Saudi Arabia announces $10 million in aid for Lebanon

Saudi’s Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari said on Tuesday the Kingdom would provide $10 million to Lebanon through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center. (X/@KSAembassyLB)
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Updated 02 July 2024
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Saudi Arabia announces $10 million in aid for Lebanon

  • KSrelief and Lebanon’s High Relief Commission signed a pact in Beirut to launch 28 projects across the country
  • Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the strong fraternal relationship between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia had deepened and solidified over the years

BEIRUT: Saudi’s Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari said on Tuesday the Kingdom would provide $10 million to Lebanon through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.
KSrelief and Lebanon’s High Relief Commission signed a pact in Beirut to launch 28 projects across the country.
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the strong fraternal relationship between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia had deepened and solidified over the years.
The Kingdom, he said, “has always been by Lebanon’s side and supported it in times of hardship, serving as a safety valve that has preserved the unity of the Lebanese, regardless of their sect, denomination, or political party.”
Mikati said the gesture represented Saudi Arabia’s keenness for stability in Lebanon.
“I am confident that the Kingdom has been and will remain the bigger brother of Lebanon,” he said.
Mikati added: “Saudi constants toward Lebanon are reflected by the Kingdom’s actions and deeds, through the Taif Agreement, which we adhere to fully, and which still serves as the appropriate framework for managing Lebanon’s affairs.
“In all the meetings I held with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he expressed his support for Lebanon to emerge from its crisis, but on the condition that the required structural reforms are implemented and that Lebanese institutions play their full role, especially concerning electing a new president.
“This responsibility falls on us, the Lebanese, and what is required of us first and foremost is to carry out our duties with the support of friendly countries, foremost among them Saudi Arabia.”
The prime minister continued: “The person who led Saudi Arabia and its youth to the leadership and pioneering positions … will not find it difficult to be a support for his brothers in Lebanon. We look forward to the Kingdom’s care and fraternal gesture toward my country Lebanon so that it can rise again.”
Ambassador Bukhari said the Saudi support was a continuation of the “commitment of the leadership in Saudi Arabia,” led by King Salman and the crown prince, “to help humanitarian efforts and promote stability and development in Lebanon with the highest standards of transparency and accountability.”
The Kingdom’s support “comes as a continuation of the solidarity approach adopted by the Kingdom toward the Lebanese people, based on the duty of true Arab brotherhood and teachings of Islam,” he added.
Saudi Arabia has already launched 129 relief, humanitarian and development projects for Lebanon, covering many sectors.
Bukhari said KSrelief was a leading international organization with the purpose of providing relief to communities hit by disasters and crises.
“Since its establishment, KSrelief launched more than 7,000 humanitarian projects with a total value of $129.68 billion in 169 countries,” Bukhari added.
Maj. Gen. Mohammed Khair, head of the Higher Relief Committee, signed a pact of joint cooperation with Abdulrahman Al-Quraishi, director of KSrelief in Lebanon.
The Kingdom’s support coincided with ongoing hostilities between the Israeli army and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
On Tuesday, an Israeli guided missile targeted farmers in Al-Zalutiyah, a town in the western sector, killing a Lebanese civilian. An Israeli drone also launched three missiles at Taybeh power plant, causing a fire and a power outage.


Syrian authorities evacuate citizens amid major forest fires

Updated 13 sec ago
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Syrian authorities evacuate citizens amid major forest fires

  • “Our teams recorded losses in the orchards due to the widespread spread of the forest fire in several areas of the Latakia countryside,” the civil defense added, calling on citizens to report anyone they suspect of starting fires

