All Gulf nations, Iran, Turkey must work to ease Doha standoff: Merkel

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto attend a news conference at National Palace in Mexico City. (Reuters)
Updated 10 June 2017
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All Gulf nations, Iran, Turkey must work to ease Doha standoff: Merkel

MEXICO CITY: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday she was concerned about the situation in Qatar, adding that all Gulf nations, and also Iran and Turkey, should work together to resolve the regional dispute.
Merkel, who was speaking in Mexico City alongside Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, said it would be impossible to sort out the “very unsettling” situation unless all regional actors were involved. She added that it was vital the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) worked together to end the crisis.
“We have to see that the political solution of conflicts... such as the situation in Syria, such as the situation in Libya or the situation in Iraq, won’t happen if certain players are no longer even included in the conversation, and that includes Qatar, it includes Turkey, it includes Iran,” she said.
Merkel said she wanted the balance of power to be maintained “sensibly” in the region, and that combating terrorism would be on the agenda when G-20 leaders meet next month in Hamburg.
Arab states tightened their squeeze on Qatar by putting dozens of figures with links to the country on terrorism blacklists, while its ally, Turkey, rushed to its side with plans to send troops.
The Pentagon said the blockade was hindering US ability to plan for long-term operations in the region.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he expected all parties to find a resolution.
Meanwhile, Egypt President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi praised US President Donald Trump for his role in “the formation of a united front to combat terrorism” after he called on Qatar to stop its financial support of extremist groups.
El-Sisi’s praise-filled phone call Saturday came after Trump echoed accusations made against Qatar by a Saudi-led group that cut diplomatic ties with the small country earlier this week.
El-Sisi thanked Trump for his participation in a counter-terrorism summit in Riyadh last May, in which he abandoned some of the harsh anti-Muslim rhetoric of his presidential campaign and vowed to fight terrorism in partnership with Middle East leaders.
The escalating crisis in the Arabian Gulf erupted this week when Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Qatar.
Niger said Saturday it had recalled its ambassador to Qatar in solidarity with the countries that have cut ties with Doha.
Some African countries have cautiously come out in support of attempts to isolate Qatar.
Mauritania, an Arab League member, cut ties on Tuesday and central African oil producer Gabon condemned Qatar for failing “on counter-terrorism.”
Senegal has said it would recall its ambassador in Qatar and expressed its “active solidarity.”


Jordanian Foreign Minister: We discussed the challenge of rebuilding Syria during talks in Turkiye

Updated 28 sec ago
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Jordanian Foreign Minister: We discussed the challenge of rebuilding Syria during talks in Turkiye


Israel military says three projectiles fired from north Gaza

Updated 48 min 13 sec ago
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Israel military says three projectiles fired from north Gaza

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it identified three projectiles fired from the northern Gaza Strip that crossed into Israel on Monday, the latest in a series of launches from the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.
“One projectile was intercepted by the IAF (air force), one fell in Sderot and another projectile fell in an open area. No injuries were reported,” the military said in a statement.


Sudan army air strike kills 10 in southern Khartoum: rescuers

Updated 06 January 2025
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Sudan army air strike kills 10 in southern Khartoum: rescuers

  • Strike targeted a market area of the capital’s Southern Belt ‘for the third time in less than a month’
  • War between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary forces has killed tens of thousands of people

PORT SUDAN, Sudan: Ten Sudanese civilians were killed and over 30 wounded in an army air strike on southern Khartoum, volunteer rescue workers said.
The strike on Sunday targeted a market area of the capital’s Southern Belt “for the third time in less than a month,” said the local Emergency Response Room (ERR), part of a network of volunteers across the country coordinating frontline aid.
The group said those killed burned to death. The wounded, suffering from burns, were taken to the local Bashair Hospital, with five of them in a critical condition.
Since April 2023, the war between Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands of people.
In the capital alone, the violence killed 26,000 people between April 2023 and June 2024, according to a report by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Khartoum has experienced some of the war’s worst violence, with entire neighborhoods emptied out and taken over by fighters.
The military, which maintains a monopoly on the skies with its jets, has not managed to wrest back control of the capital from the paramilitary.
Of the 11.5 million people currently displaced within Sudan, nearly a third have fled from the capital, according to United Nations figures.
Both the RSF and the army have been repeatedly accused of targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.


Israel says Hamas has not given ‘status of hostages’ it says ready to free

Updated 06 January 2025
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Israel says Hamas has not given ‘status of hostages’ it says ready to free

  • A Hamas official gave a list of 34 hostages the group was ready to free

JERUSALEM: Israel said on Monday that Hamas had so far not provided the status of the 34 hostages the group declared it was ready to release in the first phase of a potential exchange deal.
“As yet, Israel has not received any confirmation or comment by Hamas regarding the status of the hostages appearing on the list,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement after a Hamas official gave a list of 34 hostages the group was ready to free in the first phase.


Shooting attack on a bus carrying Israelis in the occupied West Bank kills 3

Updated 06 January 2025
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Shooting attack on a bus carrying Israelis in the occupied West Bank kills 3

  • The attack occurred in the Palestinian village of Al-Funduq, on one of the main east-west roads crossing the territory

JERUSALEM: A shooting attack on a bus carrying Israelis in the occupied West Bank killed at least three people and wounded seven others on Monday, Israeli medics said.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said those killed included two women in their 60s and a man in his 40s.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza ignited the ongoing war there.
The attack occurred in the Palestinian village of Al-Funduq, on one of the main east-west roads crossing the territory. The identities of the attackers and those killed were not immediately known. The military said it was looking for the attackers, who fled.
Palestinians have carried out scores of shooting, stabbing and car-ramming attacks against Israelis in recent years. Israel has launched near-nightly military raids across the territory that frequently trigger gunbattle with militants.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 835 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state.
Some 3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule, with the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority administering population centers. Over 500,000 Israeli settlers live in scores of settlements, which most of the international community considers illegal.
Meanwhile, the war in Gaza is raging with no end in sight, though there has reportedly been recent progress in long-running talks aimed at a ceasefire and hostage release.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border in a massive surprise attack nearly 15 months ago, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,800 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who say women and children make up more than half of those killed. They do not say how many of the dead were militants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced 90 percent of the territory’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are enduring a cold, rainy winter in tent camps along the windy coast. At least seven infants have died of hypothermia because of the harsh conditions, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Aid groups say Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order in many areas make it difficult to provide desperately needed food and other assistance.