Saudi Arabia Officially Reopens its Embassy in Damascus

Saudi Charge d'Affaires Abdullah al-Haris speaks at the reopening of the embassy in Damascus. (Saudi Arabia's embassy in Damascus)
Saudi Charge d'Affaires Abdullah al-Haris speaks at the reopening of the embassy in Damascus. (Saudi Arabia's embassy in Damascus)
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Saudi Arabia Officially Reopens its Embassy in Damascus

Saudi Charge d'Affaires Abdullah al-Haris speaks at the reopening of the embassy in Damascus. (Saudi Arabia's embassy in Damascus)
Saudi Charge d'Affaires Abdullah al-Haris speaks at the reopening of the embassy in Damascus. (Saudi Arabia's embassy in Damascus)

Saudi Arabia officially reopened on Tuesday its embassy in Damascus after a 12-year closure.

Saudi Charge d'Affaires Abdullah al-Haris made the announcement during the reopening in the Syrian capital. The inauguration ceremony was attended by several senior Syrian government officials and diplomats.

Al-Haris described the reopening as a historic day in relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria.

He underscored the embassy’s keenness on exerting all possible efforts to bolster bilateral relations between Riyadh and Damascus.

Saudi Arabia had named Faisal bin Saud al-Mujfel as its ambassador to Syria months after announcing that it was restoring diplomatic ties with Damascus.

He is the Kingdom’s first ambassador to Syria since 2012.

Riyadh and Damascus announced in October that they were restoring ties, days after Syria’s membership was reinstated in the Arab League. Flights between the two countries were also resumed.



GCC Slams Israel’s Attack on Khan Younis, Calling it a War Crime

Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of Israeli strikes on a makeshift displacement camp in Mawasi Khan Yunis on September 10, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of Israeli strikes on a makeshift displacement camp in Mawasi Khan Yunis on September 10, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)
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GCC Slams Israel’s Attack on Khan Younis, Calling it a War Crime

Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of Israeli strikes on a makeshift displacement camp in Mawasi Khan Yunis on September 10, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)
Palestinians inspect the damage at the site of Israeli strikes on a makeshift displacement camp in Mawasi Khan Yunis on September 10, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)

Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi strongly condemned on Tuesday the “brutal massacre carried out by the Israeli forces against innocent Palestinian refugees in Khan Younis in Gaza.”

He stressed that these continuous and brutal attacks perpetrated by the Israeli forces against unarmed civilians in Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian territories “can only be described as deliberate war crimes, revealing a blatant and systematic criminal approach that reflects an utter disregard for international and humanitarian laws and treaties.”

He added that these acts are “blatant contempt for all legal, ethical, and humanitarian values,” the GCC said in a statement.

Albudaiwi called on the international community “to take immediate and urgent action to put an end to these heinous crimes, take decisive measures to cease fire immediately, subject the Israeli forces to accountability for their crimes against humanity, and hold the Israeli government responsible for its racist and barbaric policies against the defenseless Palestinians.”

An Israeli strike hit a crowded Palestinian tent camp early Tuesday in Gaza, killing at least 19 people and wounding 60, Palestinian officials said.

The overnight strike occurred in Mawasi, a sprawl of crowded tent camps along the Gaza coast that Israel designated as a humanitarian zone for hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians to seek shelter from the nearly year-old Israel-Hamas war.

The Muslim World League (MWL) also strongly condemned “the horrific massacres perpetrated by the Israeli forces against the Palestinian people.”

It denounced the continued targeting of unarmed displaced Palestinians in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, located in a designated “safe zone” in the southern Gaza Strip.

In a statement, MWL Secretary General Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa expressed his deepest concern over the Israeli government's “blatant violation of all international and humanitarian resolutions, laws, and norms.”

“This ongoing humanitarian catastrophe, unfolding before the eyes of the world, is a direct challenge to the international community's calls for the protection of innocent lives,” he added.

Sheikh Al-Issa emphasized that “there is no justification for this barbarism and humanitarian tragedy other than defiance, arrogance, and revenge against innocent lives. This escalation only serves to complicate the Palestinian issue and hinder the pursuit of peace in the region.”

The MWL called upon the international community “to take urgent action to halt these ongoing massacres, confront the systematic killing, and stop the humanitarian catastrophe facing the Palestinian people.”