MUSCAT: A Comorian-flagged oil tanker capsized off Oman on Monday, the sultanate’s Maritime Security Center (MSC) said, adding that a search was under way for its missing crew of 16.
The MSC, which is run by the Omani defense ministry, did not specify the cause of the capsize.
In a post on social media platform X, it said a “Comoros-flagged oil tanker capsized” 25 nautical miles southeast of Ras Madrakah, near the port town of Duqm on Monday.
Search and rescue operations were “initiated with the relevant authorities,” it added, without providing further details.
In a statement on Tuesday, the MSC identified the vessel as Prestige Falcon, saying it had 16 crew on board — 13 Indians and three Sri Lankans.
“The crew of the ship are still missing,” it said, as the search continued.
The vessel was headed for the Yemeni port city of Aden, according to shipping website marinetraffic.com.
Oman says oil tanker capsized off coast, 16 crew missing
https://arab.news/2qte8
Oman says oil tanker capsized off coast, 16 crew missing
- The vessel was headed for the Yemeni port city of Aden
Egypt briefs Hamas delegation on latest talks with Israel
- Negotiators call for renewed pressure on Israel to fulfill previous pledges
CAIRO: Hamas negotiators arrived in Cairo on Saturday for a briefing by mediators on the latest round of Gaza ceasefire and hostage talks.
The Hamas delegation, led by senior official Khalil Al-Hayya, held discussions with Egyptian intelligence officials shortly after their arrival.
The meeting was arranged following invitations from mediators in Egypt and Qatar to update Hamas on the results of negotiations in Cairo last Thursday, which included the Israeli side.
An Egyptian source told Arab News that the Hamas delegation refused to meet other delegations in Cairo and insisted that discussions be limited to the Egyptian side.
The source said that the meeting on Saturday focused on updating the Hamas delegation on the latest developments in negotiations with Israel over a prisoner exchange deal and a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
The Hamas position comes after Israel’s recent assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, said the source.
“As a result, the delegation is unwilling to engage with any Israeli representatives as a protest against what they see as an escalatory move.”
The source said the Hamas delegation called for increased pressure on Israel to fulfill its previous commitments and to stop obstructing progress toward an agreement.
The delegation emphasized that the presence of Hamas leaders in Egypt did not signify participation in formal negotiations, and instead, they are being briefed on discussions initially mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt a few days ago.
These talks aim to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, release some Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners, and halt the targeting of Hamas leaders, said the source.
It confirmed that Egypt informed Hamas that high-level communications had taken place between Cairo and Tel Aviv, where Egypt demanded that Israel enitrely withdraw its forces from the Philadelphi Corridor, located between Egypt and Gaza.
The Egyptian side is still reviewing the map presented by Israel, which shows a reduced presence of Israeli forces along this strategic corridor adjacent to Egypt, said the source.
The source reiterated that Egypt’s request to Israel was clear: “A complete withdrawal of forces from the corridor.”
The Philadelphi Corridor stretches 14 km in southern Gaza along the Egyptian border and is currently controlled by Israeli forces.
In a related development, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported that Washington had proposed a plan involving a reduction in Israeli forces in the Philadelphi Corridor, leaving only a small number of observation posts in place.
Gaza talks resume in Cairo as UN warns of worsening humanitarian conditions
- Months of on-off talks so far failed to produce breakthrough to end Israel’s devastating military campaign
- Hamas official said delegates going to Cairo but won’t attend talks
CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Gaza ceasefire and hostage negotiators discussed new compromise proposals in Cairo on Saturday, seeking to bridge gaps between Israel and Hamas as the UN reported worsening humanitarian conditions, with malnutrition soaring and polio discovered.
Israeli military strikes in Gaza killed 50 people on Saturday, Palestinian health authorities said. Victims of hostilities over the past 48 hours remain lying on roads where fighting continues or trapped under rubble, the authorities said.
A Hamas delegation arrived on Saturday to be nearer at hand to review any proposals that emerge in the main talks between Israel and the mediating countries Egypt, Qatar and the United States, two Egyptian security sources said.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was expected to attend.
Months of on-off talks have so far failed to produce a breakthrough to end Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza or free the remaining hostages seized by Hamas in the militant group’s Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war.
