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Israel is trying to destabilize Lebanon and Syria: Arab League chief

Israel is trying to destabilize Lebanon and Syria: Arab League chief
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Mourners pray over the flag-draped coffins of people killed in reported Israeli shelling on Nawa in Syria's southern province of Daraa, during their funeral on April 3, 2025. (AFP)
Israel is trying to destabilize Lebanon and Syria: Arab League chief
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Mourners carry the caskets of slain Palestinian militant group Hamas commander Hassan Farhat (C), his son Hamza (R) and daughter Jenan (L) during their funeral on April 4, 2025. They were killed in an Israeli drone strike that targeted their apartment in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. (AFP)
Israel is trying to destabilize Lebanon and Syria: Arab League chief
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Goats graze near objects reportedly left behind by Israeli troops in Horsh Sad Tassil in Syria's southern province of Daraa, on April 3, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 05 April 2025

Israel is trying to destabilize Lebanon and Syria: Arab League chief

Israel is trying to destabilize Lebanon and Syria: Arab League chief
  • Targeted assassinations in Lebanon an unacceptable breach of the ceasefire agreement Israel signed late last year, Aboul Gheit said

CAIRO: Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Saturday accused Israel of trying to destabilize Syria and Lebanon through military provocations, in “flagrant disregard for international legal norms.”

In a statement, Aboul Gheit said that global inaction had further emboldened Israel.

“(T)he wars waged by Israel on the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Syria have entered a new phase of complete recklessness, deliberately violating signed agreements, invading countries and killing more civilians,” said the statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

He said that Israel’s resumption of targeted assassinations in Lebanon was an unacceptable and condemnable breach of the ceasefire agreement it signed with Lebanon late last year. 

Aboul Gheit said that Israel’s actions were driven by narrow domestic agendas at the expense of civilian lives and regional peace.

“It seems that the Israeli war machine does not want to stop as long as the occupation leaders insist on facing their internal crises by exporting them abroad, and this situation has become clear to everyone,” he said.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health’s count last week, more than 50,000 people have been killed and more than 113,200 wounded in Israeli attacks on Palestinian territories in retaliation against the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel.

In Lebanon, war monitors have said that at least 3,961 people were killed and 16,520 wounded in Israel’s war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement from Oct. 8, 2023 to Nov. 26, 2024.

Syria’s new government accused Israel on April 3 of mounting a deadly destabilization campaign after a wave of strikes on military targets, including an airport, and a ground incursion that killed 13 people in the southern province of Daraa. 


Erdogan: Not fair to put burden of peace only on Hamas, Palestinians

Erdogan: Not fair to put burden of peace only on Hamas, Palestinians
Updated 9 sec ago

Erdogan: Not fair to put burden of peace only on Hamas, Palestinians

Erdogan: Not fair to put burden of peace only on Hamas, Palestinians

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday it was neither fair nor realistic to put the burden of achieving peace in Gaza solely on Hamas and Palestinians, and that Israel must stop its attacks in order for peace efforts to succeed.
Speaking to lawmakers from his party, Erdogan said Israel remained the main obstacle to peace in Gaza despite a plan by U.S. President Donald Trump. Ceasefire talks in Egypt, to which Turkish officials are attending, are critical, he said.
"Peace is not a bird with a single wing. Putting the entire burden of peace on Hamas and Palestinians is not a fair, correct or realistic approach," he said, repeating his claim that Hamas is a "resistance group".


Israel’s Ben Gvir calls for ‘Gaza victoy’ at Al Aqsa mosque compound

Israel’s Ben Gvir calls for ‘Gaza victoy’ at Al Aqsa mosque compound
Updated 08 October 2025

Israel’s Ben Gvir calls for ‘Gaza victoy’ at Al Aqsa mosque compound

Israel’s Ben Gvir calls for ‘Gaza victoy’ at Al Aqsa mosque compound
  • The Al Aqsa compound, in Jerusalem’s walled Old City, is Islam’s third holiest site and the most sacred in Judaism
  • Under a delicate decades old “status quo” arrangement with Muslim authorities, the Al-Aqsa compound is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and Jews can visit but may not pray there

JERUSALEM: Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem on Wednesday and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pursue “complete victory” over Hamas in Gaza.
In a video on the edge of one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East, Ben-Gvir said that two years after the October 7 2023 Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war, Israel was “winning” at the Jerusalem compound known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
“Every house in Gaza has a picture of the Temple Mount, and today, two years later, we are winning on the Temple Mount. We are the owners of the Temple Mount,” Ben-Gvir said in the video released by his Jewish Power party.
“I only pray that our prime minister will allow a complete victory in Gaza as well – to destroy Hamas, with God’s help we will return the hostages, and we will win a complete victory,” Ben-Gvir said.
His remarks were released as Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas are deep in indirect negotiations in Egypt to release all remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza and end the war there.
Ben-Gvir, known as a hard-liner well before he helped Netanyahu form the most right-wing coalition government in Israel’s history, heads the pro-settler, nationalist-religious Jewish Power party. He has previously threatened to quit Netanyahu’s government unless Hamas is utterly destroyed.
The Al-Aqsa compound, in Jerusalem’s walled Old City, is Islam’s third holiest site and the most sacred in Judaism. Under a delicate decades-old “status quo” arrangement with Muslim authorities, the Al-Aqsa compound is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and Jews can visit but may not pray there.
Ben-Gvir has previously challenged those rules, prompting Netanyahu to issue statements saying Israel was committed to the status quo there.
Suggestions that Israel would alter rules at the Al-Aqsa compound have sparked outrage in the Muslim world and ignited violence in the past.


