LONDON/DUBAI: Royal Dutch Shell has sent a replacement cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US to Dubai, shipping data shows, after a diplomatic row disrupted typical trade routes from Qatar, the world’s biggest producer.
Shell has a deal to supply the Dubai Supply Authority (DUSUP) with LNG which it typically sources from Qatar because of its proximity.
But bans on Qatari vessels entering ports in the UAE, imposed after top Arab powers severed diplomatic and transport links with Qatar on Monday, meant it had to source the LNG from elsewhere.
The Maran Gas Amphipolis tanker, carrying around 163,500 cubic meters of LNG produced in the US, was initially headed toward Kuwait’s port of Mina Al-Ahmadi but made a U-turn on Wednesday to head for Dubai’s port of Jebel Ali.
The tanker is currently unloading at DUSUP’s floating import terminal at Jebel Ali, data showed.
As exclusion zones took effect, Qatar’s fleet of LNG vessels anchored off the UAE’s port in Fujairah prior to the diplomatic cut-off have moved out. They are currently clustered offshore Qatar’s LNG export facility at Ras Laffan.
Since Monday the number of LNG tankers there has risen to 17 from seven, shipping data shows.
The queue reflects the impact of port exclusions as production from the export plant shows no signs of slowdown, an analyst said.
Meanwhile, a Pakistani Cabinet minister says Islamabad will continue to import LNG from Qatar under a 15-year agreement, despite the severing of diplomatic ties with Qatar by Saudi Arabia and some other countries.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the federal minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, said Qatar and Pakistan last year signed a $1 billion agreement, under which Qatar’s Liquefied Gas Company Limited will sell LNG from 2016 to year 2031 to state-run Pakistan State Oil.
He said since no sanctions have been imposed on Qatar by the UN, Pakistan and Qatar were bound to abide by the agreement.
In another development, Abu Dhabi Petroleum Ports Authority has re-imposed a ban on oil tankers linked to Qatar calling at ports in the UAE, reversing an earlier decision to ease restrictions, and potentially creating a logjam of crude cargoes.
The port authority circular was issued late on Wednesday and seen by Reuters on Thursday. It states: “Denial of entry into any of the petroleum ports, for all vessels arriving from, or destined to Qatar, regardless of its flag.” That was followed by a notice from the UAE’s state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) on Thursday with the same language also seen by Reuters.
The ban on all vessels carrying the Qatari flag and vessels owned or operated by Qatar remains in place and those ships will not be allowed into its petroleum ports, the port authority circulars said.
The Abu Dhabi port authorities had eased the restrictions just a day earlier.
The ban would potentially disrupt the common industry practice of co-loading oil cargoes from different countries onto a tanker to lower the costs of shipping. Preventing the co-loading of Qatari and other Middle East grades could add to refiners’ transport costs and create logistical jams.
“ADNOC has officially confirmed that we cannot co-load to and from (Qatar). So we need to find new vessels, then find co-loadings around the region,” said a source from an Asian refiner.
Qatar is among the smallest of the Middle Eastern oil producers and refiners will load crude from there alongside bigger suppliers such as Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, and the UAE.
“This is the only thing that really matters — Qatar doesn’t have that many vessels and most of their exports are co-loaded with other crudes,” the second shipbroker said.
Despite the official ban, industry sources in both the Middle East and Asia indicated that the co-loading of Abu Dhabi crude along with Qatari oil may continue on a case-by-case basis.
Customers under long-term contracts with ADNOC for crude may be given exemptions to the ban at ports including Das Island and Fujairah as long as the co-loaded cargo is not only from Qatar since ADNOC does want to upset those customers, said a Middle East-based industry source.
Traders and refiners may explore alternatives like chartering smaller tankers or consider ship-to-ship (STS) transfers in the region to deal with the ban.
“It’s gotten to the point where we just want this to be over... we are scrambling again,” said a second Singapore-based shipbroker, adding that STS transfers could occur at designated areas offshore Oman.
