Kuwait Calls on International Community to Ensure Syria’s Security, Stability

Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait, and Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa during an official meeting held on Sunday (KUNA). 
Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait, and Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa during an official meeting held on Sunday (KUNA). 
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Kuwait Calls on International Community to Ensure Syria’s Security, Stability

Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait, and Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa during an official meeting held on Sunday (KUNA). 
Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait, and Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa during an official meeting held on Sunday (KUNA). 

Kuwait reaffirmed on Sunday its commitment to bolstering international efforts to guarantee Syria’s security and stability, while preserving its sovereignty and territorial integrity. This came during an official round of talks between Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait, and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The discussions were also attended by Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and Minister of the Amiri Diwan Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah.

Kuwait marks the Syrian president’s seventh stop in the Arab world and ninth internationally since taking office in January 2025, following the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad on December 8, 2024.

According to Minister Mohammad Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, the talks highlighted “the deep-rooted fraternal ties between the two countries and peoples, and ways to support and enhance them in all fields.”

The two sides reviewed the situation in Syria and reaffirmed the importance of bolstering international efforts to ensure the country’s security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. The discussions also covered key regional and international developments, and ways to support unified Arab action.

Additionally, Kuwait’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Fahd Yousef Saud Al-Sabah, along with Foreign Minister Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya, held extended talks with Al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani to explore mechanisms for enhancing cooperation and coordination between Kuwait and Syria.

During his visit, Al-Sharaa also met with several Kuwaiti business leaders to discuss development projects and investment opportunities in Syria. He also held a meeting with members of the Syrian expatriate community in Kuwait.

Damascus is seeking to strengthen ties with Arab and Western leaders in the aftermath of Assad’s fall, hoping that the lifting of economic sanctions and an influx of Gulf aid and investments will help rebuild the war-torn nation.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister announced that the Kingdom, in coordination with Qatar, would provide financial support for Syrian state employees. A joint statement from Saudi Arabia and Qatar noted that this financial assistance would be distributed over three months.

This initiative followed a previous contribution by both countries in April, which helped Syria pay off around $15 million in arrears owed to the World Bank.

The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development has extended 28 loans to Syria, totaling 333 million Kuwaiti dinars (approximately $1.085 billion). Kuwait also hosts a large Syrian community estimated at around 200,000 people.

 

 

 

 



Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Teen in West Bank

Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Teen in West Bank
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Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Teen in West Bank

Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Teen in West Bank

Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian hurling a rock at them in the occupied West Bank, the military said on Friday, and the Palestinian health ministry said the person killed was a 14-year-old boy.

There was no further comment from Palestinian officials about the fatal incident in the village of ⁠Al-Mughayyir. Official Palestinian news agency WAFA said the teen was killed during an Israeli military raid that led to confrontations, Reuters reported.

The Israeli military said its forces were called to the area after ⁠receiving reports that Palestinians were throwing stones at Israelis and blocking a road with burning tires.

The soldiers fired warning shots in an attempt to repel a person who was running at them with a rock, the military said, and then shot and killed him to eliminate the ⁠danger.

Violence has surged over the past year in the West Bank. Attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians have risen sharply, while the military has tightened movement restrictions and carried out sweeping raids in several cities.

Palestinians have also carried out attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, some of them deadly.


Israeli Strikes in South Lebanon Kill Two

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Sohmor, in southern Lebanon on January 15, 2026. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Sohmor, in southern Lebanon on January 15, 2026. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
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Israeli Strikes in South Lebanon Kill Two

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Sohmor, in southern Lebanon on January 15, 2026. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the village of Sohmor, in southern Lebanon on January 15, 2026. (Photo by Rabih DAHER / AFP)

An Israeli strike on south Lebanon killed one person on Friday, the health ministry in Beirut said a day after raids that Israel said had targeted Hezbollah.

Israel has kept up regular strikes in Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, usually saying it is targeting members of the group or its infrastructure.

In a statement, the health ministry said an "Israeli enemy strike" on a vehicle in Mansuri in south Lebanon killed one person.

According to AFP, it also said that a strike on Mayfadun in south Lebanon the previous night killed one person.

Israel said Thursday's attack killed a Hezbollah member it alleged "took part in attempts to reestablish Hezbollah's infrastructure in the Zawtar al-Sharqiyah area.”

The attacks come a week after Lebanon's military said it had completed disarming Hezbollah south of the Litani River, the first phase of a nationwide plan, although Israel has called those efforts insufficient.

On Thursday, Israel carried out several strikes against eastern Lebanon's Bekaa region, north of the Litani, after issuing warnings to evacuate.

United Nations peacekeepers, deployed in the south to separate Lebanon from Israel, said on Friday that an Israeli drone "dropped a grenade" on its troops.

On Monday, the peacekeeping force said an Israeli tank fired near its troops, and warned that such incidents were becoming "disturbingly common".


Syria's Leader Sharaa in Berlin on Tuesday, Says German Presidency

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
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Syria's Leader Sharaa in Berlin on Tuesday, Says German Presidency

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa will be visiting Berlin next Tuesday and meet his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German presidency said.

The office of Chancellor Friedrich Merz has yet to announce whether they would also hold talks during the visit, which comes at a time when the German government is seeking to step up repatriations of Syrians to their homeland.