LONDON: A bright green Mercedes with Qatari plates revs up outside Harrods, as shoppers from the Gulf state pour into the iconic department store. It is just another day under what the authorities in Doha are insisting to refer to as a “blockade.”
Indeed, the Qatari spending over the summer holidays, seen most notably in London’s poshest areas is in sharp contrast to the image local media is trying to portray as an inhuman, collective punishment of the Qatari people.
As the Eid Al-Adha holiday got under way, there was no shortage of supercars being paraded in the UK capital’s posh Knightsbridge district, home to the Qatar-owned Harrods department store and numerous upmarket boutiques.
That is despite the June 5 move by the Anti-Terror Quartet — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain — to impose a series of sanctions on Doha over the latter’s alleged support of terror groups.
The quartet views the move as a “boycott” — although Doha interprets it more harshly, as a “blockade” against it.
Yet there were few visible restrictions on moneyed Qataris in Central London over the past few days — with some supercar owners not even perturbed by the area’s parking regulations.
Despite the boycott, spending by Qataris in the UK is actually on the rise, figures obtained exclusively by Arab News show.
According to payments processing company Worldpay, spending in the UK by people with credit and debit cards registered in Qatar rose sharply after the June 5 boycott against the Gulf state.
Total spending in the UK with Qatar-registered cards rose by 6.4 percent in June compared to the year before, the figures show.
And during the week of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday in late June — another popular time for Gulf Arabs to travel — spending on Qatar-registered cards was up by a whopping 49 percent compared to earlier in the month, the Worldpay figures show. Spending using cards registered in Saudi Arabia rose by just 29.1 percent during the same period.
Worldpay said spending by Middle Eastern tourists was “particularly prolific” during the Eid celebrations at the end of June.
James Frost, an executive from the firm, attributed this partly to the slump in the value of the UK pound, as well as the Eid festivities.
“Sterling’s slump is continuing to attract visitors in their droves, safe in the knowledge that their holiday cash will stretch a little further. Eid provides a useful barometer for foreign spending more broadly. The latest figures from this year’s festival point toward a summer spending frenzy from overseas visitors looking to cash in on the weak pound,” he said in July.
Figures for the more recent Eid holiday are not yet available but — if the fleet of Qatar-owned supercars seen on the streets of Knightsbridge is anything to go by — it looks like it is accelerating.
“There are some ridiculous crazy cars,” one parking attendant in the area, who declined to be named due to company policy, told Arab News.
“You don’t even have to see them to know they are around, the noise they make tell you they are here. It’s always busy around the summer, they come here, have some fun and then go home.
“When I dish them out with parking fines they never complain, they just accept it with a smile, they usually have a load of friends with them and they probably don’t want to cause a fuss in front of them.”
Yet there have been numerous complaints from local residents over the supercar-driving tourists from Qatar and other Gulf Arab states that descend on London each summer.
One Knightsbridge resident, who did not wish to be named, told Arab News: “The racket they make is awful, they drive their cars around here and disturb the peace. It can be very annoying at times.”
What ‘blockade’? Lavish Qatari spending in London refutes claims of inhuman sanctions
What ‘blockade’? Lavish Qatari spending in London refutes claims of inhuman sanctions
Israel says struck Hezbollah rocket launchers in south Lebanon
- Israeli military said Thursday’s strike targeted medium-range rocket launchers in the Nabatieh area
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah rocket launchers in south Lebanon on Thursday, despite a fragile ceasefire with the militant group.
The truce, which took effect on November 27, has been marked by mutual accusations of violations from both sides.
The Israeli military said Thursday’s strike targeted medium-range rocket launchers in the Nabatieh area.
Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported at least three Israeli strikes in the area.
“Prior to the strike a request was sent to the Lebanese armed forces to neutralize the launchers that posed a threat to Israeli civilians and... troops,” the military said in a statement.
“The launchers were struck only after the request was not addressed by the Lebanese armed forces.”
Under the terms of the ceasefire, the Lebanese army is to deploy alongside UN peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdraws over a 60-day period.
Hezbollah is to withdraw its forces north of the Litani River — some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle its military infrastructure in the south.
In late December, the UN peacekeeping force expressed concern at the “continuing” damage done by Israeli forces in south Lebanon.
On Thursday, the Israeli military insisted it was acting to remove any threat to Israel “in accordance with the ceasefire understandings.”
Israeli forces withdraw from Naqoura, advance into other Lebanese villages
- French foreign minister meets Berri, heads to Damascus to meet Al-Sharaa
BEIRUT: The Lebanese army was preparing to enter the southern coastal town of Naqoura on Thursday to retake its positions after observing the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area.
The army is paving the way for its redeployment by conducting an initial engineering survey of the town to remove unexploded ordnance.
This is the third withdrawal of Israeli forces from towns into which they advanced during the ground war in Lebanon launched by Israel on Oct. 1. The ceasefire agreement, effective since Nov. 27, stipulated that Israel would complete its withdrawal from the border areas it had entered within 60 days.
On Thursday, Israeli forces were seen withdrawing from neighborhoods in Naqoura toward Ras Naqoura and Alma Al-Shaab, conducting sweeps with machine guns during the retreat.
The area of Israeli incursion remains devoid of residents — under Israeli orders — until further notice.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese army prohibits citizens from returning to the towns until the army assumes control, seizes any weapons found, and dismantles any Hezbollah assets, in line with UN Resolution 1701.
The Lebanese army had repositioned in the town of Khiam about 10 days ago and in the town of Chamaa shortly before the end of the year.
