Arab region prepares for prompt COVID-19 vaccine distribution

A handout image provided by Emirates News Agency on July 16, 2020 shows Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Hamed, chairman of Department of Health, undergoing a clinical trial for the third phase of the inactive vaccine for COVID-19 in Abu Dhabi. (AFP/File Photo)
Short Url
Updated 17 November 2020
Follow

Arab region prepares for prompt COVID-19 vaccine distribution

  • Behind-the-scenes negotiations under way to buy a working vaccine as soon as it becomes available
  • Governments, manufacturers, NGOs and philanthropist groups expected to play important roles

DUBAI: As scientists and drug companies race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, extensive efforts are going on at many different levels to battle the pandemic.

What has mainly grabbed the headlines so far are efforts by pharmaceutical laboratories to come up with successful treatment options, vaccines in particular. Behind the scenes, complex negotiations are under way to buy a working vaccine as soon as it becomes available, according to experts.

Several countries, including some in the Middle East, are involved in talks with leading companies and research institutes engaged in various phases of trials.

The World Health Organization (WHO), meanwhile, is engaged in preparatory talks with countries on ways of ensuring prompt and fair distribution once a vaccine becomes available.

Should ongoing efforts succeed over the next few months, experts say, they would be the quickest in the history of vaccines.

All phases of vaccine trials are on the “fast track,” according to Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar, head of the Infectious Hazard Management Unit at WHO’s regional office in Cairo.

0 seconds of 55 secondsVolume 90%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:55
00:55
 
(Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar, head of Infectious Hazard Management Unit at WHO’s Cairo office)

 

“There are three or four vaccines in Phase III trials, and we might be able to get one by the end of the year, or the beginning of next year,” he told Arab News. “That is really very fast compared to the normal procedure with vaccines, which normally take 18 months or longer.”

Where are we on a COVID-19 vaccine? Consultant Khawla Abu-Izza explains the progress made

Moderna (a US company), in collaboration with the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services: This is the most advanced vaccine candidate in the US. It uses the relatively new mRNA (a nucleic acid) technology, which has not been introduced in commercially available vaccines. As the manufacturing process is not difficult, it may be easier to scale up production compared to conventional methods.

BioNTEch (a German company) in collaboration with Pfizer: This vaccine candidate also uses mRNA technology similar to Moderna’s. The study was initiated in the US and aims to enroll 30,000 subjects globally. The company says results will be available for regulatory review and potential approval as early as October 2020. If this is true, there has likely been an agreement with the FDA on an interim point to evaluate data from a smaller number of subjects (e.g. the first 1,000 subjects) while the study is still ongoing. This could potentially provide the basis for early conditional approval. Full approval would be granted only after the study is completed and the full NDA is submitted and reviewed.

AstraZeneca in collaboration with Oxford University (UK): This vaccine candidate uses a different technology called viral vector. This technology has a precedent in at least one approved vaccine. Phase III study is enrolling subjects in India.

Sinovac: This is the company developing the most advanced vaccine in China. Phase III clinical trials are being conducted globally. Sinovac is probably ahead of Western companies because it started earlier. Sinovac uses a well-established “conventional” vaccine technology (inactivated virus) and can be implemented in existing manufacturing facilities. However, it may prove more challenging to manufacture at a very large scale because it requires an actual virus (the virus is produced and deactivated in a way that renders it non-infectious but still able to trigger the production of antibodies).

Research is being fast-tracked for many reasons. “The burden of COVID-19 on both the social and economic fields is significant. We have not seen such a thing before,” Abubakar said. “Secondly, there is a political commitment, and, third, so much funding. Governments are actually pouring resources into the vaccine development and that is what makes the difference.”

Based on a protocol agreed by the international community, WHO is playing a “major role” in coordinating efforts of different groups, starting from registering their initiatives to producing a vaccine, according to Abubakar. “At the end of the day, we don’t want to come up with a vaccine that does not follow international standards and guidelines.”

