CAIRO/EL-ARISH: Egypt’s army clashed with militants in Sinai on Friday, leaving two children dead as President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi flew home to deal with a wave of militant attacks that killed at least 32 people.
Health officials said a six-month-old baby was hit in the head by a bullet during the clashes and a six-year-old was killed in a rocket blast in the peninsula. Health Ministry officials said two civilians were also among those killed.
Friday’s violence came a day after rebels targeted security forces with rockets and a car bomb in North Sinai province in simultaneous attacks claimed by an affiliate of the IS group.
Most of those killed were soldiers.
Sissi pulled out of a gathering of African leaders in Ethiopia and flew home to oversee the response to the attacks.
“After the terrorist operations in the North Sinai last night, the president decided to cut short his participation in the African Union summit after attending the opening session, and returned to Cairo to monitor the situation,” a statement from Sissi’s office said.
Security officials said the bodies of at least 30 victims had been flown to Cairo. It was the deadliest wave of attacks since October when 30 soldiers were killed and scores wounded in simultaneous assaults on security forces.
The fresh bloodshed came despite new security measures implemented in North Sinai since then.
Militants have regularly targeted security forces in the Sinai Peninsula since President Muhammad Mursi was ousted by then Army Chief Sissi in July 2013.
The militants say the attacks are in retaliation for a government crackdown against Mursi supporters in which hundreds have been killed, thousands jailed and dozens sentenced to death.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki condemned Thursday’s attacks and said Washington “remains steadfast in its support of the Egyptian government’s efforts to combat the threat of terrorism.”
Late last year Washington delivered 10 Apache helicopters to Egypt for joint counter-terrorism operations in the Sinai.
The main focus of Thursday’s attacks was El-Arish, the provincial capital, where militants fired rockets at a police headquarters, a military base and a residential complex for security forces, officials said.
This was followed by a suicide car bombing, and militants also attacked a military checkpoint south of El-Arish.
Separately an army officer was killed when a rocket struck a checkpoint in the town of Rafah, on the border with the Gaza Strip.
Officials said at least 62 people were wounded in the attacks.
The Islamic State group’s Egyptian affiliate, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, claimed the assaults in a Twitter account linked to it.
Egypt’s deadliest militant group said it “executed extensive, simultaneous attacks in the cities of El-Arish, Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah.”
In November the organisation pledged its allegiance to IS, which has captured large chunks of territory in Syria and Iraq.
In another incident a police officer was killed by a bomb blast in the canal city of Suez, while a suspected militant mistakenly blew himself up in Port Said while planting a device.
The October attack, also near El-Arish, prompted the authorities to build a buffer zone along the Gaza border to prevent militants infiltrating from the Palestinian enclave.
The authorities have also imposed a state of emergency and night-time curfew in parts of North Sinai since October.
Egypt’s military said Thursday’s attack was the result of “successful operations” against militants by the security forces, and “the failure of Muslim Brotherhood... in spreading chaos on the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 25 revolution” which was marked on Sunday. On Jan. 25, 2011, millions of Egyptians protested against then leader Hosni Mubarak, forcing him to step down.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (Partisans of Jerusalem) has claimed most of the attacks, including the deadly October assault.
An Egyptian militant group affiliated with the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attacks in involved locations in three Sinai towns and required a previously unseen level of coordination.
Sinai under militant attack
Sinai under militant attack
Sudden hailstorm lashes Egypt’s Alexandria
Hailstones pelted the city overnight, forcing people to flee cafes as gusts of wind blew the ice pellets through windows, according to footage posted on social media.
Lightning lit up the skies and underpasses were submerged.
Alexandria governor Ahmed Khaled Hassan raised the alert level and emergency crews worked through the morning to tow cars and clear debris.
No casualties were reported, Egypt’s health ministry said.
Storms are common along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast in winter, but media outlets described this spring event as “unprecedented.”
Scientists warn extreme weather is becoming more frequent due to climate change, which drives both droughts and intense, unpredictable rainstorms.
Alexandria is highly vulnerable to climate impacts, suffering from coastal erosion, rising sea levels and flooding from annual storms.
The Mediterranean could rise by up to a meter (three feet) within three decades, according to the UN-mandated Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Even under more optimistic forecasts, a 50-centimeter rise by 2050 would flood 30 percent of Alexandria, displace a quarter of its six million residents and cost 195,000 jobs.
Authorities have begun mitigation efforts, including constructing a massive breakwater along the coast.
Arab ministers condemn Israel ‘ban’ on planned Ramallah visit
- Palestinian Authority official says that the issue of whether the meeting in Ramallah would be able to go ahead is under discussion
- The move comes ahead of an international conference due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood
DUBAI: Israel’s decision to prevent an Arab delegation from visiting Ramallah and meeting with Palestinian officials “represents a blatant violation of Israel’s obligations as the occupying power,” Jordan’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.