The Egyptian sources said the new proposals include compromises on outstanding points such as how to secure key areas and the return of people to north Gaza.
However there was no sign of any breakthrough on key sticking points, including Israel’s insistence that it must retain control of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, on the border between Gaza and Egypt.
Hamas has accused Israel of going back on things it had previously agreed to in the talks, which Israel denies. The group says the United States is not mediating in good faith.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has locked horns with Israeli ceasefire negotiators over whether Israeli troops must remain all along the border between Gaza and Egypt, a person with knowledge of the talks said.
A Palestinian official familiar with mediation efforts said it was too soon to predict the outcome of talks. “Hamas is there to discuss the outcome of the mediators’ talks with the Israeli officials and whether there is enough to suggest a change in the Netanyahu stance about reaching a deal,” the official said.
DISEASE SPREADING
Continuing the war will worsen the plight of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, nearly all of them homeless in tents or shelters among the ruins, with malnutrition rampant and disease spreading, and risk the lives of remaining Israeli hostages.
The Oct. 7 attack killed 1,200 people according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s Gaza campaign has killed more than 40,000 people, Palestinian health authorities say.
UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a Friday update that the amount of food aid entering Gaza in July was one of the lowest since October, when Israeli imposed a full siege.
OCHA said that in July the number of children with acute malnutrition in northern Gaza was four times higher than in May, while in the more accessible south, where fighting is less severe, the number more than doubled.
The World Health Organization said on Friday a 10-month-old baby had been paralyzed with polio, the first such case in the territory in 25 years, raising fears of a wider outbreak given the lack of proper sanitation for people living in ruins.
More warfare also risks major new escalations, with Iran still weighing retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on its territory last month.
Meanwhile, US Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, began an
unannounced visit
to the Middle East on Saturday to discuss ways to avoid any new escalation in tensions that could spiral into a broader conflict, as the region braces for a threatened Iranian attack against Israel.
Fighting between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah since Oct. 7 has ramped up recently, including with Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon and into the Bekaa, and with more Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel.
Former Jordanian PM urges educational institutions to prepare youth for digital economy
- Adnan Badran was speaking at the Economic Conference on Digital Economy and Technology,
LONDON: The former prime minister of Jordan has urged the country’s higher education and scientific institutions to better prepare young Jordanians for a digital and artificial intelligence-driven economy.
Adnan Badran was speaking at the Economic Conference on Digital Economy and Technology, which opened in Amman on Saturday.
He told the opening session of the conference that universities and other scientific organizations had to build programs to “match the digital transformation happening in Jordan so that younger generations of Jordanians can keep pace with global trends,” the Jordan News Agency reported.
Badran said this approach would be in line with Jordan’s 2021-2025 National Digital Transformation Strategy, which aims to modernize the country’s economy by building an attractive investment infrastructure, generating jobs, eliminating unemployment and poverty, and boosting its research and development, creativity and innovation sectors.
The conference is being hosted by the Jordan Society for Scientific Research, Entrepreneurship and Creativity in cooperation with Petra University, and JSSREC chief Reda Khawaldeh said the country had the talent and opportunity to take the lead regionally in innovation and build a strong and sustainable economy for future generations.
“We, in Jordan, are witnessing remarkable growth in this field, and start-ups and digital applications have become an integral part of the national economy’s fabric. This transformation reflects our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital infrastructure and develop policies to support technological innovation,” he said.
Jordan, he added, was not just a participant in digital transformation, but taking the initiative in the region as evidenced by its investment in the development of a strong digital infrastructure and supporting technology entrepreneurs through business incubators and accelerators.
Netanyahu in dispute with Israeli negotiators over ceasefire conditions, source says
- Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that Israel will not give up control of the Philadelphi Corridor
- He has also said Israel must maintain checkpoints in the Netzarim Corridor
JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has locked horns with Israeli ceasefire negotiators over his insistence that Israel will not pull out of the so-called Philadelphi Corridor in the south of the Gaza Strip, a person with knowledge of the talks said.
The Philadelphi Corridor, along the border with Egypt, and the Netzarim Corridor cutting across the middle of the Gaza Strip, have been two of the main sticking points in talks backed by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.
