Latest news with #Arab
3 hours ago
- Business
Trump hosts Gulf leaders at White House as new violence raises questions about progress toward peace
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump is hosting a pair of Arab Gulf leaders at the White House on Wednesday as violence between Israel and Syria renewed doubts about his pledge to impose peace on the Middle East. Trump held a meeting in the Oval Office with Bahrain's crown prince and was set to have dinner with Qatar's prime minister. The Republican president has lavished attention on the Gulf, a wealthy region where members of his family have extensive business relationships. He has already visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on the first foreign policy trip of his second term. With little progress to share on the region's most intractable problems, including the war in Gaza, Trump was more focused Wednesday on promoting diplomatic ties as a vehicle for economic growth. 'Anything they needed, we helped them,' Trump said in the Oval Office while meeting with Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. 'And anything we needed, they helped us.' Bahrain is a longtime ally that hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, which operates in the Middle East. Like other Arab leaders, Al Khalifa was eager to highlight the lucrative potential of diplomatic ties with the U.S., including $17 billion of investments. 'And this is real,' he said. 'It's real money. These aren't fake deals.' According to the White House, the agreements include purchasing American airplanes, jet engines and computer servers. More investments could be made in aluminum production and artificial intelligence. Bahrain's king, the crown prince's father, is expected to visit Washington before the end of the year. An important part of the relationship will be an agreement, signed on Wednesday, to advance cooperation on civilian nuclear energy. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the prime minister of Qatar and a member of the country's ruling family, is scheduled to attend a private dinner with Trump on Wednesday evening. Trump visited Qatar during his trip to the region, marveling at its palaces and stopping at the Al Udeid Air Base, a key U.S. military facility. The base was targeted by Iran after the U.S. bombed the country's nuclear facilities. One ballistic missile made impact, while others were intercepted. Trump wants to use a luxurious Boeing 747 donated by Qatar as his Air Force One because he's tired of waiting for Boeing to finish new planes. However, the arrangement has stirred concerns about security and the ethics of accepting a gift from a foreign government. Aaron David Miller, who served as an adviser on Middle East issues to Democratic and Republican administrations, said 'the Gulf represents everything that Trump believes is right about the Middle East.' 'It's rich, it's stable, it's populated by authoritarians with whom the president feels very comfortable,' he said. The fighting in Syria began with clashes between Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze factions in the country's south. Government forces intervened, raising alarms in Israel, where the Druze are a politically influential religious minority. On Wednesday, Israel launched strikes in the Syrian capital of Damascus. A ceasefire was later announced, but it was unclear if it would hold. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in the Oval Office for Trump's meeting with the crown prince of Bahrain, said the fighting was the result of 'an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding." He said 'we think we're on our way to a real de-escalation' that would allow Syria to 'get back on track' to rebuilding after years of civil war. Despite an international outcry over its punishing military operations in Gaza, Israel has successfully weakened its enemies around the region, including Hezbollah and Iran. 'There's a growing concern that Israel been a bigger sense of unpredictability," Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said. He also warned that "there's still no game plan to deal with the loose ends of Iran's nuclear program and its other activities in the region,' such as support for the Houthis.
