Nawaf Salam

Saudi Top Diplomat Says 'at Vanguard' of Efforts to Rebuild Syria

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan travelled to Damascus on Saturday, where he said his country would be at the forefront of efforts to rebuild Syria after nearly 14 years of civil war. Prince Faisal had landed in the Syrian capital earlier, alongside an economic delegation on a visit to discuss ways to support Syria's ...

Israel Won't Cooperate with Arab Ministers Visiting West Bank

Israel will not cooperate with a planned visit by Arab foreign ministers to the occupied West Bank, an Israeli official announced, after a Saudi source said the kingdom's top diplomat was heading to Ramallah. Israel controls the Palestinian territory's borders and airspace, meaning its approval would be needed for the diplomats to ...

Israeli Air Strike Kills One Person in Deir Zahrani

Mohammad Ali Jammoul, aged 33, was killed at dawn on Saturday in a targeted strike by an Israeli drone as he was driving his car in the village of Deir Zahrani, in the Nabatiyeh caza of southern Lebanon. According to local sources, the victim was on his way to the village mosque for the dawn prayer when a missile fired by a drone directly hit his ...

Israel Strikes Western Syria, Despite Talks

Israel on Friday struck western Syria, the Israeli military and Syrian state media said, in the first such attack on the country in nearly a month. It came after Damascus announced earlier this month indirect talks with Israel to calm tensions, and the US called for a "non-aggression agreement" between the two countries, which are technically at ...

Israel Threatens Hamas With ‘Annihilation' as Trump Says Gaza Ceasefire Close

Israel on Friday said Hamas must accept a hostage deal in Gaza or "be annihilated", as US President Donald Trump announced that a ceasefire agreement was "very close". It came amid dire conditions on the ground, with the United Nations warning that Gaza's entire population was at risk of famine. Defense Minister Israel ...

Saudi FM to Make Landmark Visit to the West Bank

Prince Faisal bin Farhan will become the first Saudi foreign minister to visit the occupied West Bank on Sunday, a diplomatic source told AFP, as the Gaza war drags on and Riyadh pushes for Palestinian statehood. The top Saudi diplomat will head a delegation to Ramallah, a Palestinian embassy source said, the first such trip since Israel first ...

Taylor Swift Buys Back Rights to Her Old Music

Pop icon Taylor Swift, who has been publicly feuding with record executives since 2019 over the rights to her early music, now owns her entire catalogue, she said on her website Friday. "All of the music I've ever made ... now belongs ... to me," she wrote, after years of dispute over her first six albums, a number of which she has rerecorded to ...

“Peace will Lead to Normalization”: Salam's Statement Fuel Controversy

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam emphasized on Friday that any normalization of relations with Israel must be preceded by a just and comprehensive peace, following public backlash over comments he made in a CNN interview. During the interview, Salam was asked whether normalization could proceed without a clear path to Palestinian statehood. He ...

Barcelona Ends 'Friendship Agreement' With Tel Aviv Over Gaza War

Barcelona's city council voted Friday to cut institutional ties with the Israeli government and suspend its friendship agreement with the city of Tel Aviv, citing violations of international law and the rights of Palestinians. The motion, supported by the governing Socialist party along with far-left and leftist pro-independence groups, calls for ...

Tensions Mount as Washington Delays and Israel Threatens Iran

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he had asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay any potential military action against Iran, in order to give the United States administration more time to negotiate a new nuclear agreement with Tehran. Iran’s nuclear program lies at the center of an escalating diplomatic ...