CAIRO: At least four security personnel were killed in clashes at a police compound in the city of El Arish in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, two security sources said on Monday.
The clashes broke out on Sunday when a group of detainees seized weapons inside El Arish’s Central Security compound in northern Sinai and attacked forces stationed there, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The four dead included a police colonel, they said. Six people were also wounded.
The interior ministry did not respond to a request for comment and there was no official statement from authorities about the incident.
Egyptian security forces battled an insurgency by Islamist militants in northern Sinai for years and have recently extended their control over the coastal area, which runs between the border with the Gaza Strip and the northern end of the Suez Canal.
Northern Sinai has still seen occasional attacks and the army and police maintain a heavy presence.
At least four killed in clash in Egypt’s Sinai — security sources
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At least four killed in clash in Egypt’s Sinai — security sources
- Detainees seized weapons inside El Arish’s Central Security compound and attacked forces stationed there
Israel war cabinet minister says to quit unless Gaza plan approved
- Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu dismisses comments as "washed-up words"
- Broad splits emerge in Israeli war cabinet as Hamas regroups in northern Gaza
JERUSALEM: Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said Saturday he would resign from the body unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a post-war plan for the Gaza Strip.
“The war cabinet must formulate and approve by June 8 an action plan that will lead to the realization of six strategic goals of national importance.. (or) we will be forced to resign from the government,” Gantz said, referring to his party, in a televised address directed at Netanyahu.
Gantz said the six goals included toppling Hamas, ensuring Israeli security control over the Palestinian territory and returning Israeli hostages.
“Along with maintaining Israeli security control, establish an American, European, Arab and Palestinian administration that will manage civilian affairs in the Gaza Strip and lay the foundation for a future alternative that is not Hamas or (Mahmud) Abbas,” he said, referring to the president of the Palestinian Authority.
He also urged the normalization of ties with Saudi Arabia “as part of an overall move that will create an alliance with the free world and the Arab world against Iran and its affiliates.”
Netanyahu responded to Gantz’s threat on Saturday by slamming the minister’s demands as “washed-up words whose meaning is clear: the end of the war and a defeat for Israel, the abandoning of most of the hostages, leaving Hamas intact and the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
The Israeli army has been battling Hamas militants across the Gaza Strip for more than seven months.
But broad splits have emerged in the Israeli war cabinet in recent days after Hamas fighters regrouped in northern Gaza, an area where Israel previously said the group had been neutralized.
Netanyahu came under personal attack from Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday for failing to rule out an Israeli government in Gaza after the war.
The Gaza war broke out after Hamas’s attack on October 7 on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The militants also seized about 250 hostages, 124 of whom Israel estimates remain in Gaza, including 37 the military says are dead.
Israel’s military retaliation against Hamas has killed at least 35,386 people, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry, and an Israeli siege has brought dire food shortages and the threat of famine.
Saudi Arabia prioritizes real estate sector with 18 legislative initiatives to drive growth
RIYADH: The Saudi government is prioritizing the real estate sector, enacting over 18 pieces of legislation to drive its growth and significantly boost its gross domestic product.
This initiative was highlighted during the recently concluded second edition of the Saudi Exhibition for Real Estate Development and Ownership, or SEREDO, held in Jeddah. The event aimed to raise awareness, explore development opportunities, and review investment potential in the sector.
According to Tayseer bin Mohammed Al-Mufarrij, spokesman for the Real Estate General Authority, over 18 legislations have been issued to date. These include real estate systems, executive regulations, and regulatory rules, reflecting the government’s commitment to this sector as part of Vision 2030.
He emphasized the sector’s role and contribution to the Kingdom’s GDP, reaching 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023. He also noted that the property sector’s contribution to the country’s non-oil activities was 12.1 percent, as reported by the Saudi Press Agency.
During the expo, Abdullah bin Saud Al-Duhaim, general supervisor of property development at REGA, provided a detailed explanation of the new system for selling and leasing off-plan real estate projects and its recently approved executive regulations.
In a workshop on the sidelines of the event, Al-Duhaim and other officials outlined the procedural steps for applying for qualification, obtaining licenses to practice the activity, and the requirements for developers to register with the authority.
They also underscored the importance of complying with the regulations and legislation governing the sector, which aim to provide high-quality services, enhance reliability, increase transparency, and protect the rights of all stakeholders.
REGA’s participation in SEREDO 2024 is part of its role in raising awareness about real estate, exploring development opportunities, showcasing investment prospects, and exchanging experiences with industry professionals, SPA added.
It also aims to engage the community in creating solutions to challenges, advancing toward future horizons that enhance the prosperity and sustainability of the real estate market.
This approach seeks to make the sector dynamic and capable of adapting to rapid changes, which aligns with Vision 2030 objectives.
The real estate development and ownership field in the Kingdom is considered one of the largest growing sectors in the Middle East. Its volume is estimated at approximately $69.51 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $101.62 billion by 2029, recording a compound annual growth rate of 8 percent.
KSrelief provides prosthetic services in Yemen
- Yemen is among the top beneficiaries of KSrelief assistance
RIYADH: A Saudi-backed prosthetics center in Yemen has provided help to hundreds of people in the war-torn country, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.
The project, supported by the Kingdom’s aid agency KSrelief, offers physical therapy and other services to assist those who have lost limbs to reintegrate into society.
The rehabilitation center in the governorate of Taiz provided 821 services to 329 beneficiaries in one month, including the manufacturing, fitting, delivery, and maintenance of prosthetic limbs.