The Star
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Star
Roundup: Regional countries condemn Israeli raids in Syria
CAIRO, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Countries in the Middle East on Wednesday condemned the Israeli airstrikes targeting the Syrian Army General Command headquarters and the presidential palace area in central Damascus. Israel said the strikes were aimed at protecting the Druze minority in Syria following deadly clashes in the southern province of Sweida. The Arab League denounced the attacks as "blatant assault" on the sovereignty of an Arab state that is a member of both the Arab League and the United Nations. It also accused Israel of seeking to sow chaos in Syria by exploiting recent events in Sweida province. Egypt, in a statement from its Foreign Ministry, said these repeated Israeli violations only serve to deepen tensions and represent a fundamental source of instability in Lebanon, Syria, and the broader region. Algeria denounced the assault as a "flagrant violation of Syria's sovereignty and unity," and expressed full solidarity with Syria's right to defend its stability in line with the UN Charter and international law. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry affirmed its absolute rejection of endangering the lives of Syrian civilians and exacerbating their humanitarian suffering. It stressed the need to de-escalate the situation, as it poses a direct threat to the security and stability of the region. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun affirmed his country's "full solidarity" with Syria and its people. He renewed his call on the international community to pressure Israel to stop the repeated aggressions and to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday condemned the attacks, saying on his X post, "Unfortunately, this was all too predictable. Which capital is next?" The Israeli strikes were initially limited to Sweida province before extending to the capital. Israeli authorities said the attacks on Syrian forces and weapons aimed to "prevent the Syrian regime from harming" the Druze community, due to "the deep fraternal alliance with the Druze citizens of Israel and their familial and historical ties to the Druze in Syria." The escalation in Sweida began on Sunday after armed members of a Bedouin tribe in the countryside of Sweida reportedly assaulted and robbed a young Druze man near the town of al-Masmiyah. The brutal attack sparked retaliatory kidnappings, spiraling into full-scale clashes between local Druze fighters, government troops, and Bedouin militias. Since Sunday morning, the death toll from armed clashes, summary executions, and Israeli airstrikes in Syria's Sweida province has risen to 302, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Qatar Tribune
4 hours ago
- Health
- Qatar Tribune
Sidra Medicine contributes to uncovering genetic cause of rare congenital disorder
Sidra Medicine, a member of Qatar Foundation, has contributed to a groundbreaking study that uncovers new genetic causes and disease mechanisms behind Ritscher-Schinzel Syndrome (RSS), a rare multi-system congenital disorder. The study, published in Science Translational Medicine, is one of the first from the region to identify the genetic basis of RSS, marking a significant advancement in the global understanding of this condition. Titled 'Ritscher-Schinzel syndrome can be characterized as an endosomal recyclinopathy,' the study was led by researchers from Sidra Medicine, the University of Bristol, and other global partners. It used genetic, cellular, proteomic, and animal model approaches to uncover how mutations in three genes, COMMD4, COMMD9, and CCDC93, are linked to RSS. Researchers studied newly identified patient groups, including three siblings from a consanguineous Arab family enrolled in Sidra Medicine's Mendelian and Metabolic disorders Translational Research a result of their collaboration, RSS is now recognized as a 'recyclinopathy,' a disorder caused by defects in cellular recycling. (QNA) page 16
Qatar Tribune
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Qatar attends joint workshop of Arab League & EUROJUST
QNA Cairo The State of Qatar participated in a joint workshop between the Legal Affairs Sector of the Arab League and the European Union Agency for Cooperation in Criminal Justice (EUROJUST), which kicked off Wednesday at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Arab League in Cairo. The State of Qatar is represented at the two-day workshop by a delegation from the Ministry of Justice. Representatives from Arab ministries of justice and a number of officials from the EUROJUST and the CT JUST project, funded by the European Union and concerned with combating terrorism and strengthening criminal justice, will also participate in the workshop. The workshop aims to strengthen cooperation between the European Union and the Arab League in various fields and discuss challenges in the field of criminal justice and judicial work. The workshop's agenda includes several topics, particularly the role of the EUROJUST, international legal cooperation, liaison judges, relations with third world countries, joint investigation teams, and the Arab Judicial Cooperation Network in the fight against terrorism and organized crime.
Middle East Eye
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
With Damascus strikes, Israel seeks to tear up Trump's vision for Syria