Members of the ministerial committee, assigned by the extraordinary joint Arab-Islamic summit on Gaza, decided to postpone the visit to Ramallah after Israel refused the delegation’s entry through the airspace of the occupied West Bank, which it controls.
“It reflects the extent of the Israeli government’s arrogance, its disregard for international law, and its continued illegitimate measures and policies that besiege the brotherly Palestinian people and their legitimate leadership, perpetuate the occupation, and undermine the chances of achieving a just and comprehensive peace,” the foreign ministry said.
يصل أعضاء في اللجنة الوزارية المكلّفة من القمة العربية الإسلامية الاستثنائية المشتركة بشأن غزة إلى عمّان مساء اليوم في زيارة كانت تهدف إلى عقد اجتماع تنسيقي قُبَيل زيارة كانت مقررة إلى رام الله انطلاقًا من عمّان غدًا الأحد.
— وزارة الخارجية وشؤون المغتربين الأردنية (@ForeignMinistry) May 31, 2025
وقررت اللجنة تأجيل الزيارة إلى رام الله في ضوء تعطيل… pic.twitter.com/PtWEkX5O7w
The delegation included ministers from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Palestinian Authority officials said. The ministers would require Israeli consent to travel to the West Bank from Jordan.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in “a provocative meeting” to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“Such a state would undoubtedly become a terrorist state in the heart of the land of Israel,” the official said. “Israel will not cooperate with such moves aimed at harming it and its security.”
A Palestinian Authority official said that the issue of whether the meeting in Ramallah would be able to go ahead was under discussion.
The move comes ahead of an international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries which favor a two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognizing a Palestinian state was not only a “moral duty but a political necessity.”
Israel this week announced the creation of 22 new West Bank settlements, which are regularly condemned by the United Nations as illegal under international law, and are seen as one of the main obstacles to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
On Friday, visiting one of the areas slated for recognition, Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to build a “Jewish Israeli state” in the West Bank.
Taking aim at foreign countries that would “recognize a Palestinian state on paper”, he added: “The paper will be thrown into the trash bin of history, and the State of Israel will flourish and prosper.”
– with agencies
Syrian president to make first official visit to Kuwait
- On his trip to Kuwait, the Syrian president will meet the Kuwaiti leadership to discuss ways to boost bilateral relations
- Al-Sharaa had previously visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on his Gulf tour
CAIRO: Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa will make his first official visit to Kuwait on Sunday accompanied by an official delegation.
“Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, accompanied by an official delegation, is due to arrive in Kuwait on Sunday,” read a statement on KUNA.
The Syrian president will meet the Kuwaiti leadership to discuss ways to boost bilateral relations, KUNA added.
Earlier this month, sources close to Al-Sharaa have reported that the Syrian president was planning a trip to the Gulf state towards the end of May.
Al-Sharaa had previously visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on his Gulf tour.
Iran considers nuclear weapons ‘unacceptable’, FM says
- Iran has held five rounds of talks with the United States in search of a new nuclear agreement
- Western governments have long suspected Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability
TEHRAN: Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday that Iran considers nuclear weapons “unacceptable,” reiterating the country’s longstanding position amid delicate negotiations with the United States.
Western governments have long suspected Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capability to counter widely suspected but undeclared arsenal of its arch-foe Israel.
“If the issue is nuclear weapons, yes, we too consider this type of weapon unacceptable,” Araghchi, Iran’s lead negotiator in the talks, said in a televised speech. “We agree with them on this issue.”
Iran has held five rounds of talks with the United States in search of a new nuclear agreement to replace the deal with major powers President Donald Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The two governments are at odds over Iran’s uranium enrichment program, which Washington has said must cease but which Tehran insists is its right under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Nonetheless, Trump said Wednesday that “we’re having some very good talks with Iran,” adding that he had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against striking its nuclear facilities as it would not be “appropriate right now.”
Israel has repeatedly threatened military action, after pummeling Iranian air defenses during two exchanges of fire last year.
Trump has not ruled out military action but said he wants space to make a deal first, and has also said that Israel, and not the United States, would take the lead in any such strikes.
Israel strike on south Lebanon kills one
- The Israeli army said the strike killed a regional commander “of Hezbollah’s rocket array"
BEIRUT: Lebanese official media said an Israeli strike killed one person in the south on Saturday despite a six-month-old ceasefire, as Israel said it targeted a Hezbollah militant.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said a man was killed when an Israeli drone targeted his car as he was heading to pray at a mosque in Deir Al-Zahrani, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Israeli border.
Israel has continued to bomb Lebanon despite the November 27 truce that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah including two months of open war.
The Israeli army said the strike killed a regional commander “of Hezbollah’s rocket array.”
It charged that during the conflict, the operative “advanced numerous projectile attacks... and was involved recently in efforts to reestablish Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure” in south Lebanon.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Hezbollah fighters were to pull back north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, and dismantle military infrastructure to its south.
Israel was to withdraw all forces from Lebanon but it has kept troops in five areas it deems “strategic.”
The Lebanese army has deployed in the south and has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure.