Concurrently, Israeli Merkava tanks continued to shell homes in an area between the towns of Yater and Beit Lif in the Bint Jbeil district.
An Israeli patrol, reinforced with tanks and a bulldozer, advanced into the area on Thursday.
Israeli forces are still demolishing homes, bulldozing roads, and destroying facilities, rendering the border area from Naqoura in the west to Shebaa in the east an uninhabitable, scorched zone for years to come.
A security source said that “Israeli forces advanced for the first time since the start of the ground war to the outskirts of Beit Lif, where soldiers searched some homes and wooded areas.”
An Israeli unit also advanced from the town of Ramyah, while another unit, equipped with two bulldozers, moved toward the town of Majdal Zoun, simultaneously targeting homes and neighborhoods with artillery shelling.
Israeli reconnaissance planes continued to intrude into Lebanese airspace, flying at low altitude to the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Security reports indicated that Israeli forces set fire to several homes in the town of Aitaroun in the Bint Jbeil district on Wednesday night.
The secretary-general of Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said that he had given “the Lebanese state an opportunity to prove itself and take responsibility for ensuring Israel’s exit from Lebanon.”
In a speech on the first day of the new year, he affirmed that “the resistance has regained its strength,” referring to Hezbollah’s military wing.
In the same context, Hezbollah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan criticized “the daily Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement in many forms. The areas that the Israeli army could not reach during the aggression are now being accessed in many villages following the ceasefire, under the watch of the quintet committee and international public opinion,” he said.
There are 23 days left for the Israeli army to completely withdraw from the south under the agreement. However, a political observer expressed concern that “Hezbollah will be free to respond to Israeli violations after the end of the deadline, with a calculated response that does not breach Resolution 1701.”
On the political and diplomatic front, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday met with US Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, head of the supervisory committee overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire, in the presence of US Ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who is in Beirut, met with Berri and is scheduled to travel to Damascus on Friday to see Ahmad Al-Sharaa, Syria’s de facto leader, before returning to Beirut and leaving from the city’s Rafic Hariri International Airport to France.
Barrot and French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu spent New Year’s Eve with UNIFIL French contingent peacekeepers in south Lebanon. Lecornu returned to France the next day.
Ousted Syrian president Bashar Assad poisoned in Moscow — report
- Assad reportedly fell ill on Sunday in Moscow, where he has resided since fleeing Syria in early December
- Account believed to be run by former Russian spy says Assad’s condition said to be stabilized by Monday
LONDON: An assassination attempt by poisoning has been made on former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, The Sun reported.
The ousted leader reportedly fell ill on Sunday in Moscow, where he has resided since fleeing Syria in early December.
Assad, 59, requested medical help then began to “cough violently and choke,” according to online account General SVR, which is believed to be run by a former top spy in Russia.
“There is every reason to believe an assassination attempt was made,” it added.
Assad was treated in his apartment, and his condition is said to have stabilized by Monday. He was confirmed to have been poisoned by medical testing, the account said, without citing direct sources.
There has been no confirmation of the event from the Russian government.
Bashar Assad poisoned in Moscow: Report
- Ousted Syrian dictator requested medical help then began to ‘cough violently and choke’
- ‘There is every reason to believe an assassination attempt was made’
LONDON: An assassination attempt by poisoning has been made on former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, The Sun reported.
The ousted leader reportedly fell ill on Sunday in Moscow, where he has resided since fleeing Syria in early December.
Assad, 59, requested medical help then began to “cough violently and choke,” according to online account General SVR, which is believed to be run by a former top spy in Russia.
“There is every reason to believe an assassination attempt was made,” it added.
Assad was treated in his apartment, and his condition is said to have stabilized by Monday. He was confirmed to have been poisoned by medical testing, the account said, without citing direct sources.
There has been no confirmation of the event from the Russian government.
Gaza’s Islamic Jihad says Israeli hostage tried to take own life
- One of the group’s medical teams intervened and prevented him from dying
DUBAI: An Israeli hostage held by Gaza’s Islamic Jihad militant group has tried to take his own life, the spokesperson for the movement’s armed wing said in a video posted on Telegram on Thursday.
One of the group’s medical teams intervened and prevented him from dying, the Al Quds Brigades spokesperson added, without going into any more detail on the hostage’s identity or current condition.
Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Militants led by Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement killed 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage in an attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. Hamas ally Islamic Jihad also took part in the assault.
The military campaign that Israel launched in response has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians, according to health officials in the coastal enclave.
Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Hamza said the hostage had tried to take his own life three days ago due to his psychological state, without going into more details.
Abu Hamza accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of setting new conditions that had led to “the failure and delay” of negotiations for the hostage’s release.
The man had been scheduled to be released with other hostages under the conditions of the first stage of an exchange deal with Israel, Abu Hamza said. He did not specify when the man had been scheduled to be released or under which deal.
Arab mediators’ efforts, backed by the United States, have so far failed to conclude a ceasefire in Gaza, under a possible deal that would also see the release of Israeli hostages in return for the freedom of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
Islamic Jihad’s armed wing had issued a decision to tighten the security and safety measures for the hostages, Abu Hamza added.
In July, Islamic Jihad’s armed wing said some Israeli hostages had tried to kill themselves after it started treating them in what it said was the same way that Israel treated Palestinian prisoners.
“We will keep treating Israeli hostages the same way Israel treats our prisoners,” Abu Hamza said at that time. Israel has dismissed accusations that it mistreats Palestinian prisoners.
