BRUSSELS: Jordan’s foreign minister and the EU’s top diplomat have discussed Israel’s illegal measures against Palestinians and efforts to end the Syrian crisis in a meeting in Brussels.
The Jordan News Agency reported that Ayman Safadi and Josep Borrell held extensive talks as part of the minister’s tour of Europe promoting partnership with the EU to help resolve regional crises and achieve security and stability.
Safadi said that it was important for the EU to support the two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, reject settlement and land confiscation and commit to respecting Jerusalem’s historical and legal status quo and its Islamic and Christian sanctities.
He also warned against the dangers of the continued deterioration in the occupied Palestinian territories. Illegal Israeli measures are fueling violence and undermining the two-state solution and need to be stopped, said Safadi.
The pair discussed the Aqaba and Sharm el-Sheikh meetings, and efforts made by the Kingdom to prevent escalation and activate the peace process. Europe has an “important and major” role, Safadi said.
They also reviewed Jordan’s initiative to solve Syria’s humanitarian, security and political issues and preserve its integrity through direct Arab-Syrian engagement, said Safadi.
Safadi and Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, also discussed the refugees’ crisis and highlighted the need to provide continued international support for them and the host countries.
The two sides also reviewed the ongoing preparations for holding the 7th Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region, which is scheduled to be held by the EU in June 2023 in Brussels.
Jordan’s foreign minister presses EU to support end of Israeli escalation
https://arab.news/p4avg
Jordan’s foreign minister presses EU to support end of Israeli escalation
- Ayman Safadi says Israel is fueling violence and undermining two-state solution
- Minister and top EU diplomat Josep Borrell also discussed Kingdom’s initiative to reach political solution in Syria
Western Libya forces kill notorious migrant smuggler, security agency says
- The Security Threats Combating Agency raided the group’s hideout in response to the attack and killed its leader, Ahmed Al-Dabbashi
- Dabbashi had been under US sanctions since 2018
BENGHAZI: Western Libyan security forces said on Friday they had killed a notorious migrant smuggler in the coastal city of Sabratha after “criminal gangs” affiliated with him attacked one of their checkpoints overnight.
The Security Threats Combating Agency, a security agency under western Libya’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah, said they raided the group’s hideout in response to the attack and killed its leader, Ahmed Al-Dabbashi, also known as “Al-Amu.”
Dabbashi’s brother was arrested and six members of the force were wounded in the fighting, the agency said in the statement on its Facebook page.
Dabbashi had been under US sanctions since 2018. Washington described him as the “leader of one of two powerful migrant smuggling organizations” based in Sabratha and said he had “used his organization to rob and enslave migrants before allowing them to leave for Italy.”
Human trafficking is rife in Libya, which has been divided between rival armed factions since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The proliferation of smuggling gangs and the absence of a strong central authority have made the country one of the main staging points for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
Dbeibah was installed through a UN-backed process in 2021, but significant parts of western Libya remain outside his control. Dbeibah’s Government of National Unity, or GNU, is not recognized by rival authorities in the east.
An armed alliance affiliated with an earlier UN-backed government in Tripoli – the Government of National Accord – had taken on Dabbashi’s forces in a three-week battle in 2017 that killed and wounded dozens and damaged residential areas and Sabratha’s Roman ruins.
