TUNIS: Four Tunisians have been arrested after Turkiye’s red-and-white flag, which bears a strong resemblance to Tunisia’s but is not the same, was raised atop a government building, local media said Wednesday.
Footage circulated online in recent days showed the Turkish flag flying over the Tunis headquarters of the national railway company SNCFT, prompting a formal apology and arrests.
The two flags have the same colors and both bear the Islamic symbols of a star and crescent, with the most noticeable difference being a white circle on the Tunisian one.
SNCFT on Tuesday announced it had removed the wrong flag, apologizing in a statement for the mix-up and saying an investigation had been launched.
It said the Turkish flag had been purchased by mistake, and that staff “didn’t notice until it was raised.”
The blunder did not go unnoticed on social media, and on Wednesday Mosaique FM radio and other Tunisian news outlets said four railway workers had been arrested.
The media reports did not elaborate on the identities of those arrested or the charges they may face.
In May, the covering of the national flag at a sporting event in Tunis, due to sanctions from the World Anti-Doping Agency, led to the arrests of three officials.
The sports officials faced charges including “attack on the flag of Tunisia” and “plot against the internal security” of the state, and were released last week after a three-month sentence.
The incident had provoked outrage from Tunisian President Kais Saied, who has been readying for elections next month which he is widely expected to win.
Photos from the May flag incident showed Kais in tears during a visit to the venue.
Tunisia flag blunder lands 4 behind bars
https://arab.news/2a7bu
Tunisia flag blunder lands 4 behind bars
- Footage circulated online in recent days showed the Turkish flag flying over the Tunis headquarters of the national railway company SNCFT
- It said the Turkish flag had been purchased by mistake, and that staff “didn’t notice until it was raised“
Lebanon says one dead, 15 wounded in Israel strike on south Beirut
- The strike was not preceded by an Israeli evacuation warning
BEIRUT: Lebanon's health ministry said one person was killed and 15 others were wounded Saturday in an Israeli strike on Hezbollah's south Beirut stronghold, which has been hard hit by the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The ministry announcement came as the official National News Agency said the "Israeli enemy launched a raid near Karout Mall... in the southern suburbs of Beirut".
The strike was not preceded by an Israeli evacuation warning.
According to an AFP photographer, the strike targeted an abandoned building, which includes a car dealership on the ground floor.
The area was cordoned of by the army and security forces.
Beirut's southern suburbs have been heavily bombed by Israel since its war with Hezbollah erupted in September.
The war has killed more than 1,900 people in Lebanon since September 23, according to an AFP tally based on figures from Lebanon's health ministry.
Archaeologists unearth an ancient Middle Kingdom Egyptian tomb in Luxor
- Some items such as jewelry in women’s burials were found intact, including a finely crafted necklace with 30 amethyst beads
CAIRO: Archaeologists from Egypt and the United States unearthed an ancient tomb with 11 sealed burials near the famed city of Luxor, Egyptian authorities said.
Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said in a statement Friday the tomb, which dates back to the Middle Kingdom (1938 B.C.-1630 B.C.), was found in the South Asasif necropolis, next to the Temple of Hatshepsut on the Nile’s West Bank in Luxor.
The joint Egyptian-American mission excavating the necropolis found coffins for men, women and children, suggesting that it was a family tomb used for generations during the 12th Dynasty and the beginning of the 13th Dynasty, said Mohamed Ismail Khaled, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt.
He said ancient floods destroyed most of the burials’ wooden coffins and linen wrappings.
However, some items such as jewelry in women’s burials were found intact, including a finely crafted necklace with 30 amethyst beads and two cylindrical agate beads framing a hippo-head amulet, according to the statement.
Catherine Blakeney, chief American archaeologist with the mission, said they found two copper mirrors, one with a lotus-shaped handle, and the second with a unique design of Hathor, goddess of the sky, women, fertility and love in ancient Egypt.
The discovery came as Egypt has doubled efforts to attract more tourists, a significant source of foreign currency for the cash-strapped North African country. Tourism, which depends heavily on Egypt’s rich Pharaonic artifacts, suffered a long downturn after the political turmoil and violence that followed a 2011 uprising.
Last month, the Grand Egyptian Museum, a mega project near the famed Giza Pyramids, opened 12 halls exhibiting Pharaonic artifacts for visitors as a trial ahead of the yet-unannounced official opening.
Israel army says intercepted three drones over Red Sea
- Iraqi pro-Iran groups say carried out drone attack on Israel’s Eilat
Jerusalem: The Israeli military said on Saturday it had intercepted three drones launched from the east over the Red Sea, without specifying where they came from.
“A short while ago, three UAVs that were launched from the east were intercepted over the Red Sea.... the UAVs were intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement.
