ISTANBUL: Tension between Israel and Iran should not distract from the situation in Gaza and the first priority of the international community should be ending the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.
Fidan was speaking in Istanbul on Saturday during a visit by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who urged Iran and Israel to exercise restraint.
Shoukry’s visit to Turkiye comes amid high tensions in the Middle East following the apparent Israeli attack on Iran. Israel has said nothing about the incident.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Fidan, Shoukry said there was concern in the region over the ongoing escalation.
“We’ve warned of the expansion of the conflict from the very beginning,” he said.
“We’ve called on both parties (Iran and Israel) to exercise restraint.”
Fidan said the main cause of instability in the Middle East was Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and Western backing for Israel.
“Any development that could distract us from this fact should be ignored,” he said. “Our first priority should be ending Israel’s occupation in Palestine and a two-state solution.”
He said he and Shoukry discussed efforts for delivering more humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Separately, Shoukry said Egypt would host a Turkish delegation to prepare for a visit by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Turkiye at a future date.
Turkiye says ending Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is ‘first priority’
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Turkiye says ending Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is ‘first priority’
- Fidan said the main cause of instability in the Middle East was Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and Western backing for Israel
- He said he and Shoukry discussed efforts for delivering more humanitarian aid to Gaza
Iraq begins closing Al-Hol camp, 19,000 citizens return home
- About 3,000 Iraqis still remain in Al-Hol
- The camp currently houses around 60,000 people of various nationalities, most of them women and children linked to Daesh fighters
DUBAI: Iraq said it has begun dismantling the Al-Hol camp in northeast Syria, repatriating thousands of its citizens as part of efforts to prevent the site from being used to promote extremist ideology, state news agency INA reported on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Migration and Displacement said around 19,000 Iraqis returned from Al-Hol to their former areas of residence and were reintegrated into local communities, with no security incidents recorded.
Karim Al-Nouri, undersecretary at the ministry, said returnees were subjected to screening and vetting before their transfer to the Al-Amal Community Rehabilitation Center in Al-Jada’a, south of Mosul in Iraq.
“The Ministry of Migration and Displacement is not concerned with security aspect,” Al-Nouri said, adding terrorism cases are handled separately by judiciary.
He said senior Daesh militants recently transferred to Iraq were brought from prisons run by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and not from Al-Hol camp.
The most recent group of returnees consists of 281 families, marking the 31st batch received by Iraq so far.
Officials described Al-Hol as a potential security threat, saying the camp has been exploited in the past as a recruitment hub for Daesh and a center for spreading extremism.
The camp currently houses around 60,000 people of various nationalities, most of them women and children linked to Daesh fighters.
Iraqi returnees receive psychological, medical and social support at the Al-Amal center, with assistance from international organizations and the Iraqi health ministry, before returning to their communities, according to the ministry. Those found to have committed crimes are referred to courts.
Al-Nouri said about 3,000 Iraqis still remain in Al-Hol. He added Iraqi detainees are also held in other prisons in Syria, with their cases requiring follow-up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