Other treatments include physical therapy and consultation sessions, SPA stated.
Yemen is among the top beneficiaries of KSrelief assistance. The center has implemented 862 projects in Yemen worth over $4.3 billion.
KSrelief’s programs cover food security, health, sanitation, shelter, nutrition, education, telecommunications and logistics.
Since its inception in 2015, KSrelief has implemented 2,673 projects worth more than $6.5 billion in 99 countries, in cooperation with 175 local, regional, and international partners.
Meanwhile, KSrelief distributed 720 shelter bags to displaced families and those in need in the locality of Kosti in the White Nile State of Sudan, benefiting 4,140 individuals.
The center also distributed 769 food baskets in Kassala State, benefiting 3,762 individuals.
US, Iranian officials met in Oman after Israel escalation
- Washington called on Tehran to rein in proxy forces
- Officials sat in separate rooms with Omani intermediaries passing messages
LONDON: US and Iranian officials held talks in Oman last week aimed at reducing regional tensions, the New York Times reported.
Through intermediaries from Oman, Washington’s top Middle East official Brett McGurk and the deputy special envoy for Iran, Abram Paley, spoke with Iranian counterparts.
It was the first contact between the two countries in the wake of Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone attack on Israel in April.
The US officials, who communicated with their Iranian counterparts in a separate room — with Omani officials passing on messages — requested that Tehran rein in its proxy forces across the region.
The US has had no diplomatic contact with Iran since 1979, and communicates with the country using intermediaries and back channels.
Since the outbreak of the Gaza war last October, Iran-backed militias — including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and armed groups in Syria and Iraq — have ramped up attacks on Israeli and American targets.
But US officials have determined that neither Hezbollah nor Iran want an escalation and wider war.
After Israel struck Iran’s consulate in Damascus at the beginning of April, Tehran retaliated with hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones.
The attack — which was intercepted by air defense systems from Israel, the US and the UK, among others — was the first ever direct Iranian strike on Israel, which has for years targeted Iranian assets in Syria, whose government is a close ally of Tehran.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a news conference this week that the “Iranian threat” to Israel and US interests “is clear.”
He added: “We are working with Israel and other partners to protect against these threats and to prevent escalation into an all-out regional war through a calibrated combination of diplomacy, deterrence, force posture adjustments and use of force when necessary to protect our people and to defend our interests and our allies.”
Around 670 Pakistani students to return from Bishkek today via four flights — deputy PM
- First batch of 130 Pakistani students from Bishkek arrived in Lahore on Saturday night
- Kyrgyzstan foreign minister confirmed no Pakistanis had been killed, says deputy PM
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Ishaq Dar announced the government has arranged three commercial flights and one chartered Pakistan Air Force (PAF) flight to repatriate over 700 Pakistani students from Bishkek today, Sunday, following violent clashes in the city this week that led to the evacuations.
The development took place after frenzied mobs attacked foreign nationals in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek on Friday. The attacks began after videos of a brawl between Kyrgyz and Egyptian students went viral on social media, prompting furious mobs to target hostels of medical universities and private lodgings of international students, including Pakistanis, in the city.
The first batch of around 130 Pakistani students arrived in Lahore late Saturday night. According to official statistics, around 10,000 Pakistani students are enrolled in various educational institutions in Kyrgyzstan, with nearly 6,000 residing and studying in Bishkek.
“Three commercial special flights have been arranged for today (Sunday) on which 540 students will come back while 130 returned yesterday,” Dar told reporters during a media briefing in Lahore.
“A special flight of Pakistan Air Force will also bring around 130 students. So far, 50 students have registered themselves to come on this flight,” he added.
Dar said he spoke with the foreign minister of Kyrgyzstan today, Sunday, who assured him that the situation in the country was under control and that no new incidents had occurred since Friday afternoon.
“Kyrgyz foreign minister has confirmed that 16 foreign students including four to five Pakistanis got injured during this incident and are under treatment,” Dar said.
He added that Kyrgyzstan’s government has also assured that security at students’ hostels has been enhanced and that they were constantly monitoring the situation.
Earlier on Saturday evening, the PM’s Office said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed Dar and another cabinet member, Amir Muqam, to travel to Bishkek on Sunday and address the situation there.
Dar said they were not traveling to the country at the Kyrgyzstan government’s request, adding that Pakistan has instead sent two officers from the foreign office to facilitate the country’s embassy.
“We were supposed to leave today for the Kyrgyz republic but their foreign minister requested [us] not to come because it would give the wrong impression about the incident and would provide fuel to the opposition,” Dar said.
He said Kyrgyzstan’s foreign minister has categorically denied any Pakistani students were killed in the clashes.
“Their (Kyrgyzstan) foreign minister also said they have arrested a few culprits and assured that no one involved will be spared,” the deputy prime minister said.
Dar said Pakistan’s foreign office had summoned the Kyrgyz Charge d’Affaires to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday for a demarche over the current situation.
“It [violence] happened due to a clash between students and foreign students were targeted from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Arab countries,” he said.
Dar said Pakistan’s embassy had confirmed the situation is not tense anymore and that Pakistanis injured are being provided the best possible medical facilities.
Separately, in a telephone call with Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Hasan Ali Zaigham, PM Sharif instructed the embassy to make the necessary arrangements for the special plane to bring back Pakistani students.
The prime minister said injured Pakistani students should be brought back to Pakistan on a priority basis.
“The Prime Minister also instructed to ensure repatriation of family members residing in Kyrgyzstan with the Pakistani students,” PMO said.