Shell diverts US LNG cargo to Dubai after Qatar diplomatic row
Shell diverts US LNG cargo to Dubai after Qatar diplomatic row
How the collapse of law and order in Gaza has impeded the humanitarian response
- Looting of convoys and killing of aid workers make Gaza “the most dangerous” place for relief operations, says UN humanitarian chief
- Amid claims it is weaponizing starvation, analysts question Israel’s plan to hire private contractors to distribute aid after UNRWA ban
LONDON: Lawlessness has become a grim feature of daily life in the Gaza Strip, where gangs now routinely attack aid convoys bringing much-needed assistance into the embattled territory, crippling the international relief effort.
Already struggling under the pressure of Israeli restrictions on aid entering the enclave, the theft of these deliveries has compounded the humanitarian crisis, leaving scores of civilians to die from cold, dehydration, and malnutrition.
Those convoys that avoid the gangs then run the gauntlet of air attacks as Israel pounds northern Gaza in its ongoing offensive against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Tom Fletcher, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, has sounded the alarm about the worsening humanitarian situation, describing the context for aid delivery as among “the most dangerous” in the world.
“We deal with tough places to deliver humanitarian support,” he said in a statement on Dec. 23. “But Gaza is currently the most dangerous, in a year when more humanitarians have been killed than any on record.”
As of late November, at least 333 humanitarian aid workers had been killed in Gaza since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel sparked the conflict, according to UN figures.
Most of the casualties are staff of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
UN and US officials have accused Israel of failing to prevent gangs from looting aid convoys in Gaza, despite an October pledge to act quickly to improve the dire humanitarian situation in the enclave.
Israel denies deliberately restricting aid to Gaza or ignoring the proliferation of gangs and organized crime. It also accuses Hamas of diverting aid.
Cold winter conditions have made matters even worse for Gaza’s children. On Dec. 26, at least three infants died from hypothermia in Al-Mawasi refugee camp as temperatures dropped, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Exacerbating the situation, the Israeli government voted in October to ban UNRWA — the sole provider of aid to more than 2 million people in Gaza — starting from January. The ban follows Israeli claims that nine UNRWA staff were involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Robert Blecher, director of the Future of Conflict program at International Crisis Group, believes Israel is “within its rights to block UNRWA on, say, national security grounds, so long as that exclusion in and of itself does not deprive civilians of aid.”
He told Arab News that although international humanitarian law “requires the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian aid to those in need,” it “does not specify who must be permitted to deliver the aid.”
Two Israeli officials told The Times of Israel newspaper that the government has considered hiring private contractors to secure and deliver relief in Gaza, preventing diversion by Hamas and other armed groups.
Blecher described the issue of private security contractors distributing food as a question of “feasibility,” saying:
“Theoretically speaking, if the private security contractors were to be brought in as part of a political agreement between Israel and the Palestinians to solve a technical problem, then yes, their involvement could be feasible.
“There would still be challenges of accountability and capacity, as well as a broader chipping away at the global humanitarian system, but in theory, it could work.”
Nevertheless, there are doubts about whether a state, whose prime minister and former minister of defense have been accused by the International Criminal Court of weaponizing starvation, would follow through with such a plan.
“If private security contractors are brought in without a political agreement as a replacement for Israeli soldiers, they will be seen as occupiers and treated as such,” said Blecher. “That’s the more likely scenario.”
Under international humanitarian law, Israel, classified as an occupying power in Gaza, is obligated to “take all the measures in its power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety.”
In addition, Article 55 of the Fourth Geneva Convention requires Israel to ensure the provision of food and medical supplies to the population, while Article 56 mandates the maintenance of medical and hospital services, as well as public health and hygiene, in the occupied territory.
“It seems pretty clear to everyone that Israel is the occupying power and therefore is responsible for the well-being of the civilian population,” Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told Arab News.
“Obviously, almost everything that Israel is doing is contrary to that.”
He added: “It has heavily restricted food and humanitarian aid as a matter of policy. That was clear from day one in the pronouncements of Israeli leaders. And it’s been clear ever since.
