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Tag: Saudi Arabia

  • Saudi Arabia lifts ban on worldwide flights, land and sea entry

    Image Source : FILE PHOTO Saudi Arabia lifts ban on worldwide flights, land and sea entry
    Saudi Arabia introduced on Sunday the lifting of the ban on all worldwide flights in addition to land and sea entry, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The two-week ban was a part of the precautionary measures towards the unfold of a mutant variant of coronavirus detected in numerous nations, Xinhua information company reported.
    The lifting determination turned efficient from 11 am on Sunday, based on the Interior Ministry.
    Still, non-Saudi residents ought to spend a minimum of 14 days exterior the nations recognized as locations the place the brand new Covid-19 pressure has damaged out earlier than entry and carry a minimum of one take a look at, the Ministry stated.

    Saudi residents from these nations must be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival and carry two Covid-19 checks, it added.
    Saudi Arabia found its first Covid-19 case in February 2020.
    After practically a yr of efforts to curb the unfold of the virus, the variety of every day instances within the Kingdom is now decreased to fewer than 200.
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  • Blast at Aden airport kills 25, wounds 110: Yemeni officers

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    A big explosion struck the airport within the southern Yemeni metropolis of Aden on Wednesday, shortly after a airplane carrying the newly fashioned Cabinet landed there, safety officers stated. At least 25 individuals have been killed and 110 wounded within the blast.
    Yemen’s internationally acknowledged authorities stated Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired 4 ballistic missiles on the airport. Rebel officers didn’t reply cellphone calls from The Associated Press looking for remark. No one on the federal government airplane was damage.
    Officials later reported one other explosion near a palace within the metropolis the place the Cabinet members have been transferred following the airport assault. The Saudi-led coalition later shot down a bomb-laden drone that tried to focus on the palace, in line with Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV channel.
    The Cabinet reshuffle was seen as a significant step towards closing a harmful rift between the federal government of embattled Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, and southern separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates. Hadi’s authorities and the separatists are nominal allies in Yemen’s years-long civil struggle that pits the Saudi-led, U.S.-backed navy coalition towards the Houthis, who management most of northern Yemen in addition to the nation’s capital, Sanaa.
    AP footage from the scene on the airport confirmed members of the federal government delegation disembarking because the blast shook the grounds. Many ministers rushed again contained in the airplane or ran down the steps, looking for shelter.
    Thick smoke rose into the air from close to the terminal constructing. Officials on the scene stated they noticed our bodies mendacity on the tarmac and elsewhere on the airport.
    Yemeni Communication Minister Naguib al-Awg, who was on the airplane, instructed the AP that he heard two explosions, suggesting they have been drone assaults. Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed and the others have been shortly whisked from the airport to the Mashiq Palace.
    Military and safety forces sealed off the world across the palace.
    “It would have been a disaster if the plane was bombed,” al-Awg stated, insisting the airplane was the goal of the assault because it was speculated to land earlier.
    Prime Minister Saeed tweeted that he and his Cabinet have been secure and unharmed. He known as the explosions a “cowardly terrorist act” that was a part of the struggle on “the Yemeni state and our great people.”
    Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak blamed the Houthis for the assaults. His ministry stated in an announcement later that the rebels fired 4 ballistic missiles on the airport, and launched drone assaults on the palace, the Cabinet’s headquarters. They didn’t present proof.
    Health Minister Qasem Buhaibuh stated in a tweet the assaults on the airport killed least 25 individuals and wounded 110 others, suggesting the loss of life toll may enhance additional as a result of a few of the wounds have been critical.
    Images shared on social media from the scene confirmed rubble and damaged glass strewn about close to the airport constructing and not less than two lifeless our bodies, one in all them charred, mendacity on the bottom. In one other picture, a person tries to assist one other man whose garments have been torn to rise up from the bottom.
    The International Committee of the Red Cross stated three of its staff have been killed within the airport blast: two Yemeni nationals and a Rwandan. Three different staff have been wounded. ICRC staff have been on the airport transiting with different civilians when the blast befell, it stated.
    “This is a tragic day for the ICRC and for the people of Yemen,” stated Dominik Stillhart, ICRC’s director of operations.
    Yemeni Belqees tv stated its reporter Adeeb al-Ganabi was additionally killed within the airport blast. Information Minister Moammer al-Iryani stated not less than 10 different journalists have been wounded.
    An announcement from Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, stated the “Secretary-General condemns the deplorable attack on Aden airport shortly after the arrival of the newly formed Yemeni cabinet, which killed and wounded dozens of people.”
    Anwar Gargash, the United Arab Emirates’ minister of state for overseas affairs, stated the assault on Aden’s airport was meant to destroy the power-sharing deal between Yemen’s internationally acknowledged authorities and the southern separatists.
    U.S. Ambassador in Yemen Christopher Henzel stated the U.S. condemned the assaults in Aden. “We stand with the Yemeni people as they strive for peace, and we support the new Yemeni Government as it works towards a better future for all Yemenis,” he stated.
    Egypt, Jordan and different Arab and Western nations additionally condemned the airport assault.
    The Yemeni ministers have been returning to Aden from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, after being sworn in final week as a part of a reshuffle following a take care of the separatists. Yemen’s internationally acknowledged authorities has labored largely from self-imposed exile in Riyadh in the course of the nation’s years-long civil struggle.
    The Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed al-Jaber, described the assault as a “cowardly terrorist act targeting the Yemeni people, their security and stability.”
    Despite “the disappointment and confusion caused by those who create death and destruction,” the peace settlement between the federal government and southern separatists “will go forward,” he stated.
    Hadi, in exile in Saudi Arabia, introduced the Cabinet reshuffle earlier this month.
    Naming a brand new authorities was a part of a power-sharing deal between the Saudi-backed Hadi and the Emirati-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council, an umbrella group of militias looking for to revive an unbiased southern Yemen, which existed from 1967 till unification in 1990.
    The blast underscores the risks dealing with Hadi’s authorities within the port metropolis, the scene of bloody preventing between forces of the internationally acknowledged authorities and the UAE-backed separatists.
    In a video message posted on his Twitter account later, Saeed, the Yemeni prime minister, stated his authorities was in Aden “to stay.” The metropolis has been the seat of Hadi’s authorities since Houthi rebels overran the capital Sanaa in 2014.
    Last 12 months, the Houthis fired a missile at a navy parade of newly graduated fighters of a militia loyal to the UAE at a navy base in Aden, killing dozens.
    In 2015, then-Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and members of his authorities survived a missile assault, blamed on the Houthis, on an Aden resort utilized by the federal government.

    Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest nation, has been engulfed in civil struggle since 2014, when the Houthis overran the north and Sanaa. The following 12 months, a Saudi-led navy coalition intervened to wage struggle on the Houthis and to revive Hadi’s authorities to energy.
    The struggle has killed greater than 112,000 individuals and introduced in regards to the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

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  • US state division approves potential sale of three,000 sensible bombs to Saudi Arabia

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    The US State Department has accepted the potential sale of three,000 precision guided munitions to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a deal valued at as much as $290 million, the Pentagon stated on Tuesday.The sale comes within the closing days of US President Donald Trump’s time period. President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to halt arms gross sales to Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s greatest purchaser of American weapons, in a bid to stress Riyadh to finish a battle in Yemen that has brought about the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.The bundle would come with 3,000 GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb I (SDB I) munitions, containers, help tools, spares and technical help, the Pentagon stated.“The proposed sale will improve Saudi Arabia’s capability to meet current and future threats by increasing its stocks of long-range, precision air-to-ground munitions,” the Pentagon stated in an announcement. It added that “the size and accuracy of the SDB I allows for an effective munition with less collateral damage.”The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of the potential sale on Tuesday. Members of Congress have been angered by steep civilian casualties in Yemen and earlier this yr tried and failed to dam the sale of F-35 warplanes to Riyadh.Despite approval by the State Department, the notification doesn’t point out {that a} contract has been signed or that negotiations have concluded.The Pentagon stated Boeing Co was the prime contractor for the weapons.

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  • Saudi FM to go to Pakistan subsequent month to debate bilateral points

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    Amid souring ties between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, a high-level Saudi delegation led by the dominion’s international minister is about to pay an official go to to Islamabad in January.According to The Express Tribune report, either side will maintain discussions on a number of issues together with the most recent developments within the Middle East area, and different bilateral points.The Saudi international minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud shall be accompanied by a crew of Saudi businessmen and firms. Sources instructed the Pakistan every day that Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman can even accompany the visiting delegation, including that the institution of an oil refinery in Pakistan can even be deliberated upon. The Saudi FM will maintain talks with nation’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi.Back in August, the connection between the 2 nations went haywire when Mehmood Qureshi brazenly rebuked the dominion for its lack of help for Islamabad’s stance on the Kashmir problem.During a tv talk-show, the Pakistani Foreign Minister made a press release that irked the Saudi “big brother”, the place he stated that Pakistan could be “compelled” to “call a meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir.”The comment by Pakistani Foreign Minister was not taken effectively by Riyadh and was seen as a veiled menace to concoct a brand new aspect towards the Saudi-dominated Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).In retaliation, the dominion was fast to request the sudden reimbursement of a billion-dollar mortgage prolonged to Pakistan in November 2018, which was renegotiated simply six months in the past. Besides this, it additionally refused to resume a deferred oil funds scheme that was a part of the identical mortgage which was given to Islamabad when the nation was making an attempt to keep away from a potential sovereign default.

