DUBAI: Iran denied having any link to sites targeted by the United States in Syria, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Wednesday, according to the ministry’s telegram channel.
On Tuesday, the US military said it carried out a strike in Syria’s Deir Ezzor against infrastructure facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
“The US attack on Syrian infrastructure and people is a violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The sites targeted had no links to the Islamic Republic,” Kanaani said.
US forces first deployed into Syria during the Obama’s administration’s campaign against Daesh, partnering with a Kurdish-led group called the Syrian Democratic Forces. There are about 900 US troops in Syria, most of them in the east.
Iran-backed militias established a foothold in Syria while fighting in support of President Bashar Assad during Syria’s civil war.
Iran denies any link to targets hit by US in Syria
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Iran denies any link to targets hit by US in Syria
- US forces first deployed into Syria during the Obama’s administration’s campaign against Daesh
Re-discovered tapes bear witness to Somaliland identity
Tapping her keyboard, Omer bobs with the rhythm of the pentatonic melody typical in the northern region of the Horn of Africa.
Since 2021, the 21-year-old has been painstakingly archiving and digitising a collection of some 14,000 cassettes at the Cultural Center in Hargeisa, the Somaliland capital.
Bought back, found or donated, the tapes contain more than half a century of the musical, cultural and political life of the region.
Somaliland has run its own affairs since unilaterally declaring independence from Somalia in 1991 but remains unrecognized by any country.
That makes cultural heritage — like the tapes — vital.
“Many people don’t consider these things to be important, but they contain the whole history of my country,” Omer told AFP.
“My people don’t write, they don’t read. All they do is talk.”
Somalis have traditionally been primarily nomadic shepherds, with culture transmitted orally from one generation to another.
What is now Somaliland has long been a center of music and poetry — art that plays a crucial, even political, role in this corner of Africa.
The public radio station, Radio Hargeisa, also has a collection of over 5,000 reels and cassettes, programs and music recorded in its studios since its founding in 1943.
The tens of thousands of hours of tapes in the cultural center tell a less official story — ranging from 1970s counterculture “Somali funk,” to unreleased recordings of play rehearsals and accounts of people’s daily lives.
With small tape recorders becoming widely available in the 1970s and 1980s, Somalilanders got into the habit of corresponding with exiled relatives via cassette.
Gathered around a tape recorder, they would recount intimacies of family life but also survival during a decade-long war that culminated in the declaration of independence in 1991.
The conflict between rebels and the Mogadishu-based military regime of Siad Barre saw around 70 percent of Hargeisa destroyed in 1988.
Jama Musse Jama, director of the cultural center, described how troves of cassettes were recorded “underground” as people met clandestinely to chat, chew the stimulant khat and talk politics.
“They cannot say (these things) in public,” he said. “You find all what didn’t end up in the ordinary, formal recordings of the state — what was happening in the streets.”
Fewer than 5,000 cassettes have been catalogued and only 1,100 digitised, leaving a titanic task for Omer and her team of four friends.
But it has become a fitting cultural odyssey in a place still searching for recognition.
“It’s proof against those who say Somaliland doesn’t exist,” said Jama.
He believes his and Omer’s work will guide younger generations searching for their past — a storied history that stretches beyond their regional conflict to its time as an Italian and British colony and beyond.
“We need to give them an identity,” he said.
“All these stories that make up the identity of the Somaliland people are in these recordings.”
Israeli airstrikes kill 14 Palestinians in Gaza, tanks push south
CAIRO: Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 14 Palestinians on Tuesday, at least 10 of them in one house in Gaza City, medics said as tanks pushed deeper toward the western area of Rafah in the south.
Medics said the Israeli airstrike on the house in the Daraj suburb of Gaza City destroyed the building and damaged nearby houses. Four other people were killed in two separate airstrikes in the city and the town of Beit Lahiya north of the enclave said medics, medics added.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
In Rafah, near the border with Egypt, Israeli tanks pushed deeper toward the western area of Mawasi, known as a humanitarian-designated area, residents said.
Heavy fire from tanks rolling into the area forced dozens of families sheltering there to flee northwards toward Khan Younis.
The war began when the Palestinian militant group Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel then launched an air and land offensive that has killed more than 45,000 people, mostly civilians, according to authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
The campaign has displaced nearly the entire population and left much of the enclave in ruins.
Gaza, Lebanon in focus as Pakistani leaders head to summit of D-8 developing nations
- D-8 summit in Cairo from Dec 18-20 will see gathering of leaders from eight countries to promote economic cooperation
- PM to attend special session on Gaza where Israeli military campaign has killed over 46,000 people since Oct. 7 last year
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will participate in the Eleventh Summit of the Developing Eight (D-8) countries being held in Egypt from Dec. 18-20 where Israel’s military offensive on Gaza and the humanitarian crisis and reconstruction efforts in the besieged enclave as well as neighboring Lebanon will be at the center of discussions, the foreign office said on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will leave for Egypt tomorrow, Wednesday, for the main summit while Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar left today, Tuesday, to attend the 21st Session of the D-8 Council of Ministers on Dec. 18.
