Iran condemns deadly Israeli attack on journalists' vehicle in S Lebanon


Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has condemned an earlier attack by the Israeli regime against a vehicle carrying journalists in southern Lebanon that led to the death of one of them.

Spokesman Nasser Kan’ani issued the condemnation on Friday, hours after the Israeli artillery attack that targeted the vehicle in the Lebanese village of Alma al-Shaab.

The official condoled with and expressed sympathy towards the survivors as well as the international community of journalists.

Qatar’s Al Jazeera television network identified the fatality as a reporter with Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA).

Five others were also injured in the attack, including an Al Jazeera photographer. Last year, an Israeli sniper gunned down Shireen Abu Akleh, targeting the veteran Al Jazeera journalist with a live armor-piercing bullet.

This is not the first time that the Israeli regime has targeted the Lebanese territory since Saturday when it launched its ongoing hugely deadly war against the Gaza Strip.

On Tuesday, the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement said it had struck two Israeli military posts in the northern part of the occupied territories in response to the regime’s earlier aggression against South Lebanon, which had left three of the group’s fighters dead.

As Israel escalates war on Gaza, US warns diplomats against 'ceasefire' talk

As the Israeli regime brutally escalates its indiscriminate war on the Gaza Strip, the US State Department has warned American diplomats against making any mention of a potential “ceasefire” in their public statements.

The warning was issued in a message seen by the HuffPost that was circulated on Friday to all US diplomats “working on Middle East issues.”

Citing the contents of the message, the American news website said, “High-level [American] officials do not want press materials to include three specific phrases, ‘de-escalation/ceasefire,’ ‘end to violence/bloodshed,’ and ‘restoring calm.'”

Calling up an unprecedented 300,000 reservists, the Israeli regime has declared a “long” war on Gaza in response to Operation al-Aqsa Storm. Gaza’s resistance movements initiated the operation on Saturday in response to the occupying regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Palestinians.

As many as 1,799 Palestinians, including 583 children and 351 women, have been martyred and more than 7,000 others injured since the regime launched the war against the coastal sliver.

The military campaign has seen the regime leveling entire districts and featured its use of banned white phosphorous munitions against densely-populated neighborhoods.

The regime is simultaneously employing an all-out siege against the Palestinian territory. The blockade has choked up the flow of foodstuffs, medicines, and fuel towards the sliver, and disrupted its supply of water and electricity.

Addressing the issue of the Friday memo, the HuffPost said, “The revelation provides a stunning signal about the [US President Joe] Biden administration’s reluctance to push for Israeli restraint as the close US partner expands the offensive…”

It also reminded that US officials had so far “avoided discussion of a ceasefire, even as aid groups and some analysts have suggested that may be essential to allow civilians to flee Gaza and allow vital supplies to enter the area after Israel cut off electricity and water that the strip usually relies on.”

This is while “as Israel’s biggest source of diplomatic and military support, the US has significant leverage” in the matter of how the occupying regime chooses to seek reprisal, and whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tries to limit the civilian toll of his response, the website noted.

1,900 Palestinians, including 614, martyred in Israeli offensive in Gaza

The death toll from Israel’s savage attacks on the Gaza Strip continues to rise nearly a week after the regime launched its brutal onslaught on the besieged Palestinian territory.

The Health Ministry in Gaza announced on Friday that at least 1,900 Palestinians, including 614 children, and 370 women have been martyred in seven days of incessant Israeli bombardment of the blockaded territory.

At least 7,696 Palestinians have also been wounded in the bombardment.

70 people, mostly women and children, martyred 

Meanwhile, officials in Gaza said that 70 people, mostly women and children, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on convoys fleeing Gaza City on Friday.

Hamas’ media office said the cars were struck in three places as they headed south from Gaza City.

The Israeli army ordered residents to evacuate the city early Friday ahead of an expected ground invasion.

Israeli forces killed at least 16 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank as they opened live fire on demonstrators rallying to show solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip.

People took part in demonstrations in cities across the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, including Ramallah, Tulkarem, Nablus and al-Khalil (Hebron).

The Palestinian health ministry said in the early hours of Saturday that a total of 51 people have been killed since Oct. 7.