WHO is organizing periodical meetings on COVID-19 vaccine trials, drugs and diagnostic tools, and offers a database and platform for all involved companies and entities, he explained.

More than 170 companies are in the vaccine race, including nearly 135 in the pre-clinical trials phase, 30 in the first two phases, and six in the third phase. Companies from Taiwan and India have recently joined the fray.

FASTFACTS

Arab countries in vaccine deals

* Saudi Arabia has agreed to play a key role in the development of a Russian vaccine as part of a Phase III study expected to begin in August.

* Kuwait has reached an agreement with Gavi to provide the country with 800,000 doses.

* The UAE has reached an agreement with a Chinese firm to be part of a Phase III study on its vaccine.

* Oman is negotiating with Gavi to obtain 700,000 doses once a vaccine is announced and produced.

* Egypt has signed a deal with AstraZeneca to receive an unannounced number of doses.

The third phase usually takes longer and typically ranges between one to several years because of the high number of volunteers, usually in the tens of thousands, and the several tests involved. Volunteers are randomly assigned to take either the vaccine or a placebo — a “fake” vaccine that could be just saline or a sterile buffer in an injection.

Both groups of subjects are continuously tested for antibodies and checked for any side effects, according to Khawla Abu-Izza, owner of Bayview CMC Consulting in Berkeley, California.

Phase III trials will also determine the duration of the protection the vaccine will offer, the Arab-American consultant told Arab News.

“If the subjects who took the vaccine are more protected for the first couple of months, but at four or six months we don’t see a difference between those on the active and those on the placebo, that means the protection is only short-lived,” she said.

The companies at the forefront of COVID-19 vaccine development include Moderna (US), BioNTech (Germany) in collaboration with Pfizer (American/Multinational), AstraZeneca in collaboration with Oxford University (UK), and Sinova (China). The first three announced phase III trials in July, after the Chinese company.

“It is difficult to predict which one will make it to the finish line first, but it’s almost certain that companies have agreements with regulatory agencies on interim early analysis of partial data well before completion of the entire study,” Khawla said.




Jose Muniz prepares a COVID-19 vaccination at Research Centers of America on August 07, 2020 in Hollywood, Florida. (AFP)

This means major regulatory bodies, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency, could allow a shortening of the review period to a few months or to grant “conditional approval” as soon as they see “clinical results” without waiting for the full new drug application (NDA) to be submitted.

Since the search for drugs to treat COVID-19 requires fewer studies and because of the smaller size of clinical studies and shorter treatment or observation periods, Khawla said, “We may see more drugs approved for the treatment of COVID-19 before we see a successful approved vaccine.”

Another “most likely” scenario, according to her, is that more than one vaccine will be approved back to back.

“Vaccine companies will have more than one manufacturing site. Typically, it’s two sites; one in North America and one in Europe, or one in a Western country and another in Asia (China, India or Korea),” she said. “Japan typically likes to have drugs and vaccines for the local market manufactured within the country. So, companies try to find Japanese manufacturing partners. The same is true for China, but in this case, China is developing its own vaccine and may not need any US- or EU-developed vaccines.”

Questions such as how much the companies can produce and who would be the first recipients will become important, as manufacturers cannot cover the needs of the world’s 7 billion people at once. Depending on the number of production lines, experts say the optimistic scenario is between 240 million and 400 million doses a year in the early stages.

“I could see 50 percent of the production reserved for the countries developing the vaccine,” Belal Zuiter, senior consultant at Cambridge Pharma Consultancy in London, told Arab News. Countries severely affected by COVID-19 and those containing vulnerable groups can be expected to receive priority, Zuiter said, adding that Arab countries would not necessarily be low on the priority list.

