‘Operation Peace Spring’ continues despite international objections

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The Turkish invasion is widely condemned around the world. (File/AFP)
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Smoke billows from targets inside Syria during bombardment by Turkish forces Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019. (AP)
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A picture taken in Akcakale at the Turkish border with Syria on October 10, 2019 shows smokes rising from the Syrian town of Tal Abyad after a mortar fired from Syria landed in the garden of a Turkish government building in Akcakale. (AFP)
Updated 12 October 2019
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‘Operation Peace Spring’ continues despite international objections

  • Europe tells Turkey to ‘show restraint and halt its military operations in northeastern Syria’
  • Civilians of the region began escaping the unfolding chaos

ANKARA: With the Turkish military beginning a ground incursion into northeastern Syria on Wednesday, several villages in Tal Abyad and Ras Al-Ain, two Arab-majority towns in the region, changed hands.

The Turkish Army, accompanied by the Syrian National Army, reportedly reached a depth of 8 km by midnight, with some 109 YPG/SDF militants killed during the opening movements of Operation Peace Spring.

The operation was not harshly criticized by NATO, whose secretary-general said that Turkey has legitimate security concerns.

However, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday called Ankara to show restraint and halt its military operations in Syria. 

“If the plan involves the creation of a so-called safe zone, do not expect the EU to pay for any of it,” he said.

In a press conference on Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blasted the EU’s stance: “If you call this operation an invasion, then we could just open the gates and send 3.6 million Syrian refugees back to Europe.”

Erdogan guaranteed that neither the Turkish nor Syrian forces would harm civilians or their property in northern Syria. 

“Anyone who wants to leave the YPG, we welcome them whether they are Kurds or Arabs,” he said.

Civilians of the region began escaping the unfolding chaos.

Simon Waldman, associate fellow at the British think tank the Henry Jackson Society and visiting fellow at King’s College London, said the ongoing operation is nothing less than an attempt to kill two birds with one stone: Solving the question of the future of Syrian refugees in Turkey while also dealing with the presence of the YPG, which Ankara claims is directly affiliated with the PKK.

“They are using Turkish troops and Syrian proxy militias to invade, set up a security zone of at least 30 km and resettle Arab Syrian refugees in the captured land. This is despite knowing that it will cause untold civilian casualties and displace up to hundreds of thousands,” he told Arab News.

US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham announced he planned to produce a comprehensive sanctions package against Turkey, hitting Ankara’s defense and energy sectors as well as top Turkish officials, including Erdogan.

In a tweet on Oct. 8, Graham warned Turkey of “sanctions from hell” if it carries an operation into northeast Syria, suggesting “wide, deep, and devastating sanctions.”

According to Waldman, the US sanctions package itself is strong, but ineffectual considering the mixed messages coming from Congress and the White House: “They are only effective when they together send a clear message along with international partners in Europe.”

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani asked Turkey to consider dialogue rather than operations, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called on Ankara to respect the territorial integrity of Syria. Ali Larijani, the Parliament speaker of Iran, cancelled his scheduled visit to Turkey.

“Despite the Astana Framework, Turkey and Iran’s wider geopolitical interests are not aligned,” Michael Tanchum, senior fellow at AIES, an Austrian research institute, told Arab News.

“Because of US support for the PKK-affiliated YPG in northern Syria, Ankara and Tehran had a mutual interest in removing the American presence from Syria. That mutual interest seems to have been eliminated by US President Donald Trump’s recent decision to allow a Turkish invasion of northern Syria,” he added.

According to Tanchum, Turkey’s strategic interests run against the unbridled expansion of Iranian influence from Iran’s western borders through Iraq and Syria to the Mediterranean.

“The rise of Iranian hegemony in this region is a long-term strategic problem for Turkey. Likewise, Ankara wants to continue expanding its influence in the South Caucasus and Caspian Basin. The eastward expansion of Turkish influence is jointly opposed by Iran and Russia,” he said.

Tanchum added: “While not outright enemies, Turkey and Iran have not yet transformed the Astana Framework into a long-term strategic partnership. Syria will now become a weathervane indicating the future direction of their relations.”