“Now, many different groups have concluded — including Oxfam, humanitarian organizations, human rights groups, and even agencies within the US government — that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war.”
Tightening the noose on Gaza’s war-stricken population are the rising attacks on aid convoys. In October, $9.5 million worth of food and other goods were looted, representing nearly a quarter of all the humanitarian aid sent to Gaza that month, according to UN figures.
Preliminary data indicates that looting in November was significantly worse.
In one of the single worst incidents, in mid-November, a 109-truck convoy chartered by UN agencies was attacked shortly after it was permitted to pass through a southern Gaza border crossing at night, several hours earlier than previously scheduled, according to Reuters.
Although they were stationed nearby, Israeli troops reportedly did not intervene as gunmen from multiple gangs surrounded the convoy, forced the drivers out, and stole flour and other food items.
Despite the deconfliction process, in which humanitarian groups share their coordinates and agree with Israeli authorities on when and how aid is delivered, relief convoys “are still being targeted,” making it “very difficult to deliver anything,” said Elgindy.
“That’s why in many instances, we’ve seen groups like UNRWA, World Central Kitchen, and others have to suspend their aid operations in certain moments and certain places because they can’t guarantee the safety of those delivering the aid.”
Israeli forces have also been implicated in attacks on aid convoys, although they have denied deliberately targeting them. In one such attack in April, Israeli drone operators fired on three World Central Kitchen vehicles, killing seven aid workers and forcing the nongovernmental organization to pause operations in Gaza.
In an effort to restore order after Israel began targeting police officers in early 2024, citing their role in Hamas governance, Hamas told the BBC in November it was working on a plan to restore security to 60 percent of Gaza within a month, up from less than 20 percent.
And while some Gazans in the south welcomed the effort, others saw it as an attempt to take control of lucrative black markets.
Indeed, some Palestinians on social media have reported having to buy items that were originally intended for aid distribution.
Israel “has not allowed Hamas — the governing authority in Gaza — to regroup even as a civilian force, as a police force,” said Elgindy.
In the absence of law and order, he said Gaza has descended into a situation governed by “the law of the jungle.
“Whoever has guns — gangs and armed groups — will commandeer aid,” he said. “There have also been cases where Israeli authorities are within eyesight of the looting and they do not intervene.”
Israel is therefore “not meeting any of its obligations” under international humanitarian law, “not even in the most minimal sense of providing for the welfare of the civilian population.”
Lebanon PM, Syrian leader in talks to restore calm at border
- Israel hints at further incursions into southern Lebanon, demolishes more villages
BEIRUT: Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa has invited Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to visit his country to boost bilateral ties.
In a phone call on Friday with Al-Sharaa, Mikati discussed relations between the two countries, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
Al-Sharaa also said that Syrian authorities had taken “necessary measures” to restore calm on the border between the two countries, according to the statement.
The call between Mikati and Al-Sharaa addressed an attack on the Lebanese army by Syrian gunmen on Friday.
Calm was restored on Saturday as political negotiations intensified to prevent any escalation.
The gunmen, from the Syrian region of Sarghaya, attacked the Lebanese soldiers to try and prevent them closing an illegal border crossing in Maarboun–Baalbek. Four soldiers were injured in the clashes.
The Lebanese Army Command said the troops “repelled Syrian gunmen after they targeted a military unit with medium weapons, causing moderate injuries to four soldiers.”
The Presidency of the Council of Ministers said on Saturday that Al-Sharaa “confirmed that the concerned Syrian agencies took all necessary measures to restore calm to the border and prevent the recurrence of such incidents.”
A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has held for over a month, even though its terms seem unlikely to be met by the agreed-upon deadline.
Under the ceasefire agreement, which came into effect on Nov. 27, the Israeli forces that penetrated the border area to depths ranging from three to 9 km have 21 days left to withdraw completely. But Israeli forces continue to violate the agreement extensively, both by air and by land, infiltrating towns they had not entered during the ground war launched on Oct. 1.
On Saturday morning, the Israeli army carried out excavation and leveling operations near cemeteries in Markaba town.
