Kuwait marks 58th national day 

Kuwaitis celebrate the country's 58th Independence Day and the 28th anniversary of the end of the Gulf war with the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation, in Kuwait City on February 25, 2019. (AFP)
Updated 26 February 2019
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Kuwait marks 58th national day 

  • The National Day commemorates the creation of Kuwait as a nation in 1961, while Liberation Day marks the end of the Iraqi occupation in 1991 during the Gulf War

CAIRO: Kuwait celebrated on Monday its national day, marking the anniversary of its 58th Independence and its 28th Liberation Days.

The National Day commemorates the creation of Kuwait as a nation in 1961, while Liberation Day marks the end of the Iraqi occupation in 1991 during the Gulf War.

Nation-wide festivities including firework displays and epic public entertainment activities. 

The day also marks the 13th anniversary of Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s assumption to power, as he he took to the throne in 2006. 

Since independence, Kuwait adopted balanced national and foreign policies aimed at maintaining the wellbeing of its people and bolstering ties of cooperation with its regional neighbors. 

Its Gulf neighbor, the UAE, celebrated the occasion by presenting a giant sand portrait of the Kuwaiti emir that could be visible from space. 

The portrait titled ‘Prince of Humanity’ covers an area of more than 170,000 square feet, and has been registered to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.

It was captured in a video shared on Twitter by Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE. 

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation also marked the occasion, by holding a series of events at its various airport terminals. 

Upon arrival to the Kingdom, passengers coming from Kuwait were greeted with roses, national flags of the two countries, and souvenirs in honor of the celebration.

A welcome statement was displayed on large screens inside the terminals of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. 

Similar gestures were made at other Saudi airports as well. 


Syria says detained senior Daesh jihadist in Damascus

Updated 25 December 2025
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Syria says detained senior Daesh jihadist in Damascus

  • The arrest came less than two weeks after a December 13 attack killed two US soldiers

DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities have arrested a senior Daesh group official in the Damascus region in a joint operation with a US-led international coalition, a security official said on Wednesday.
Taha Al-Zoubi, also known as Abu Omar Tabiya, an Daesh leader in Damascus, was detained with several of his men, General Ahmad Al-Dalati was reported as saying by state news agency SANA.
The arrest came less than two weeks after a December 13 attack killed two US soldiers and a US civilian that Washington said was carried out by a lone Daesh gunman in central Syria’s Palmyra.
“Our specialized units, in cooperation with the General Intelligence Directorate and and International Coalition forces, carried out a precise security operation targeting” an Daesh hideout, Dalati said.
On December 20, a Syria monitor said that five Daesh members were killed in US strikes in retaliation for the December 13 attack.
It was the first such incident since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December last year, and Syrian authorities said the perpetrator was a security forces member who was due to be fired for his “extremist Islamist ideas.”