Latest news with #Sayed
Qatar Tribune
a day ago
- Sport
- Qatar Tribune
Qatar's Ali Sayed qualifies for World Aquatics Singapore 2025
Team Qatar swimmer Ali Sayed has qualified for the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025, after clocking the qualifying time in the 100m butterfly during his participation in the Bell Canadian Swimming Trials, held in Canada. Sayed completed the race in 53.54 seconds, surpassing the minimum qualifying standard for the world championships. This achievement adds to the growing record of success for Qatari swimming and reflects the continued development of national swimmers on the international stage. Sayed expressed his great joy at reaching this milestone, attributing the success to hard work and the technical and administrative support he received. He dedicated the achievement to the Qatari swimming community and to the fans who have supported him throughout his journey.
Express Tribune
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Test of unity for Pakistan
In the wake of the Pahalgam attack that has ratcheted up regional tensions, Pakistan's political leadership has called for a clear and united front, urging parties across the spectrum to bury the hatchet and close ranks at a moment when the stakes could not be higher. Following New Delhi's abrupt decision to tear up key water, trade and visa treaties, leading political voices in Pakistan dismissed the move as a knee-jerk reaction, and called on the government to rise above partisan divides and craft a robust, unified national response — a rallying cry for the country to speak with one voice. While condemning the loss of life in the attack, senior politicians criticised India's unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, terming it a breach of international law. They urged the government to haul the matter before the International Court of Justice. Former Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said that India has exhausted all its available options, adding that he rules out any military option "because they have learnt a lesson from the past, from Pulwama 2019" — when their gamble backfired, Pakistan hit back hard, downed two planes, captured their pilot and Indian PM Narendra Modi was forced to blink and back off. On India's action on the Indus Waters Treaty, the veteran politician said that it was a "grave violation of international law and is tantamount to committing water aggression against Pakistan". Sayed noted that the other steps were meaningless, but the Indus Waters Treaty was a "core national interest of Pakistan, and the Indian action is politically-motivated, illegal and totally unacceptable". On the internal dispute over water and PPP's threats of toppling the ruling PML-N federal government, Sayed said that the government should immediately convene a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to forge a consensus and refrain from taking any unilateral decisions. Meanwhile, PPP's Senator Sherry Rehman said that India's dizzying escalation of hostilities within minutes of an act we have all condemned was both unwarranted and disproportionate. The PPP's vice president said that it also leads to further questions about the motives and narratives being created around this whole Pahalgam tragedy. "Suspending the Indus Waters Treaty," Sherry said, "after it has survived full-blown wars is neither lawful nor smart." She added that it signals a reinvestment in rust, in Iron Curtains and the wilful decay of diplomacy, in a conflict that no one will win. For a unified national response, former senator and prominent political voice, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, said one can only hope that "the government will engage with the opposition in a meaningful manner (including Imran Khan) because the nature of the crisis demands that". Khokhar added that the opposition would be willing to play its national role, knowing that the government allegedly lacks a mandate. "It's a no-brainer that the government of time must have some sort of legitimacy to begin with," he said. "However, we are all aware of the truth behind the facade." Convener of the Awam Pakistan Party, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, said that a collective, national and unified response should be given to the unprecedented Indian aggression. He added that no one supports terrorism, but hurriedly blaming Pakistan was not an appropriate response from the neighbouring country. On the water issue, Abbasi said that Pakistan should take India to the ICJ, saying Pakistan should respond to India on the same coin. To the questions about internal infighting, Abbasi said that the situation demands that "we should put the house in order", saying it also provides an opportunity to give a collective response. He, however, said that it was up to the government how it engages the opposition and moves ahead. Similarly, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Attaullah Tarar, said that two cabinet ministers – Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif – also denounced New Delhi's unilateral move. Calling the actions "unserious" and "inappropriate", Dar asserted that a firm and coordinated response will follow. Dar confirmed that a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting has been convened for Thursday (today) to formulate Pakistan's official response. "India's statements are inappropriate, and the NSC will issue a comprehensive response," he noted. Asif also said that Pakistan would give its response after the NSC meeting on Thursday. Late Wednesday night, the government's spokesperson, Attaullah Tarar, texted that he would share his response on Thursday. PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram did not respond to the several calls and text messages seeking the party's response.