0 seconds of 55 secondsVolume 90%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:55
00:55
 
(Belal Zuiter, senior consultant at Cambridge Pharma Consultancy)

 

Many nations, including Arab countries with strong relations with potential producer states, have begun talks on obtaining the vaccine. “I know that most ministries of health have had talks with Moderna and AstraZeneca to book their quantities,” Zuiter said. “I think the Arab world will have enough doses within the first two or three months after a vaccine is produced.”

COVAX and Arab countries

Several Arab countries have joined scores of others officially expressing their interest in participating in the COVAX facility, described as an “insurance policy” to access COVID-19 vaccines. The mechanism is designed to guarantee rapid, fair, and equitable access to the world’s largest and most-diverse vaccine portfolio.

Once a vaccine has been approved by regulatory agencies and/or prequalified by WHO, the COVAX facility will then purchase these vaccines to try and initially provide doses for an average of 20 percent of each country’s population, focusing on healthcare workers and the most vulnerable groups, Gavi’s website says.

The goal is to deliver 2 billion doses by the end of 2021. According to the latest WHO estimates, more than 16.5 million people have been infected by COVID-19 and over 655,000 people have died from the virus. In the Eastern Mediterranean regional office of WHO, which includes the Arab countries and Iran and Afghanistan, latest figures show that there were 1,620,439 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 42,701 deaths, and 1,353,859 recovered cases in the countries for which it is responsible.

- Low-income participants in COVAX: Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
- Lower-middle-income participants in COVAX: Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, West Bank and Gaza.
- Countries that have expressed in writing their interest in Gavi’s COVAX facility and agreed to be named publicly: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon and Qatar.

While governments will be responsible for distributing the vaccine, manufacturers, NGOs and philanthropist groups will have important roles to play. “There are two big groups (working with WHO), Gavi and CEPI,” Abubakar told Arab News. “Our three organizations are working together not only to coordinate the production of an effective vaccine, but also to ensure equitable distribution.”

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a public-private partnership established in 2000 to help vaccinate half of the world’s children. Among its members are developing and donor countries, the World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, is a partnership between public, private, philanthropic and civil organizations launched at Davos in 2017 to develop vaccines and stop epidemics.

WHO, Gavi and CEPI established COVAX, a facilitation mechanism for countries, producers, manufacturers and users, according to Abubakar. While some countries can engage directly with the manufacturers, others cannot because of lack of cash. COVAX handles negotiations with manufacturers. He said discussions over prices have already started between potential producers and low- and middle-income countries.




A nurse shows a COVID-19 vaccine produced by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech at the Sao Lucas Hospital, in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil on August 08, 2020. (AFP)

“The idea behind COVAX is just to make sure all countries, whether rich or middle-income or low-income, will be able to access at least enough supplies of the vaccine for priority groups,” he told Arab News.

WHO is helping governments to prepare the regulatory groundwork for the vaccine and to put in place policies and necessary systems for widespread distribution.

“Remember, this vaccine is not for everyone, priority will be given to high-risk groups,” Abubakar said.

------------------------------------

Twitter: @jumanaaltamimi


Algeria ‘regrets’ Britain backing Morocco autonomy plan for W.Sahara

Updated 17 sec ago
Follow

Algeria ‘regrets’ Britain backing Morocco autonomy plan for W.Sahara

  • “Algeria regrets the choice made by the United Kingdom to support to the Moroccan autonomy plan

ALGIERS: Algeria’s foreign ministry said it “regrets” Britain’s decision on Sunday to support Morocco’s automony plan for the disputed territory of Western Sahara, overturning a decades-long policy in favor of self-determination.
“Algeria regrets the choice made by the United Kingdom to support to the Moroccan autonomy plan. In 18 years of existence, this plan has never been submitted to the Sahrawis as a basis for negotiation, nor has it ever been taken seriously by the successive UN envoys,” the ministry said in a statement.
 

