Author: Steven Sahiounie

Christophe Farnaud, the EU ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman, outlined the bloc’s three priorities regarding the Gaza crisis: humanitarian assistance, joint action, and the search for a long-term solution. “We do have to face it and find a collective solution … It would be up to the parties in the end to decide, but we around them have to be committed as much as possible to find a solution,” Farnaud said in an interview with Arab News. “Which means for us (the EU) three things, and we’ve been very clear collectively on that.” He described the situation in…

The seventh Turkish Red Crescent ship carrying humanitarian aid for the besieged Gaza Strip arrived on Sunday at Egypt’s Port of El-Arish. The much-needed aid materials will enter Gaza through Egypt, at the southern Rafah Border Gate. The ship has a cargo of over 2,700 tons including food parcels containing ready-to-eat meals, water, food packages, flour, clothing, hygiene kits, materials for shelter such as tents, sleeping bags, and blankets, medical equipment, and baby supplies. Seeking to ensure that the aid trucks reach the needy recipients quickly, the Turkish Red Crescent is working in coordination with both the Egyptian Red Crescent…

There will be no truce in Sudan in the holy month of Ramadan unless the Rapid Support Forces, also known as RSF, paramilitary group leaves the homes and sites of civilians, senior Sudanese armed forces Gen. Yasser Al-Atta said on Sunday. The statement follows an appeal by the UN Security Council for a truce. The paramilitary RSF said it welcomed the ceasefire call. Atta’s statement, issued on the army’s official Telegram channel, cited recent military advances by the army in Omdurman, part of Sudan’s wider capital. It said there could be no ceasefire unless the RSF complied with a commitment…

The Turkish president and the nation’s top cleric on Sunday night released messages heralding the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. “I hope that the month of Ramadan, whose beginning is mercy, its middle, forgiveness, and its end, emancipation from the fires (of hell), will be beneficial for the Islamic world and our nation,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on X, adding, “May we have a blessed Ramadan.” Ali Erbas, the head of Türkiye’s Religious Affairs Directorate, called upon the global Muslim ummah (community) to pray for an end to the suffering of people all around the world,…

The US and Jordan carried out a new airdrop of humanitarian aid to Gaza’s Palestinians on Sunday, parachuting in more than 11,500 meals, the US military said. The Israeli offensive in Gaza, which is supported by the US, has displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people and led to critical shortages of food, water and medicine. The US military’s Central Command said that the latest airdrop took place over northern Gaza and included rice, flour, pasta, and canned food. The US has dropped about 135,000 meals in airdrops this month, according to Pentagon data. US President Joe Biden has…

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Hossein Salami was awarded the ‘Medal of Fath (Conquest)’ under a decree issued by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei. In remarks at the conclusion of a conference on compulsory military service, held in Tehran on Sunday, Major General Salami said he held a meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei today and received the Medal of Fath. The general described it as an honor and a clear indication of the Leader’s satisfaction with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ endeavors. In comments in August 2023, Ayatollah Khamenei, the commander-in-chief of…

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said that there is no sense for NATO to deny the presence of its forces in Ukraine. “No point in denying it any longer,” she told the Izvestia newspaper, commenting on Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski’s statement. Earlier, Sikorski told a conference on the 25th anniversary of Poland’s NATO membership that the NATO military are already in Ukraine. He did not say however which country these troops are from. After a conference on Ukraine in Paris on February 26, Macron said that the participants had considered sending ground troops to Ukraine. Although no…

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi has congratulated Asif Ali Zardari on his election as the new president of Pakistan. In a message on Sunday, Raeisi expressed hope that the two countries will further develop mutual relations during Zardari’s presidency given mutual historical, cultural and religious bonds. “The Islamic Republic of Iran, as always and especially in the new tenure, announces its readiness to develop relations with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” he said. Zardari, the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, on Sunday was sworn in after winning a second non-consecutive term. He previously served as president from 2008 until…

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman called on the international community to assume its responsibilities and stop brutal Israeli crimes against Palestinians on Sunday. In a speech delivered on his behalf by the Minister of Media Salman Al-Dosari ahead of Ramadan, King Salman said the suffering of the Palestinians pained him, stressing the need for safe humanitarian corridors. The king thanked God for blessing the Kingdom with the Two Holy Mosques and allowing it to take care of the holy sites, expand them, and serve visitors and pilgrims who flock to them. He thanked Saudi soldiers stationed at the borders, all military…

On the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, the President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas expressed his hopes for the Palestinian people to achieve their hopes for freedom and independence, the establishment of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of refugees, and for the aggression, killing, displacement and starvation against Palestinian people and their Islamic and Christian sanctities to stop. “We ask God Almighty to grant security and peace to Palestine and the entire world, wishing from the Almighty mercy for the martyrs, healing for the wounded, and freedom for our heroic prisoners,” the President…