In a press briefing given on Thursday, former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who is about to launch a new political party, said Ankara should be in contact with many different segments in Syria for the success of the operation.

“No single resident of the operational region should be otherized and harmed in this process. Turkey should try to win hearts of the Kurdish, Arab and Turkish communities for reaching the civil target alongside the military goals,” he said.

Turkey’s invasion of northeastern Syria began on Wednesday after US troops pulled back from the area, paving the way for Turkey’s assault on Syrian Kurdish forces, long been allied with the US. 
The ministry said Turkish jets and artillery struck 181 targets east of the Euphrates River since the incursion started.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said that Turkish air strikes and shelling had killed nine civilians in northeast Syria since the start of Ankara's offensive.

Five people, including a nine-month-old baby, were killed and dozens injured in shelling on Turkish border towns on Thursday, local authorities said, following Turkey's offensive on Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

Kurdish leaders on Thursday called on European countries to withdraw their ambassadors from Turkey in protest at Ankara's military operation against their forces in northern Syria.
A delegation from the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC) - the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - travelled to Brussels to urge the EU to take concrete measures to punish Turkey.
The EU has urged Turkey to halt the assault but has not taken any action, though the bloc's foreign ministers will discuss the crisis at a regular meeting on Monday.
"We want an urgent intervention on this crisis, and these attacks should be stopped quickly. Air space should be closed for Turkish flights so that air attacks can be stopped," senior SDC figure Ilham Ahmed told reporters in Brussels.
"All European states should freeze their relations by withdrawing their ambassadors from Turkey immediately."

The offensive has displaced more than 60,000 people in less than a day, a war monitor said Thursday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said large number of residents from the border areas of Ras al-Ain, Tal Abyad and Derbasiyeh had fled their homes, mostly east towards the city of Hasakeh.
Turkey says it intends to create a “safe zone” that would push Kurdish militia away from its border and eventually allow the repatriation of up to 2 million Syrian refugees.

Turkey's foreign minister said Turkish troops intend to move some 30 kilometers (19 miles) deep into northern Syria and that its operation will last until all "terrorists are neutralized," a reference to Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Briefing a small group of journalists on Thursday, Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkish troops and Syrian opposition fighters would be strengthened with more security force officers, including police, if needed. He did not comment on how many troops had crossed the border or how many jets were involved in the offensive.
The minister reiterated that Turkey aimed to create a safe zone that would allow the "voluntary" and "safe" return of Syrian refugees or displaced people.
Britain called for restraint on Thursday after Turkey's military incursion into Syria, warning that the move risked humanitarian suffering and underming the fight against militants.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he had spoken to Turkey "to express the UK’s disappointment and concern about the military incursion into NE Syria, and call for restraint."
"The intervention risks greater humanitarian suffering and undermines the focus on countering Daesh (ISIS)," he added.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was talking to "both sides" as Turkey pressed its offensive against US-allied Kurds in Syria, and warned Ankara that it would be hit hard financially if it did not "play by the rules."
"I am trying to end the ENDLESS WARS. Talking to both sides," he said on Twitter. "I say hit Turkey very hard financially & with sanctions if they don’t play by the rules! I am watching closely." 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for a de-escalation of the conflict in Syria.

"I want to express my deepest concerns about the escalation of conflict in eastern Syria. It is absolutely essential to de-escalate," he told reporters in Copenhagen.

"Military operations must always respect the United Nation's chapter and international humanitarian law, and I am worried with the humanitarian concerns that exist in relation to not only casualties but also the displacement that is taking place," Guterres said.

A divided UN Security Council failed to agree on a statement following a closed meeting on Turkey's incursion into northeast Syria on Thursday evening.

The five European council members who called Thursday's meeting — there are 15 member countries — urged Turkey in a joint statement afterward "to cease the unilateral military action." They say it threatens progress against Daesh by a global coalition.

The Europeans warned that "renewed armed hostilities in the northeast will further undermine the stability of the whole region, exacerbate civilian suffering and provoke further displacements."