Security reports from the area said that “Israeli army patrols moved from Odaisseh toward Taybeh, conducting intensive sweeps with machine guns, while war drones flew at low altitudes in the western sector, particularly over the Tyre district.”
For the first time since the ceasefire, drones violated airspace over the towns of Doueir, Jibchit, Harouf, Ebba, Zebdine, and Choukine in the Nabatieh district. Residents reported “dozens of drones flying overhead at low altitudes.”
Israeli forces also conducted a sweep from the Maroun Al-Ras area toward the city of Bint Jbeil, using machine guns. The force included five tanks and a bulldozer and targeted a house with a shell fired from a Merkava tank before moving on to the building.
The garrisons of two Israeli army positions in Al-Ramtha and Al-Samaqa carried out wide-ranging sweeps with heavy machine guns targeting the surrounding valleys.
Israeli forces also carried out a demolition operation between the towns of Taybeh and Rab Al-Thalathin in the Marjayoun district.
Images captured by activists and shared on social media from the border area, particularly in Mays Al-Jabal, reveal unprecedented destruction of the town, affecting residential and commercial buildings, as well as places of worship.
The Israeli military also targeted the Imam Sadr Sports Complex west of Mays Al-Jabal with artillery on Saturday.
Israeli media reported that the current Israeli approach “aims to effectively restrict Hezbollah’s capabilities, preventing the group from conducting large-scale operations or controlling strategic areas in Lebanon.”
Strategic and military affairs researcher Ali Abbas Hamieh told Arab News that “Israeli forces, during their incursion into the border area over the past 38 days, have succeeded in targeting Hezbollah’s infrastructure; however, these were general structures and did not include the strategic weapons possessed by the group.”
Hamieh said Israeli operations had sometimes destroyed the entrances to Hezbollah’s tunnels, but they had not eliminated what was inside them. “Consequently, the Israelis are attempting to extend the ceasefire period further.”
Hamieh said that Hezbollah “is currently reorganizing its military position despite the other siege being imposed on Hezbollah on the economic level, aimed at undermining it militarily.”
Hamieh expressed his concern that “extending the deadline for the presence of Israeli forces in the border area for an additional three months, as rumored, could serve as a pretext for the resumption of hostilities.”
The analyst said: “It is important to note that the formula used to persuade both parties to cease fire was that if the war continued, it would be a loss for both sides, whereas if it stopped, it would be a victory for both.”
Also on Saturday, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said the government would “inform Washington that it will not withdraw from Lebanon after the current deadline expires and will convey a message to the US that it will not allow residents of Lebanese villages near the border to return to their homes.”
But Israeli media reported later that “no decision has been made yet regarding extending the Israeli army’s presence in southern Lebanon.”
Hamas armed wing releases video of Gaza hostage
- The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Albag’s family has not authorized publication of video
JERUSALEM: The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, released a video on Saturday of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza since its October 2023 attack.
In the undated, three-and-a-half-minute video recording that AFP has not been able to verify, 19-year-old soldier Liri Albag called in Hebrew for the Israeli government to secure her release.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a campaign group for relatives of those abducted, said Albag’s family has not authorized publication of the video.
“We appeal to the prime minister, world leaders and all decision-makers: it’s time to take decisions as if it were your own children there,” the family said in a statement.
Albag was 18 when she was captured by Palestinian militants at the Nahal Oz base on the Gaza border along with six other women conscripts, five of whom remain in captivity.
Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have released a number of videos of Israeli hostages in their custody during nearly 15 months of fighting in Gaza.
The militants seized 251 hostages during the 2023 attack, of whom 96 remain in Gaza. The Israeli military says 34 of those are dead.
Hamas said late on Friday that indirect negotiations with Israel for a truce and hostage release deal were to resume in Qatar that same night. There has since been no update.
Mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US have been engaged in months of effort that have failed to end the war.
Weekly demonstrations organized by the hostages forum, the latest scheduled in Tel Aviv on Saturday, have kept up the pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a deal to free the hostages.
The prime minister’s critics in Israel have accused him of stalling on a deal.
