Region

Gulf and Red Sea Regions

Stories under this heading cover the Gulf and the Red Sea regions, including the Arabian Peninsula, Iran and the countries bordering the Red Sea.

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Arab and Muslim countries issue strongly worded statement calling for cease-fire in Gaza and return to Middle East peace talks

Arab and Muslim countries issue strongly worded statement calling for cease-fire in Gaza and return to Middle East peace talks

At the end of a rare joint summit, in the Saudi Capital, Riyadh, leaders of Arab and Muslim countries issued a strongly worded joint statement on Saturday (11 November) condemning Israel for its war in Gaza, calling for an immediate end to hostilities, and the launch of efforts towards a lasting peace in the region based on a two-state solution. In their statement, the Arab and Muslim leaders said: "a just, lasting and comprehensive peace, which is a strategic option, is the only way to establish security and stability for all peoples of the region and protect them from cycles of violence and wars. This, we stress, will not be achieved without ending the Israeli occupation and resolving the Palestinian cause on the basis of the two-state solution. We affirm that it is impossible to achieve regional peace while overlooking the Palestinian cause or attempting to ignore the rights of the Palestinian people. We stress that the Arab Peace Initiative, backed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, is an essential reference to this end." In their statement, the Arab and Muslim leaders said: "we hold Israel, the occupying force, responsible for the continuation and aggravation of the conflict, which is the result of its violation of the rights of the Palestinian people, and of the Islamic and Christian sanctities...... We condemn all forms of hatred and discrimination, and all acts that perpetuate hatred and extremism. We warn of the disastrous repercussions of the retaliatory aggression by Israel against the Gaza Strip, which amounts to a war crime, and the barbaric crimes committed also in the West Bank and Al-Quds Al-Sharif. " In their statement, the leaders announced  they were assigning the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in its capacity as the presidency of the 32nd Arab and Islamic Summit, along with counterparts from Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Palestine, and any other interested countries, and the Secretary-General of both organisations to initiate immediate international action on behalf of all member states of the OIC and the Arab League to formulate an international move to halt the war in Gaza and to pressure for a real and serious political process to achieve permanent and comprehensive peace in accordance with established international references.
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Commentary
Commentary: Gaza casts a shadow on the entire Middle East, and on its relations with the world

Commentary: Gaza casts a shadow on the entire Middle East, and on its relations with the world

The ongoing conflict, and accompanying humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has cast a shadow over the entire Middle East. It is clear that no Arab country can now avoid being embroiled in one way or another. Pictures of the suffering that the Palestinian people in Gaza have to endure on a daily basis fill the screens of all news programmes, and on social media the situation is hotly debated. Arabs are overwhelmingly incensed that the world allows the suffering of the Palestinian people to continue. For the young generation, especially in the Gulf, this is the first exposure to a crisis of this kind. No doubt, the present atmosphere adds to the radicalisation of some among this generation. Those countries that only very recently took the bold step of establishing relations with Israel now face criticism which they cannot ignore. One of these countries, Bahrain, on Thursday (2 November) recalled its Ambassador to Israel and suspended economic ties. Earlier, Saudi Arabia stepped back from the process of normalising relations with Israel, and has become a very vocal critic of Israeli policy.

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Georgia and Qatar to sign agreement on innovation and technology cooperation after leaders meet in Doha

Georgia and Qatar to sign agreement on innovation and technology cooperation after leaders meet in Doha

Georgia and Qatar are to sign an agreement on innovation and technology cooperation, the Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili announced on Tuesday (23 May). The announcement came after the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani met in Doha on the sidelines of the Qatar Economic Forum that is running from 23-25 May. Davitashvili said that the Georgian delegation had meetings with a number of sectoral ministries in which they discussed opportunities for cooperation between Georgia and Qatar. Transport, logistics, and Georgia's key role in the Middle Corridor facilitating east-west trade were emphasised in the meetings, according to Davitashvili, who said that there is an increased interest in the country from "many states of the world, including Qatari investors", amid geopolitical challenges. The meetings also touched on trade and economic issues, as well as the the agreements on Mutual Support and Protection of Investments and on Economic, Trade and Technical Cooperation, signed last year between Georgia and Qatar.
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Editorial
Editorial: Saudi Arabia injects new energy into a moribund Arab League

Editorial: Saudi Arabia injects new energy into a moribund Arab League

Following last week's Arab League summit in Jeddah, "it is expected that Saudi Arabia will continue to use its year-long chairmanship of the Arab League to reshape the institution, and more broadly to reconfigure pan Arab-affairs, of course with Saudi Arabia at the helm," writes commonspace.eu in this editorial. "For it is this new ambition of the Kingdom to become a leading regional and global player that has defined the summit, and will define its chairmanship of the Arab League over the next year." The summit formally healed some of the divisions of the last decade. Syria’s President Bashar al Assad attended, marking the full return of Syria into the Arab fold. There was a lot of talk of a new era of peace in the Middle East, and even Iran was now perceived as more of a partner rather than an enemy. Yet the summit gathered whilst a few miles away, across the waters of the Red Sea from Jeddah, a bloody civil war raged on in Sudan.
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Arab League welcomes back Syrian President Assad at 32nd summit in Jeddah

Arab League welcomes back Syrian President Assad at 32nd summit in Jeddah

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is attending his first Arab League summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday (19 May) since his country was suspended from the group over the government's violent crackdown of pro-democracy protests in 2011 that led to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. In the latest of a number of regional rapprochements, Syria was formally readmitted to the Arab League on 7 May after member states' foreign ministers voted to "resume the participation of the delegations of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic in the meetings of the Council of the League of Arab States", according to a statement. The 32nd Arab League summit in the Saudi port city of Jeddah comes amid a renewed sense of purpose and unity across the Arab world. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, the President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh said that he hoped the summit in Saudi Arabia "will lead to recommendations and decisions that contribute to resolving critical situations and difficult conditions faced by the Arab world, while preserving unity and solidarity among Arab brothers."
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Air strikes hit Khartoum despite ceasefire, thousands rush to Red Sea for evacuation

Air strikes hit Khartoum despite ceasefire, thousands rush to Red Sea for evacuation

The Sudanese capital of Khartoum has been hit with air strikes despite a ceasefire that was supposed to allow civilians to flee. Fighting between the Sudanese army the a rival paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), broke out on Sunday (15 April) as talks over a transition to a civilian government broke down, and a power struggle between the army and the RSF erupted into violence. The army has said that the purpose of the air strikes was to flush out the RSF from the capital, Khartoum, reports the BBC. More than 500 people are confirmed to have been killed in the fighting, with the true number likely much higher. Over the past week, there have been reports of increasing food and water shortages in Khartoum as residents were unable to go outside having been warned against doing so. Despite attempts at enabling civilians to evacuate, millions are believed to still be stuck inside the capital. Last week, many countries evacuated diplomats and civilians from Sudan, including the US, European countries, and many GCC countries. The BBC also reports that aid has begun to arrive in the country, with an International Red Cross flight arriving in the country yesterday, on Sunday (30 April), in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.