Netanyahu has repeatedly insisted that Israel will not give up control of the Philadelphi Corridor because it wants to prevent Hamas smuggling weapons and fighters across the border with Egypt. He has also said Israel must maintain checkpoints in the Netzarim Corridor to stop armed Hamas fighters moving from the southern section of the Gaza Strip into the north.
The person said Netanyahu had agreed to shift one Philadelphi position by a few hundred meters but would retain overall control of the corridor, despite pressure from members of his own negotiating team for more concessions.
“The prime minister insists that this situation will continue, contrary to pressure from certain elements in the negotiating team who are willing to withdraw from there,” said the person, who has close knowledge of the negotiations.
Israel’s Channel 12 television reported this week that Netanyahu had been bitterly critical of the negotiating team, led by David Barnea, the chief of the Mossad intelligence service, for being willing to make too many concessions.
More than 10 months after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war, the United States has been pressing Israel for an end to hostilities.
Hamas-led gunmen killed some 1,200 people and abducted around 250 hostages on Oct.7, according to Israeli tallies, while Israeli bombardments have laid waste to Gaza and killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in the enclave.
Netanyahu has been under heavy pressure to reach a deal from families of some of the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza and many have been strongly critical of the failure to reach a deal, joining critics have accused him of hindering a deal for his own political purposes.
But with pressure from hard-liners in his own cabinet against any concessions, and with opinion polls indicating a pick-up in the disastrous ratings he had at the start of the war, the prime minister has said repeatedly he aims for total victory over Hamas.
Top US general makes unannounced Middle East trip as Iran threat looms
- Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, began his trip in Jordan and said he will also travel to Egypt and Israel
AMMAN: The top US general began an unannounced visit to the Middle East on Saturday to discuss ways to avoid any new escalation in tensions that could spiral into a broader conflict, as the region braces for a threatened Iranian attack against Israel.
Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, began his trip in Jordan and said he will also travel to Egypt and Israel in the coming days to hear the perspectives of military leaders.
His visit comes as the United States is trying to clinch an elusive Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages deal between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, which Brown said would “help bring down the temperature,” if achieved.
“At the same time, as I talk to my counterparts, what are the things we can do to deter any type of broader escalation and ensure we’re taking all the appropriate steps to (avoid) ... a broader conflict,” Brown told Reuters before landing in Jordan.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has been seeking to limit the fallout from the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, now in its 11th month. The conflict has leveled huge swathes of Gaza, triggered border clashes between Israel and Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement and sparked attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on Red Sea shipping.
Meanwhile, US troops have been attacked by Iran-aligned militia in Syria, Iraq and Jordan.
In recent weeks, the US military has been bolstering its forces in the Middle East to guard against major new attacks by Iran or its allies, sending the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group into the region to replace the Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group.
The United States has also sent an Air Force F-22 Raptor squadron into the region and deployed a cruise missile submarine.
“We brought in additional capability to send a strong message to deter a broader conflict ... but also to protect our forces should they be attacked,” Brown said, saying safeguarding American forces was “paramount.”
Iranian response
Iran has vowed a severe response to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, which took place as he visited Tehran late last month and which it blamed on Israel. Israel has neither confirmed or denied its involvement.
Hezbollah has also threatened a response after Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut last month.
Iran has not publicly indicated what would be the target of an eventual response to the Haniyeh assassination but US officials say they are closely monitoring for any signs that Iran will make good on its threats.
“We stay postured, watching the (intelligence) and force movements,” Brown said.
On Friday, Iran’s new Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told his French and British counterparts in telephone conversations that it was his country’s right to retaliate, according to the official IRNA news agency.
On April 13, two weeks after two Iranian generals were killed in a strike on Tehran’s embassy in Syria, Iran unleashed a barrage of hundreds of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles toward Israel, damaging two air bases. Israel, the United States and other allies managed to destroy almost all of the weapons before they reached their targets.
Brown did not speculate about what Iran and its allies might do but said he hoped to discuss different scenarios with his Israeli counterpart.
“Particularly, as I engage with my Israeli counterpart, how they might respond, depending on the response that comes from Hezbollah or from Iran,” Brown said.
The current war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel’s military campaign has driven nearly all of the Palestinian enclave’s 2.3 million people from their homes, giving rise to deadly hunger and disease and killing at least 40,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities.
