DUBAI: The first Middle East SALT conference — the global thought leadership platform run by former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci — kicks off in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Some 1,000 leaders from the worlds of investment, finance and policymaking will gather at the city’s financial hub, the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), for the two-day event, billed as a “Davos style” forum intended to “foster collaboration at the intersection of finance, technology and geopolitics.”
Scaramucci, who launched the event in 2009 under the auspices of his investment business Skybridge Alternatives, told Arab News that there will be a “phenomenal group of people” at the event, which combines onstage presentations, one-to-one “bilaterals” and networking for some of the leading business and technology thinkers in the world.
“It’s through conversations like these that we can create greater cross-cultural understanding and begin to solve the world’s most pressing problems,” he said.
The big annual meeting is held in Last Vegas each year, but spin-off events have been held in Tokyo and Singapore.
The event will have a strongly regional flavor, with Saudi Prince Turki Al-Faisal, chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, being joined by ADGM Chairman Ahmed Al-Sayegh and Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, managing director and group CEO of the Mubadala Investment Co., both of the UAE.
Al-Sayegh said: “The UAE’s robust economic environment, comprehensive industry offerings and sound political stability continue to uphold the nation’s stature as one of the most preferred investment destinations in the world.”
He added: “The SALT Abu Dhabi conference opens up a new window for global businesses and policymakers to gain new insights of what Abu Dhabi and the UAE have to offer now and in the long term.”
Among the foreign thought leaders attending the event are Gen. John F Kelly, former White House chief of staff, and Matteo Renzi, former prime minister of Italy.
“The future of US-Arab relations” will be the topic of a panel discussion on Monday. The session, to be moderated by Arab News Editor in Chief Faisal J. Abbas, will feature Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations; Norman Roule, CEO of Pharos Strategic Consulting LLC; and Dania Koleilat Khatib, affiliated scholar at the Issam Fares Institute.
On the same day, another panel discussion — featuring Renzi and Phillip Hammond, former chancellor of the British Exchequer, and moderated by Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs commentator at the Financial Times — will address “the future of Europe.”
The delegates will be keen to hear Scaramucci’s latest view on the political situation in the US.
He has been one of the fiercest critics of the presidency of Donald Trump, and is leading a campaign to persuade other members of the Republican Party to choose another contender for next year’s presidential election.
“Given his rank lawlessness and criminal activity, the lack of resistance in the Republican Party to him tells you a lot about the hypocrisy in America today,” Scaramucci said.
“He has clearly broken the law, but he has a group of sycophants and acolytes who won’t condemn what he’s doing,” he added.
“I just think he’s the wrong leader for the US. Our system is supposed to ensure that everyone is subject to the law. The president is supposed to serve, not rule. I think the guy is a traitor.”
SALT Abu Dhabi: Where finance, technology, geopolitics meet
https://arab.news/gu3q9
SALT Abu Dhabi: Where finance, technology, geopolitics meet
- Conference run by ex-White House communications chief Anthony Scaramucci comes to the Middle East
- Platform aims to arrange conversations that can create greater cross-cultural understanding
Iraq ministry says two border guards killed by PKK fire
The two guards were killed and a third wounded
IRBIL, Iraq: A shooting which officials blamed on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed two Iraqi border guards on Friday near the Turkish boundary in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, Iraq’s interior ministry said.
The PKK, which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state, has several positions in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, which also hosts Turkish military bases used to strike Kurdish insurgents.
“When the Iraqi border forces were carrying out their duties securing the Iraqi-Turkish border... they were fired at by terrorists from the banned PKK organization” in Zakho district, the interior ministry said in a statement.
The two guards were killed and a third wounded, it added.
A border guard official told AFP that the guards were patrolling a village near the Turkish border when the “shooting and clashes” with the PKK took place.
Baghdad deploys federal guards along its border with Turkiye in coordination with the government of the Kurdistan region and its forces, the peshmerga.
The Iraqi federal authorities in Baghdad have recently sharpened their tone against the PKK. Last year, Baghdad quietly listed the group as a “banned organization” — though Ankara demands that the Iraqi government do more in the fight against the militant group.
Ankara along with the United States deems the PKK a “terrorist” organization.
Türkiye has conducted hundreds of strikes against PKK fighters in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.
Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon will last beyond 60 days, Netanyahu’s office says
- There was no immediate comment from Lebanon or Hezbollah
JERUSALEM: The Israeli army will not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by a Monday deadline, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday, saying Lebanon has not yet fully enforced the ceasefire agreement.
The deal, brokered by the United States and France, ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah. The fighting peaked with a major Israeli offensive that displaced more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon and left Hezbollah severely weakened.
