BEIRUT: A Jordanian globetrotter, who in July embarked on a cycling trip to spread a message of love among Arab Gulf states and promote tourism, has reached Qatar after traveling from Saudi Arabia.
Cyclist Issa Al-Qazaqza told Arab News on Thursday: “This personally initiated cycling trip is to spread love and peace amongst Arab brothers in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and promote Jordanian hospitality and tourism.
“I entered Saudi Arabia on July 18, and visited Tabuk and Madinah.”
Speaking over the phone from Qatar’s capital of Doha, the 44-year-old said that his first lengthy cycling trip, a ride of 420 km from the northern city of Irbid to Jordan’s southern seaport city of Aqaba, had taken place in 2005.
He added: “After having been on several domestic cycling journeys, the idea to cycle across the GCC states to spread a message of love and peace and promote Jordanian tourism came to my mind.”
During his three weeks in the Kingdom, Al-Qazaqza visited many cities and landmarks.
“I visited places like AlUla, Al-Ahsa, Al-Sharqiya, Riyadh and of course Madinah and Makkah, where I performed Umrah,” said the father of two children.
He reached Qatar after traveling through Saudi Arabia’s Salwa border point on Aug. 1.
The Jordanian traveler described his journey as “long and arduous,” the Jordan News Agency reported.
Al-Qazaqza visited the Jordanian Embassy in Doha on Thursday and met members of the diplomatic staff.
Describing his method of travel, he said: “I rely on my personal approach and what happens on the spur of the moment, especially because of the Jordanian flag I carry and how my bicycle looks!
“I am conveying a message of love from the Jordanian people to their brothers in the GCC and spreading Jordan’s culture of brotherhood, generosity and peace, in addition to promoting national tourism. This is something spontaneous.”
Jordanian cyclist on a mission to cross GCC countries to promote tourism
https://arab.news/gv5e6
Jordanian cyclist on a mission to cross GCC countries to promote tourism
- Globetrotter Issa Al-Qazaqza tells Arab News that ‘trip is to spread love and peace’
- The 44-year-old reaches Qatar after traveling through Saudi Arabia’s Salwa border point
Jordan reopens airspace after overnight Israel-Iran attacks
AMMAN: Jordan announced the reopening of its airspace Sunday morning after a night of attacks by arch-foes Israel and Iran.
The civil aviation authority in Jordan, which borders Israel, said in a statement that the country’s airspace had been reopened “for civilian flights following a careful risk assessment.”
The kingdom had closed the airspace late Saturday, its second closure since the start of the most intense direct confrontation between Israel and Iran.
Israel’s goal might be regime change in Iran: Experts
- Iran’s leadership will define victory as being its ‘survival’: Middle East Institute senior fellow
- Ex-US Navy commander: ‘It’s a long shot that they’ll come to the (negotiating) table in the near future’
CHICAGO: Israel’s military assault against Iran could continue for weeks, with the possible goal of regime change, a panel of experts hosted by the Middle East Institute said on Saturday.
Panelists included retired Gen. Joseph L. Votel, former commander of US Central Command; retired Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan, former commander of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet; and Alex Vatanka, MEI senior fellow and Iran specialist who also teaches at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
Vatanka said it is too early to determine if Israel’s main goal besides crippling Iran’s nuclear program is regime change, but “we might be going in (that) direction.”
He added: “That’s certainly what I think a majority of Iranian officials think that Israel wants. The big unknown in all of this is whether the Israelis somehow can get (US President Donald) Trump to buy into it the way he bought into the initial attack on Iran.”
Israel has launched attacks against an array of Iranian targets, including its military leadership and nuclear program. Tehran has responded by launching missiles and drones at Israel.
The panelists were in agreement in their belief that the conflict would not expand to include other countries.
Iran’s leadership will define victory as being its “survival,” Vatanka said, adding that while Israel has the backing of the US and “most of Europe,” Tehran “isn’t getting any help from anyone.”
He said: “I don’t think they’re getting help from what’s left of the axis of resistance … I question what the axis of resistance members can actually do at this point.”
