of its historical landmarks, spiritual symbolism and religious identity.

The King sent the message a day after receiving a US-Israeli delegation headed by White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner and Israel’s National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat.

King Mohammed said that the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency will soon be restructured to “breathe new life into it”. This will allow it, under his personal supervision, to continue to implement tangible plans and programs in the health, education, social and housing sectors for the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.

King Mohammed expressed his satisfaction with the telephone call he held with Abbas on December 10 during which he underlined Morocco’s firm stance on the Palestinian cause and commitment to defending the rights of the Palestinian people.

He reiterated his country’s stance in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, based on the two-state solution, adding that negotiations were the only way to reach a final, lasting and comprehensive settlement.

In his letter, the King stressed that Morocco has always placed the Palestinian cause at the same level as the Moroccan Sahara issue.

The Al-Quds Committee was first established pursuant to a resolution issued during the sixth Conference of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation that was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in July 1975.

Its presidency was assigned to the late King Hassan II of Morocco in 1979.

In 1998, the committee-affiliated Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency was founded and focused its efforts in the fields of health, education, housing and the preservation of religious heritage.

Members of the committee include Morocco, Palestine, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Guinea, Niger and Senegal.

Over the past 22 years, the committee has implemented about programs and plans worth around $65 million focused on education, housing, health, culture, sports, women empowerment and the youth.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

RSF Launches Drone Attacks Across Sudan

RSF Launches Drone Attacks Across Sudan
TT
TT

RSF Launches Drone Attacks Across Sudan

RSF Launches Drone Attacks Across Sudan

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched drone strikes on capital Khartoum and other army-controlled cities on Wednesday, an AFP correspondent, witnesses and an army source said, in what appeared to be their largest coordinated attack in months.

Since April 2023, Sudan has been ravaged by war between its regular military, led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Burhan's former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The capital Khartoum, which was recaptured by the army last year, has been targeted by drone strikes before but enjoyed relative calm for months.

A source in the army said the RSF attacked the capital, the Kordofan city of El-Obeid, and the northern cities of Atbara and El-Damer "with a large number of drones, which our anti-aircraft defenses engaged with".

El-Obeid is located nearly 400 kilometers (248 miles) from Khartoum and around 650 kilometers from Atbara.

An AFP correspondent in the capital reported a drone attack at 5 am (0300 GMT) along with the sound of anti-aircraft missiles from the direction of the army's Wadi Seidna base, just north of the twin city of Omdurman.

In Khartoum North (Bahri), just across the Nile River, two drones hit a mosque and an electricity transformer in the El-Droshab area, according to an eyewitness.

It was not immediately clear if air defenses had shot them down.

Witnesses in the northern cities of Atbara and El-Damer -- both also under army control -- gave similar reports of hearing explosions and seeing drones in the sky.

Some 120 kilometers southeast, in the town of Tamboul, civilians were in a "state of fear" after drones appeared above them, a witness told AFP.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in the attacks, including in the Khartoum North mosque which worshippers had recently emptied after dawn prayers.

Across the country, aid workers estimate more than 200,000 people have been killed in what the UN calls a "war of atrocities". The conflict has also caused the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.

- Retaliatory strike -

The RSF has seemed to be on the back foot since the army last month pushed them off a key highway connecting Khartoum to El-Obeid, the southern Kordofan region's largest city, which they had tried to seize for months.

Daglo in the aftermath said he would "unleash" his fighters -- already accused of war crimes including genocide -- and his fighters have since repeatedly threatened a large-scale retaliatory attack.

Burhan and Daglo, allies until they fell out in a bitter power struggle, have spent most of the war in a relative stalemate, unwilling to hold negotiations while vying for a decisive battlefield advantage.

The RSF last year consolidated its hold on the vast western region of Darfur, and has since pushed to seize territory in Kordofan and along the southeastern Ethiopian border.

The army holds the country's center, north and east, and has tried to project an image of a return to normalcy in areas it controls.

But in Khartoum, 2.3 million people have returned from displacement, only to find vast amounts of uncleared war remnants, dilapidated infrastructure and limited electricity and water.

According to an eyewitness, Wednesday's drone attack "caused an explosion in an electricity transformer" in Khartoum North, where over half a million people already live without power.

Even parts of the city that have had more reliable services than Khartoum North have been without power for weeks.

Arab World

US Says New Round of Lebanon-Israel Talks in Rome in September

A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Chaqra shows destruction in the border village of Houla, and behind it is what is known as the “Abbad Israeli outpost” on August 11, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Chaqra shows destruction in the border village of Houla, and behind it is what is known as the “Abbad Israeli outpost” on August 11, 2026. (AFP)
TT
TT

US Says New Round of Lebanon-Israel Talks in Rome in September

A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Chaqra shows destruction in the border village of Houla, and behind it is what is known as the “Abbad Israeli outpost” on August 11, 2026. (AFP)
A photograph taken from the southern Lebanese village of Chaqra shows destruction in the border village of Houla, and behind it is what is known as the “Abbad Israeli outpost” on August 11, 2026. (AFP)

The United States will sponsor a new round of talks between Lebanon and Israel in early September in Rome, a State Department official announced Tuesday.

"The political track will reconvene in Rome in early September, and conversations will continue in Beirut, Jerusalem, and Washington in the interim," the official said on condition of anonymity. "We feel good about the trajectory."

The United States has been sponsoring talks between Lebanon and Israel aimed at putting an end to hostilities between them, with Beirut seeking Israel's phased withdrawal from the south.

In June, Lebanon and Israel agreed to a framework deal that involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon's south and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in test areas known as "pilot zones."

Talks last week in Rome were the seventh round since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.

The US official speaking Tuesday gave an update on the last round of talks in Rome.

"The framework is being implemented, the first zones are live, and the working groups have aligned their language, maps, and procedures," the official said.

Hezbollah has repeatedly rejected the direct talks between Lebanon and Israel and refuses to surrender its weapons.

Violence in Lebanon has decreased since the Lebanon-Israel deal and the signing in June of a preliminary US-Iran agreement on the Middle East war.

But Lebanon has continued to report intermittent Israeli strikes and shelling, as well as detonations and demolitions in southern villages.

At the next round of technical talks, the US official said: "Lebanon will present detailed roadmaps for securing new areas as implementation proceeds in the current zones."

Arab World

Pakistan Condemns Houthi Strike That Killed 3 of Its Citizens

Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar speaks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during their meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Nov. 18, 2025. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar speaks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during their meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Nov. 18, 2025. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP, File)
TT
TT

Pakistan Condemns Houthi Strike That Killed 3 of Its Citizens

Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar speaks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during their meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Nov. 18, 2025. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar speaks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during their meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Moscow, Russia, Nov. 18, 2025. (Shamil Zhumatov/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Pakistan denounced on Wednesday an attack by Houthi militants in Yemen on a vessel in the Red Sea in which three of its citizens were killed.

Yemen's coastguard said Tuesday a strike by the Iran-backed militants on a vessel left six dead, including Pakistanis and an Indonesian citizen.

There has been no official comment from the Houthis about the incident.

"I have learnt with deep concern about the unfortunate incident," Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar posted on X, confirming three Pakistanis had been killed and one wounded in the attack.

"Pakistan strongly condemns the Houthi attack on a non-combatant commercial vessel," Dar added.

"We are in contact with the relevant Saudi authorities, as well as the internationally recognized Government of Yemen, to ascertain further details of the incident and the circumstances surrounding it," Dar said.

Pakistan's interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, is currently in Iran to discuss regional security, Pakistan's foreign office said on Wednesday.