Arab coalition intercepts, destroys Houthi drones targeting Saudi Arabia

Earlier on Thursday, the coalition also intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by Houthis towards Jazan. (File/AFP)
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Updated 06 March 2021
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Arab coalition intercepts, destroys Houthi drones targeting Saudi Arabia

  • The UAE condemned the attempts of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia to target civilians in Khamis Mushait

DUBAI: The Arab coalition intercepted and destroyed six Houthi drones targeting Saudi Arabia’s Khamis Mushait on Friday, state news agency SPA reported.
Spokesman Col Turki Al-Maliki said the militia’s attempts to attack civilians in a deliberate and systematic manner constitute war crimes.

He added that the coalition implements the necessary measures to protect civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law and its customary rules.

The UAE condemned the attempts of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia to target civilians in Khamis Mushait.
The foreign ministry confirmed that the continuation of these attacks in recent times is a dangerous escalation, and proves the militia’s efforts to undermine security and stability in the region.
The Ministry further renewed the UAE’s full solidarity with the Kingdom and supporting it in all the measures it takes to preserve its security and the safety of its citizens and residents.

Earlier on Thursday, the coalition also intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by Houthis towards Jazan.
The attack on Jazan comes days after the coalition thwarted a ballistic missile attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis on the Saudi capital Riyadh, and destroyed six armed drones launched towards cities in the Kingdom’s south.
The Kingdom has seen an increase in attacks by the militia after a Houthi attack on the Kingdom’s Abha International airport in February.

Yemen’s Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak condemned recent attacks by the Houthis, saying that they hindered the peace process and blamed Iran for the ongoing crisis in the country.
“The Iranian interventions have become a formidable obstruction to peace as Iran has turned the Yemeni conflict into a negotiating card that Iranian regime capitalizes on to serve its nuclear negotiations,” he said.


French, Saudi officials meet in Paris to advance AlUla development initiative

Updated 5 min 54 sec ago
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French, Saudi officials meet in Paris to advance AlUla development initiative

  • Focus of discussions was on assessing state of Franco-Saudi partnership and defining future direction for AlUla’s development

PARIS: French and Saudi officials gathered in Paris on Friday at the French foreign ministry for discussions about advancing the AlUla development initiative.

The AlUla Committee, a joint initiative established under an intergovernmental agreement signed in April 2018, is the coordinating body for a range of ambitious projects being carried out by the Kingdom and France.

The projects focus on cultural preservation, tourism enhancement, economic growth, and environmental sustainability in Saudi Arabia’s AlUla region. The committee’s mandate includes overseeing the implementation and monitoring of the comprehensive 2018 accord, aimed at fostering broad-based progress in the area.

The French delegation at the meeting included senior figures from the ministries of European affairs and foreign relations, economy, and culture.

On the Saudi side, high-ranking officials from the culture, foreign, and investment ministries participated, along with representatives such as the president of the French Agency for AlUla Development (AFALULA) and the chairperson of the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU).

French ministers Jean-Noel Barrot and Rachida Dati met with Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia’s culture minister, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Khaled Al-Faleh, investment minister.

Jean-Yves Le Drian, executive president of AFALULA, and Abeer Al-Akel, acting CEO of the RCU, also took part in the meeting.

The focus of the discussions was on assessing the state of the Franco-Saudi partnership and defining the future direction for AlUla’s development.

Participants reviewed collaborative projects that draw on French expertise, particularly in archaeological research — highlighted by the involvement of 120 French archaeologists and researchers in the region. Other focal points included cultural initiatives such as the Villa Hegra project, as well as advances in hospitality, transport and infrastructure.

Additionally, the meeting addressed the French Heritage Endowment Fund, which was established as part of the 2018 agreement, and reinforced its continued commitment to supporting heritage conservation and cultural initiatives tied to AlUla’s unique historical significance.


French prosecutors request Carlos Ghosn, French culture minister stand trial in corruption case

Updated 9 min 51 sec ago
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French prosecutors request Carlos Ghosn, French culture minister stand trial in corruption case

  • A judge must make a decision on the request

PARIS: The French prosecutor’s office for financial crimes has requested former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn and French culture minister Rachida Dati stand trial following its probe into corruption, a judicial source said on Friday.
A judge must make a decision on the request.