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, whose country is a key Syrian ally, told reporters that any council statement on Syria must address broader issues, including the presence of foreign forces in the country.

US Ambassador Kelly Craft told reporters that President Donald Trump "has made abundantly clear" that the United States "has not in any way" endorsed Turkey's decision to mount a military incursion in northeast Syria.

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French President Emmanuel Macron urged Turkey to immediately end its offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria, saying it risked boosting Daesh extremists.

"I condemn vehemently the unilateral offensive in Syria and I urge Turkey to put an end to it as quickly as possible," Macron said.

"This risks helping Daesh (IS) to rebuild its caliphate. This is the responsibility that Turkey is taking," he told reporters in the French city of Lyon.

NATO expects Turkey to show restraint in its military operations in northern Syria, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.

"I count on Turkey to show restraint and to ensure that their actions in northern Syria are measured and proportionate and avoid even more human suffering," Stoltenberg told journalists after meeting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens.

"We have to rememeber that we need to continue to stand together in our common fight against the common enemy, which is ISIS," Stoltenberg said, referring to Daesh.

He said a global coalition had made 'enormous progress' in the fight against the extremist group with swathes of territory the size of the United Kingdom being liberated from it.

Meanwhile, France's foreign ministry on Thursday summoned the Turkish ambassador to Paris over Ankara's air and ground offensive into Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria, a diplomatic source said.
"The ambassador in France was summoned in the early afternoon," the source said on the second day of the Turkish operation against Syrian Kurdish forces.
Turkey's ambassador to France Ismail Hakki Musa confirmed the reprimand. "I am (summoned), I'm going later on," he told AFP.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Thursday criticised Turkey's military offensive against Kurdish forces in Syria, the presidency said.

In a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II, El-Sisi "affirmed Egypt's rejection of the Turkish aggression on Syria's territory and sovereignty," a statement from his office said.

El-Sisi warned the operation would have "adverse effects" on the "stability and security of the entire region".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the Turkish military operation in Syria's northeast with Iraq's president by phone on Thursday, Russia's Foreign Ministry said.
Moscow and Baghdad agreed on the need for stability on the eastern bank of the Euphrates and for Syria's territorial integrity to be respected, the ministry said in a readout of the phone call. 

Iraq expressed its “deep concern” about the military operation in Syria's northeast and warned that a large number of civilians will be displaced as a result.

India called upon Turkey to “exercise restraint” and respect Syria’s sovereignty, its ministry of external affairs said Thursday. It also warned that Turkey’s actions could “undermine stability in the region and the fight against terrorism.”

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on Thursday summoned the Turkish ambassador over Ankara's ongoing offensive in northern Syria, a statement said.
The ministry called for an end to unilateral actions and recalled that the only lasting solution to the crisis in war-wracked Syria was through the United Nations.

Norway, a NATO ally of Turkey, announced Thursday it was suspending all new arms exports to the country after Ankara launched a military offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria.
"Given that the situation is complex and changing quickly, the foreign ministry as a precautionary measure will not handle any new demands for exports of defence material or material for multiple uses... to Turkey," Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide said in an email sent to AFP.

On Wednesday, the Arab League warned that Turkey's attack could help Daesh “regain some of its force".

Regional foreign ministers will gather in Cairo on October 12 to discuss Turkey's intervention, the Arab League's assistant secretary-general Hossam Zaki said.

The Turkish invasion is widely condemned around the world.

(With AFP, AP and Reuters)


Hamas official says Israel ‘will not achieve’ goals in Rafah

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Hamas official says Israel ‘will not achieve’ goals in Rafah

“Even if (Israel) enters and invades Rafah, it will not achieve what it wants,” Ghazi Hamad said
“This will undoubtedly threaten the negotiations because it is clear from this declared position that Israel is interested in continuing the war“

