Kuwait says working to secure release of citizens detained in Gaza-bound flotilla
Kuwait says working to secure release of citizens detained in Gaza-bound flotilla/node/2617532/middle-east
Kuwait says working to secure release of citizens detained in Gaza-bound flotilla
Members of the group of ships of the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza are seen moored at the small island of Koufonisi, south of the island of Crete, on September 26, 2025. (File/AFP)
Kuwait says working to secure release of citizens detained in Gaza-bound flotilla
The foreign ministry said it is making all possible efforts to guarantee their well-being
Updated 02 October 2025
Arab News
DUBAI: Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Yahya said on Thursday that the government is closely monitoring the detention of several Kuwaiti nationals who took part in the Global Freedom Flotilla.
Yahya told Kuwait News Agency that ensuring the safety of Kuwaiti citizens remains a top priority. He added that the ministry is making “all possible efforts” to guarantee their well-being and to secure their release as soon as possible.
IIsraeli forces have intercepted 39 boats carrying aid and foreign activists, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, to Gaza, leaving only one vessel still sailing toward the Palestinian enclave, the flotilla organizers said on Thursday.
Cameras broadcasting live feeds from the boats, verified by Reuters, showed Israeli soldiers sporting helmets and night vision goggles boarding the ships, while passengers huddled together in life vests with their hands up.
Family of Bondi hero in Syria says his home country is proud of him
’Hero’ who disarmed gunman hails from Syrian town of Nayrab
Uncle says he had always been gallant, passionate
Updated 3 sec ago
Reuters
NAYRAB, Syria: As Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years unfolded, a Sydney shopowner was captured on camera charging at one of the gunmen and disarming him. Halfway around the world in Syria, a group of men watching the footage recognized a familiar face. Ahmed Al-Ahmed, 43, left his hometown in Syria’s northwest province of Idlib nearly 20 years ago to seek work in Australia. On Sunday, he was wounded after wrestling a rifle away from a man attacking a Jewish holiday event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, in which 15 people were killed.
His uncle, Mohammed Al-Ahmed, recognized him from footage circulating online. “We learned through social media. I called his father and he told me that it was Ahmed. Ahmed is a hero, we’re proud of him. Syria in general is proud of him,” the uncle told Reuters. The family hails from the town of Nayrab, which was bombed heavily during Syria’s nearly 14-year war, which ended when longtime leader Bashar Assad was ousted in a rebel offensive launched from Idlib last year. Ahmed said his nephew left Syria in 2006 after completing a degree at Aleppo University. He hasn’t been back since. “Since he was young, he was gallant and a hero,” his uncle said, describing him as a happy and passionate person. “He acted impulsively without thinking who the people were that were being killed — without knowing their religion, if they were Muslim or Christian or Jewish. That’s what made him jump up and carry out this heroic act.”
Ahmed, who now holds Australian citizenship and has two daughters, remains in a Sydney hospital with gunshot wounds. He has been hailed as a hero around the world, including by US President Donald Trump. A GoFundMe campaign set up for him has raised more than A$2.2 million ($1.5 million). Back at home, the Ahmed family home remains in ruins. Piles of smashed cinderblocks ring the concrete carcass of the two-story house, whose walls are punctured by shelling. “This is Ahmed’s father’s home. It got destroyed during the war. Bombing, bombing from planes, missiles — every type of weapon,” Ahmed’s cousin, who is also named Mohammad Al-Ahmed, told Reuters. He said his cousin “was the reason that many innocent people who did nothing wrong were saved.” “He will prove to the world that Muslims are peacemakers, not warmongerers,” said Ahmed.
