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Egyptian, Lebanese FMs Hold Talks on Sidelines of Arab Ministerial Meeting

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry meets with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib in Kuwait on Sunday. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry meets with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib in Kuwait on Sunday. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
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Egyptian, Lebanese FMs Hold Talks on Sidelines of Arab Ministerial Meeting

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry meets with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib in Kuwait on Sunday. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry meets with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib in Kuwait on Sunday. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed on Sunday with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib bilateral relations and ways to bolster Egyptian and Arab efforts to support Lebanon.

During talks held on the sidelines of the consultative meeting of the Arab foreign ministers, currently hosted by Kuwait, the two officials also tackled the latest Lebanese political developments.

Shoukry stressed that Egypt's participation in the meeting aims at maintaining consultations with Arab countries to confront common challenges.

On Saturday, Shoukry met with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah for talks on relations between their countries.

Following the meeting, the Egyptian FM underscored the strong relations that unite their countries and peoples, and the importance of continuing to work on developing areas of bilateral cooperation in line with the deeply-rooted relations and the directives of the two countries’ leaderships.

Kuwait is current chair of the 156th session of the League Council at the level of Foreign Ministers.

Shoukry expressed Egypt’s hope to host this year the 13th session of the Egyptian-Kuwaiti Joint Ministerial Committee, which is the most comprehensive framework for promoting the various aspects of relations between the two countries, said the FM’s spokesperson, Ahmed Hafez.

Shoukry emphasized Egypt’s firm rejection of any interference in the affairs of Arab countries.

For his part, the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister stressed his country’s appreciation of Egypt’s role as a mainstay of security and stability in the region.

He also expressed Kuwait’s support for the tangible developmental boom that Egypt is witnessing, and for all that preserves Egypt’s security and stability, and achieves the interests of both countries and their aspiration towards further prosperity and development.

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Arab World

Residents of Syria's Quneitra are Frustrated by Lack of Action to Halt Israeli Advance

Israeli military vehicles in the Syrian city of Quneitra, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 13 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli military vehicles in the Syrian city of Quneitra, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 13 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Residents of Syria's Quneitra are Frustrated by Lack of Action to Halt Israeli Advance

Israeli military vehicles in the Syrian city of Quneitra, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 13 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli military vehicles in the Syrian city of Quneitra, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 13 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

A main road in the provincial capital of Quneitra in southern Syria was blocked with mounds of dirt, fallen palm trees and a metal pole that appeared to have once been a traffic light. On the other side of the barriers, an Israeli tank could be seen maneuvering in the middle of the street.
Israeli forces entered the area — which lies in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights that was established by a 1974 ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel — soon after the fall of President Bashar Assad last month in the country's 13-year civil war.
The Israeli military has also made incursions into Syrian territory outside of the buffer zone, sparking protests by local residents. They said the Israeli forces had demolished homes and prevented farmers from going to their fields in some areas. On at least two occasions, Israeli troops reportedly opened fire on protesters who approached them.
Residents of Quneitra, a seemingly serene bucolic expanse of small villages and olive groves, said they are frustrated, both by the Israeli advances and by the lack of action from Syria’s new authorities and the international community.
Rinata Fastas said that Israeli forces had raided the local government buildings but had not so far entered residential neighborhoods. Her house lies just inside of the newly blocked-off area in the provincial capital formerly called Baath City, after Assad's former ruling party, and now renamed Salam City.
She said she is afraid Israeli troops may advance farther or try to permanently occupy the area they have already taken. Israel still controls the Golan Heights that it captured from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed. The international community, with the exception of the US, regards it as occupied.
Fastas said she understands that Syria, which is now trying to build its national institutions and army from scratch, is no position to militarily confront Israel.
“But why is no one in the new Syrian state coming out and talking about the violations that are happening in Quneitra province and against the rights of its people?” she asked.
The United Nations has accused Israel of violating the 1974 ceasefire agreement by entering the buffer zone.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said troops will stay on "until another arrangement is found that will ensure Israel’s security.” He was speaking from the snowy peak of Mount Hermon, Syria’s tallest mountain known as Jabal al Sheikh in Arabic, which has now been captured by Israeli forces.
An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter, said the military will remain in the area it has taken until it is satisfied that the new Syrian authorities do not pose a danger to Israel.
The new Syrian government has lodged a complaint with the UN Security Council about Israeli airstrikes and advances into Syrian territory.
The country’s new de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has also publicly said Syria is not seeking a military conflict with Israel and will not pose a threat to its neighbors or to the West.
In the meantime, residents of Quneitra have largely been left to fend for themselves.
In the village of Rafid, inside the buffer zone, locals said the Israeli military had demolished two civilian houses and a grove of trees as well as a former Syrian army outpost.
Mayor Omar Mahmoud Ismail said when the Israeli forces entered the village, an Israeli officer greeted him and told him, “I am your friend.”
“I told him, ‘You are not my friend, and if you were, you wouldn’t enter like this,’" Ismail said.
Locals who organized a protest were met with Israeli fire
In Dawaya, a village outside the buffer zone, 18-year-old Abdelrahman Khaled al-Aqqa was lying on a mattress in his family home Sunday, still recovering after being shot in both legs. Al-Aqqa said he joined about 100 people from the area on Dec. 25 in protest against the Israeli incursion, chanting “Syria is free, Israel get out!”
“We didn’t have any weapons, we were just there in the clothes we were wearing,” he said. “But when we got close to them, they started shooting at us.”
Six protesters were wounded, according to residents and media reports. Another man was injured on Dec. 20 in a similar incident in the village of Maariyah. The Israeli army said at the time that it had fired because the man was quickly approaching and ignored calls to stop.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Dec. 25 incident.
Adel Subhi al-Ali, a local Sunni religious official, sat with his 21-year-old son, Moutasem, who was recovering after being shot in the stomach in the Dec. 25 protest. He was driven first to a local hospital that did not have the capacity to treat him, and then to Damascus where he underwent surgery.
When he saw the Israeli tanks moving in, “We felt that an occupation is occupying our land. So we had to defend it, even though we didn’t have weapons, ... It is impossible for them to settle here,” al-Ali said.
Since the day of the protest, the Israeli army has not returned to the area, he said.
Al-Ali called for the international community to “pressure Israel to return to what was agreed upon with the former regime,” referring to the 1974 ceasefire agreement, and to return the Golan Heights to Syria.
But he acknowledged that Syria has little leverage.
“We are starting from zero, we need to build a state,” al-Ali said, echoing Syria's new leaders. “We are not ready as a country now to open wars with another country."