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: A senior Hamas official told AFP on Thursday that Israel would fail to meet its stated goals of defeating the Palestinian militant group and freeing hostages by invading the southern Gaza city Rafah.
“Even if (Israel) enters and invades Rafah, it will not achieve what it wants,” Ghazi Hamad said in an interview over the phone from Qatar, where a number of senior figures from Hamas’s political bureau are based.
Hamad said Israel had “spent nearly seven months in Gaza and invaded all areas and destroyed a lot, but so far has not been able to achieve anything of its main goals, whether eliminating Hamas or returning the captives.”
Israel has vowed to move on with the planned military operation in Rafah, despite international outcry and concern for about 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in the city.
There are fears of huge civilian casualties and countries including Israel’s top ally and weapons supplier the United States have warned Israel against sending troops into Rafah.
“We have spoken with all parties involved in the conflict... about the seriousness of invading Rafah and that Israel is heading toward committing additional massacres and additional genocide,” Hamad said.
“This will undoubtedly threaten the negotiations because it is clear from this declared position that Israel is interested in continuing the war and aggression and has no intention of continuing negotiations and reaching an agreement,” he said.
Qatar, the United States and Egypt, have been mediating talks to secure a truce and the release of hostages, but those have stalled for days.
An Egyptian delegation is however set to travel to Israel on Friday to kickstart a new round of talks, Israeli media reported citing unnamed officials.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said Israel’s war cabinet was meeting Thursday “to discuss how to destroy the last battalions of Hamas.”
On Wednesday, Mencer said that since Israel began its ground invasion of Gaza on October 27, the army has destroyed “at least 18 or 19 of Hamas’s 24 battalions.”
Officials say the remaining battalions are in Rafah — the main target of the impending assault.
Most Gazans taking refuge in Rafah are sheltering in makeshift camps, and even before the start of the expected ground invasion, the city near the Egyptian border has been suffering regular Israeli bombings.
Hamad argued the planned invasion was exposing contradictions in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stance on Gaza.
“Netanyahu is stumbling because, on the one hand, he wants to return the captives to their families, as he says, but at the same time, he puts them in great danger, as his army deliberately killed many hostages.”
Israel’s army has admitted to mistakenly killing some hostages in Gaza.
Hamad accused Netanyahu of “manipulating and procrastinating” in a bid to “deceive the Israeli public that there are negotiations and deceive the international community as well that there are negotiations.”
He said the Israeli prime minister was “trying to twist the truth” and claim that “Hamas is the obstacle in these negotiations.”
Hamad said Qatar and Egypt were “making great efforts to reach an agreement,” but argued “the Israeli side unfortunately deals with the matter foolishly and is very confused.”
Hamad also told AFP that Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007, was already working on plans for the territory after the war.
He said the group was “working on the post-war phase to ensure that there is a great effort to rebuild the Gaza Strip and provide the necessities for a decent life.”
Palestinian militants took around 250 hostages to Gaza during Hamas’s October 7 attack that triggered the war.
Israeli officials say 129 hostages are still held in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
The attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,170 people, Israelis and foreigners, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas in Gaza has killed 34,305 people, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.

Shawarma restaurant in Cairo brings taste of home for displaced Palestinians

Updated 8 min 43 sec ago
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Shawarma restaurant in Cairo brings taste of home for displaced Palestinians

CAIRO: A Palestinian businessman displaced by the war in Gaza is bringing a taste of home for fellow refugees with a shawarma restaurant he has opened in Cairo.

“The Restaurant of Rimal Neighborhood” offers shawarma, a Middle Eastern dish of thinly sliced meat, and other Palestinian and Arab dishes.

“The name comes to eternalize Rimal, my neighborhood, and my homeland too,” said Basem Abu Al-Awn.

“It is also to replace the restaurant I once had in Gaza. Two restaurants of mine, in addition to my house and the houses of my relatives, were destroyed,” he said.

Abu Al-Awn hopes his time outside Gaza will be temporary, and he is determined to return to the enclave once the war between Israel and Hamas is over.

“I will return, even if I have to set up a tent near the rubble of my house. We are going back to Gaza, and we will rebuild it,” he said.

Rimal was Gaza City’s busiest shopping center, with large malls and main bank offices before Israeli forces reduced most of it to rubble. 