The D-8 Summit is a gathering of leaders from eight developing countries including Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkiye. It aims to promote economic cooperation and development among member states, with a focus on areas like trade, energy, agriculture, and transportation.
Besides addressing the summit and holding bilateral meetings on the sidelines, Sharif will attend a special session on the humanitarian crisis and reconstruction challenges in Gaza and Lebanon following Israel military offensives in the Middle East since October last year.
“He will underline Pakistan’s principled position on the situation in Palestine and call for peace in the Middle East,” the foreign office said.
Health officials in the Gaza Strip said on Monday the death toll from the 14-month war between Israel and Hamas had topped 45,000 people.
The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children. The Israeli military says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The theme of this year’s D-8 Summit is “Investing in Youth and Supporting SMEs: Shaping Tomorrow’s Economy.”
“At the Summit, the Prime Minister will underline the importance of investing in youth and SMEs for building a strong and inclusive economy; creating jobs; advancing innovation; and promoting local entrepreneurship,” the foreign office said.
“He will express Pakistan’s strong commitment to the ideals of D-8; underscore the importance of fostering partnerships for mutual benefit and prosperity; and promoting cooperation in agriculture, food security and tourism. He will also underline Pakistan’s incentives for youth empowerment and financial development.”
Oil Updates — prices nudge down on demand concerns, focus on Fed meeting
BEIJING/SINGAPORE: Oil prices eased further on Tuesday as China’s economic data renewed demand concerns, while investors remained cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision, according to Reuters.
US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 11 cents at $70.60 a barrel at 07:09 a.m. Saudi time, while Brent crude futures fell 6 cents to $73.85 a barrel.
Prices were “weighed on by profit-taking after last week’s 6 percent rally and a batch of disappointing Chinese economic data yesterday,” IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said.
On Monday, prices fell from multi-week highs on unexpected weakness in consumer spending data from China, despite strength in industrial output, and as investors moved into a holding pattern ahead of the Fed's meeting.
The Fed will hold its last policy meeting of the year on Tuesday and Wednesday, where it is widely expected to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point.
The meeting will also shed light on how much further officials think they will cut interest rates in 2025 and 2026, and whether the central bank will scale back easing in anticipation of higher inflation under the incoming Trump administration.
“A 25 basis point cut has already been priced in by the market, so any surprises (from the Fed meeting) may move the market,” said Anh Pham, a LSEG analyst.
Lower interest rates can boost economic growth and demand for oil.
The oil outlook for next year is clouded by growing supplies from non-OPEC+ countries such as the US and Brazil and slowing demand, chiefly in China.
The International Energy Agency said in its monthly report last week that even as producer group OPEC+ kept its output cuts in place, there will be a supply overhang of 950,000 barrels per day next year — almost 1 percent of world supply.
On Monday, the European Commission announced a 15th package of EU sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, including tougher measures against Chinese entities and more vessels from Moscow’s so-called “shadow fleet” that are not regulated or insured by conventional Western providers.
A group of Western countries will begin to check insurance documents of Russia’s shadow fleet of vessels in the English Channel, Danish straits, Gulf of Finland and the sound between Sweden and Denmark.
The new EU sanctions are unlikely to translate to “real” disruption as most flows now do not use Western services, so they will not be disrupted, said LSEG’s Pham.
Pakistani, Saudi interior ministers discuss security, narcotics control cooperation in Riyadh
- Naqvi’s meeting with interior minister follows meeting with head of Saudi General Directorate of Narcotics Control
- Naqvi arrived in Riyadh on Sunday as the longtime allies seek to forge closer economic, investment and security ties
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met with Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Interior, Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif, in Riyadh on Tuesday and discussed security cooperation and joint narcotics control measures.
Naqvi’s meeting with the Saudi interior minister follows a meeting on Monday with Major General Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Qarni, the head of the Kingdom’s General Directorate of Narcotics Control (GDNC).
Naqvi arrived in Riyadh on Sunday to discuss bilateral ties as both countries seek closer economic, investment and security ties.
“The ministers discussed security cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia,” the Pakistani interior ministry said in a statement. “Prince Abdulaziz and Mohsin Naqvi also discussed measures to combat drug smuggling and other issues of mutual interest. The meeting included discussions on enhancing cooperation in narcotics control.”
On Sunday, Naqvi also met with the Kingdom’s Director of Public Security, Lt. Gen. Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Bassami, and inspected various departments of the state-of-the-art Directorate of Public Security and the Safe City Center.
“During the meeting, it was agreed to activate the joint task force [on public security] between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia soon,” the Pakistani interior ministry said in a statement, with Naqvi adding that he was glad to see “excellent” public security mechanisms in Saudi Arabia and both sides could benefit from each other’s experiences in the field of police training.