 


Egypt’s foreign minister urges end to Israeli war in Gaza during call with Witkoff

Updated 30 min 11 sec ago
Follow

Egypt’s foreign minister urges end to Israeli war in Gaza during call with Witkoff

  • Badr Abdelatty emphasized that a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict requires a comprehensive political settlement
  • He said alleviating the humanitarian suffering in Gaza must be a priority for the international community

LONDON: Egypt's Foreign Minister, Badr Abdelatty, stressed the urgent need for an immediate cessation of Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip during a phone call with Steve Witkoff, the US President's Special Envoy to the Middle East.

Abdelatty emphasized that alleviating the humanitarian suffering in the Palestinian coastal enclave must be a priority for the international community and called for unconditional access to humanitarian aid.

He emphasized that a just and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict requires a comprehensive political settlement that aligns with President Trump's vision for sustainable peace in the Middle East, the Emirates News Agency reported.

Abdelatty was a member of the Ministerial Committee designated by the Joint Extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit on Gaza, which Israel prevented from visiting the occupied West Bank on Sunday to meet with Palestinian officials in Ramallah.

Arab ministers from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, and Egypt, along with the Secretary-General of the Arab League, condemned what they described as the "arrogant" decision by Israel to block their visit and its rejection of any peace efforts.


Is Iraq ready to stand alone against extremist threats if US withdrawal goes ahead?

Updated 11 min 42 sec ago
Follow

Is Iraq ready to stand alone against extremist threats if US withdrawal goes ahead?

  • Decades of training and investment have improved security forces, but critical capability gaps remain
  • Analysts warn premature pullout could erase progress against extremism and empower armed groups

LONDON: When Daesh extremists seized control of swathes of Iraqi territory in 2014, many wondered whether the onslaught could have been prevented had US troops not withdrawn from the country three years earlier.

As the militants surged into Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, there were reports of members of the Iraqi Security Forces stripping off their uniforms as they fled.

“We can’t beat them,” an unnamed army officer told Reuters amid the chaos. “They are well-trained in street fighting, and we’re not. We need a whole army to drive them out of Mosul.”

After three years of fierce fighting that took Daesh within 25 kilometers of the capital, Baghdad, the extremists were finally driven back and Mosul was liberated.

The gargantuan military effort was spearheaded by Iraq’s elite Counter Terrorism Service, bolstered by the return of American troops and the US Air Force.

Crack troops of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Services (CTS) advance in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighborhood on May 12, 2017 during an offensive to retake the area from Daesh jihadis. (AFP)

Images of the destruction in Mosul, along with the catastrophic impact of Daesh’s occupation, might be playing on the minds of Washington officials as they once again weigh whether or not to remove American troops still stationed in Iraq.

As it stands, the US and Iraq have agreed to end Operation Inherent Resolve — the US-led coalition’s mission to combat Daesh — by September. Most of the 2,500 US personnel in Iraq are scheduled to leave in the initial phase, with a small number remaining until 2026.

Many believe US President Donald Trump, acting under his isolationist tendencies, will want to hasten the withdrawal of those forces, or is unlikely to extend their stay if the Iraqi government requests it.

With reports of an increase in attacks by Daesh sleeper cells, fears of instability across the border in Syria, and with Iran looking to shore up its proxy militias in Iraq, there are concerns that another complete US withdrawal will once again leave the country vulnerable.

“The risk of premature withdrawal from Iraq is that the Iraqi Security Forces will lose critical operational and tactical support, and Daesh will seize the opportunity to reconstitute and once again terrorize the Iraqi people and state,” Dana Stroul, research director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former Pentagon official, told Arab News.

The mooted withdrawal of US troops comes more than 20 years after the US-led invasion of Iraq toppled Saddam Hussain, freeing the country from dictatorship, but ushering in a period of sectarian civil war.

File photo showing US soldiers near an Iraqi army base on the outskirts of Mosul during the fight against Daesh militants on November 23, 2016. (AFP)

US forces were drawn into cycles of violence and routinely became the target of two mutually antagonistic sectarian forces: Iran-backed militias and an insurgency in which Al-Qaeda played a prominent role.

