KSrelief launches medical convoy to deliver aid to Yemen

Smoke rises after an airstrike hit an army base in Sanaa, Yemen, on Sunday. (AP)
Updated 23 January 2017
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KSrelief launches medical convoy to deliver aid to Yemen

RIYADH/ADEN: King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) on Sunday dispatched a convoy loaded with 17 containers of medical supplies and equipment to Yemen, Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, Royal Court and KSrelief Supervisor, said Sunday.
The convoy consisted of 11 containers carrying 279 types of medical supplies to the Republican Hospital in Aden and 25 types of medical equipment and supplies for the central medicinal and pharmacology storage units at the Yemeni Ministry of Public Health and Housing in Aden. It also included six containers headed to Marib General Hospital Authority containing 235 types of medical supplies.
He said another ground convoy to Taiz will take place soon. The Center delivers and monitors humanitarian assistance in coordination with local partners and UN organizations as well as the legitimate Yemeni government.
Al-Rabeeah urged the UN to carry out its responsibilities via its organizations operating in the Yemen to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid. He said the Center monitors its assistance until supplies reach the beneficiaries.
Dr. Abdulraqeeb Al-Haidari, the Yemeni deputy assistant minister of Public Health and Housing, expressed the Yemeni government’s appreciations to King Salman’s humanitarian gesture.
“The medical supplies donated today by the Center come at a time when hospitals are in extreme need for such aid due to the negatively affected work of the Ministry of Health, hospitals and medical clinics, and halted medical services, resulting in the spread of diseases such as cholera and others,” he said.
“Such conditions requires intensified efforts in this regard and provision of medical assistance in order to reduce the volume of health crises.”
Meanwhile, Yemeni Premier Ahmed Obaid bin Dagher said the project of the coup d’état is approaching its end. The will of the Yemeni people will prevail in the end.
During a meeting in Aden on Sunday with defense and interior officials, bin Dagher said that “a great successes loom on the horizon.”
He noted the triumphs of the armed, security forces and popular resistance backing Arab alliance at the front line, especially at areas adjacent to Bab Al-Mandab Strait, a key maritime route connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
On the ground, heavy clashes between Houthi rebels and pro-government forces in Yemen killed at least 66 people in 24 hours, medics and security sources said Sunday.
Air raids by a Saudi-led coalition and fighting near the strategic Bab Al-Mandab Strait killed at least 52 Houthi rebels and allied troops loyal to ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the sources said.
Fourteen members of pro-government forces were also killed.
The rebels took their dead to a military hospital in Hodeida, a major western port city they control, a medical source told AFP.
The hospital received 14 dead on Saturday and 38 on Sunday, as well as 55 wounded rebels, the source said.
On the pro-government side, 14 soldiers were killed and 22 wounded, according to medics in the southern port city of Aden where President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s government is based.
Coalition warplanes and Apache attack helicopters have been pounding rebels for several days in support of pro-Hadi forces attempting to retake the Red Sea city of Mokha, military sources said.
Pro-Hadi forces launched an offensive on Jan. 7 to retake the region overlooking the Bab Al-Mandab Strait. By Sunday, Hadi forces were within 10 km of Mokha, they said, but mines laid by rebel forces have slowed the offensive.


Israel’s attorney general tells Netanyahu to reexamine extremist security minister’s role

Updated 15 November 2024
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Israel’s attorney general tells Netanyahu to reexamine extremist security minister’s role

  • National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized for interfering in police matters

JERUSALEM, Nov 14 : Israel’s Attorney General told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reevaluate the tenure of his far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, citing his apparent interference in police matters, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Thursday.
The news channel published a copy of a letter written by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara in which she described instances of “illegitimate interventions” in which Ben-Gvir, who is tasked with setting general policy, gave operational instructions that threaten the police’s apolitical status.
“The concern is that the government’s silence will be interpreted as support for the minister’s behavior,” the letter said.
Officials at the Justice Ministry could not be reached for comment and there was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office.
Ben-Gvir, who heads a small ultra-nationalist party in Netanyahu’s coalition, wrote on social media after the letter was published: “The attempted coup by (the Attorney General) has begun. The only dismissal that needs to happen is that of the Attorney General.”


Israeli forces demolish Palestinian Al-Bustan community center in Jerusalem

Updated 15 November 2024
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Israeli forces demolish Palestinian Al-Bustan community center in Jerusalem

  • Al-Bustan Association functioned as a primary community center in which Silwan’s youth and families ran cultural and social activities

LONDON: Israeli forces demolished the office of the Palestinian Al-Bustan Association in occupied East Jerusalem’s neighborhood of Silwan, whose residents are under threat of Israeli eviction orders. 

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Culture condemned on Thursday the demolition of Al-Bustan by Israeli bulldozers and a military police force. 

The ministry said that “(Israeli) occupation’s arrogant practices against cultural and community institutions in Palestine, and specifically in Jerusalem, are targeting the Palestinian identity, in an attempt to obliterate it.” 