Arab News
23-02-2025
- Arab News
Father of freed Gaza hostage says fellow Arabs should be outraged by Hamas
JERUSALEM: The father of Hisham Al-Sayed, a Bedouin Muslim returned to Israel after nearly a decade in Gaza captivity, on Sunday urged 'the Arab world' to speak out against abuses by Hamas. Sayed, 37, was released by the Palestinian militant group on Saturday under a fragile truce in its war with Israel. The man, who is schizophrenic according to his family, had entered the Gaza Strip in 2015 and was held hostage there since. 'At the start of his captivity, when there were four hostages in Gaza, I thought that Hamas members would keep him safe, because it was in their interest' to exchange him for Palestinians in Israeli jails, said the father, Shaaban Al-Sayed. Speaking to journalists at a hospital in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv, he said that after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war, 'I began to tremble with fear.' 'I saw that Bedouins and Arabs were killed, working people who weren't soldiers or fighters,' said Sayed of some of the hundreds killed during the attack. 'The Arab world doesn't react, doesn't give any response to that, doesn't take any stance,' he said. 'We want the Arab world, and particularly Arab society in Israel, to voice their opinion: What do they think about the fact that innocent people were kidnapped and murdered?' Sayed accused Hamas of violating the teachings of Islam by exploiting his son who 'has mental problems.' 'When we got Hisham back, we were relieved to see him walking on his legs,' the father added, 'but as I held him in my arms, I realized I was hugging a body... not a human being.' 'He doesn't talk. He doesn't have a voice. He can't remember anything. It's like he hadn't been with other human beings' during his years in captivity, he said. 'This makes us angry,' added the father, calling to intensify efforts to free all remaining hostages in Gaza.
Los Angeles Times
23-02-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Tens of thousands attend Nasrallah funeral as Hezbollah claims it's down but not out
BEIRUT — On a Friday evening in September, a squadron of Israeli warplanes streaked through the skies of Lebanon and dropped some 85 tons in daisy-chained, bunker-buster bombs on several buildings in the Dahieh, the Hezbollah-dominated suburbs south of the capital Beirut. The missiles stabbed deep into the ground, obliterating two city blocks along with their target: Hezbollah's subterranean headquarters, where Hassan Nasrallah, the group's leader and a longtime nemesis for Israel, was meeting with his lieutenants. He was declared dead soon thereafter. On Sunday, almost five months later, tens of thousands converged near that spot in Dahieh for their fallen leader's burial, participating in an elaborate show of defiance meant to demonstrate that the Iran-backed group, though bruised in its war with Israel, was by no means a spent force. Sunday morning saw Beirut's streets flooded with Lebanese troops and policemen trying to manage traffic snarled by masses of mourners making their way to the capital's stadium for the start of an hours-long commemoration ceremony. They walked into the stadium past two-story high banners depicting a smiling Nasrallah alongside his cousin and designated successor, Hashem Safieddine, who was killed in a separate Israeli airstrike. Many carried Lebanese or Hezbollah's yellow-on-green flags; others raised posters of some of their relatives who had been killed in the war. Well before noon, the stadium — which at a capacity of more than 50,000 is Lebanon's largest — was full. One of those in attendance was Khawlah Ahmad Tlais, a 36-year-old who lost 12 family members in the war. 'It's 13 with the Sayed,' referring to Nasrallah with an honorific. He's part of my family too,' she said, holding up a poster with pictures of her deceased relatives, with Nasrallah occupying the top spot. Among those she lost was her brother, a Hezbollah commander she said was returning home on the eve of the cease-fire that came into place in November. An Israeli strike targeted his house, killing him, along with Tlais' parents, nephews and other relatives. Tlais' home was also destroyed. 'I feel pride that I sacrificed, that I gave for this path,' she said, her voice somber but firm. 