The regime’s air raids claimed at least two dozen lives in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have also been displaced as a result of the regime’s relentless and indiscriminate attacks.

At least 423,000 people have now been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations said.

As of late Thursday, the number of displaced people in Gaza had risen by an additional 84,444 people and reached 423,378, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said.

The coastal territory remains under Israel’s complete siege with no access to electricity, water, food, and medicines.

Israel started its onslaught on Saturday after Gaza-based resistance groups launched a multi-front operation against the regime.

Israel used banned white phosphorus munitions against desperate people in Gaza, a human rights monitor said.

In a post on X on Thursday, Maha Hussaini, director of strategies at the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor in Geneva, said that the Tel Aviv regime was “using internationally prohibited white phosphorus in Gaza.”

“These munitions are an indiscriminate incendiary weapon that ignites on contact with oxygen. In closed spaces, the toxic fumes can cause asphyxiation & permanent respiratory damage,” she added.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch also said on Thursday Israel used white phosphorus munitions in Gaza and Lebanon.

The United Nations Humanitarian Office (OCHA) said on Thursday that Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip has inflicted damage on over 12,600 homes in the coastal territory.

It added that 1,000 of these homes were flattened and another 560 housing units sustained serious damage, which rendered them uninhabitable.

Many people in the impoverished sliver face dire shortages of water, fuel and medical supplies, as all 13 hospitals there are only partially operational due to severe shortages of fuel and crucial medical supplies.

It said that the reduction in water supplies due to Israel’s tightening its siege on the strip has resulted in dire water shortages for more than 650,000 people in the territory of 2.3 million.

As sewage systems have been destroyed, fetid wastewater is sent into the streets and posing a health hazard, OCHA added.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, warned on Wednesday that hospitals across Gaza are overwhelmed and experiencing shortages of drugs, medical supplies and electricity.

In a statement, Avril Benoît, executive director of MSF-USA, said the aid agency was “seeing shortages of water, electricity, and fuel, which hospitals rely on for their generators.”

Gaza is under full Israeli siege and now the only power plant there has shut down due to a fuel outage. According to health authorities, overwhelmed hospitals without electricity will have to rely on their emergency generators, which will only last two to four days.

Hassan Khalaf, the medical director of al-Wafa Hospital in Gaza City, said there are currently 100 newborn babies relying on medical equipment currently in Gaza.

Resistance ready for all scenarios versus Israel: Iran FM

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has said the region’s resistance groups are ready for all scenarios in the face of the Israeli regime, which has brought the Gaza Strip under an all-out and indiscriminate war.

The top diplomat made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart Faisal al-Mekdad in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Friday. Syria is Amir-Abdollahian’s third stop in a regional tour that has already taken him to Iraq and Lebanon.

He revealed that he had met earlier in the Lebanese capital Beirut with Secretary-General of the resistance movement of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and a number of other resistance leaders.

“I was informed [at that meeting] that the resistance has put all possible scenarios before itself, and [that the resistance groups] were in high spirits,” the Iranian official said.

As many as 1,799 Palestinians, including 583 children and 351 women, have been martyred and more than 7,000 others injured since Saturday, when the Israeli regime launched the war against the coastal sliver.

The military campaign has seen the regime leveling entire districts and featured its use of banned white phosphorous munitions against densely-populated neighborhoods.

The regime is simultaneously employing an all-out siege against the Palestinian territory. The blockade has choked up the flow of foodstuffs, medicines, and fuel towards the sliver, and disrupted its supply of water and electricity.

‘Mass carnage’

Amir-Abdollahian warned that the Zionist regime and its allies were trying to realize a “mass carnage” in Gaza through their continued disruption of the flow of food, water, and electricity towards the territory.

“I am willing to announce this message to the leaders of the Muslim and Arab countries in a loud voice that today, the oppressed people of Gaza are in need of immediate international assistance towards removal of the humanitarian siege and cessation of the Zionists’ crimes,” he said.

He criticized the Arab League for issuing a “bleak” statement on the situation that is faced by the people of Gaza, denouncing the grouping for its “vague and ambiguous positions.”

The official finally hoped that the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) would meet soon in the Iranian capital of Tehran or elsewhere as means of addressing Gaza’s situation.