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  • Saudi Arabia broadcasts discovery of 4 new oil, gasoline fields

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    Image Source : AP Saudi Arabia broadcasts discovery of 4 new oil, gasoline fields Saudi Arabia has introduced the invention of 4 new oil and gasoline fields, the Saudi Press Agency reported. According to a Sunday assertion by Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, the Saudi Aramco’s discoveries are in numerous elements of the dominion, Xinhua information company reported. Non-conventional oil has been found in al-Reesh oil discipline, northwest of Dhahran, and in al-Ajramiyah Well No. 1, northwest of town of Rafhaa within the Northern Borders Province. Non-conventional gasoline has additionally been found in al-Sarrah reservoir at al-Minahhaz nicely, southwest of the Ghawar oil discipline, and at al-Sahbaa nicely, south of Ghawar. The minister stated that Saudi Aramco continues to work on figuring out the scale and quantity of found fields. In August, Saudi Arabia introduced the invention of two oil and gasoline fields within the northern border area. (With IANS inputs) Latest World News

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  • Houthi sea mine strikes cargo ship in Red Sea: Saudi TV

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    A sea mine planted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels struck a cargo ship within the southern Red Sea on Friday, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned tv channel reported, with out offering additional particulars.
    Al-Ekhbariya quoted the Saudi-led coalition, which has been preventing Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen since 2015. The coalition didn’t establish the vessel or elaborate on the assault. The U.S. Navy’s fifth Fleet, which patrols the Mideast, didn’t reply to a request for remark. The United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations, an info trade overseen by the British Royal Navy within the area, didn’t instantly acknowledge the incident.
    The report follows a collection of assaults focusing on Saudi power infrastructure that has spurred considerations about ship security within the Red Sea, a vital transit zone for world transport and power provides that largely had prevented the chaos of regional tensions involving the U.S. and Iran final yr.
    Earlier this month, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen mentioned that it had lately detected and destroyed 171 sea mines dispatched into Red Sea waters by the Houthi rebels. Houthi navy officers haven’t commented on the most recent allegations.
    Any mining of the Red Sea is a hazard not solely to Saudi Arabia however to the remainder of the world. Mines can enter the water after which be carried away by the currents, which change by the season.
    Less than two weeks in the past, an explosion struck an oil tanker off Saudi Arabia’s port metropolis of Jiddah, ensuing within the shutdown of crucial transport level for the dominion. The Saudis blamed the explosion on a bomb-laden boat just like the remote-controlled ones utilized by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
    Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has led a U.S.-backed navy coalition towards the Houthis, who overran most of Yemen’s northern components, together with the capital Sanaa the earlier yr. That pressured the U.N. acknowledged authorities to flee to the south. The battle within the Arab world’s poorest nation has killed greater than 112,000 folks, together with hundreds of civilians. The battle has additionally resulted on the earth’s worst humanitarian disaster.

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  • Saudi Arabia suspends Air India, other flights for a week

    All international flights, including those of Air India’s, to and from Saudi Arabia were suspended for a week on Monday owing to fears over a new strain of coronavirus that put London and all of southern England on a Christmas lockdown last week.

    The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) on Monday cited a source from Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry to inform that all international flights will remain suspended for a week and said that there is a probability that the suspension could be extended for another week depending on the circumstances. It also outlined that the flights will be allowed only in exceptional circumstances.

    “An official source in the Ministry of Interior: The Kingdom decides to suspend all international flights for travelers – except in exceptional cases – temporarily for a week, which may be extended for another week (loosely translated from Arabic),” GACA tweeted on Monday.

    Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman were among the Gulf nations whose governments announced that they would ban entry and exit via their land and sea borders barring cargo movements and cancel commercial travel. An AFP report said that the ban will not apply to international aircraft currently in the kingdom, which will be allowed to leave. The report also said that cargo from nations where the new strain has not caused an outbreak will be allowed to enter Saudi Arabia.

  • Saudi Arabia, Gulf States Must Be Consulted By US For Entering JCPOA: Foreign Minister

    President-elect Joe Biden must consult Gulf nations if the United States decides to re-enter the nuclear accord with Iran, Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat asserted on December 6, warning, that dialogue was the ‘only path for a sustainable agreement’. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud insisted that Biden must involve Iran’s US-allied Arab neighbours in the process of rejoining the US Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), indirectly resonating concerns about Iran backed Houthis’ militarily aggression targeted at Yemen. Biden had stated that his incoming government can hold potential negotiations with Iran to reinstate the nuclear deal scrapped by the Trump administration to pressurize Iran into giving up nukes stockpile by slapping sanctions. 

    Prince Faisal bin Farhan told reporters that Saudi Arabia wanted to be fully consulted, on the sidelines of the security conference in Bahrain’s Manama on Saturday. Further, in an interview with CNBC, Al-Saud said that Saudi Arabia seeks to partner with the US administration in the new agreement, for which, Trump’s Iran policies had laid the groundwork. 

    Sitting US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2018, citing, that it was the “worst deal in history.” Al-Saud said that the new deal can be entered with more conditions that can address Iran’s arming of Houthis militias in Yemen, and other armed groups in Iraq, Syria, or Lebanon. The new agreement must also limit Iran’s ballistic missile programs and other arms programs, Saudi’s Foreign minister alleged. 

    Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani had earlier said in a press conference that Iran hopes the US would return to normalizing bilateral relations to the pre-Trump era and return to negotiations with the new president in the office. Rouhani condemned the outgoing president, Donald Trump on his foreign policy and said that he was looking forward to improving ties with US President-elect Joe Biden. The Iranian leader asserted that the new US President must “clearly condemn” Trump’s “terrorist and anti-humanitarian policies”, adding, that his administration played defective politics for four years.