Israel and the US appear to be on divergent paths in Syria. While the allies aren't on a collision course yet, current and former Arab, US and Israeli officials say their differences could complicate the Trump administration's grand diplomatic plans. On Wednesday, Israel carried out powerful air strikes on Damascus, blowing up a part of the defence ministry and hitting near the presidential palace, as it framed its attacks as an effort to protect Syria's Druze minority. The strikes marked a significant Israeli escalation against the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa and came despite his warming ties with the US and his burgeoning security contacts with Israel. "Israel and the US are definitely not on the same page," Dareen Khalifa, a senior advisor at the International Crisis Group, told Middle East Eye. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Israel claimed that its attack was in response to requests from Druze inside Israel for intervention, where the minority is around 150,000-strong. Prominent Syrian Druze, Sheikh Hikmat Salaman al-Hajri, who is seen as close to Israel, did in fact call for international support, saying the minority faced a "total war of extermination". Other Syrian Druze leaders, however, have rejected Israel's intervention. "There is definitely genuine Druze pressure inside Israel to intervene," a US diplomat in the region who has been monitoring the fighting told MEE. "Regardless of whether the pressure is real or not, the outcome is the same: a zone of influence for Israel in Syria. That means telling the Syrians where they can and cannot put their tanks." When asked to comment on Israel's strikes and the instability plaguing the war-ravaged country, US President Donald Trump declined to comment and instead deferred reporters to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Earlier in the day, Rubio tried to characterise the strikes and worsening security situation as a simple "misunderstanding". 'All roads lead to Damascus' Israel's move to assert itself as the dominant power protecting the Druze in a swath of southern Syria clashes with the visions of the Trump administration. Earlier this year, the US rejected Israeli pleas to keep more troops in northeastern Syria, MEE revealed. Kurdish fighters there are lobbying for more autonomy. The Trump administration wants to reduce its military footprint in Syria and ensure the country - a tapestry of Christians, Muslims, Druze and Kurds - has one undisputed power centre backed up by US allies like Nato member Turkey, cash-rich Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Tom Barrack, Trump's billionaire, Lebanese-American envoy to Syria and ambassador to Turkey, waxed on about Syria just last week in front of reporters. "You have the Druze that want it to be Druze land. You have the Alawites who want it to be Alawite land. You have the Kurds who want it to be Kurdistan," Barrack said. "What Syria is saying, what Damascus is saying, that's not going to happen - all roads lead to Damascus." 'In Netanyahu's mind, undermining the Syrian state is way more important than any normalisation' - Alon Pinkas, former Israeli diplomat "There's not an indication on our part that there's going to be a separate Alawite state or a separate Druze state. There's Syria," he said. To be sure, Syria has been battered by sectarian violence since Sharaa, a former leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and before that al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, ousted former President Bashar al-Assad last year. In March, Syrian security forces killed hundreds of Alawites - the sect to which Assad belonged - along the Mediterranean coast. In June, at least 25 people were killed in a bombing at Mar Elias Greek Orthodox Church. Sharaa was criticised for his handling of the fallout. While the Trump administration condemned the attacks, it is focused on a speedy lifting of sanctions and assuaging sectarian tensions. Barrack has praised Gulf investments in Syria. And if there is an outside military power that the US has leaned towards recognising in Syria, it is Turkey, experts say. MEE revealed that the US was instrumental in pressing Turkey and Israel to establish a deconfliction line in Syria earlier this year. 'Default mode' For Trump, Gulf investment and Turkish buy-in complement the normalisation of ties between Syria and Israel. When Trump met Sharaa in Riyadh in May, he asked him to join the Abraham Accords - the diplomatic agreements between Israel, Morocco, Bahrain and the UAE that Trump sees as one of his signature foreign policy achievements. Barrack told The New York Times that the US has supported back-channel talks between Israel and Sharaa's government, which have reportedly been held in Baku, Azerbaijan - Turkey's closest ally. The UAE has also mediated talks between the two, according to Reuters. Talk of Syria and Israel striking an agreement reached a crescendo after the 12-day Israel-Iran conflict ended. Posters sprang up in Tel Aviv showing Trump, Netanyahu and Sharaa along with other Arab leaders. How Turkey and Qatar are playing an outsized role in Trump's new Middle East Read More » "This puts to shame the nonsense of normalisation," Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli diplomat, told MEE. "In Netanyahu's mind, undermining the Syrian state is way more important than any normalisation." Diplomats in the region say that the Israeli strikes are a direct rejection of Trump's efforts. "The Israelis will go along with Trump talking peace, but they prefer Syria divided," an Arab diplomat told MEE. "The minute they got the opportunity, they went back to default mode - tear up Syria." Israel's willingness to bomb Damascus as they were talking to the Syrians does reflect a real difference of opinion between the two allies on Sharaa, the US and Arab diplomats told MEE. "The Trump administration has been much more willing to give Sharaa a chance with Turkish and Saudi backing. For the Israelis, Sharaa is not genuine - he is a jihadist," the US diplomat told MEE. After Assad's removal, Israel launched widespread strikes on Syria. Netanyahu sent soldiers to occupy a swath of southwestern Syria that includes a United Nations buffer zone in the Golan Heights. Israel seized much of the strategic plateau in the 1967 war. Arab and US diplomats say the first step to any normalisation would be reinstating a 1974 disengagement agreement that created the buffer zone along the two countries' borders. Some of the biggest advocates of normalisation now say it is in jeopardy. "Israel's unnecessary strikes must cease immediately," Republican Congressman Joe Wilson said on Wednesday, before calling the strikes "suicidal for Israel'.