DAMASCUS: Syrian rescuers evacuated residential areas in Latakia province because of major forest fires, authorities said on Friday.
Fires have spreading across large parts of Syria, particularly on the coast, for several days, with firefighters struggling to control them due to strong winds and a drought.
Abdulkafi Kayyal, director of the Directorate of Disasters and Emergencies in Latakia province, told the state SANA news agency that fires in the Qastal Maaf area had moved close to several villages, prompting the evacuations.
Syria’s civil defense warned residents of “the spread of rising smoke emissions to the northern section of the coastal mountains, the city of Hama, its countryside, and southern Idlib areas.”
“Our teams recorded losses in the orchards due to the widespread spread of the forest fire in several areas of the Latakia countryside,” the civil defense added, calling on citizens to report anyone they suspect of starting fires.
Syrian minister of emergency situations and disasters Raed Al-Saleh said on X that he was following events and “we will exert our utmost efforts to combat these fires.”
With man-made climate change increasing the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has been battered by heatwaves, low rainfall and major forest fires.
In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization told AFP that Syria had “not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years,” noting that an unprecedented drought was on course to push more than 16 million people into food insecurity.
The country is also reeling from more than a decade of civil war leading up to the end of the iron-fisted rule of Bashar Assad in December.
Kayyal said the presence of mines and unexploded ordnance was hindering the work of rescuers, along with strong winds spreading the fires.

 


Turkish prosecutors add charges of forging diploma against jailed Istanbul mayor

Updated 04 July 2025
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Turkish prosecutors add charges of forging diploma against jailed Istanbul mayor

  • Imamoglu denies the allegations against him, which his party says are orchestrated to protect Erdogan in power
  • His indictment over his diploma was reported by Milliyet newspaper

ANKARA: Turkish prosecutors charged Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Friday with falsifying his university diploma, a new case threatening more years in prison for President Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival, already jailed pending corruption charges he denies.

Imamoglu, at the center of a sprawling legal crackdown on the main opposition party, has been jailed since March 23 pending trial. He denies the allegations against him, which his party says are orchestrated to protect Erdogan in power.

His indictment over his diploma was reported by Milliyet newspaper, which said prosecutors were seeking eight years and nine months of prison time for the new charges. Reuters could not immediately obtain the document.

On March 18, Istanbul University said it had annulled Imamoglu’s diploma. He was detained a day later on the corruption charges, triggering Turkiye’s largest protests in a decade, and later jailed pending trial.

His detention has drawn sharp criticism from opposition parties and some foreign leaders, who call the case politically motivated and anti-democratic. The government denies the case is political.

Imamoglu is the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s presidential candidate in any future election. He won re-election as mayor in March last year by a wide margin against a candidate from Erdogan’s ruling AK Party.


Gaza’s Nasser Hospital operating as ‘one massive trauma ward’

Updated 04 July 2025
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Gaza’s Nasser Hospital operating as ‘one massive trauma ward’

  • 613 killed at aid distribution sites, near humanitarian convoys, says UN human rights office

GENEVA: Nasser Hospital in Gaza is operating as “one massive trauma ward” due to an influx of patients wounded at non-UN food distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

The US- and Israeli-backed GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of deliveries that the UN says is neither impartial nor neutral. It has repeatedly denied that incidents involving people killed or wounded at its sites have occurred.
The GHF said on Friday that “the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys,” and said the UN and humanitarian groups should work “collaboratively” with the GHF to “maximize the amount of aid being securely delivered into Gaza.” The UN in Geneva was immediately available for comment.

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Hundreds of patients, mainly young boys, were being treated for traumatic injuries, including bullet wounds to the head, chest, and knees, according to the WHO.

