CAIRO: The price of the US dollar rose against the Egyptian pound over the past few days, with one dollar worth 49.25 Egyptian pounds.
Egyptian economic experts attributed the rise to recent regional developments.
“The biggest factor affecting the price of the dollar against the pound is the remittances of Egyptians abroad,” said Dr. Alaa Ali, an economic expert.
“If it rises, the dollar price will stabilize or decline against the pound, and if it declines, the dollar price will rise, and thus the pound price will decline,” the economist told Arab News.
“Remittances from Egyptians abroad have been high since the decision to liberalize the exchange rate taken by the Egyptian government about eight months ago, which contributed to the stability of the dollar price at about 48 pounds.
“However, with the recent tensions, remittances from Egyptians in foreign currencies have decreased, and thus the dollar price against the pound has increased by about a pound,” said Ali.
“The sources of tourism, investment, exports, and Egyptians’ remittances have a great value in the dollar proceeds.”
Ali said he hoped the price would stabilize again with Egypt obtaining the third tranche of its International Monetary Fund loan, which exceeded approximately $800 million.
Mohamed Shawqy, professor of economic risk management, also commented on the reasons behind the recent increase in the price of the dollar against the Egyptian pound.
Shawqy referred to regional tensions and the threat of an Iranian military response against Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
He stressed to Arab News: “The more tense the situation in the region is, the more negatively the economic situation is affected.”
The head of the Importers Division at the Chambers of Commerce, Matta Beshai, said: “The past period witnessed a kind of reservation among importers regarding the dollar, fearing regional events and instability in the region.”
These developments “prompted a large number to reduce spending in dollars and work to reduce costs in all possible ways, fearing an explosion of the regional situation in light of Iranian threats to retaliate against Israel.”
He added: “Banks are operating normally, and dollars are being disbursed to importers normally after the Ras Al-Hekma deal, which helped in large financial flows within a historic investment agreement that reached $35 billion.”
Beshai said that “the main reason for the rise in the dollar price in banks is the tension in the regional situation, which led to clear fears among investors.”
At the same time, he stressed that the state was “working normally and dealing with the crisis effectively.”
Regional tensions drive up dollar against Egyptian pound
https://arab.news/zjpx5
Regional tensions drive up dollar against Egyptian pound
- Authorities dealing with situation effectively, economist tells Arab News
- The biggest factor affecting the price of the dollar against the pound is the remittances of Egyptians abroad
Biden says ‘working’ to get people back to homes on Israel-Lebanon border
- Biden added that it was crucial to keep pushing for a Gaza ceasefire to underpin regional peace
- Biden told reporters he wanted to “make sure that the people in northern Israel as well as southern Lebanon are able to go back to their homes, to go back safely”
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said Friday he was working to allow people to return to their homes on the Israeli-Lebanon border, in his first comments since a wave of explosions targeting the Hezbollah militia sent tensions soaring.
Biden added that it was crucial to keep pushing for a Gaza ceasefire to underpin regional peace, despite a media report that his administration had given up hope of securing a truce before he leaves office in January.
Speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting in the White House, Biden told reporters he wanted to “make sure that the people in northern Israel as well as southern Lebanon are able to go back to their homes, to go back safely.”
“And the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, our whole team are working with the intelligence community to try to get that done. We’re going to keep at it until we get it done, but we’ve got a way to go,” Biden said.
It was Biden’s first reaction since the violence shifted dramatically from Gaza to Lebanon, with thousands of Hezbollah operatives’ pagers and walkie-talkies exploding earlier this week.
The blasts — which Hezbollah blamed on Israel — killed 37 people including children and wounded thousands more. Israel has not commented on the explosions.
Months of near-daily border clashes have killed hundreds in Lebanon, most of them fighters, and dozens in Israel, forcing thousands on both sides to flee their homes.
Biden also denied that a ceasefire to end Israel’s war in Gaza following the Hamas October 7 attacks was unrealistic, following a Wall Street Journal report that officials believe it is now unlikely.
“If I ever said it’s not realistic, we might as well leave. A lot of things don’t look realistic until we get them done. We have to keep at it,” Biden said.
Netanyahu to delay departure for US due to security situation in north: Israeli official
- Netanyahu delayed his visit to the US by one day
- During his visit to the United States, Netanyahu will address the annual UN General Assembly session
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will delay his departure to New York by a day due to the security situation in the country’s north, an official in his office told AFP on Friday.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed his visit to the US by one day in light of the security situation in the north of Israel,” the official said, asking not to be named. He said that Netanyahu will now travel on September 25, instead of September 24 as previously planned.
During his visit to the United States, Netanyahu will address the annual UN General Assembly session. He is scheduled to return to Israel on September 28.
Israel is engaged in fierce cross-border clash in the country’s north with the Lebanese Hezbollah group, with the situation deteriorating in recent days.
On Friday, the Israeli military carried out a “targeted strike” in Beirut, which a source close to Hezbollah said killed one of its top military leaders.
Israel investigates after videos show soldiers pushing bodies off West Bank roof
- The videos showed three soldiers on the roof of a building in the town of Qabatiya, dragging, pushing, throwing and in one case kicking what appear to be dead men off the edge
- Zakaria Zakarneh, the uncle of one of the men, said he saw what had happened
QABATIYA, West Bank: The Israeli military said on Friday it had opened an investigation after videos showed soldiers pushing what appear to be dead bodies off a roof in the occupied West Bank during a raid against Palestinian militants.
The videos, which began circulating online on Thursday, showed three soldiers on the roof of a building in the town of Qabatiya, dragging, pushing, throwing and in one case kicking what appear to be dead men off the edge.