When President Barack Obama took office in 2009, he vowed to end US involvement in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but not without first ordering a massive troop surge in an attempt to salvage the mission.

In Iraq, where more than 100,000 people were estimated to have died in the violence, there was widespread public anger at the American presence. In the US, the war was also deeply unpopular with thousands of American soldiers having been killed.

Some American and Iraqi officials wanted to maintain a US military presence in the country, fearful of an Al-Qaeda resurgence. But attempts to negotiate an agreement for a reduced force failed and in October 2011 Obama announced that all of the remaining 39,000 US troops would be withdrawn by the end of that year, bringing a close to the mission.

The US spent $25 billion on training and equipping Iraq’s security forces up to September 2012, alongside Iraq’s own spending on fighter jets and other advanced materiel. So it was something of a surprise that Iraqi forces were so quickly overrun when Daesh launched its offensive in 2014, having emerged from the remnants of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Images of Daesh fighters driving around in US armored vehicles captured from the Iraqi military symbolized how quickly Iraq’s armed forces had deteriorated since the 2011 withdrawal.

An image grab taken from a propaganda video released on March 17, 2014 by the Daesh's al-Furqan Media militants with their flag as they stand on a captured armored vehicle in Iraq’s Anbar province. (AFP/File)

As the extent of Daesh’s brutality began to emerge, including the slaughter of the Yazidi minority and the beheading of Western hostages on YouTube, the US ordered its forces back to the region, as part of an international coalition, to fight the extremists in both Iraq and Syria.

After some of the most brutal urban warfare seen since the Second World War, Iraq’s then-prime minister, Haider Al-Abadi, declared the territorial defeat of Daesh in December 2017. US forces continued to help their allies in Syria to defeat the extremists there in March 2019.

By December 2021, US forces in Iraq no longer held combat roles, instead working on training, advisory, and intelligence support for the country’s military. The remaining 2,500 US troops are spread between Baghdad, Irbil in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, and Ain Al-Asad air base.

However, soon after Al-Abadi’s declaration of victory over the extremists, a new threat emerged in Iraq in the shape of Iran-backed militias, originally mobilized to help defeat Daesh. Having extended their reach over Sunni and Kurdish areas, these groups began attacking US bases with rockets and drones in a bid to force their immediate withdrawal.

Members of the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces) paramilitary unit take part in a parade in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on December 10, 2024, to mark the nation’s victory against Daesh militants. (AFP)

These attacks, sponsored by Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, prompted President Trump, during his first term, to order the killing of militia chief Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis and Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike on their motorcade as they left Baghdad Airport on Jan. 3, 2020.

Soleimani’s death was a major setback for Iran’s proxies throughout the region, but the attacks on US positions did not subside. In fact, with the onset of the war in Gaza in October 2023, Iraq’s Shiite militias mounted a fresh wave of strikes, ostensibly in support of Hamas.

The deadliest of these occurred on Jan. 28, 2024, when three US personnel were killed and 47 wounded in a drone attack on Tower 22 just over the border in Jordan, prompting then-US president, Joe Biden, to order a wave of airstrikes on militia positions in Iraq.

Mindful of the need to protect its proxies in Iraq, at a time where Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis have been weakened and the sympathetic Assad regime in Syria has fallen, Iran appears to have forsworn further militia strikes on US forces.

This picture taken on January 8, 2022, shows Iraqi Shiites commemorating the second anniversary of the killing of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (posters) in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. (AFP)

The latest agreement to end the US presence was reached in September last year with the aim of moving to a fully bilateral security partnership in 2026.

Meanwhile, the US Defense Department announced in April it would be halving the number of troops in northeast Syria “in the coming months.”

An indication of Trump’s aversion to the continued US military presence came during a speech in Saudi Arabia while on his tour of the Gulf in May when he decried “Western interventionists.”

