PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said he would hold a trilateral summit on the situation in Gaza with Egypt President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
Israel has pushed to seize territory in Gaza since the collapse of a short-lived truce in its war with Hamas, in what it has called a strategy to force the militants to free hostages still in captivity.
Simultaneously, Israel has escalated attacks on Lebanon and Syria.
“In response to the Gaza emergency and during my visit to Egypt at President El-Sisi’s invitation, we will hold a trilateral summit with the Egyptian president and the King of Jordan,” Macron wrote on X ahead of his trip.
The French president is expected in Cairo on Sunday evening, where he will hold talks with his Egyptian counterpart on Monday morning.
The trilateral summit will be held the same day in the Egyptian capital, according to Macron’s office.
On Tuesday, Macron will also visit the Egyptian port of El-Arish, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the Gaza Strip, to meet humanitarian and security workers and demonstrate his “constant mobilization in favor of a ceasefire.”
El-Arish is a transit point for international aid intended for Gaza.
Macron to hold Gaza summit with Egyptian, Jordanian leaders
https://arab.news/9sp73
Macron to hold Gaza summit with Egyptian, Jordanian leaders
- The French president is expected in Cairo on Sunday evening
- The trilateral summit will be held the same day
US announces start of effort to ‘eliminate Daesh fighters’ and weapons sites in Syria following deaths of Americans
- “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says
- President Trump earlier pledged “very serious retaliation” but stressed that Syria was fighting alongside US troops
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced the start of an operation to “eliminate Daesh fighters, infrastructure, and weapons sites” in Syria following the deaths of three US citizens.
“This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people,” he said Friday on social media.
Two Iowa National Guard members and a US civilian interpreter were killed Dec. 13 in an attack in the Syrian desert that the Trump administration has blamed on the Daesh group. The slain National Guard members were among hundreds of US troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS.
Soon after word of the deaths, President Donald Trump pledged “very serious retaliation” but stressed that Syria was fighting alongside US troops. Trump has said Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack” and the shooting attack by a gunman came as the US military is expanding its cooperation with Syrian security forces.
A US official told The Associated Press that the attack was conducted using F-15 Eagle jets, A-10 Thuderbolt ground attack aircraft and AH-64 Apache helicopters. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations, said more strikes should be expected.
When asked for further information, the Pentagon referred AP to Hegseth’s social media post.
White House officials noted that Trump had made clear that retaliation was coming.
“President Trump told the world that the United States would retaliate for the killing of our heroes by Daesh in Syria, and he is delivering on that promise,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement.
Trump this week met privately with the families of the slain Americans at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before he joined top military officials and other dignitaries on the tarmac for the dignified transfer, a solemn and largely silent ritual honoring US service members killed in action.
The guardsmen killed in Syria on Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, according to the US Army. Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a US civilian working as an interpreter, was also killed.