Turkiye says Israel’s Gaza aid flotilla intervention is act of piracy

Turkiye says Israel’s Gaza aid flotilla intervention is act of piracy
Updated 08 October 2025

Turkiye says Israel’s Gaza aid flotilla intervention is act of piracy

Turkiye says Israel’s Gaza aid flotilla intervention is act of piracy
  • Turkiye said that all initiatives were being taken for Turkish citizens held by Israel to be freed

ANKARA: Turkiye on Wednesday slammed an intervention by Israeli forces against a flotilla attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza as an act of piracy and a violation of international law.
Turkiye’s foreign ministry said the intervention against the Freedom Flotilla, including Turkish nationals and lawmakers, showed that the “genocidal” Israeli government targeted all peaceful measures and heightened tensions in the region while damaging peace efforts.
It added in its statement that all initiatives were being taken for Turkish citizens held by Israel to be freed and returned to Turkiye, and that it was coordinating with other countries regarding their citizens too.


Sudan paramilitary attack on maternity ward kills eight: medic

Sudan paramilitary attack on maternity ward kills eight: medic
Updated 08 October 2025

Sudan paramilitary attack on maternity ward kills eight: medic

Sudan paramilitary attack on maternity ward kills eight: medic
  • It is the latest strike on health care facilities since the start of the war in Sudan in April 2023, between the RSF and the regular Sudanese army

PORT SUDAN: A drone strike by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces killed eight people in a maternity ward in the besieged city of El-Fasher, a medical source told AFP on Wednesday.
The attack, which occurred on Tuesday, also injured seven people in El-Fasher Hospital and “damaged buildings and equipment,” the health worker said on condition of anonymity for their safety.
It is the latest strike on health care facilities since the start of the war in Sudan in April 2023, between the RSF and the regular Sudanese army.
El-Fasher Hospital is one of the last functioning health facilities in the North Darfur state capital, where the paramilitary is waging its fiercest assault on the city yet.
El-Fasher is the only major city in the vast western region of Darfur the RSF has not yet seized, despite besieging the city since May 2024.
The UN has called El-Fasher “the epicenter of child suffering,” where mass starvation has taken hold and even the animal feed families have survived on now costs hundreds of dollars a sack.
The war in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis.


Hamas official says hostage and prisoner lists exchanged

Hamas official says hostage and prisoner lists exchanged
Updated 08 October 2025

Hamas official says hostage and prisoner lists exchanged

Hamas official says hostage and prisoner lists exchanged
  • Israel and Hamas are holding indirect negotiations in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh
  • Hamas’s top negotiator, Khalil Al-Hayya, said the Islamist group wants "guarantees from President Trump"

CAIRO: Senior Hamas official Taher Al-Nounou said on Wednesday that negotiators from his group and Israel have exchanged lists of prisoners and hostages who would be released should a deal be reached during the ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks in Egypt.
Al-Nounou also said Hamas expressed optimism about reaching a deal, stating that the group has demonstrated the necessary positivity. 

Qatar’s prime minister and senior delegates from the United States and Turkiye joined Hamas and Israeli negotiators on Wednesday for a third day of talks aimed at ending the Gaza war.
Israel and Hamas are holding indirect negotiations in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, based on a 20-point plan proposed by US President Donald Trump last month.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Turkiye’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are all due to attend the talks.
“There’s a real chance that we could do something,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, adding that US negotiators were also involved in the talks.
“I think there’s a possibility that we could have peace in the Middle East. It’s something even beyond the Gaza situation. We want a release of the hostages immediately.”
Trump said the United States would do “everything possible to make sure everyone adheres to the deal” if Hamas and Israel do agree on a ceasefire.
Global pressure to end the war has escalated, with much of Gaza flattened, a UN-declared famine unfolding and Israeli hostage families still longing for their loved ones’ return.
A UN probe accused last month Israel of genocide. 
Hundreds of thousands of protesters joined pro-Palestinian mass demonstrations in cities across the world last weekend, calling for an immediate end to the war, including in Italy, Spain, Ireland and Britain.
Demonstrators in the Netherlands called for their government to recognize a Palestinian state, while tens of thousands in Britain defied Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s calls to skip rallies, holding vigils and gatherings on the October 7 anniversary.

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Hamas’s top negotiator, Khalil Al-Hayya, said the Islamist group wants “guarantees from President Trump and the sponsor countries that the war will end once and for all.”
Trump’s plan calls for a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
The plan received positive responses from both Israel and Hamas and prompted indirect talks in Egypt since Monday.
A Palestinian source close to the Hamas negotiating team said Tuesday’s session included Hamas discussing “the initial maps presented by the Israeli side regarding the withdrawal of troops as well as the mechanism and timetable for the hostage-prisoner exchange.”
US representatives Witkoff and Kushner were expected to arrive in Egypt on Wednesday, according to Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, after they were initially expected to arrive last weekend.
“The primary guarantee of success at this stage is US President Trump himself... even if it comes to a point to require him imposing a vision,” he said.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,160 people, according to the health ministry in the territory, figures the United Nations considers credible.

With Agencies