عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Russia to Open Consular Section Offices in Jerusalem

View of the Old City of Jerusalem (Reuters)
View of the Old City of Jerusalem (Reuters)
TT
TT

Russia to Open Consular Section Offices in Jerusalem

View of the Old City of Jerusalem (Reuters)
View of the Old City of Jerusalem (Reuters)

Russia's embassy in Tel Aviv said on Friday it will open offices in Jerusalem to serve its consular section as part of an agreement with the city’s municipality and the Israeli foreign ministry.

Israel described the move as “historic.”

The Russian embassy said on its website that an agreement on clarifying the area of Russian land was signed on May 18 between the Russian Federation and the Jerusalem Municipality, with the assistance of the Russian Embassy and the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

“We proceed from the fact that the mentioned land property will be used, in particular, for the construction of a complex of buildings and structures for the needs of the consular department of the Russian Embassy in Israel,” the diplomatic mission stated.

The statement added that the opening of a branch office in Jerusalem “fully serves the interests of further strengthening friendly multifaceted relations between Russia and Israel, as well as goes in line with our country's unchanging course towards a fair Middle East settlement.”

The land plot is one of about 100 Russian properties in Israel that are the subject of a dispute between both sides. The majority of the properties were owned by Russia during the era of the Tsars, 100 to 150 years ago.

The land plot is located at the intersection of King George V and Ma'alot Streets in West Jerusalem. It was acquired by the Russian side in 1885 and is mentioned under number 50 in the "Inventory of all Russian real estate in Palestine and Syria, with the exception of private ownership" dated June 19, 1895, which was prepared by the administrator of the Consulate General of the Russian Empire in Jerusalem Alexander Yakovlev.

Israeli institutions were trying to ignore these historical archival documents and to postpone Russia’s request to clarify the land. The issue almost turned into a diplomatic crisis.

However, PM Benjamin Netanyahu's government hastened to settle the dispute, announcing that it would gradually liberate Russian lands, through detailed talks with Russia on each individual property. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs formed a team headed by the head of its Euro-Asia department, Yuval Fuchs. For this task, the Russians appointed Sergei Makarov, Assistant to Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.

Meanwhile, Israel sought political gains from this deal. It requested that Moscow establish on this land a building directly affiliated with the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv, to join seven countries with embassies in Jerusalem, including the US, Guatemala, Honduras, and Kosovo.

The Russians agreed to Israel’s request on the basis that the new headquarters to be built is a consular branch of the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv. Under the agreement, construction will be completed within five years.

Therefore, the diplomatic compound will provide consular services to the Israelis holding Russian nationality and to Russian nationals residing in Jerusalem and its environs, and will also house a diplomatic office, similar to the offices established in West Jerusalem by Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

Moscow had previously announced that it considers West Jerusalem to be Israel's capital.

Tel Aviv considers Russia’s approval to establish a consulate branch in west Jerusalem as further recognizing the Israeli presence in Jerusalem.

 

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Three Dead After Flooding Hits Northwest Syria

A child watches as civil defense teams open flooded roads in Idlib. (SANA)
A child watches as civil defense teams open flooded roads in Idlib. (SANA)
TT
TT

Three Dead After Flooding Hits Northwest Syria

A child watches as civil defense teams open flooded roads in Idlib. (SANA)
A child watches as civil defense teams open flooded roads in Idlib. (SANA)

Two children and a Syrian Red Crescent volunteer have died as a result of flooding in the country's northwest, state media said on Sunday.

The heavy rains in Syria's Idlib region and the coastal province of Latakia have also wreaked havoc in displacement camps, according to authorities, who have launched rescue operations and set up shelters in the areas.

State news agency SANA reported "the death of a Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteer and the injury of four others as they carried out their humanitarian duties" in Latakia province.

The Syrian Red Crescent said in a statement that the "a mission vehicle veered into a valley", killing a female volunteer and injuring four others, as they went to rescue people stranded by flash floods.

"A fifth volunteer was injured while attempting to rescue a child trapped by the floodwaters," it added.

SANA said two children died on Saturday "due to heavy flooding that swept through the Ain Issa area" in the north of Latakia province.

Authorities said Sunday they were working to clear roads in displacement camps in flooded parts of Idlib province.

The emergencies and disaster management ministry said 14 displacement camps in part of Idlib province were affected, with tents swamped, belongings swept away and around 300 families directly impacted.

Around seven million people remain internally displaced in Syria, according to the United Nations refugee agency, some 1.4 million of them living in camps and sites in the country's northwest and northeast.

The December 2024 ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad after more than 13 years of civil war revived hopes for many to return home, but the destruction of housing and a lack of basic infrastructure in heavily damaged areas has been a major barrier.

Arab World

Hamas’s Meshal Rejects Disarmament or 'Foreign Rule'

Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
TT
TT

Hamas’s Meshal Rejects Disarmament or 'Foreign Rule'

Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

A senior Hamas leader said Sunday that the Palestinian movement would not surrender its weapons nor accept foreign intervention in Gaza, pushing back against US and Israeli demands.

"Criminalizing the resistance, its weapons, and those who carried it out is something we should not accept," Khaled Meshal said at a conference in Doha.

"As long as there is occupation, there is resistance. Resistance is a right of peoples under occupation ... something nations take pride in," said Meshal, who previously headed the group.

A US-brokered ceasefire in Gaza is in its second phase, which foresees that demilitarization of the territory -- including the disarmament of Hamas -- along with a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Hamas has repeatedly said that disarmament is a red line, although it has indicated it could consider handing over its weapons to a future Palestinian governing authority.

Israeli officials say that Hamas still has around 20,000 fighters and about 60,000 Kalashnikovs in Gaza.

A Palestinian technocratic committee has been set up with a goal of taking over the day-to-day governance in the battered Gaza Strip, but it remains unclear whether, or how, it will address the issue of demilitarization.

The committee operates under the so-called "Board of Peace," an initiative launched by US President Donald Trump.

Originally conceived to oversee the Gaza truce and post-war reconstruction, the board's mandate has since expanded, prompting concerns among critics that it could evolve into a rival to the United Nations.

Trump unveiled the board at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos last month, where leaders and officials from nearly two dozen countries joined him in signing its founding charter.

Alongside the Board of Peace, Trump also created a Gaza Executive Board - an advisory panel to the Palestinian technocratic committee - comprising international figures including US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, as well as former British prime minister Tony Blair.

On Sunday, Meshal urged the Board of Peace to adopt what he called a "balanced approach" that would allow for Gaza's reconstruction and the flow of aid to its roughly 2.2 million residents, while warning that Hamas would "not accept foreign rule" over Palestinian territory.

"We adhere to our national principles and reject the logic of guardianship, external intervention, or the return of a mandate in any form," Meshal said.
"Palestinians are to govern Palestinians. Gaza belongs to the people of Gaza and to Palestine. We will not accept foreign rule," he added.

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
TT
TT

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.