It was also home to Gaza’s most famous shawarma places.

“The taste is the same. People tell us it tastes as if they are eating it in Gaza,” said Ahmed Awad, the new restaurant’s manager.

“The Egyptians who get to try our place keep coming back. They tell us the taste is nice and is different from the shawarma they usually get,” Awad said.

Gaza shawarma spices are unique and scarce in Cairo, so credit goes to Awad’s father, who mixes those available to give the dish a special Palestinian taste.

Many thousands of Palestinians have arrived in Gaza since the war began last October. 

Awad, his wife, and four children arrived in Cairo three months ago. 

In Gaza, he used to work in restaurants specializing in oriental and Western dishes.

With an end to the war looking like a distant prospect, Awad urged Palestinians not to give up.

“I advise them to work and take care of their lives. Their houses and everything may have gone, but no problem; it will come back again,” he said. 

“Once things are resolved, we will return home, work there, and rebuild our country.”

Palestinians now stranded in Cairo include businessmen, students, and ordinary families who say they seek temporary legal residency to pursue investment and study plans until a ceasefire is in place.

Om Moaz, from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, had been struggling to pay for a rented house and treatment for her husband and daughter in Cairo. She began working from home, offering Palestinian food through social media.

She found there was a strong demand from both Egyptians and Palestinians.

“Some were in the war and came to Egypt. So they started ordering my food. And thank God, it’s a successful business, and hopefully, it continues,” she said.


‘Let’s help Yemen regain ability to chart its own future,’ US envoy Tim Lenderking tells Arab News

Updated 25 April 2024
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‘Let’s help Yemen regain ability to chart its own future,’ US envoy Tim Lenderking tells Arab News

  • Lenderking says it would be a ‘terrible tragedy’ to squander progress in Yemen peace process amid ‘competing crises’
  • US envoy calls on Iran to stop fueling the conflict in Yemen and halt smuggling weapons to the Houthi militia

NEW YORK CITY: Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in response to Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in Gaza must not derail the peace process in Yemen, Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy for Yemen, has said.

Since the war in Gaza began in October last year, attacks by the Houthis on commercial and military vessels in the strategic waterways have caused significant disruption to global trade.

The Iran-backed armed political and religious group, formally known as Ansar Allah, views itself as a part of the Iranian-led “Axis of Resistance” against Israel, the US and the wider West.

It has threatened to continue its attacks on vessels until Israel ends its assault on Gaza. Since January, the UK and the US, in coalition with five other countries, have responded with retaliatory strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

The US will halt these retaliatory strikes when the Houthi militia stops its attacks on shipping, Lenderking told Arab News in an interview, placing responsibility for de-escalating the situation in the militia’s hands.

“The onus (is) on the Houthis to stop the Red Sea attacks,” he said. “That can prompt us all to begin to dial back, to de-escalate, to return the situation in Yemen to where it was on Oct. 6, which had considerably more promise and possibility than what exists now, and that’s where we want to return the focus.”

Lenderking called on Iran to “stop fueling the conflict (and) stop smuggling weapons and lethal material to Yemen, against UN Security Council resolutions.”

Yemen had never been so close to peace before the process was derailed by the latest regional turmoil, said Lenderking. The Yemeni civil war has gone on too long, he said: “It must stop.”

“The Yemeni people (have) suffered from this war for eight years now. They want their country back. They want their country (to be) peaceful. They don’t want foreign fighters in Yemen. They don’t want the Iranians in Sanaa. They don’t want the IRGC, the (Islamic) Revolutionary Guard (Corps) wandering around in Sanaa.

“Let’s help Yemen regain its country and its ability to chart its own future. That’s what the US so, so dearly wants.”

He added: “We’re trying very hard to marshal and maintain an international effort to keep the focus on Yemen’s peace process, on the very critical humanitarian situation.

“But look at what’s crowding us out: Terrible tragedy unfolding in Gaza. Russia’s war in Ukraine. Afghanistan. Sudan. There are many competing crises that are dominating the attention of the US and the international community.”