The forum said the latest video was “firm and incontestable proof of the urgency of bringing the hostages home.”
On Thursday, Netanyahu’s office said he had authorized Israeli negotiators to join the latest round of truce and hostage release talks in Qatar.
Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza Strip as new ceasefire talks begin
- Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 70 people over the last day
- At least 17 killed in airstrikes on two houses in Gaza City, the first of which destroyed the home of the Al-Ghoula family
CAIRO/GAZA: Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 70 people over the last day, Palestinian medics said on Saturday, as mediators launched a new ceasefire push to end the 15-month-old war.
At least 17 of those who died were killed in airstrikes on two houses in Gaza City, the first of which destroyed the home of the Al-Ghoula family in the early hours, medics and residents said.
“At about 2 a.m. we were woken up by the sound of a huge explosion,” said Ahmed Ayyan, a neighbor, adding that 14 or 15 people had been staying in the house.
“Most of them are women and children, they are all civilians, there is no one there who shot missiles, or is from the resistance,” Ayyan told Reuters.
People scoured the rubble for any survivors trapped under the debris and medics said several children were among those killed. A few flames and trails of smoke still rose from burning furniture in the ruins hours after the attack.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the incident.
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Another strike on a house in Gaza City killed five people later on Saturday, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said, adding that at least 10 others were feared trapped under the rubble.
The Israeli military said earlier its forces had continued their operations this week in Beit Hanoun town in the northern edge of the enclave, where the army has been operating for three months, and has destroyed a military complex that had been used by Hamas.
At least six other Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in Jabalia in the north and near the central town of Deir Al-Balah, medics said.
Saturday’s deaths brought the toll to 70 since Friday, Palestinian health officials said.
RENEWED CEASEFIRE PUSH
A renewed push is under way to reach a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas and return Israeli hostages before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Israeli mediators were dispatched to resume talks in Doha brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, and US President Joe Biden’s administration, which is helping broker the talks, urged Hamas on Friday to agree to a deal.
Hamas said it was committed to reaching an agreement as soon as possible, but it was unclear how close the two sides were.
The armed group released a video on Saturday showing Israeli hostage Liri Albag — who local media said was a soldier — urging Israel to do more to secure the hostages’ release. She said their lives were in danger because of Israel’s military action in Gaza.
Albag’s family said the video had “torn our hearts to pieces.”
“This is not the daughter and sister we know. Her severe psychological distress is evident,” a family statement said, calling on Israel’s government and world leaders not to miss the opportunity to bring all remaining hostages back alive.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response to the video that Israel continued to work tirelessly to bring the hostages home.
“Anyone who dares to harm our hostages will bear full responsibility for their actions,” he said.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which militants stormed border communities from Gaza, killing about 1,200 people and seizing around 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Its military campaign, with the stated goal of eradicating Hamas, has leveled swathes of the enclave, driving most people from their homes, and has killed 45,717 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Damascus Airport to resume international flights starting January 7
- International aid planes and foreign diplomatic delegations have already been landing in Syria
DAMASCUS: Syria said on Saturday the country’s main airport in Damascus would resume international flights starting next week after such commercial trips were halted following last month’s ouster of president Bashar Assad.
“We announce we will start receiving international flights to and from Damascus International Airport from” Tuesday, state news agency SANA said, quoting Ashhad Al-Salibi, who heads the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Air Transport.
“We reassure Arab and international airlines that we have begun the phase of rehabilitating the Aleppo and Damascus airports with our partners’ help, so that they can welcome flights from all over the world,” he said.
International aid planes and foreign diplomatic delegations have already been landing in Syria. Domestic flights have also resumed.
On Thursday, Qatar Airways announced it will resume flights to the Syrian capital after nearly 13 years, starting with three weekly flights on Tuesday.
A Qatari official told AFP last month that Doha had offered the new Syrian authorities help in resuming operations at Damascus airport.
On December 18, the first flight since Islamist-led rebels ousted Assad on December 8 took off from Damascus airport to Aleppo in the country’s north, AFP journalists saw.