Zakaria Zakarneh, the uncle of one of the men, said he saw what had happened. Israeli soldiers had gone to the roof after the Palestinians were killed, he told Reuters.
“They tried to move the bodies down with a bulldozer but it didn’t work so they threw them from the second floor down to the ground,” he said. “I was in pain, very sad and angry I was unable to do anything,” Zakarneh said.
Reuters was able to confirm the location of the video as Qabatiya and confirm the date from eyewitness accounts and video filmed by local Palestinian news organizations showing the same scene.
The Israeli military said in a statement the incident was serious and was not in keeping with its values.
In a separate statement, it said that on Thursday its soldiers had killed seven militants in gunbattles and an airstrike in Qabatiya.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza nearly a year ago, with almost daily sweeps by Israeli forces that have involved thousands of arrests and regular gunbattles between security forces and Palestinian fighters, as well as attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian communities.
Top Hezbollah commander among at least 12 killed in Israel strike on Beirut
- Total of 12 people killed and 59 wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said
- Israeli military said around 10 senior Hezbollah commanders killed along with Ibrahim Aqil
BEIRUT: A source close to Hezbollah in Lebanon said an Israel air strike Friday killed one of its top military leaders, with Israel confirming it had carried out a “targeted strike” in Beirut.
Requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, the source said the Israeli strike on Hezbollah’s stronghold in south Beirut killed the head of the group’s elite Radwan unit, Ibrahim Aqil.
At least 12 people were killed and 59 wounded, according to reports.
Israel said it had conducted a “targeted strike” in Beirut, where a security official said an air strike had hit Hezbollah’s stronghold in the south of the city.
The air strike is the third to hit the southern suburbs of Beirut since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, with the focus of the violence shifting dramatically this week from Gaza to Lebanon.
Strikes blamed on Israel killed a top commander of Hezbollah, Fuad Shukr, in July, and a leader of allied Palestinian militant group Hamas, Saleh Al-Aruri, in January.
Earlier Friday, Israel said Hezbollah had fired dozens of rockets from Lebanon following air strikes which destroyed dozens of the militant group’s launchers.
On Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed retribution for deadly sabotage attacks on its communications that he blamed on Israel.
Israel has not commented on the communications device explosions, but the intensifying violence comes after it announced it was shifting its war objectives to its northern border with Lebanon.
For nearly a year, Israeli firepower has focused on Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, but its troops have also been engaged in near-daily exchanges with Hezbollah.
The intensifying exchanges came as the UN Security Council prepared to discuss this week’s attacks on Hezbollah pagers and two-way radios, which killed 37 people and wounded thousands over two days.
Hezbollah said it targeted at least six Israeli military bases with salvos of rockets after overnight bombardment people in south Lebanon described as among the fiercest so far.
“Some 140 rockets were fired from Lebanon within an hour,” an Israeli military spokeswoman said.
The military said that overnight its jets hit infrastructure and “approximately 100 launchers” ready to be fired.
Hezbollah said two of its fighters were killed, without elaborating.
Residents of Marjayoun, a Lebanese town close to the border, said the overnight bombardment was among the heaviest since the border exchanges began last October.
“We were very scared, especially for my grandchildren,” said Nuha Abdo, 62. “We were moving them from one room to another.”
Clothing store owner Elie Rmeih, 45, counted more than 50 strikes.
“It was a terrifying scene and unlike anything we have experienced since the escalation began.
“We live in fear of a wider war, you don’t know where to go.”
International mediators have repeatedly tried to avert a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah and staunch the regional fallout of the Gaza war started by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
Speaking for the first time since the device blasts, Nasrallah warned Israel would face retribution for the communications device blasts.
Describing the attacks as a “massacre” and a possible “act of war,” Nasrallah said Israel would face “just punishment, where it expects it and where it does not.”
Cross-border exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah have killed hundreds in Lebanon, mostly fighters, and dozens in Israel.
Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border have fled their homes.
Speaking to troops on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: “Hezbollah will pay an increasing price” as Israel tries to “ensure the safe return” of its citizens to border areas.
“We are at the start of a new phase in the war,” he said.
Senior UN officials have expressed concern about the legality of the sabotage of Hezbollah’s communication devices.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk called the blasts “shocking,” and said their impact on civilians was “unacceptable.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been scrambling to salvage efforts for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, called for restraint on all sides.
“We don’t want to see any escalatory actions by any party” that would endanger the goal of a Gaza ceasefire, he said.
Hamas’s October 7 attacks that sparked the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, on the Israeli side, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Out of 251 hostages seized by militants, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,272 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations has acknowledged the figures as reliable.
In the latest Gaza violence, the territory’s civil defense agency said an air strike on a house in Nuseirat refugee camp killed eight people. Another six people, including children, were killed in a separate strike on an apartment in Gaza City, it added.
The preliminary findings of a Lebanese investigation found the pagers that exploded had been booby-trapped, a security official said.
Lebanon’s UN mission concurred, saying in a letter that the probe showed “the targeted devices were professionally booby-trapped... before arriving in Lebanon, and were detonated by sending emails to the devices.”
The New York Times reported Wednesday that the pagers that exploded were produced by the Hungary-based BAC Consulting on behalf of Taiwanese manufacturer Gold Apollo. It cited intelligence officers as saying BAC was part of an Israeli front.
A government spokesman in Budapest said the company was “a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary.”
Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah says fighter killed in “Zionist attack” in Damascus
- A fighter got killed in the “Zionist attack”
DUBAI: Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah armed group announced that one of its fighters was killed in what they called a “Zionist attack” in the Syrian capital Damascus, the group said in a statement on Telegram on Friday.