'Those who don't understand why we are happy to do this don't understand our cause. We're telling our Sayed, you taught us to live in dignity, but you didn't teach us how to live without you.' The war with Israel started last October, when Hezbollah began a rocket campaign on north Israel in support of its ally, the Palestinian group Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. Months of tit-for-tat strikes followed, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border. Hostilities escalated in September when Israel launched punishing airstrikes and then an invasion of southern Lebanon. By the time the cease-fire was forged, the death toll in Lebanon was almost 4,000, with more than four times that figure injured, according to Lebanese authorities, which said most were civilian casualties. Israel army troops have since withdrawn from most of south Lebanon save for five hilltop positions near the border; its air force continues to pound what it says are Hezbollah targets. During the funeral, the Israeli military conducted airstrikes on south Lebanon and the Bekaa valley in the country's east. Hezbollah is thought to have lost thousands of its cadres, including the upper echelons of its military leadership, and a significant portion of its arsenal in the fight. Many in Lebanon see the group as having suffered a mortal blow, but its leaders insist the very fact of its survival proves otherwise. 'The resistance remains, and is strong, and is continuing,' said Naim Al-Qassem, the group's new leader, in a televised speech. It was a message that resonated with the group's supporters. 'Just look around you, at everyone gathered here — our presence here is victory,' said Batool Hamdoon, 37, who was in the stadium with her two sons, 13-year-old Hassan and Mohammad, 11. Both children wore military fatigues adorned with Hezbollah's insignia. On her lapel was a pin with the face of Ali Dhawi, her stepson, a Hezbollah operative killed in an Israeli attack during the war. Despite all she had lost, Hamdoon was unwavering in her support for Hezbollah; she intended for both Hassan and Mohammad to be inducted into the group's fighting ranks. 'That's why I put them in uniform today. So people know they are on the right path,' she said. With Nasrallah's burial, Hezbollah lays to rest a figure who left an indelible mark on the faction he helped evolve over more than 30 years of his stewardship. Preparations for what was planned to be a massive event began weeks earlier, with Hezbollah cadres racing to build a mausoleum for Nasrallah's internment, and an organization committee coordinating 70 international delegations, along with thousands of activists and social media influencers expected to take part. One of the larger delegations was from Hezbollah's main patron, Iran, which dispatched its foreign minister, Abbass Aragchi, and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. 'Today's funeral will make the world see that the resistance is alive, that Hezbollah is alive, that this people is loyal to its values, and that the path of the resistance will continue,' Aragchi said. He referred to the so-called Axis of Resistance, the Iran-led network of paramilitary factions — from Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Gaza — arrayed against the U.S and Israel. 'Sayed Hassan was above the first rank. He was a spike in the eye of Israel and the U.S.,' said Adel, a 34-year-old Iraqi with a paramilitary faction — one of thousands of Iraqis who had flown from Baghdad for the ceremony. He gave his first name only to avoid harassment. 'He was a figure not just for Lebanon, but all the world. When we heard of his martyrdom, all of us were affected.' As the afternoon wore on, a platform bearing the coffins of Nasrallah and Safieddine made its way through the crowd, with many throwing scarves, pieces of cloth and mementos at attendants, who touched them to the coffins before tossing them back. At one point, a quartet of Israeli warplanes roared above the stadium before arcing toward the sea — a 'clear message,' according to a statement on X from Israel's defense minister Israel Katz, that 'whoever threatens to destroy Israel and attacks Israel — that will be the end of him. 'You will specialize in funerals — and we will specialize in victories,' he wrote. Despite Hezbollah's rhetoric, the funeral comes at a delicate time for the group, which before the war had cultivated an air of invincibility as Lebanon's most powerful political faction and a fighting force considered superior to the Lebanese army. Battered by the war, Hezbollah's opponents in Lebanon now spy an opportunity to break what they say is the group's stranglehold over the state. In recent weeks, anti-Hezbollah parties worked together to choose a president and prime minister espousing policies to defang the group and strip it of its arsenal. 'Lebanon is tired of the wars of others on its land,' said Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in a meeting with parliamentary speaker Qalibaf on Sunday, according to a Lebanese state news. He emphasized non-interference in other countries' affairs. Hezbollah's Al-Qassem said those banking on the group's supposed weakness were mistaken. Though it was waiting for the Lebanese government to bring about a full Israeli withdrawal by diplomatic means, Hezbollah would still fight when the need arose. 'The resistance is still present and strong in numbers and weapons,' he said. 'The inevitable victory is coming.'
