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HANGZHOU, China, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad on Friday, and said the two leaders would unveil a new “strategic partnership”. Assad is on his first official trip to China in almost two decades as he seeks financial support to rebuild his devastated country, as well as rehabilitation for his regime from years of isolation over Syria’s civil war. He will attend the opening ceremony […]
MAJDAL SHAMS, Sept 21, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli tanks fired on Syrian targets from the occupied Golan Heights Thursday, an AFP photographer and the military said. The strikes targeted “two temporary structures” used by the Syrian army in violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement between the two countries, the military said in a statement. The AFP photographer witnessed an Israeli tank firing at least two shells. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the […]
MOSCOW, Sept 19, 2023 (AFP) – Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Iran on an official visit on Tuesday to deepen Moscow’s defence ties with Tehran, which provides Russia with attack drones for its Ukraine offensive, Russian news agencies reported. “During the visit, the Russian Defense Ministry delegation will hold a number of talks with the republic’s military leadership,” the ministry said, according to a statement carried by Russian news agencies. This is a […]
JERICHO, Palestinian Territories, Sept 17, 2023 (AFP) – UNESCO inscribed the prehistoric site of Tell al-Sultan, near the Palestinian city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank, on its World Heritage List Sunday, in a move criticised by Israel. Tell al-Sultan, which predates Egypt’s pyramids, is an oval-shaped tell, or mound, in the Jordan Valley, and contains the prehistoric deposits of human activity. The decision by the United Nations cultural organisation, which it posted on […]
DOHA, Sept 18, 2023 (AFP) – Arch-foes the United States and Iran each released five detainees on Monday in a prisoner swap deal that also gives Tehran access to $6 billion in long-frozen oil funds. The five Americans freed by Iran, including a businessman arrested in 2015, landed in Doha just before 5:40 pm (1440 GMT) on a Qatari jet, hours after the unblocked funds were credited to Iranian accounts in Qatari banks. The five […]
NEW YORK, Sept 18, 2023 (AFP) – The United States on Monday confirmed a prisoner swap with Iran and said that President Joe Biden had granted clemency to five Iranians jailed or awaiting trial for non-violent crimes. A US official said that seven US citizens were on a Qatari plane that departed Iran. They include three previously identified Americans — Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz and Emad Sharqi — and two who wish to remain anonymous. […]
JERUSALEM, Sept 4, 2023 (AFP) – Israel’s army chief on Monday ordered the suspension of all imports from Gaza after an alleged attempt to smuggle explosives, the army and defence ministry said in a statement. Officers from the defence ministry, which controls crossings between Israel and the Palestinian enclave, “detected several kilograms of high quality explosives, hidden within a clothing delivery carried by three trucks” at the Kerem Shalom crossing, the statement said. Army chief […]
RIYADH, Aug 23, 2023 (AFP) – Fierce storms closed schools Wednesday in Saudi Arabia’s Mecca region, home to Islam’s the Grand Mosque, which was lashed by heavy rains and wind overnight, witnesses said. As pilgrims tried to circumambulate the Kaaba, the giant black cube towards which all Muslims pray, a bolt of lightning struck the iconic Fairmont Makkah Clock Royal Tower hotel, illuminating the night sky late Tuesday. The storm brought gale force winds exceeding […]
GENEVA, Aug 23, 2023 (AFP) – As Europe and other regions swelter, a UN researcher cautioned that climate change was enabling increasingly intense and long-lasting heatwaves, which in some areas could soon begin to hit year-round. Extreme heat has dominated the headlines in recent weeks, from the current “heat dome” cooking much of Europe, to heat-fuelled wildfires raging in Greece, Spain, Canada and Hawaii, and soaring temperatures in the middle of the South American winter. […]
LONDON, Aug 21, 2023 (AFP) – Saudi border guards fired “like rain” on Ethiopian migrants trying to cross into the Gulf kingdom from Yemen, killing hundreds since last year, Human Rights Watch said in a report Monday. The allegations, described as “unfounded” by a Saudi government source, point to a significant escalation of abuses along the perilous route from the Horn of Africa to Saudi Arabia, where hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians live and work. […]
DAMASCUS, Aug 9, 2023 (AFP) – A Syrian television journalist and two soldiers were killed on Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded in the southern province of Daraa, state media reported. “Correspondent Firas al-Ahmad from (privately owned) Sama TV and two members of our armed forces were killed by an explosive device” as they returned from a counternarcotics operation in the province, state television said. “Terrorists” had planted the bomb, it added. Daraa was the […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States, Aug 9, 2023 (AFP) – The United Nations has said it reached agreement with the Syrian government on aid deliveries to rebel-held areas from Turkey, raising concern among relief groups who had wanted Damascus kept out. Under a 2014 deal, most international aid had passed through the Bab al-Hawa crossing from Turkey without the authorization of Damascus. But last month, the Security Council failed to reach consensus on extending the mechanism, […]