A clear concern surrounding a US withdrawal is whether Iraq’s security forces are now strong enough to withstand threats like the 2014 Daesh assault. The disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 is also no doubt fresh in the minds of defense officials.

A recent report by the New Lines Institute think tank in New York said that a US withdrawal from Iraq would “heavily impede the intelligence and reconnaissance collection, artillery, and command-and-control capabilities of Iraqi military forces.”

The report studied quarterly independent audits for the US Congress between 2019 and 2024 to assess the capabilities of Iraqi forces. It looked at the three main forces in Iraq: the Iraqi Security Forces, Counter Terrorism Service, and the Kurdish Peshmerga.

The report said: “While segments of Iraq’s military, such as the CTS and Kurdish security forces, have proven efficient in counterterrorism operations, several gaps exist in Iraq’s conventional capabilities, including artillery, command and control, inter- and intra-branch planning, and trust.”

In this photo taken on October 20, 2016, Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters fire a multiple rocket launcher at a Daesh position near the town of Bashiqa, Iraq. Analysts fear that while segments of Iraq’s military, such as the CTS and Kurdish security forces called Peshmerga, have proven effective in the fight against Daesh, there are plenty of gaps in Iraq's national defense capabilities. (AFP)

The think tank said there were serious questions about whether Iraq’s security forces would be able to “hedge against internal and external challenges” in the absence of the US security umbrella.

The report’s co-author Caroline Rose, a director at New Lines, says the gaps in Iraqi capabilities “could reverse over a decade of progress that Operation Inherent Resolve has made in Iraq.”

“If the objective is still to advance Iraqi forces’ operational capacity, sustain gains against Daesh, and serve as a ‘hedge’ against Iranian influence, there is work still to be done,” she told Arab News.

While Iraq has enjoyed a period of relative stability, the threats to its national security continue to lurk within and beyond its borders.

The biggest fear is of a Daesh resurgence. Although the group has been severely depleted, it continues to operate cells in rural areas of Iraq and Syria, and has since made headway in Afghanistan, the Sahel, and beyond.

“Since January, the US military is still actively supporting the Iraqis,” said the Washington Institute’s Stroul. “There have been monthly operations against Daesh, including the killing of a senior leader in western Iraq. This tells us that Daesh is still a threat, and the US support mission is still necessary.”

's Security analysts have warned that the huge number of Daesh prisoners in northeast Syria posses a threat to the region in case they break out. (AFP)

Another concern is that instability in Syria, where the embryonic, post-Assad government is facing significant security challenges, could again provide a breeding ground for Daesh that could spill across the border.

“There are still 9,000 Daesh detainees held in prison camps in northeast Syria,” said Stroul, adding that these present “a real risk of prison breaks that will replenish Daesh ranks and destabilize Syria, Iraq, and the rest of the region. If the security situation deteriorates in Syria, this will have seriously negative impacts in Iraq.”

And then there is the ongoing threat posed by Iran-backed militias. While these militias have been officially recognized as part of Iraq’s security apparatus, some believe the US presence in Iraq helps keep them — and, by extension, Iran — in check.

“The staging of US forces and equipment, combined with a deep Iraqi dependence on American technical and advisory support, creates an obstacle and point of distraction for Tehran and its proxies,” Rose said.

If the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq is inevitable, then how can Washington best prepare Iraq to go it alone?

For Rose, the US should play a “long game” to sustain security ties with Iraq and preserve the progress made under Operation Inherent Resolve.

She recommended the US continue investing in Iraq’s defense and security, conducting regular joint military exercises, and using its current presence in Irbil and Baghdad to build strong relations with security officials.

She also advised other international bodies, like the NATO Mission-Iraq and the EU Advisory Mission Iraq, to coordinate closely with the US as the drawdown gets underway.

This photo taken on December 9, 2021, shows Iraqi and NATO military officials at a press briefing after a meeting on the continuing campaign against Daesh at the Joint Operations Center in Baghdad. (AFP)

Although the US appears set on pivoting away from the region to focus strategic attention on the Asia-Pacific, some still hope there could be a way for America to maintain some form of military presence, given the rapidly evolving situation in the wider Middle East.