Pakistan suspends mobile Internet in Balochistan, citing ‘public safety’ amid rising violence

Updated 21 min 7 sec ago
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Pakistan suspends mobile Internet in Balochistan, citing ‘public safety’ amid rising violence

  • People in Balochistan say mobile Internet has been down for about three days in different areas
  • PTA announcement comes days after a suicide bombing at a crowded railway station in Quetta

QUETTA: The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) announced the suspension of mobile Internet services in various parts of the restive southwestern Balochistan province on Friday, saying the decision was taken to “ensure public safety” amid a surge in militant violence over the past several months.
The announcement follows a deadly suicide bombing at a crowded railway station in Quetta, the provincial capital, which killed at least 28 people, including Pakistani soldiers, and injured dozens of others.
The attack was claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), an outlawed separatist group that has targeted Chinese nationals in an effort to undermine the multibillion-dollar Pakistan-China Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.
The BLA, the largest of several ethnic insurgent groups battling the Pakistani state, alleges that the province’s rich gas and mineral resources are unfairly exploited, a claim the government denies.
“The general public is hereby informed that, under the directives of authorized departments, mobile Internet services have been temporarily suspended in certain areas of Balochistan,” the PTA said in an official statement.
“This measure has been taken to ensure public safety, given the security situation in these areas,” it added.
The PTA statement did not specify the areas where mobile Internet services have been suspended, nor was there any clarification from other departments on whether the government was planning an operation against militants in these regions.
However, mobile Internet has already been down in the province’s Kech, Panjgur, Gwadar, Khuzdar, Loralai, Dukki, Ziarat, Harnai and Zhob districts for the last three days, causing significant hardships for students and the business community in these areas.
“Hundreds of students and businesses have been affected by the mobile Internet suspension,” Abdul Majid Dashti, a lawyer based in Turbat, told Arab News, adding that cellphone Internet had been down for nearly three days in the area.
Sadaqat Baloch, a journalist in Pakistan’s coastal town of Gwadar, which is central to CPEC, said authorities suspended mobile Internet in the area a day after the Quetta railway station bombing.
“People of the Makran region, including Khuzdar, are now deprived of mobile Internet, which has been creating problems for them,” he added.
The provincial government’s spokesperson was unavailable for comment on the recent mobile Internet suspension.
 


Germany’s Scholz urges Putin in phone call to open talks with Ukraine

Updated 24 min 37 sec ago
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Germany’s Scholz urges Putin in phone call to open talks with Ukraine

  • Scholz also demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and reaffirmed Germany’s continued support for Ukraine
  • “The Chancellor urged Russia to show willingness to enter talks with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace,” the spokesperson said

BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Russian President Vladimir Putin in a rare phone call on Friday to begin talks with Ukraine that would open the way for a “just and lasting peace.”
In a one-hour phone conversation, their first in almost two years, Scholz also demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and reaffirmed Germany’s continued support for Ukraine, a German government spokesman said.
The call comes as Ukraine faces increasingly difficult conditions on the battlefield amid shortages of arms and personnel while Russian forces make steady advances.
“The Chancellor urged Russia to show willingness to enter talks with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“He stressed Germany’s unbroken determination to back Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression for as long as necessary,” the spokesperson added.
Scholz spoke with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of his call with Putin and would brief the Ukrainian leader on the outcome afterwards, the spokesperson said.
Germany is Ukraine’s largest financial backer and its largest provider of weapons after the United States, whose future support for Kyiv appears uncertain following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the scale of Western financial and military aid to Ukraine and has suggested he can put a swift end to the war, without explaining how.
Scholz and Putin last spoke in December 2022, 10 months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, plunging relations with the West into their deepest freeze since the Cold War.
Scholz, the most unpopular German chancellor on record, is preparing for a national election on Feb. 23 in which his Social Democrats face stiff competition from left-wing and far-right parties that are critical of Germany’s backing for Ukraine.


French anti-terrorism prosecutor to appeal against Lebanese militant’s release

Updated 41 min 21 sec ago
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French anti-terrorism prosecutor to appeal against Lebanese militant’s release

  • Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade, would be released on Dec. 6
  • Requests for Abdallah’s release have been rejected and annulled multiple times

PARIS: The office of France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor said on Friday it would appeal against a French court’s decision to grant the release of a Lebanese militant jailed for attacks on US and Israeli diplomats in France in the early 1980s.
PNAT said Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, a former head of the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Brigade, would be released on Dec. 6 under the court’s decision on condition that he leave France and not return.
Abdallah was given a life sentence in 1987 for his role in the murders of US diplomat Charles Ray in Paris and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in 1982, and in the attempted murder of US Consul General Robert Homme in Strasbourg in 1984.
Representatives for the embassies of the United States and Israel, as well as the Ministry of Justice, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Requests for Abdallah’s release have been rejected and annulled multiple times, including in 2003, 2012 and 2014.