This is Beirut - Saudi Arabia

Muslim Pilgrims Ascend Mount Arafat for Hajj's Pivotal Day

This is Beirut, 05/06 10:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Saudi Arabia Mount Arafat Pilgrims Hajj Adha

Muslim pilgrims prayed atop Mount Arafat on Thursday during the high point of the annual hajj pilgrimage, as Saudi officials called on participants to refrain from being outside during the hottest hours of the day. Thousands of pilgrims began to gather before dawn around the hill and the surrounding plain where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to ...

Football: Lebanon Prepares for Clash Against Yemen, Darwich Ruled Out

Makram Haddad, 05/06 09:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Kuwait Saudi Arabia Football

Barely arrived in Kuwait, Karim Darwich was forced to throw in the towel. The Duhok striker, a regular starter this season in the Iraqi league and the Gulf Champions League, picked up an injury during the Lebanese national team’s first training session in Salmiya. He suffered a muscle lesion in his right thigh, diagnosed via MRI as ...

Million-Plus Pilgrims Begin Hajj Under Blazing Sun

This is Beirut, 04/06 13:35 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Saudi Arabia Islam Hajj

More than a million pilgrims joined Islam's most important rite under a beating sun on Wednesday, as the hajj kicked off with the Saudi hosts scrambling to avoid last year's 1,000-plus deaths in sweltering heat. With temperatures expected to top 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), robed pilgrims slowly circled the Kaaba -- the black cube ...

Saudi Readies for 'Worst Case Scenario' in Sweltering Hajj

This is Beirut, 03/06 12:55 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Saudi Arabia Hajj Islam

Near a sprawling tent city outside Mecca, Saudi hospital staff are preparing for a flood of heat-related cases as Muslim pilgrims begin hajj this week in sweltering summer temperatures. The Mina Emergency Hospital is one of 15 such facilities operating just a few weeks a year around the annual pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites, which in 2024 ...

As Iran Retreats, Islamist Turkey and Qatar Surge in Lebanon

Hussain Abdul-Hussain, 03/06 10:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Iran Lebanon Qatar United States Saudi Arabia

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, a Sunni, entered the stadium of Beirut’s Sports City to watch the classic football game between the two rival teams Nijmeh and Ansar. When the Shia supporters of Nijmeh saw Salam, they started shouting slogans in support of Hezbollah and its late chief Hassan Nasrallah. The Sunni fans of Ansar fired back, ...

Saudi FM Says Blocking of West Bank Delegation Shows Israeli Rejection of Peace Process

This is Beirut, 01/06 18:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Saudi Arabia West Bank Israel Faisal bin Farhan Arab League

Israel's blocking of a visit by Arab diplomats to the occupied West Bank showed its "rejection of... a diplomatic path to peace," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Sunday. Ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, along with the Arab League chief, had planned a trip to the Palestinian territory, but Israel said ...

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

This is Beirut, 31/05 18:54 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Saudi Arabia Syria Faisal bin Farhan Ahmad al-Sharaa

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 ...

Arab Ministers Condemn Israel 'Ban' on Planned West Bank Visit

This is Beirut, 31/05 17:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Israel Jordan Egypt Qatar UAE Saudi Arabia

The foreign ministers of five Arab countries, who had planned to visit the occupied West Bank this weekend, condemned on Saturday Israel's decision to block their trip. The ministers condemned "Israel's decision to ban the delegation's visit to Ramallah (on Sunday) to meet with the president of the State of Palestine, ...

Israel Won't Cooperate with Arab Ministers Visiting West Bank

This is Beirut, 31/05 12:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Israel West Bank Saudi Arabia

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 ...

Saudi FM to Make Landmark Visit to the West Bank

This is Beirut, 30/05 20:00 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

West Bank Hamas Israel Gaza Faisal bin Farhan Saudi Arabia

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 ...

With AI and More Shade, Saudi Set for a Searing Hajj

This is Beirut, 30/05 10:25 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Saudi Arabia Hajj

With artificial intelligence, more shade and misting machines, Saudi authorities are preparing to welcome more than a million hajj pilgrims amid punishing summer heat that has a deadly history in the holy city of Mecca. Saudi Arabia's hajj minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah told AFP on Thursday that efforts to mitigate the searing desert heat remained a ...

New Metro Cuts Through Saudi Social Divisions

This is Beirut, 30/05 09:50 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Saudi Arabia Transport Traffic Social Metro

For decades, civil servant Zayed al-Ghamdi's social circles in Saudi Arabia were more than predictable, bound by routine and kinship in a country where societal divisions have rarely been challenged. Then came the metro. A decade after breaking ground, Riyadh's gleaming new metro opened in December, offering the capital's eight million residents ...

Saudi Arabia