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israel indefinitely delays Palestinian prisoner return after hostages ‘humiliated'
Israel has delayed the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners indefinitely, in response to 'humiliating' ceremonies choreographed by Hamas as it returns Israeli hostages. Israel was expected to free 620 Palestinians, including 50 serving life sentences, but they remained behind bars. On Saturday, vehicles apparently carrying prisoners left the open gates of Ofer prison, only to turn around and go back in, hours after another cruel handover by the terror group. Benjamin Netanyahu's office said: '[Because of] repeated violations, including the ceremonies that humiliate our hostages and the cynical exploitation of our hostages for propaganda purposes, it has been decided to delay the release of terrorists that was planned for yesterday until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies.' Ezzat El Rashq, a Hamas official, said the Israeli prime minister's statement was a 'deliberate attempt to disrupt the agreement, represents a clear violation of its terms, and shows the occupation's lack of reliability in implementing its obligations'. Abdul Latif al-Qanou, another Hamas spokesman, told Al Araby, the Qatari TV channel, that there were 'positive signs' the prisoners would be released soon, and called on mediators to act 'immediately' to free them. Qanou also said that Hamas will be ready to move to phase two of the ceasefire and release all hostages when 'the attack is completely stopped, Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip in full and the reconstruction process begins'. The Telegraph understands that negotiations over phase two have begun, but that Israel wants to expand the first phase and have more hostages released. Saturday's hostage handover was met with fury in Israel, in part because Tal Shoham, Omer Shem Tov, Omer Wenkert and Eliya Cohen looked pale and emaciated. Mr Shem Tov was seen waving, smiling and kissing the forehead of an armed Hamas member on a stage, a moment orchestrated and filmed by the terror group for its propaganda. Mr Shem Tov's father later said: 'Omer said they told him what to do. You can see in the footage that someone came up to him and told him what to do.' Abera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, the other two hostages released on Saturday, had spent more than 10 years in captivity and were both suffering from mental illnesses. Mr Sayed, an Israeli Bedouin, was the only hostage returned from Gaza in this round of the ceasefire who was not humiliated and put on a stage in front of a large crowd. Mr Sayed's father, Sha'ban al-Sayed, said on Sunday that his son was not well. He told Walla, the Israeli news site: 'He is broken and may have been held alone. It is strange for him to see people. He does not speak…' Mr Sayed senior told Channel 12 news: 'He is not well. He was not in our world. A kind of Tarzan after living for 10 years with animals. He does not communicate.' Hamas also brought two hostages, Eviatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, to watch their fellow captives being freed in Gaza on Saturday, filming them inside a car where they were heard pleading to be released themselves. Mr Gilboa-Dalal's father, Ilan Dalal, said on Sunday: 'They forced them to watch their friends being released and then returned them to the tunnels. There is no greater cruelty. They can't continue. It's simply inhumane.' Donald Trump also slammed Hamas for the way it treated the Israeli hostages. The US president said: 'We had the hostages given back today, it's disgraceful what's going on there. They're not in great shape, but we've also seen them in worse shape. What a terrible situation it is.' The bodies of hostages Itzik Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi, Tsahi Idan, and Shlomo Mantzur are expected to be returned next week in accordance with the ceasefire deal. Meanwhile, Israel Katz, Israel's defence minister, said on Sunday that he has instructed the military to prepare to remain in some of the occupied West Bank's urban refugee camps 'for the coming year'. The Israeli military said it was expanding the raid in the West Bank to other areas and was sending tanks to Jenin, a militant stronghold. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