Its members include Hamas and Hezbollah, which have been severely weakened by Israel’s military, and the Houthis in Yemen. It included Syria until the fall of President Bashar Assad in December.
Donegan said: “I think the question is, does Iran think they’ve done enough in terms of lashing back that they can throw an olive branch to get some talks going again? I think it’s a long shot, to be honest, that they’ll come to the table in the near future.”
Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz, but “the problem with closing Hormuz is they then don’t get the economic benefit of flowing their oil out,” he added.
The end game will be defined by how far Israel intends to go with its war, the panelists said.
“The Americans are playing the good cop here. President Trump has kept the door for diplomacy open,” Vatanka said.
“The Israelis are playing the bad cop, saying, ‘If you don’t give Trump what he wants then we’ll come after you.’”
Iran FM accuses UN Security Council of ‘indifference’ over Israel attacks
- Abbas Araghchi: Tehran has evidence to show US forces supported the intense bombardment campaign
TEHRAN: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi slammed the United Nations Security Council on Sunday, accusing it of “indifference” over Israel’s deadly attacks on the Islamic republic.
In a meeting with foreign diplomats broadcast on state TV, Araghchi said the Israeli attack “is being met with indifference at the Security Council,” adding that Western governments have “condemned Iran instead of Israel despite it being the side that was violated.”
Araghchi also said Tehran had evidence to show US forces supported the intense bombardment campaign Israel launched against the Islamis republic this week.
“We have solid proof of the support of the American forces and American bases in the region for the attacks of the Zionist regime military forces,” Araghchi said.
Yemen’s Houthis target Israel with ballistic missiles in coordination with Iran
- The group has been launching attacks against Israel, most of which have been intercepted
CAIRO: Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Sunday that they targeted central Israel’s Jaffa with several ballistic missiles in the last 24 hours in coordination with Iran, as Israel and Iran continued to exchange missile attacks.
The group has been launching attacks against Israel, most of which have been intercepted, in what they say is support for Palestinians in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war there.
Israeli fire and airstrikes kill 35 in Gaza
- Hamas, which denies Israeli charges that it steals aid, accused Israel of “employing hunger as a weapon of war and turning aid distribution sites into traps of mass deaths of innocent civilians”
GAZA: Israeli fire and airstrikes killed at least 35 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, most of them near an aid distribution site operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, local health authorities said.
Medics at Al-Awda and Al-Aqsa hospitals in central Gaza areas, where most of the casualties were moved to, said at least 15 people were killed as they tried to approach the GHF aid distribution site near the Netzarim corridor.
The rest were killed in separate attacks across the enclave, they added.
BACKGROUND
The Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that at least 274 people have so far been killed, and more than 2,000 wounded, near aid distribution sites since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operations.
There has been no immediate comment by the Israeli military or the GHF on Saturday’s incidents.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the UN says is neither impartial nor neutral.
The Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that at least 274 people have so far been killed, and more than 2,000 wounded, near aid distribution sites since the GHF began operations in Gaza.
Hamas, which denies Israeli charges that it steals aid, accused Israel of “employing hunger as a weapon of war and turning aid distribution sites into traps of mass deaths of innocent civilians.”
Later on Saturday, health officials at Shifa Hospital in Gaza said Israeli fire killed at least 12 Palestinians, who gathered to wait for aid trucks along the coastal road north of the strip, taking Saturday’s death toll to at least 35.
The Israeli military ordered residents of Khan Younis and the nearby towns of Abassan and Bani Suhaila in the southern Gaza Strip to leave their homes and head west toward the so-called humanitarian zone, saying it would forcefully work against “terror organizations” in the area.
The war in Gaza erupted 20 months ago after militants raided Israel and took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s single deadliest day.
Israel’s military campaign has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and flattened much of the densely populated strip, which is home to more than 2 million people.
Most of the population is displaced, and malnutrition is widespread.
Despite efforts by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to restore a ceasefire in Gaza, neither Israel nor Hamas has shown willingness to back down on core demands, with each side blaming the other for the failure to reach a deal.
