DUBAI: Catholics in the UAE and around the Gulf are waiting expectantly for the touchdown of Pope Francis in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night — the first time a pontiff from the Church of Rome has set foot on the Arabian peninsula.
The visit coincides with a trip to the UAE by Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar in Cairo. It will be the first time two such senior leaders of Islam and Catholicism have met.
The historic papal visit is the first in a series of events to mark 2019 as the “year of tolerance” in the UAE. Francis will take part in the Human Fraternity Meeting in Abu Dhabi, where he will meet other leaders of the world’s great religions, “reflecting the values of brotherhood, love and peaceful dialogue,” the organizers said.
The highlight of the visit will be an open-air service in Abu Dhabi, where the pope will celebrate mass before a crowd estimated at 140,000 watching in the Zayed Sports City Stadium and outside on giant TV screens.
Hundreds of coaches will leave Dubai on Monday evening with worshippers hoping to catch a glimpse of the Pope in Abu Dhabi, in what one observer described as a “Christian pilgrimage” in Arabia.
Leaders of other religions in Abu Dhabi include a representative of the Jewish community, and many Catholic expatriates living in Saudi Arabia are also expected to fly to the UAE for the historic event.
Raad Jaboouri Al-Sheikh, an Iraqi Catholic who has lived in the UAE for 17 years, told Arab News: “It is an amazing thing. I never expected to see this. He has visited other parts of the world where there are many more Catholics, so it is an honor he is coming to see us.”
Catholics in UAE await arrival of Pope Francis
Catholics in UAE await arrival of Pope Francis
- The historic papal visit is the first in a series of events to mark 2019 as the “year of tolerance” in the UAE
- The visit coincides with a trip to the UAE by Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar in Cairo
US forces withdraw from Syria’s Al-Tanf base: Syrian military sources
- The Americans had been moving equipment out of Al-Tanf base for the past 15 days, one source told AFP
- Following the withdrawal from Al-Tanf, US troops are mainly now based at the Qasrak base in Hasakah
DAMASCUS: US forces have withdrawn to Jordan from Syria’s Al-Tanf base, where they had been deployed as part of the international coalition against the Daesh group, two Syrian military sources told AFP on Wednesday.
One source said “the American forces withdrew entirely from Al-Tanf base today” and decamped to another in Jordan, adding Syrian forces were being deployed to replace them.
A second source confirmed the withdrawal, adding the Americans had been moving equipment out for the past 15 days.
The second source said the US troops would “continue to coordinate with the base in Al-Tanf from Jordan.”
During the Syrian civil war and the fight against Daesh group, US forces were deployed in the country’s Kurdish-controlled northeast and at Al-Tanf, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had been a major partner of the anti-Daesh coalition, and were instrumental in the group’s territorial defeat in Syria in 2019.
However, after the fall of longtime ruler Bashar Assad over a year ago, the United States has drawn closer to the new government in Damascus, recently declaring that the need for its alliance with the Kurds had largely passed.
Syria agreed to join the anti-Daesh coalition when President Ahmed Al-Sharaa visited the White House in November.
As Al-Sharaa’s authorities seek to extend their control over all of Syria, the Kurds have come under pressure to integrate their forces and de facto autonomous administration into the state, striking an agreement to do so last month after losing territory to advancing government troops.
Since then, the US has been conducting an operation to transfer around 7,000 suspected jihadists from Syria — where many were being held in detention facilities by Kurdish fighters — to neighboring Iraq.
Following the withdrawal from Al-Tanf and the government’s advances in the northeast, US troops are mainly now based at the Qasrak base in Hasakah.
Despite Daesh’s territorial defeat, the group remains active.
It was blamed for a December attack in Palmyra in which a lone gunman opened fire on American personnel, killing two US soldiers and a US civilian.
Washington later conducted retaliatory strikes on Daesh targets in Syria.