Founded in 2004, the Al-Bustan Association functioned as a primary community center in which Silwan’s youth and families ran cultural and social activities alongside hosting meetings for diplomatic delegations and Western journalists who came to learn about controversial Israeli policies in the area. 

Al-Bustan said in a statement that it served 1,500 people in Silwan, most of them children, who enrolled in educational, cultural and artistic workshops. In addition to the Al-Bustan office, Israeli forces also demolished a home in the neighborhood belonging to the Al-Qadi family. 

Located less than a mile from Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem’s southern ancient wall, Silwan has a population of 65,000 Palestinians, some of them under threat of Israeli eviction orders.  

In past years, Israeli authorities have been carrying out archaeological digging under Palestinian homes in Silwan, resulting in damage to these buildings, in search of the three-millennial “City of David.” 


Israeli strike kills 12 after hitting civil defense center in Lebanon’s Baalbek, governor tells Reuters

Updated 14 November 2024
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Israeli strike kills 12 after hitting civil defense center in Lebanon’s Baalbek, governor tells Reuters

  • Eight others, including five women, were also killed and 27 wounded in another Israeli attack

CAIRO: An Israeli strike killed 12 people after it hit a civil defense center in Lebanon’s city of Baalbek on Thursday, the regional governor told Reuters adding that rescue operations were ongoing.
Eight others, including five women, were also killed and 27 wounded in another Israeli attack on the Lebanese city, health ministry reported on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Lebanese civil defense official Samir Chakia said: “The Civil Defense Center in Baalbek has been targeted, five Civil Defense rescuers were killed.”
Bachir Khodr the regional governor said more than 20 rescuers had been at the facility at the time of the strike.


‘A symbol of resilience’ — workers in Iraq complete reconstruction of famous Mosul minaret

Updated 14 November 2024
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‘A symbol of resilience’ — workers in Iraq complete reconstruction of famous Mosul minaret

  • Workers complete reconstruction of 12th-century minaret of Al-Nuri Mosque
  • Tower and mosque were blown by Daesh extremists in 2017

High above the narrow streets and low-rise buildings of Mosul’s old city, beaming workers hoist an Iraqi flag into the sky atop one of the nation’s most famous symbols of resilience.

Perched precariously on scaffolding in high-vis jackets and hard hats, the workers celebrate a milestone in Iraq’s recovery from the traumatic destruction and bloodshed that once engulfed the city.

On Wednesday, the workers placed the last brick that marked the completed reconstruction of the 12th-century minaret of Al-Nuri Mosque. The landmark was destroyed by Daesh in June 2017 shortly before Iraqi forces drove the extremist group from the city.

Known as Al-Hadba, or “the hunchback,” the 45-meter-tall minaret, which famously leant to one side, dominated the Mosul skyline for centuries. The tower has been painstakingly rebuilt as part of a UNESCO project, matching the traditional stone and brick masonry and incorporating the famous lean.

“Today UNESCO celebrates a landmark achievement,” the UN cultural agency’s Iraq office said. “The completion of the shaft of the Al-Hadba Minaret marks a new milestone in the revival of the city, with and for the people of Mosul. 

“UNESCO is grateful for the incredible teamwork that made this vision a reality. Together, we’ve created a powerful symbol of resilience, a true testament to international cooperation. Thank you to everyone involved in this journey.”

The restoration of the mosque is part of UNESCO’s Revive the Spirit of Mosul project, which includes the rebuilding of two churches and other historic sites. The UAE donated $50 million to the project and UNESCO said that the overall Al-Nuri Mosque complex restoration will be finished by the end of the year.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay celebrated the completion of the minaret by posting “We did it!” on social media site X.

She thanked donors, national and local authorities in Iraq and the experts and professionals, “many of whom are Moslawis,” who worked to rebuild the minaret.

“Can’t wait to return to Mosul to celebrate the full completion of our work,” she said.

The Al-Nuri mosque was built in the second half of the 12th century by the Seljuk ruler Nur Al-Din. 

After Daesh seized control of large parts of Iraq in 2014, the group’s leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, declared the establishment of its so-called caliphate from inside the mosque.

Three years later, the extremists detonated explosives to destroy the mosque and minaret as Iraqi forces battled to expel them from the city. Thousands of civilians were killed in the fighting and much of Mosul was left in ruins.


US hands Lebanon draft truce proposal -two political sources

Updated 14 November 2024
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US hands Lebanon draft truce proposal -two political sources

  • The US has sought to broker a ceasefire that would end hostilities between its ally Israel and Hezbollah

BEIRUT: The US ambassador to Lebanon submitted a draft truce proposal to Lebanon’s speaker of parliament Nabih Berri on Thursday to halt fighting between armed group Hezbollah and Israel, two political sources told Reuters, without revealing details.
The US has sought to broker a ceasefire that would end hostilities between its ally Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, but efforts have yet to yield a result. Israel launched a stepped-up air and ground campaign in late September after cross-border clashes in parallel with the Gaza war.