While the war in Yemen is linked to other conflicts raging in the region, the UN has recently said the world owes it to the Yemenis to ensure that resolving the war in Yemen is not made contingent upon the resolution of other issues, and that Yemen’s chance for peace does not become “collateral damage.”

“We cannot escape what’s happening in Gaza,” said Lenderking. “Not one single day goes by when the people I talk to about Yemen don’t also talk about Gaza. So we know this is a searing and very, very important situation that must be dealt with.

“This situation is holding up our ability to return the focus to the peace process in Yemen, to take advantage of a road map that was agreed to by the Yemeni government and by the Houthis in December, and get the Houthis to refocus their priorities not on Red Sea attacks — which are hurting Yemenis by the way, hurting Yemen — but to the peace effort in Yemen itself.”

Speaking during a UN Security Council briefing last week, Hans Grundberg, the UN envoy for Yemen, said the threat of further Houthi attacks on shipping persists in the absence of a ceasefire in Gaza — the urgent need for which was underscored by the recent escalation in hostilities between Israel and Iran.

Lenderking said: “We continue to hear from the Houthis that these (two) issues are linked and that (the Houthis) will not stop the attacks on Red Sea shipping until there’s a ceasefire in Gaza.

“We believe there’s essential progress that could be done now. There are 25 members of the Galaxy Leader crew, the ship that was taken by the Houthis on Nov. 19 last year, still being held.

“They’re from five different countries. There is no reason why these individuals, who are innocent seafarers, are being detained in Hodeidah by the Houthis. Let them go. Release the ship. There are steps that could be taken. We could continue working on prisoner releases.

“These kinds of things will demonstrate to the Yemeni people that there’s still hope and that the international community is still focused on their situation.”

Lenderking said it would be a “terrible tragedy” to squander the progress toward peace that had been made in the previous two years.

A truce negotiated in April 2022 between the parties in Yemen had initially led to a reduction in violence and a slight easing in the dire humanitarian situation in the country. Two years on, the UN has lamented there is now little to celebrate.

“Detainees we had hoped would be released in time to spend Eid with their loved ones remain in detention,” said UN envoy Grundberg. “Roads we had hoped to see open remain closed.

“We also witnessed the tragic killing and injury of 16 civilians, including women and children, when a residence was demolished by Ansar Allah (Houthi) individuals in Al-Bayda governorate.”

The humanitarian situation in Yemen has also become markedly worse in recent months amid rising food insecurity and the spread of cholera.

Edem Wosornu, director of operations and advocacy at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the Security Council in the same briefing that the situation had deteriorated further after the World Food Programme suspended the distribution of food aid in areas controlled by the Houthis in December 2023.

This pause followed disagreements with local authorities over who should receive priority assistance and was compounded by the effects of a severe funding crisis on WFP humanitarian efforts in Yemen.

“The most vulnerable people — including women and girls, marginalized groups such as the Muhamasheen, internally displaced people, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, and persons with disabilities — still depend on humanitarian assistance to survive,” said Wosornu.

Wosornu also voiced concern about an increase in cases of cholera in Yemen amid the deterioration of public services and institutions.

“The re-emergence of cholera, and growing levels of severe malnutrition, are telling indicators of the weakened capacity of social services,” she said.

“Almost one in every two children under five are stunted, more than double the global average: 49 percent compared to 21.3 percent.

“Emergency stocks of essential supplies are almost depleted. And water, sanitation and hygiene support systems need urgent strengthening.”

The humanitarian response plan for Yemen is only 10 percent funded, with funding for its food security and nutrition programs standing at just 5 percent and 3 percent respectively, according to an informal update presented to the Security Council by the OCHA this week.

Wosornu appealed to the international community to take urgent action to help fill the funding gaps.

Commenting on the funding shortage, Lenderking said: “When there’s a genuine possibility of a Yemen peace process, donors will take note of that and respond. But the fact that we’re in this limbo, where the peace process is on hold while the Houthi is continuing these attacks (in the Red Sea), that I think is to be blamed on the Houthis because they’re derailing what was a legitimate peace process.

