ALGIERS: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune plans to visit Russia in May, his office said Tuesday after he spoke on the phone with his counterpart in Moscow, Vladimir Putin.
Algeria has had warm ties with Moscow for decades, but Africa’s biggest gas exporter has also become crucial for Europe’s energy supplies in the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tebboune and Putin discussed “bilateral relations between the two countries, especially energy cooperation,” the Algerian presidency said in a statement.
Tebboune is also set to pay a state visit to former colonial ruler France in May, but officials have not specified which country he will visit first.
Algeria, which pumps gas directly to Spain and Italy via undersea pipelines, has in recent months hosted a string of top European officials — including French President Emmanuel Macron in August — seeking to find alternatives to Russian energy supplies.
Algeria is a major buyer of Russian arms, and in 2021 bilateral trade was worth three billion dollars, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
The North African country is in a decades-long struggle with its regional rival Morocco, particularly over the disputed Western Sahara territory, and cut off all ties with its neighbor in 2021 over alleged “hostile acts,” which Rabat has denied.
As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, Russia has a direct influence over the Western Sahara file.
Algeria’s Tebboune to visit Russia in May: Presidency
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Algeria’s Tebboune to visit Russia in May: Presidency
- Tebboune and Putin discussed "bilateral relations between the two countries, especially energy cooperation", the Algerian presidency said
- Algeria is a major buyer of Russian arms
Syria accuses Hezbollah of firing shells into its territory
- “The Syrian Arab Army will not tolerate any aggression targeting Syria,” the army said in a statement to SANA
DAMASCUS: Syria said Iran-backed Hezbollah had fired artillery shells into its territory from Lebanon overnight, state media reported on Tuesday, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Shia movement.
Syrian army officials said artillery shells fired from Lebanon landed near the town of Serghaya, west of Damascus, the state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday.
The army accused Hezbollah of targeting Syrian army positions, telling the news agency it observed Hezbollah reinforcements at the Syrian-Lebanese border.
“The Syrian Arab Army will not tolerate any aggression targeting Syria,” the army said in a statement to SANA.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during US-Israeli strikes.
Hezbollah and Israeli forces have clashed in eastern Lebanon in recent days, and Israel has carried out strikes across Lebanon, including on the capital Beirut.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Hezbollah of working to “collapse” the state, while the head of the group’s parliamentary bloc said it had “no other option... than the option of resistance.”
Hezbollah provided military support to former Syrian president Bashar Assad, who was overthrown in December 2024 by an Islamist coalition hostile to the pro-Iranian Shia movement.
Since then, its supply routes from Syria have been cut off, and Lebanese and Syrian authorities are trying to combat smuggling across the porous border between the two countries.
