Middle East Experience

An Egyptian court is examining a lawsuit that will ease the state's confiscation of Muslim Brotherhood-owned real estate in Sinai.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Egypt seizes Brotherhood property in Sinai

Videos circulating on social media on Tuesday showed unusual heavy rain and hail in The Grand Mosque in Islam’s holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The Kingdom’s Civil Defense called for people to be “cautious due to the heavy rains in the region of Mecca.”Saudi Arabia’s National Center of Meteorology said it expected “medium to heavy thunderstorms, accompanied by active winds and showers of hail in the regions of Najran, Jizan, Asir, al-Baha, extending to the Mecca region,” the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.SPA added that rainy thunder clouds continue to form, accompanied by active winds of dust in parts of the capital, Riyadh, and the Eastern Province.The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques intensified its efforts to speed up the drying process following the rain, in order for Mecca pilgrims to perform their rituals safely and easily, SPA reported Tuesday.Read more:Heavy rain causes flooding across Saudi Arabia as snow envelops Ha’il, ‘Asir Hailstorm blankets Saudi Arabia’s Hail in whiteSaudi Arabia’s Hail sees unusual weather with heavy rain, snow, thunderstorms
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca sees rain, hail

An annual Ramadan appeal to help displaced refugees receive lifesaving support and aid has seen people across the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia make the highest number of donations in the region, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has told Al Arabiya EnglishFor the third year, the UNHCR launched the ‘Every Second Counts’ fundraising campaign as the Islamic world marks the holy month of Ramadan.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The UN agency launched the campaign while calling for greater support for millions of refugees and internally displaced persons in low-income countries hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.Houssam Chahine, UNHCR’s chief of private sector partnerships in MENA, told Al Arabiya English that the campaign has seen a flood of generosity from residents across the GCC."Every year, UNHCR appeals to the public during the month of giving and generosity to help raise awareness and funds for refugees and internally displaced people in need,” he said.“The ‘Every Second Counts’ campaign focuses on the incredible impact individuals can create within seconds, in the lives of refugee and displaced families whose lives turned upside down within moments and who have been forced to flee their homes in search of safety.”The campaign aims to raise funds through donations including Zakat and Sadaqah, to help provide lifesaving support such as shelter, food, clean water and monthly cash assistance, to the most vulnerable refugee and internally displaced families from Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, countries in the Sahel region, and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.In the Muslim faith, Zakat is the obligatory annual payment required of every Muslim, while Sadaqah is a kind gesture made with the intention of helping others.“We are grateful to the outpouring of support shown by the people of the UAE and KSA, with those who have been forcibly displaced,” said Chahine.“People in the UAE, followed by KSA, rank highest in the number of donations made to UNHCR’s Refugee Zakat Fund, which is testament to their empathy and generosity, and trust in our ability to deliver 100 percent of their Zakat contributions to eligible displaced families.”COVID-19 worsens refugee crisisChahine said COVID-19 has created a new emergency - on top of existing ones – for the millions of refugees around the world.“The pandemic has compounded existing challenges for displaced people, such as poverty, food insecurity, discrimination, border closures, protection risks such as domestic violence and sexual abuse, and access to livelihoods and education.”“The COVID-19 induced recession is expected to push between 88 million and 115 million people into extreme poverty. While precise measures are difficult, estimates by the World Bank and UNHCR point to a large and disproportionate impact on already vulnerable people, such as the forcibly displaced.”In September 2020, a UNHCR assessment among 1,579 refugee and asylum-seeker households of different nationalities in Egypt showed that 42 percent of the respondents had lost their job and 98 percent reported lack of financial means to access basic hygiene items.In Jordan, about four out of five Syrian refugees (close to 80 percent) were living under the national poverty line even before the pandemic, surviving on about $3 a day or less. While new assessments are currently underway, the impact of the pandemic on refugees in terms of loss of income and taking on debt was clearly severe.The situation is even more difficult for female-headed households in Lebanon: A far higher proportion of female-headed households (68 per cent) than male-headed households (13 per cent) are using coping strategies categorized as “crisis level” or “emergency level."Crisis coping strategies include marriage of children under the age of 18, selling productive assets, withdrawing children from school, and reducing expenditure on education and health. Emergency coping strategies include begging, accepting high-risk jobs or sending children to work.“The donations received will help UNHCR in providing lifesaving support to vulnerable refugees and displaced families through the distribution of cash assistance and goods, allowing them to address basic needs including shelter, food, education, healthcare and debt repayments,” said Chahine.In 2020, the fund has helped 2.1 million beneficiaries in 13 countries including Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Mauritania, Niger, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, through Zakat & Sadaqah donations.Despite the growth that the Refugee Zakat Fund has witnessed due to generous contributions by individuals and institutional partners, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has widened the gap between the needs of displaced families and funds received, said Chahine.“Ramadan is a time of reflection and generosity, and a great opportunity to show solidarity with the world’s forcibly displaced especially during a time where it is needed more than ever,” said Chahine. “We are always surprised by the incredible outpouring of support and kindness that people have towards refugees, and more so during this Holy month and ask people to continue standing with refugees and internally displaced people during these difficult times. No donation, or act of solidarity is too small."Zakat and Sadqah donations to refugees in urgent need can be given now via zakat.unhcr.org and UNHCR’s newly launched Zakat mobile application “GiveZakat”.Read more:Saudi Arabia and UAE announce $200 mln in aid for YemenRamadan 2021: UAE launches remote payment solution for Zakat donations Africa’s Red Cross chief in COVID-19 vaccine plea: ‘Don’t forget people off the grid'
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: UAE, Saudi Arabia lead fundraising effort in Ramadan refugee appeal: UNHCR chief

Ethiopia has called for a meeting of the African Union in a bid to break the stalemate in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam with Cairo and Khartoum, something that is viewed by Cairo as a maneuver by Addis Ababa to play for time until the completion of the second filling stage of the dam.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Is latest Ethiopian proposal on Nile dam talks a play for time?

The Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northeastern Syria said it will not allow the Syrian government to hold the presidential elections in its areas of control.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Kurdish authorities refuse to take part in Syrian presidential elections

After being reprimanded yesterday both by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and the High Court, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nominated Defense Minister Benny Gantz to take on the Justice Ministry as well.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Netanyahu caves, nominates Gantz for justice minister

An American warship fired warning shots when vessels of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard came too close to a patrol in the Gulf, the US Navy said Wednesday. It was the first such shooting in nearly four years.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The Navy released black-and-white footage of the encounter Monday night in international waters of the northern reaches of the Gulf near Kuwait, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. In it, lights can be seen in the distance and what appears to be a single gunshot can be heard, with a tracer round racing across the top of the water.Iran did not immediately acknowledge the incident.The Navy said the Cyclone-class patrol ship USS Firebolt fired the warning shots after three fast-attack Guard vessels came within 68 yards (62 meters) of it and the US Coast Guard patrol boat USCGC Baranoff.“The US crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio and loud-hailer devices, but the (Guard) vessels continued their close range maneuvers,” said Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the Mideast-based 5th Fleet. “The crew of Firebolt then fired warning shots, and the (Guard) vessels moved away to a safe distance from the US vessels.”She called on the Guard to “operate with due regard for the safety of all vessels as required by international law.”“US naval forces continue to remain vigilant and are trained to act in a professional manner, while our commanding officers retain the inherent right to act in self-defense,” she said.The last time a Navy vessel fired warning shots in the Gulf in an incident involving Iran was in July 2017, when the USS Thunderbolt, a sister ship to the Firebolt, fired to warn off a Guard vessel. Regulations issued last year give Navy commanders the authority to take “lawful defensive measures” against vessels in the Mideast that come within 100 meters (yards) of their warships.While 100 meters may seem far to someone standing at a distance, it’s incredibly close for large warships that have difficulty in turning quickly, like aircraft carriers. Even smaller vessels can collide with each other at sea, risking the ships.The incident Monday marked the second time the Navy accused the Guard of operating in an “unsafe and unprofessional” manner this month alone after tense encounters between the forces had dropped in recent years.Footage released Tuesday by the Navy showed a ship commanded by the Guard cut in front of the USCGC Monomoy, causing the Coast Guard vessel to come to an abrupt stop with its engine smoking on April 2.The Guard also did the same with another Coast Guard vessel, the USCGC Wrangell, Rebarich said.The interaction marked the first “unsafe and unprofessional” incident involving the Iranians since April 15, 2020, Rebarich said. However, Iran had largely stopped such incidents in 2018 and nearly in the entirety of 2019, she said.In 2017, the Navy recorded 14 instances of what it describes as “unsafe and or unprofessional” interactions with Iranian forces. It recorded 35 in 2016, and 23 in 2015.The incidents at sea almost always involve the Revolutionary Guard, which reports only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Typically, they involve Iranian speedboats armed with deck-mounted machine guns and rocket launchers test-firing weapons or shadowing American aircraft carriers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Gulf through which 20 percent of all oil passes.Some analysts believe the incidents are meant in part to squeeze President Hassan Rouhani’s administration after the 2015 nuclear deal. They include a 2016 incident in which Iranian forces captured and held overnight 10 US sailors who strayed into the Islamic Republic’s territorial waters.The incident comes as Iran negotiates with world powers in Vienna over Tehran and Washington returning to the 2015 nuclear deal. It also follows a series of incidents across the Mideast attributed to a shadow war between Iran and Israel, which includes attacks on regional shipping and sabotage at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility.Read more: Saudi Arabia says Iran uranium enrichment cannot be intended for ‘peaceful’ meansIran’s Revolutionary Guard inaugurates new underground missile facility: State TV‘Mother ship’, ‘command center’: The Iranian ship ‘Saviz’ attacked in Red Sea
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: US Navy fires warning shots in new tense encounter with Iran

Iran’s president and speaker of parliament both defended assassinated Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani after critical comments by the foreign minister became public.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Rouhani defends Zarif, Soleimani as Iran roils over leaked audio

The Syrian regime’s parliament is expected to approve candidates for an upcoming presidential election which is unlikely to be fair and almost certain to be won by Bashar al-Assad..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Syrian parliament finalizes list of candidates for ‘sham’ presidential election

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) preached and practised nothing but Islam, a simple, natural, perfect and practical religion, all his life..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Ramadan in UAE: Prophet’s teachings work as a candle for humanity