Referring to medical staff at the Nasser Hospital, Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the West Bank and Gaza, told reporters in Geneva: “They’ve seen already for weeks, daily injuries ... (the) majority coming from the so-called safe non-UN food distribution sites. The hospital is now operating as one massive trauma ward.”
Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19.
The UN human rights office said on Friday that it had recorded at least 613 killings, both at aid points run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and near humanitarian convoys.
“We have recorded 613 killings, both at GHF points and near humanitarian convoys — this is a figure as of June 27. Since then ... there have been further incidents,” Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in Geneva.
The OHCHR said 509 of the 613 were killed near GHF distribution points. The GHF dismissed these numbers as coming “directly from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry” and were being used to “falsely smear” its effort.
The GHF has previously said it has delivered more than 60 million meals to hungry Palestinians in five weeks “safely and without interference,” while other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that there have been some instances of violent looting and attacks on aid truck drivers, which it described as unacceptable.
Hundreds of patients, mainly young boys, were being treated for traumatic injuries, including bullet wounds to the head, chest, and knees, according to the WHO.
Peeperkorn said health workers at Nasser Hospital and testimonies from family members and friends of those wounded confirmed that the victims had been trying to access aid at sites run by the GHF.
Peeperkorn recounted the cases of a 13-year-old boy shot in the head, as well as a 21-year-old with a bullet lodged in his neck, which rendered him paraplegic.
“There is no chance for any reversal or any proper treatment. Young lives are being destroyed forever,” Peeperkorn said, urging for the fighting to stop and for more food aid to be allowed into Gaza.

 


French President Macron and Malaysian PM reaffirm calls for Gaza ceasefire

Updated 04 July 2025
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French President Macron and Malaysian PM reaffirm calls for Gaza ceasefire

  • “Our two countries are urging, more than ever, for a ceasefire,” said Macron

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim reaffirmed on Friday their calls for a ceasefire in the fighting in Gaza, as Macron hosted Ibrahim in Paris.

“Our two countries are urging, more than ever, for a ceasefire, the release of the hostages, and for aid to get through,” said Macron, referring to Israeli hostages held by Hamas.


Egypt says Ethiopia’s power-generating dam lacks a legally binding agreement

This general view shows the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Guba, Ethiopia, on February 19, 2022. (AFP)
Updated 04 July 2025
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Egypt says Ethiopia’s power-generating dam lacks a legally binding agreement

  • Egypt firmly rejects Ethiopia’s continued policy of imposing a fait accompli through unilateral actions concerning the Nile River, which is an international shared watercourse

CAIRO: Egypt said on Friday that Ethiopia has consistently lacked the political will to reach a binding agreement on its now-complete dam, an issue that involves Nile River water rights and the interests of Egypt and Sudan.
Ethiopia’s prime minister said Thursday that the country’s power-generating dam, known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, on the Nile is now complete and that the government is “preparing for its official inauguration” in September.
Egypt has long opposed the construction of the dam because it would reduce the country’s share of Nile River waters, which it almost entirely relies on for agriculture and to serve its more than 100 million people.
The more than $4 billion dam on the Blue Nile near the Sudan border began producing power in 2022. 
It is expected to eventually produce more than 6,000 MW of electricity — double Ethiopia’s current output.
Ethiopia and Egypt have spent years negotiating an agreement over the dam, which Ethiopia began building in 2011. 
Both countries reached no deal despite negotiations spanning 13 years, and it remains unclear how much water Ethiopia will release downstream in the event of a drought.
Egyptian officials, in a statement, called the completion of the dam “unlawful” and said that it violates international law, reflecting “an Ethiopian approach driven by an ideology that seeks to impose water hegemony” instead of equal partnership.
“Egypt firmly rejects Ethiopia’s continued policy of imposing a fait accompli through unilateral actions concerning the Nile River, which is an international shared watercourse,” Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said in a statement on Friday.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in his address to lawmakers on Thursday, said that his country “remains committed to ensuring that our growth does not come at the expense of our Egyptian and Sudanese brothers and sisters.”
“We believe in shared progress, shared energy, and shared water,” he said. 
“Prosperity for one should mean prosperity for all.”
However, the Egyptian Water Ministry said on Friday that Ethiopian statements calling for continued negotiations “are merely superficial attempts to improve its image on the international stage.”
“Ethiopia’s positions, marked by evasion and retreat while pursuing unilateralism, are in clear contradiction with its declared willingness to negotiate,” the statement read.
However, Egypt is addressing its water needs by expanding agricultural wastewater treatment and improving irrigation systems, according to the ministry, while also bolstering cooperation with Nile Basin countries through backing development and water-related projects.