Author: Steven Sahiounie

Wang Wenbin stressed that countries outside the Middle East region, especially major powers, should be objective and impartial and “jointly play a constructive role to ease tensions” Beijing has always stood on the side of peace and justice with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has told a news briefing. “On the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, China has always stood on the side of peace and justice. We have maintained tight communication with relevant parties,” he said in reply to a request from TASS for a comment on the European Union’s call on China…

State Department officials are worried that uncritical support for “Israel” contributes to regional public perceptions that the United States is biased and dishonest. A “sensitive but unclassified” memo filed to the Dissent Channel in the US Department of State obtained by Politico shows that officials in the State Department are critical of the Biden administration’s policy towards “Israel”: arguing that the US should be willing to be publicly criticize the occupation. Politico interprets the message as being indicative of increasing distrust by many mid-level and low-rank officials in Biden’s policy towards the Middle East. The two main requests put forth by the memo…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Japan for a two-day meeting of G7 foreign ministers set to seek a common line on Gaza, as calls for a ceasefire mount. Blinken, who just completed a whirlwind tour of the Middle East, made no public comment as he arrived in Tokyo. The US has resisted calling for a ceasefire, calling instead for pauses in the fighting and insisting that Israel has the right to respond to the October 7 attack by Hamas. In Turkey on Monday, Blinken said Washington was working “very aggressively” to expand aid for trapped civilians.…

Lana Zaki Nusseibeh also stated that all 15 members of the UN Security Council participate in consultations on the Middle East conflict settlement document that was proposed by the organization’s ten non-permanent member states The United Nations Security Council will gather on November 9 for an open session on the Middle East conflict settlement, Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, the United Arab Emirates Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said. According to her, China, which holds the rotating chair in the UN Security Council this month, intends organizing regularly both formal and informal UNSC sessions regarding the humanitarian catastrophe in…

Capitalising on deep public anger against Israel and its Western backers, Tunisia is mulling laws to stifle NGOs. Tunis, Tunisia – The war on Gaza has granted Tunisia a rare moment of political unity, fuelling public appetite for new legislation that risks fracturing civil society groups and potentially isolating the country on the international stage. Since his July 2021 power grab, decried by the opposition as a coup, President Kais Saied has faced simmering discontent from both supporters of the former parliament and a powerful trade union, the Union Generale Tunisienne du Travail, or Tunisian General Labour Union. For much of…

Israeli fighter jets have targeted refugee camps in Gaza, as the Palestinian death toll from the war exceeds 10,000. Israel’s military has bombed at least three refugee camps in Gaza, the latest strike targeting the al-Maghazi camp, in which close to 50 people died, Palestinian officials said. At least 10,022 Palestinians, including 4,104 children, have been killed in 31 days of relentless Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, said Gaza’s Ministry of Health on Monday, with many victims still trapped beneath the rubble and an Israeli siege drying up access to vital goods like fuel, food and electricity. The recent…

In a telephone conversation with the Pope on Sunday, President Ebrahim Raisi slammed the terrible and unprecedented crimes of the Zionist regime in killing 10,000 Palestinian people, including 4,000 children and 2,500 women, as the biggest genocide. He described the Zionists’ crimes against the oppressed women and children of Gaza, including the attack on al-Mamadani Hospital and the Jabalia camp, as a clear example of crimes against humanity, his official website reported. Referring to reports from the international institutions that have called the Zionist regime an apartheid one, Raisi stated, “The bombing of the Gaza church and the destruction of…

Speaking at a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia’ Al-Sudani, held in Tehran on Monday, Raisi hailed the growing relations between Iran and Iraq in various fields. He said the two countries have taken good measures in the field of economic cooperation to expand and improve the level of trade interactions and exchanges, and stated, “Good steps have been taken to develop trade relations, especially in the field of industrial towns on the border of the two countries and cooperation in the field of joint production.” Referring to the joint positions of Iran and Iraq regarding the…

BEIRUT: Four relatives of a journalist were killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, the official Lebanese news agency said, adding that the journalist was also wounded. The border area between the two countries has seen regular exchanges of fire, in particular between Iran-backed group Hezbollah and Israel, since the start of the Israel-Hamas war triggered by the Palestinian group’s October 7 attacks. Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said the four victims are the sister of radio correspondent Samir Ayoub and her three grandchildren, aged 10, 12 and 14.They were following the journalist’s car in another vehicle…

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to backtarck on a comment he was reported to have made earlier about the need to check if a pre-war protest among army reservists pushed Hamas to carry out its attack last month. Israel’s Channel 12 and other news outlets reported that Netanyahu said there may be a need to examine whether months of protests against his government, including by reservists who said they would no longer report for regular duty, added to Hamas’ motivation to carry out the Oct. 7 rampage through southern Israel that triggered the current war. But after public…