Author: Steven Sahiounie

US President Joe Biden will host Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani at the White House on April 15, the White House said on Friday.Biden and Sudani will consult on issues including Daesh, Iraqi financial reforms and energy independence, the White House said in a statement. source: Arab News

Russia and China on Friday vetoed a US-led draft resolution at the Security Council on Gaza, with Moscow accusing Washington of a “hypocritical spectacle” that does not pressure Israel. The US, Israel’s main ally which has vetoed previous ceasefire calls, put forward the resolution which for the first time would have supported “the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire” and condemned the October 7 attack by Hamas. Russia and China exercised their vetoes, Algeria also voted against and Guyana abstained. The other 11 Security Council members voted in favor, including permanent members France and Britain. Russia’s ambassador, Vasily Nebenzia, said that…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday for talks aimed at ensuring more aid flows into Gaza, amid increasingly tense relations between the two allies over the six-month-old war. In Gaza, Israel claimed to have killed or captured hundreds of Hamas fighters in a five-day operation at the Al-Shifa hospital complex, one of the only medical facilities even partially functioning in the north. Hamas and medical staff deny fighters were present there. Blinken, on his sixth trip to the Middle East since the war broke out on Oct. 7, has been engaged in…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Mother’s Day in the Middle East is March 21. Yesterday in Gaza, mothers and their families faced war, death and starvation: not the best environment for a cake, gifts and flowers. While people across the Middle East were celebrating with their mothers, the people in Gaza were wondering why Arab leaders were unable to come to their aid.Nearly 32,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and more than 74,000 injured amid mass destruction and the UN warns starvation has begun.One woman in Gaza said, “Why are they worried about…

The bloc will continue to look at options for using proceeds from frozen assets, leaders have said in a summit declaration 

New York-Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Qusay Al-Dahhak, said that the claims of some Western countries about keenness on Syria and its people, security and stability of the region require them to change their approaches that have been overtaken by events, and to abandon policies of misinformation and distortion of facts, and to follow the approach of diplomacy and dialogue, and to support the efforts of the Syrian State aimed to improve the humanitarian and living conditions of its people, and to re-establish the rule of law over its entire territory. “In this month of every year,…

Twenty-seven leaders of the European Union have called for an “immediate humanitarian pause” in the Gaza Strip leading to a sustainable ceasefire. The EU leaders requested a statement on Thursday after a meeting of the European Council in Brussels. “The European Council calls for an immediate humanitarian pause leading to a sustainable ceasefire,” the leaders said, while also calling for “the unconditional release of all hostages.” They also urged Israel not to launch its planned ground operation in Rafah, saying it would worsen the “already catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Gaza. They added that Rafah offensive would also prevent the provision…

Israeli forces have prevented hundreds of Muslim worshippers seeking to perform Friday prayers from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to the Wafa news agency. Witnesses told the news agency that troops greatly intensified their military presence in the vicinity of the Qalandiya, Zeitoun and Bethlehem checkpoints leading to the mosque, which is holy for Muslims. The Israeli forces reportedly returned hundreds of worshippers from these checkpoints, claiming they did not have the necessary permits. The agency added that hundreds of soldiers have been deployed around the mosque. Israel restricted the entry of Palestinians and Muslim Israelis to the mosque in…

Kuwait’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, arrived in Jeddah on Thursday to begin an official visit to the Kingdom. He was greeted at King Abdulaziz International Airport by the deputy governor of Makkah, Prince Saud bin Mishal, the Saudi ambassador to Kuwait, Prince Sultan bin Saad, and other senior officials, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Also present were the Kuwaiti ambassador to the Kingdom, Sheikh Sabah Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and the country’s consul general in Jeddah, who is also its permanent representative to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Mohammad Saud Al-Mutairi, the Kuwait News Agency reported. Source:…

China renewed its criticism of the repeated Israeli attacks on Syrian territory, stressing that they constitute a serious violation of Syria’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. Since the outbreak of the current events in Palestine, “Israel” has launched repeated air strikes across the occupied Golan Heights on various sites in Syria, which constitute a serious violation of its sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, Xinhua News Agency quoted China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Geng Shuang, as saying at a UN Security Council session on Syria. Geng called on the international community to make collective efforts to increase humanitarian…