Under the agreement, which came into effect on Nov. 27, Hezbollah weapons and fighters must be removed from areas south of the Litani river and Israeli troops should withdraw as the Lebanese military deploys into the region, all within a 60-day timeframe due to conclude on Monday at 4 a.m. (0200 GMT).
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the Israeli military’s withdrawal process was “contingent on the Lebanese army deploying in southern Lebanon and fully and effectively enforcing the agreement, while Hezbollah withdraws beyond the Litani.”
“Since the ceasefire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state, the gradual withdrawal process will continue, in full coordination with the United States,” the statement said.
There was no immediate comment from Lebanon or Hezbollah.
UN suspends all trips into Houthi-held areas of Yemen over staffers being detained
- The statement comes after the Houthis detained UN staffers
DUBAI: The United Nations on Friday suspended all travel into areas held by Yemen’s Houthi rebels after more of their staff were detained by the rebels.
The statement comes after the Houthis detained UN staffers, as well as individuals associated with the once-open US Embassy in Sanaa and aid groups.
“Yesterday, the de facto authorities in Sanaa detained additional UN personnel working in areas under their control,” the UN statement read. “To ensure the security and safety of all its staff, the United Nations has suspended all official movements into and within areas under the de facto authorities’ control.”
The Houthis did not immediately acknowledge the UN’s decision, which came as they have been trying to deescalate their attacks on shipping and Israel after a ceasefire was reached in the Israel-Hamas war.
US President Donald Trump separately has moved to reinstate a terrorism designation he made on the group late in his first term that had been revoked by President Joe Biden, potentially setting the stage for new tensions with the rebels.
The Houthis earlier this week said they would limit their attacks on ships in the Red Sea corridor and released the 25-member crew of the Galaxy Leader, a ship they seized back in November 2023.
Israel building military installations in Golan demilitarized zone
- UN: Israeli construction along Area of Separation is ‘severe violation’ of 1974 ceasefire agreement
- Israeli forces have been operating in southern Syria since fall of Assad regime in December
LONDON: The Israeli military is building installations in the demilitarized zone between the occupied Golan Heights and Syria, satellite images published by the BBC have revealed.
Israeli forces moved into the Area of Separation agreed in the 1974 ceasefire with Syria, crossing the so-called Alpha Line following the fall of the Assad regime in December.
The satellite images, taken on Tuesday, show construction work and trucks around 600 meters inside the Area of Separation, including a track linking the site to another Israeli-administered road in the area.
Footage obtained by a drone operated by a Syrian journalist on Monday also identified excavators and bulldozers at the location.
The Israeli military told the BBC that its “forces are operating in southern Syria, within the buffer zone and at strategic points, to protect the residents of northern Israel.”
The UN Disengagement Observer Force has said Israeli construction along the Area of Separation is “a severe violation” of the 1974 ceasefire agreement.
Jeremy Binnie, Middle East specialist at defense intelligence company Janes, told the BBC: “The photo shows what appear to be four prefabricated guard posts that they will presumably crane into position in the corners, so this is somewhere they are planning to maintain at least an interim presence.”
It is not the first time that the BBC has identified Israeli forces inside the Area of Separation. Soldiers were spotted near the town of Majdal Shams, around 5.5 km from the new site, while satellite pictures taken in November found a trench being dug by Israeli personnel along the Alpha Line near the town of Jubata Al-Khashab.
Hamas says to provide names of 4 Israeli hostages on Friday for next swap
- Four Israeli women hostages to be freed on Saturday as part of a second release
- Hamas has not released definitive information on how many captives are still alive or the names of those who have died
CAIRO: A senior Hamas official told AFP that his group will provide on Friday the names of four Israeli women hostages to be freed the following day as part of a second release under the ceasefire with Israel.
“Today, Hamas will provide the names of four hostages as part of the second prisoner exchange,” said Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau based in Doha.
“Tomorrow, Saturday, the four women hostages will be released in exchange for a group of Palestinian prisoners, as agreed upon in the ceasefire deal.”
Naim also said that once the exchange takes place, war-displaced Palestinians in southern Gaza will be able to begin returning to the north of the territory.
“An Egyptian-Qatari committee will oversee the implementation of this part of the agreement on the ground,” he said.
“The displaced will return from the south to the north via Al-Rashid Road, as Israeli forces are expected to withdraw from there in accordance with the agreement.”
The ceasefire agreement was brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States after months of intense negotiations.
The truce, the second in the more than 15 months of war, began on Sunday, with the first three hostages released in exchange for around 90 Palestinian prisoners.
The war between Hamas and Israel broke out after the militants’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
During the attack, militants took 251 hostages, 91 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are deceased.
The first truce, implemented in late November 2023, lasted just one week but involved the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Since then, Israel’s retaliatory response has killed at least 47,283 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, figures which the UN considers are reliable.
