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Arab League Warns against Israeli Invasion of Rafah, Calls for Ceasefire in Gaza

Banners celebrating the advent of Ramadan are seen at a shelter in Rafah. (AP)
Banners celebrating the advent of Ramadan are seen at a shelter in Rafah. (AP)
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Arab League Warns against Israeli Invasion of Rafah, Calls for Ceasefire in Gaza

Banners celebrating the advent of Ramadan are seen at a shelter in Rafah. (AP)
Banners celebrating the advent of Ramadan are seen at a shelter in Rafah. (AP)

The Arab League Council warned on Wednesday of the catastrophic consequences of “Israeli aggressive threats to invade and destroy the Palestinian city of Rafah, which is housing more than 1.5 million displaced citizens.”

During an extraordinary meeting in Cairo to discuss the war on Gaza, the council condemned the flow of weapons to Israel and Israel’s “continued genocide against the Palestinians.”

In a statement, the council denounced Israel’s refusal to comply with United Nations Security Council resolution 2728, which demands an immediate ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, and an end to the Israeli crimes in the West Bank aimed at the systematic destruction of refugee camps.

The council emphasized “the necessity of implementing the decision of the Joint Arab Islamic Summit in Riyadh to break the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip, to allow the immediate access of Arab, Islamic, and international humanitarian aid convoys by land, sea, and air into the entire Strip, and to call on relevant international organizations to participate in breaking the siege.”

It expressed support for the Qatari-Egyptian effort to reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, praising Algeria’s efforts at the Security Council and other international moves aimed at resolving the conflict in the region, as well as the growing demands by the European Union countries to recognize the State of Palestine.

Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit underlined “the need to continue diplomatic work in order to stop the war in Gaza and ensure that Israel is held accountable for its crimes.”

He also called for maintaining “the struggle in all diplomatic arenas and global forums in the hopes of establishing an independent Palestine.”

Permanent Representative of Palestine to the League of Arab States Mohannad Al-Aklouk underlined his country’s support for Arab and international efforts aimed at resolving the conflict in the region according to international resolutions, and for the State of Palestine to obtain full membership in the United Nations.

He urged Arab countries, parliaments, civil society organizations, trade unions and federations concerned with human rights and international law to take urgent action before international judiciary to prosecute Israeli officials for their brutal crimes against Palestinian civilians, children and women.

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Arab World

Israeli Minister Calls for West Bank War, Annexation of Lebanon, Gaza Areas

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reviews the 'E1' settlement map in the West Bank (Archival - AFP)
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reviews the 'E1' settlement map in the West Bank (Archival - AFP)
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Israeli Minister Calls for West Bank War, Annexation of Lebanon, Gaza Areas

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reviews the 'E1' settlement map in the West Bank (Archival - AFP)
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reviews the 'E1' settlement map in the West Bank (Archival - AFP)

Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Sunday for the annexation of areas of south Lebanon and the Gaza Strip currently under Israeli military control and for Israeli forces to "go to war" against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, reported AFP.

"I would like us to annex at least as far as the Yellow Line in Gaza (which demarcates the areas under Hamas and Israeli control) and as far as the Litani River in Lebanon... because if a war ends along the same lines where it began, what will deter the enemy from going to war again," Smotrich said in a podcast for Israeli news site Ynet.

"I think we need to go to war in Judea and Samaria, to dismantle the Palestinian Authority that supports terror," he added, using the biblical term for the West Bank.

Smotrich is the leader of a far-right party that advocates the annexation of the entire West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.

The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip following Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, which are illegal under international law, in the Palestinian territory among some three million Palestinians.

Arab World

Libya Oil Pipeline Reopens after Being Blocked by Armed Group

Sharara oil field (Libyan News Agency)
Sharara oil field (Libyan News Agency)
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Libya Oil Pipeline Reopens after Being Blocked by Armed Group

Sharara oil field (Libyan News Agency)
Sharara oil field (Libyan News Agency)

Libya's national oil firm announced Saturday that an oil pipeline blocked for several days by an armed group had reopened, ending a disruption it said had cost $95 million.

The pipeline links the Al-Sharara oilfield in southwest Libya to the Zawiya export terminal on the Mediterranean coast, said AFP.

The National Oil Corporation (NOC) said in a statement that valve number seven had been reopened, allowing crude pumping through the pipeline to resume.

The pipeline is operated by Akakus, a joint venture between the NOC, Spain's Repsol, France's TotalEnergies, Austria's OMV and Norway's Equinor.

An armed group shut the valve on Monday, causing a sharp drop in production, according to the NOC. It gave no details about those responsible or their demands.

Blockades of oil and gas facilities have been common in Libya in recent years, driven by social grievances, security threats or political disputes.

Arab World

Egyptian Source Denies Cairo Involvement in Ethiopia Unrest

Gunmen in Tigray hand over light weapons to Ethiopian defense forces earlier (Ethiopian News Agency)
Gunmen in Tigray hand over light weapons to Ethiopian defense forces earlier (Ethiopian News Agency)
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Egyptian Source Denies Cairo Involvement in Ethiopia Unrest

Gunmen in Tigray hand over light weapons to Ethiopian defense forces earlier (Ethiopian News Agency)
Gunmen in Tigray hand over light weapons to Ethiopian defense forces earlier (Ethiopian News Agency)

An informed Egyptian source on Saturday rejected allegations linking Cairo to renewed unrest in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region where fighting resumed between Tigrayan forces and the federal government, nearly four years after a peace deal ended a two-year war.

Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, chief of general staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, accused foreign powers of supporting a newly formed armed alliance seeking to destabilize Ethiopia.

“The Tigray front and the alliance cannot achieve anything on their own unless they are pushed, supported and supplied by Sudan, Egypt and other forces,” Jula said in remarks carried by Ethiopian media Friday.

He also accused Eritrea of acting as an intermediary between foreign powers and armed groups inside Ethiopia.

Tigrayan forces seized three airports in the region and launched attacks in neighboring Afar and Amhara in recent days, marking the most serious escalation since the devastating 2020-2022 war.

The Egyptian source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Ethiopia’s insinuations were “allegations that do not merit a response,” adding that Cairo “has nothing to do with such polemics.”

The source urged Ethiopian authorities to “address their own internal crises and problems instead of trying to blame their domestic failures on external parties.”

The Tigray crisis was a longstanding internal issue, the source added, stressing that Egypt maintains “a consistent and strict policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.”

Egyptian strategic and military expert Samir Ragheb similarly told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Ethiopian military chief’s remarks amounted to assumptions intended to shift responsibility for Addis Ababa’s internal problems onto outside actors.

Ragheb argued that Ethiopia’s reference to outside support was based largely on geography, given Tigray’s northern borders with Sudan and Eritrea.

“If Egypt had sought to intervene in Ethiopia to exert pressure over other issues, it would have done so during the 2020 fighting, when the conflict was at its height and before construction phases of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam had been completed,” he said.

Ragheb described the fighting as a longstanding domestic struggle over power and resources, stemming from disputes over governance and efforts to weaken Ethiopia’s federal system.

He also urged that the Tigray conflict be kept separate from the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, saying there was no operational or strategic link between fighting in Tigray and the dam.

Ragheb argued that Addis Ababa’s accusations were intended to deflect attention from what he described as failures to fulfill commitments under the 2022 Pretoria peace agreement. He stressed that Cairo does not support armed factions or movements against African states.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front dominated Ethiopia’s ruling coalition from 1991 until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018 and marginalized the group, contributing to tensions that erupted into war in 2020.

The Pretoria agreement ended that conflict in 2022, but tensions and intermittent clashes subsequently returned before escalating sharply this month.