Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit - File/AFP
The Arab League welcomed on Saturday the announcement that Saudi Arabia and Iran had agreed to restore diplomatic relations.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the agreement would end the state of tension between the two countries that lasted for more than seven years.
He also said the agreement could mark a new positive phase in bilateral relations, which may lead to achieving a level of stability in the region.
The Sec-Gen further hailed "the efforts exerted by China, Iraq and the Sultanate of Oman in this regard."
A tripartite statement issued by Saudi Arabia, Iran, and China said Riyadh and Tehran agreed to reopen their embassies and restore representation within a period of two months. They also agreed to activate the security cooperation agreement between them.
Alarm Phone: 12 Migrants Missing Since Leaving Algerian Coast a Week Agohttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5292633-alarm-phone-12-migrants-missing-leaving-algerian-coast-week-ago
Alarm Phone: 12 Migrants Missing Since Leaving Algerian Coast a Week Ago
Migrants rescued after their boat, which departed from the coast of Libya towards Europe, sank (AP file photo)
Twelve migrants are missing since last week in the western Mediterranean, according to Alarm Phone, a Tunisian platform specialized in tracking migrants in distress at sea.
“A boat with 12 people missing in western Mediterranean.
The group left Tipaza, in Algeria on June 29. We have had no news of them since their departure. We hope they will be found and brought to safety!” Alarm Phone wrote on its X account.
Relatives of one of the 12 migrants had notified the platform about the boat missing and said they lost contact with the migrants since their departure a week ago.
Spain’s Maritime Safety and Rescue Society, Salvamento Maritimo, announced it had not intercepted the boat or the migrants.
Using the Mediterranean route to reach Europe is considered the deadliest for migrants, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
As the summer months offer more stable weather conditions, more migrant boats venture out to reach European shores.
According to data from the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, over 1,410 people are feared dead or missing in the Mediterranean shipwrecks this year, including 225 migrants using the Western Mediterranean route.
Last week, Pope Leo XIV visited Italy's Lampedusa island, a major port of call for migrants risking the perilous crossing from Africa, in a stark message to US and EU leaders.
Leo's visit also comes just two weeks after the European Union's approval of new migrant rules allowing much broader detention powers and the creation of deportation centers outside the bloc.
Lampedusa sits 145 kilometers off the coast of Tunisia, and is famous for showing compassion to thousands of migrants -- and taking in their dead.
Majly to Asharq Al-Awsat: Armed Forces Ready for Any Houthi Escalation, to Protect Yemenhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5292624-majly-asharq-al-awsat-armed-forces-ready-any-houthi-escalation-protect-yemen
Majly to Asharq Al-Awsat: Armed Forces Ready for Any Houthi Escalation, to Protect Yemen
Defense Minister Lieutenant General Tahir Al-Aqili meets forces deployed in Shabwa. (Shabwa press office)
Yemen Armed Forces Spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdu Majly stressed that the forces are ready to handle ay field development or military escalation by the Iran-backed Houthis.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he condemned the “direct Iranian meddling” in Yemen, it was a threat to regional and international security and undermine efforts to reach a political settlement to end the war.
Iran’s operation of a direct Mahan Air flight from Houthi-held Sanaa airport is a “flagrant violation of the Yemeni republic’s sovereignty” and undermining of international laws and United Nations Security Council resolutions, he added.
He also deemed it a “dangerous threat to Yemeni and regional security.”
Majly said the flight carried Iranian “experts” and members of its Revolutionary Guards Corpse (IRGC). They arrived in Yemen to run military operations alongside the Houthis.
This is evidence that Tehran is using the militants as “a tool to implement its expansionist agenda in the region and undermine the sovereignty of the Yemeni state,” he stressed.
Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council slammed the flight, saying it demonstrates the close relations between the Houthis and Iran.
It underscores the Houthis’ continued use of state institutions in areas under their control to serve the Iranian agenda, it went on to say.
It is an act of “defiance” against Security Council resolutions and international law, it added, saying it tests the international community’s commitment to protecting Yemen’s sovereignty.
Meanwhile, a statement by the Saudi-led Arab coalition said the latest developments not only reflect internal Yemeni conflicts, but they are also tied to regional security.
Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki vowed that the coalition will “respond with unprecedented force” to any attack against Saudi Arabia or Yemen.
Majly told Asharq Al-Awsat that Iran’s continued support to the Houthis reveals how it “is using the group to serve its agendas in defiance of the will of the Yemeni people and regional and international efforts to end the war and restore peace.”
Yemen Armed Forces Spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdu Majly. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Through direct Iranian support, the Houthis “are undermining all political initiatives and rejecting peace, starting with Saudi-led efforts in cooperation with brothers and international partners.”
He therefore held the Houthis responsible for the continued deterioration in the humanitarian and economic situation in Yemen.
The armed forces, out of their constitutional and legal responsibilities, will maintain their protection of the Yemeni republic, defend its skies and territories, and repel any threat to its legitimate institutions, he vowed.
On the ground, Majalli said the Houthis were amassing forces on several fronts, especially Hodeidah and the west coast.
On Saturday, they struck a position held by government forces in Hays, leaving fatalities and injuries in their ranks.
Majly accused the Houthis of seeking to threaten navigation in the Red Sea and other marine waterways, warning that such practices harm the Yemeni state and the interests of the Yemeni people.
The armed forces are on high combat readiness and their morale is firm, he stressed.
They are determined to liberate territories, reclaim state institutions and consolidate the legitimate authority, he said.
Commenting on the recent “hostile” Houthi statements against Saudi Arabia, Majly said they were aimed at “diverting attention away from the violations the militants are committing against the Yemeni people and their responsibility in deepening the humanitarian and economic crisis in the country.”
Israeli Strike Kills Two People in Gaza, Medics Sayhttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5292457-israeli-strike-kills-two-people-gaza-medics-say
Palestinians make their way past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive as displaced people shelter in tents, in Gaza City, July 4, 2026. (Reuters)
TT
TT
Israeli Strike Kills Two People in Gaza, Medics Say
Palestinians make their way past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive as displaced people shelter in tents, in Gaza City, July 4, 2026. (Reuters)
An Israeli airstrike killed at least two Palestinians in Gaza City on Sunday, health officials said.
Medics said the two people were killed when an airstrike hit a group of people at the Omar Al-Mokhtar road in the heart of the city, north of the enclave. Several others were wounded, they added.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident.
Israel has repeatedly carried out strikes on Gaza since a US-mediated ceasefire with Hamas was reached in October last year, saying that it is targeting fighters threatening its soldiers in Gaza or those who took part in that 2023 attack.
Hamas has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire, while Nikolay Mladenov, the US President Donald Trump-appointed Board of Peace envoy to Gaza, has said both parties have violated the agreement.
Israel and Hamas are deadlocked in indirect talks over implementing the second phase of the ceasefire deal, which includes the group's disarmament and Israeli army withdrawals.
Since the ceasefire took effect eight months ago, over 1,060 Palestinians, many of them civilians, and four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza, according to figures from each side. Hamas does not disclose its fatality figures.
لم تشترك بعد
انشئ حساباً خاصاً بك لتحصل على أخبار مخصصة لك ولتتمتع بخاصية حفظ المقالات وتتلقى نشراتنا البريدية المتنوعة