Reports earlier this year suggested some senior Iraqi politicians aligned with Iran privately want a US presence to continue, at least until ongoing US-Iran nuclear talks reach a conclusion.

“The US military mission is one of support, advice, and assistance by mutual consent of Baghdad and Washington,” Stroul, of the Washington Institute, said. “If the Iraqi government invites the US military to remain for some period of time, there should be agreement on the supporting role that the US can play.”

If Iraq hopes to maintain lasting stability, it needs to ensure its security forces can act alone to protect the country and population from internal and external threats.

Continuing to work with the world’s foremost military power, even in a limited capacity, would go some way to ensuring the horrors of 2014 are not repeated.
 

 


Egypt unveils plan for new desert city in latest megaproject

Updated 01 June 2025
Follow

Egypt unveils plan for new desert city in latest megaproject

  • The new city, named Jirian, meaning “Flow” in Arabic, is part of Egypt’s Nile Delta scheme, a massive agricultural initiative to reclaim about 2.5 million acres west of the original Nile Delta

CAIRO: Egypt has unveiled plans for a vast new urban development west of Cairo where a man-made channel of the River Nile will eventually wind through what was once arid desert.

The new city, named Jirian, meaning “Flow” in Arabic, is part of Egypt’s Nile Delta scheme, a massive agricultural initiative to reclaim about 2.5 million acres west of the original Nile Delta.

The ambitious agricultural project, which started in 2021, seeks to boost production of strategic crops such as wheat and corn while reducing the North African country’s food import bill.

The project is the latest in a string of megaprojects launched by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in recent years, including a new administrative capital east of Cairo.

While officials say these projects are key to Egypt’s long-term growth, they have also contributed to the country’s soaring foreign debt, which quadrupled since 2015 to reach $155.2 billion by late 2024.

The country has also received billions of dollars from the International Monetary Fund and the EU to ensure its financial stability, with the EU pledging billions more last month.

At a launch event on Sunday, Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli called the Jirian project “an urban and development revolution.”

He added that it would create 250,000 jobs and serve as the cornerstone of a wider development zone equivalent in size to four to five governorates.

“We are talking about full-spectrum development,” he told reporters, describing a sprawling urban zone that will include industry, logistics hubs, and homes for “between 2.5 and 3 million families.”

The government did not disclose the project’s total cost, which is being developed in partnership with three major Egyptian real estate firms.

The new Nile Delta project comes at a time when Egypt is already under pressure to secure its water future.

With 97 percent of its fresh water sourced from the Nile, the country has been locked in a years-long dispute with Addis Ababa over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Cairo fears could reduce downstream water flows.


Israel army says intercepts Yemen missile after air raid sirens sound

Updated 01 June 2025
Follow

Israel army says intercepts Yemen missile after air raid sirens sound

  • Yemen’s Houthi insurgents later claimed to have fired a 'ballistic missile' at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen on Sunday after air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem and other cities.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted,” the army said in a statement.
Yemen’s Houthi insurgents later claimed to have fired a “ballistic missile” at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport.
The group’s military spokesman Yehya Saree said three drones were also launched at Israel.
The Iran-backed group has repeatedly launched missiles and drones at Israel since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023 with Palestinian militant group Hamas’s attack on Israel.
Almost all of the projectiles have been intercepted.
Sunday’s interception followed another reported attack on Thursday claimed by the Yemeni militants.
The Houthis, who say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians, paused their attacks during a two-month Gaza ceasefire that ended in March, but began again after Israel resumed its military campaign in the territory.
While most of the projectiles have been intercepted, one missile fired in early May hit inside the perimeter of Ben Gurion airport for the first time.
Israel has carried out several strikes in Yemen in retaliation for the attacks, including on ports and the airport in the capital Sanaa.