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Iraq Begins Setting Up Electricity Links with Saudi Arabia

A picture shows a partial view of the Dhi Qar Combined Cycle Power Plant near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on January 20, 2022. [ASAAD NIAZI/AFP via Getty Images]
A picture shows a partial view of the Dhi Qar Combined Cycle Power Plant near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on January 20, 2022. [ASAAD NIAZI/AFP via Getty Images]
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Iraq Begins Setting Up Electricity Links with Saudi Arabia

A picture shows a partial view of the Dhi Qar Combined Cycle Power Plant near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on January 20, 2022. [ASAAD NIAZI/AFP via Getty Images]
A picture shows a partial view of the Dhi Qar Combined Cycle Power Plant near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on January 20, 2022. [ASAAD NIAZI/AFP via Getty Images]

Iraq's Electricity Ministry has begun establishing interconnection stations with Saudi Arabia and determining transmission paths.

The ministry announced that 88 percent of the interconnection lines with the Gulf countries have been completed.

Iraq’s efforts come to alleviate the severe shortage of energy supply, which has paralyzed the country’s development and economic movement for several years.

The Iraqi authorities hope to overcome the great shortage of energy supply during the hot summer season, especially after Iran deliberately cut off the supply of gas needed for generation operations in some power stations, under the pretext of Iraq’s failure to pay its dues to Tehran.

On Tuesday, the ministry announced settling Iranian gas dues for 2020 within the next few days, praising the support of the government and Parliament.

“The ministry is establishing and working on the readiness of stations to establish the link between Iraq and Saudi Arabia,” ministry spokesman Ahmed Musa told the Iraqi News Agency.

He added that the main objective of the electrical interconnection projects was the readiness and stability of the electrical network and Iraq’s access to energy markets.

Earlier this week, the Saudi Cabinet approved the MoU with Iraq in the field of electrical interconnection. This came during a session chaired by King Salman bin Abdulaziz, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

In previous remarks, the spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity had announced the percentage of completion of the electrical connection with the Gulf countries and Turkey, and pointed to preparations for solar energy projects within the ministry’s medium-term plans.

He said that the electrical connection with Turkey has been fully completed, while the Gulf connection was 88 percent complete, emphasizing ongoing discussions over the tariff price for the line that connects Al-Faw power station with the Al-Zour station in Kuwait.

With regard to solar energy projects to generate electricity and strengthen the national system, the spokesman said that the ministry was in the process of preparing and organizing procurement, connection and implementation contracts.

He added that the matter needed a set of protocol procedures with the relevant departments, which would ready within the ministry’s medium-term plan.

The Ministry of Electricity talks about similar connections with Jordan in the hope of achieving self-sufficiency. The Ministry of Oil is also seeking large investments in the field of gas with the aim of dispensing with the purchase of Iranian gas, which costs the country’s treasury billions of dollars annually.

According to official figures, successive Iraqi governments since 2003 have spent more than USD70 billion on the electricity sector without being able to address the power shortage. Production rates are still not sufficient to meet the growing local needs.

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Arab World

Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
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Rescue Teams Search for Survivors in Building Collapse that Killed at Least 2 in Northern Lebanon

A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A Lebanese flag is pictured, in the aftermath of a massive explosion, in Beirut's damaged port area, Lebanon August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

At least two people were killed and four rescued from the rubble of a multistory apartment building that collapsed Sunday in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, state media reported.

Rescue teams were continuing to dig through the rubble. It was not immediately clear how many people were in the building when it fell.

The bodies pulled out were of a child and a woman, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Dozens of people crowded around the site of the crater left by the collapsed building, with some shooting in the air.

The building was in the neighborhood of Bab Tabbaneh, one of the poorest areas in Lebanon’s second largest city, where residents have long complained of government neglect and shoddy infrastructure. Building collapses are not uncommon in Tripoli due to poor building standards, according to The AP news.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry announced that those injured in the collapse would receive treatment at the state’s expense.

The national syndicate for property owners in a statement called the collapse the result of “blatant negligence and shortcomings of the Lebanese state toward the safety of citizens and their housing security,” and said it is “not an isolated incident.”

The syndicate called for the government to launch a comprehensive national survey of buildings at risk of collapse.

Arab World

Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
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Israel to Take More West Bank Powers and Relax Settler Land Buys

A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)
A view of Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the West Bank, Sunday, June 18, 2023. (AP)

Israel's security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Citing statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, Israeli news sites Ynet and Haaretz said the measures included scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank, The AP news reported.

They were also reported to include allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offences and damage to archaeological sites.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and tantamount to de-facto annexation.

The Israeli ministers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The new measures come three days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet in Washington with US President Donald Trump.

Trump has ruled out Israeli annexation of the West Bank but his administration has not sought to curb Israel's accelerated settlement building, which the Palestinians say denies them a potential state by eating away at its territory.

Netanyahu, who is facing an election later this year, deems the establishment of any Palestinian state a security threat.

His ruling coalition includes many pro-settler members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.

The United Nations' highest court said in a non-binding advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be ended as soon as possible. Israel disputes this view.

Arab World

Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
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Arab League Condemns Attack on Aid Convoys in Sudan

A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)
A general view shows the opening session of the meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League Headquarters (Reuters)

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit strongly condemned the attack by the Rapid Support Forces on humanitarian aid convoys and relief workers in North Kordofan State, Sudan.

In a statement reported by SPA, secretary-general's spokesperson Jamal Rushdi quoted Aboul Gheit as saying the attack constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law, which prohibits the deliberate targeting of civilians and depriving them of their means of survival.

Aboul Gheit stressed the need to hold those responsible accountable, end impunity, and ensure the full protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and relief facilities in Sudan.