Iraqi pro-Iran groups say carried out drone attack
A coalition of pro-Iran groups in Iraq said it carried out four drone attacks on the Israeli resort of Eilat on Saturday, after Israel said it intercepted three drones approaching from the east.
In a statement, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq it was behind the attacks on what it called “four vital targets” in the resort on Israel’s Red Sea coast, all conducted within one hour.
Jordan warns of increasing regional unrest and vows to protect its airspace, borders
CAIRO: Jordan on Saturday warned against intercepting its airspace and the infringement of its borders as unrest increases in the region.
Jordan reaffirms its “rejection of attempts by some regional parties to violate its airspace, especially by launching drones that some of which have entered the Kingdom’s airspace and parts had fallen inside Jordanian territory,” said government spokesperson Mohammad Momani according to Petra news agency.
The spokesperson pointed out that two incidents of this sort had occurred recently in the governorates of Irbid and Jerash, describing it as “a threat that Jordan was dealing with within the military rules of engagement, and that it was taking all necessary measures to confront these violations.”
The minister warned of “increasing regional unrest, reiterating that Jordan will not be a conflict zone for any party, and will not allow warplanes, missiles or drones to pass through its airspace.”
US-Israeli settlers hope to see a second Trump term
- Recent polls show that a majority of Israelis dream of the days when the former president inhabited the White House
- Donald Trump prioritized Israel during his previous term, moving the American embassy to Jerusalem among his other actions
SHILOH, Palestinian Territories: Less than a week before the United States presidential election, Americans living in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank know exactly who they want to win: Donald Trump.
Recent polls show that a majority of Israelis, 66 percent according to one conducted by Israel’s Channel 12 News, dream of the days when the former president inhabited the White House.
Trump prioritized Israel during his previous term, moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights and helping to normalize ties between Israel and several Arab states under the so-called Abraham Accords.
Now, many Israelis believe Trump will offer yet more support as the country battles Iran-backed militant groups in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as Iran itself.
“I’m proud to tell you that I voted for President Trump,” Eliana Passentin, 50, who moved to Israel from San Francisco as a child, said.
For Passentin, a mother and grandmother, the stakes are higher than for the average Israeli.
For the past 29 years she has lived in Eli, part of a cluster of Israeli settlements located in the heart of the West Bank.
The area has been occupied by Israel since 1967, but it could become Palestinian sovereign territory under a two-state solution favored by the international community.
Passentin is employed by the local regional council.
She recalls how successive administrations in Washington pressured Israel to stop expanding settlements in an attempt to mediate peace between Israelis and Palestinians and reach a two-state solution.
“United States of America, our greatest ally, we thank you, but please understand we know how to run our country,” Passentin said.
In her backyard, with sweeping views of the entire area, Passentin points to nearby Israeli and Palestinian towns.
“I don’t think that Israelis living here are an obstacle to peace. On the contrary, I think that the Israelis living here are building the region for everyone,” she said.
She said the region was a hub for Jews in Biblical times, and claims that under international agreements Israelis have a right to live here.
International law says otherwise, however, and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal by the international community.
Among Israelis who vote for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling right-wing coalition, 93 percent support Trump’s candidacy, according to the Channel 12 poll.
“Things have changed since October 7,” Passentin said, referring to Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on that day in 2023 which sparked the war in Gaza.
“Now it’s a whole different story — it’s not about Judea and Samaria, it’s about Israel,” she said, using the Biblical terms for the southern and northern West Bank.
“We have a right to defend ourselves... and I think President Trump respects and understands that.”
Gedaliah Blum, 45, a neighbor who was born in New Jersey, also said he voted for Trump based on the question of “what kind of future we want to have here in Israel.”
“Do we want a future that has an embargo threatened on Israel every time we defend ourselves?” he asked.
“Trump is not going to pressure Israel to sign a ceasefire that will let Hamas remain in power in Gaza. They’re not going to push Israel to sign a peace agreement with Lebanon that will allow Hezbollah to remain in power.”
With Kamala Harris in the Oval Office, Israel will be under constant “pressure,” Blum said.
“We’re going to get pressure, we’re going to get embargoes, we’re going to get Iranian money in their pockets. It’s not in the best interest of Israel.”
In the nearby settlement of Shiloh, where an estimated 20 percent of residents hold US citizenship, New York-born Yisrael Medad, 77, said he believed Trump would be good not only for America but also for “America’s friends abroad, including Israel.”
“I think the policies that a Republican candidate such as Trump are promoting are most beneficial for the administration, Congress and the American people,” he said.
On Israel, Medad said he believed that Trump would treat Israel more “fairly in terms of not denying its rights to defend itself... not only in a physical sense but also on the ideological front.”
Referring to a recent incident at a Democratic campaign rally in which Harris did not push back against a demonstrator who said Israel was committing a “genocide” in Gaza, Medad said: “That’s not the type of candidate I want in the White House.”