“But once we can get back to that, I think we could call on the international community to say, look, there is a ray of hope. There is a process. There is a commitment. The US is supporting an international effort. We can get the donors to come back to Yemen, despite all of the competition for these very scarce resources.”


British Royal Navy shoots down missile for first time since Gulf War in 1991 amid Houthi attacks on shipping

Updated 25 April 2024
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British Royal Navy shoots down missile for first time since Gulf War in 1991 amid Houthi attacks on shipping

  • Iran-backed group said its missiles targeted US ship Maersk Yorktown, an American destroyer in the Gulf of Aden and Israeli ship MSC Veracruz

LONDON: A British Royal Navy destroyer shot down a ballistic missile on Wednesday for the first time since the first Gulf War in 1991, the UK’s defense secretary told The Times newspaper.

In a report published Thursday, Grant Shapps told the newspaper that HMS Diamond used its “Sea Viper” missile system to target the weapon, which Yemen’s Houthi militia said they used to target two American ships in the Gulf of Aden and an Israeli vessel in the Indian Ocean.

The Iran-backed group said its missiles targeted US ship Maersk Yorktown, an American destroyer in the Gulf of Aden and Israeli ship MSC Veracruz in the Indian Ocean, its military spokesman Yahya Sarea confirmed.

It is the first such attack from the Yemeni militia in two weeks in the region, where Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers have been deployed to protect commercial ships since the Houthis initiated strikes on global shipping in November last year in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

“The Yemeni armed forces confirm they will continue to prevent Israeli navigation or any navigation heading to the ports of occupied Palestine in the Red and Arabian Seas, as well as in the Indian Ocean,” Sarea said on Wednesday.

Shapps said the latest Houthi attack was an example of how dangerous the world was becoming and how “non-state actors were now being supplied with very sophisticated weapons” from states such as Iran.

His comments came after UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week pledged to increase spending on British defense to 2.5 percent of national income, something Shapps said was “so vital” given continued tensions in the Middle East.


Al-Azhar Al-Sharif condemns terrorist crimes against civilians in Gaza

Updated 25 April 2024
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Al-Azhar Al-Sharif condemns terrorist crimes against civilians in Gaza

  • Al-Azhar Al-Sharif reiterated the need for the international community to assume its responsibilities and put a stop to the ‘frenzied aggression against the people of Gaza’
  • Al-Azhar said that the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians, including patients, had been uncovered in mass graves at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis

CAIRO: Al-Azhar Al-Sharif — Sunni Islam’s oldest and foremost seat of learning — has strongly condemned “the terrorist crimes being committed against civilians in the Gaza Strip.”

In a statement, Al-Azhar censured the attacks, “the hideousness of which was revealed through the widespread reports about mass graves of hundreds of bodies of children, women, the elderly, and medical personnel in the vicinity of the Nasser and Al-Shifa Medical Complexes.

“Also, dozens of bodies were found “scattered” in shelter and displacement centers and tents, and residential neighborhoods throughout the Strip.”

Al-Azhar said that it affirmed to the world that “these mass graves are the definitive proof that these hideous atrocities and horrors have become normal daily behavior for Israel.”

It said that the people of the world must unite to protest in a way that deterred the regimes supporting these crimes. 

Al-Azhar demanded an urgent international trial against “the ‎terrorist occupation government, which no longer ‎knows the meaning of humanity or the right to life and is ‎committing genocides every day.”

It reiterated the need for the international community to assume its responsibilities, stop the “frenzied aggression against the people of Gaza and the consequent suffering and unprecedented humanitarian disasters, and ensure the protection of civilians and the delivery of sufficient and sustainable humanitarian aid to all parts of the Gaza Strip.”

Al-Azhar expressed its “sincere condolences and sympathy to ‎the Palestinian people and the families of the martyrs, calling ‎on the Lord Almighty to shower them with His vast mercy and ‎forgiveness, to reassure the hearts of their families and loved ‎ones, and to speed up the recovery of the sick.”

Citing media reports, Al-Azhar said that the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians, including patients, had been uncovered in mass graves at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis since Saturday.