Israeli military begins carrying out ground invasion in Gaza

1,799 Palestinians martyred, 7,000 wounded in war on Gaza:

The Health Ministry in Gaza announced on Friday that at least 1,799 Palestinians, including 583 children, and 351 women have been martyred in six days of incessant Israeli bombardment of the blockaded territory, media reported on Friday afternoon.

More than 7,000 Palestinians have also been wounded in the bombardment.  

The regime’s air raids claimed at least two dozen lives in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have also been displaced as a result of the regime’s relentless and indiscriminate attacks.

WHO Warns Israel’s Evacuation Order for Gaza ‘Death Sentence’ for Patients:

Israel’s evacuation order for Gaza amounts to a “death sentence” for vulnerable hospital patients, the World Health Organization warned.

WHO Spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said health authorities in Gaza have advised that it is impossible to evacuate vulnerable hospital patients within 24 hours as ordered by Israel’s military, Al-Jazeera reported.

“There are severely ill people whose injuries mean their only chances of survival is being on life support, such as mechanical ventilators,” Jasarevic said on Thursday.

“So moving those people is a death sentence. Asking health workers to do so is beyond cruel,” he added.

Israel’s military on Thursday ordered 1.1 million Palestinains trapped in Gaza to move South within 24 hours ahead of an expected ground offensive on the enclave.

The United Nations has warned that the relocation of so many people is “impossible” and could have devastating consequences.

The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell has described Israel’s directive as “utterly unrealistic”.

Hamas, which runs the Gaza Stip, has told residents to ignore Israel’s order, describing it as “fake propaganda”.

UN Rapporteur Slams EU Support for Israeli Aggression on Gaza:

A United Nations special rapporteur slammed the European Union’s unwavering support for Israel in its aggression on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and its double standards regarding Palestine and Ukraine.

Speaking to Middle East Eye, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said “Political action is lacking and double standards tarnish the values and the rule of law principle upon which our international order is premised”.

Albanese made the remarks after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed the EU’s unwavering support for Israel in recent days, saying that “Israel has the right to defend itself – today and in the days to come. The European Union stands with Israel.”

Israeli forces, settlers kill, injure more than one hundred Palestinian marchers in WB: 

The Zionist regime forces and armed settlers shot at Palestinian demonstrators who held rallies in support of Palestine resistance in Gaza on Frida across the occupied West Bank cities and town.

According to Al-Jazeera reports, at least 4 demonstrators were martyres and 124 others were wounded when the Zionist regime’s troops and armed settlers opened fire on the Palestinian protests in Ramallah and other West Bank districts.

‘US security assistance to Israel will flow in at the speed of war’: Lloyd Austin

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a press briefing in Tel Aviv alongside with Israeli War Minister Yoav Gallant that “the US will make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself”, as Israeli forces prepare for new assaults on Gaza.

“We will stand with Israel even as we stand with Ukraine… US security assistance to Israel will flow in at the speed of war,” Austin said.

He said munitions, air defence capabilities and other equipment and resources was coming into Israel.

Massive rocket barrage fired at Ashkelon after Israel tells Gazans to flee south:

The Zionist Israeli regime media said that a barrage of rockets was fired toward Ashkelon and other areas near the Gaza border, setting off a string of sirens.

According to the Times of Israel, the launches end some 14 hours in which nearly no rockets were fired.

Hamas said in a short statement that its fighters launched a barrage of 150 rockets at Ashkelon.

13 Zionist abductees killed in Israeli airstrikes: Qassam Brigades

The al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced that 13 Zionist prisoners who were kept in different areas of the Gaza Strip were killed in the attacks of the occupiers in the last 24 hours.

Hamas calls Israeli warning “fake propaganda”:

A Hamas official has described the Israeli regime’s threats to evacuate Gazans as “fake propaganda”, calling on residents to ignore it.

Israel orders 1.1m trapped Palestinians to move to southern Gaza in 24 hours:

As the Zionist regime’s ground invasion looms, its military says all Palestinians must vacate northern Gaza within 24 hours – a forced relocation of some 1.1 million people, Al-Jazeera reported.

Israel says all Palestinians must vacate northern Gaza within 24 hours – a forced relocation of some 1.1 million people.

Gaza has a population of about 2.3 million people living in five governorates: North Gaza, Gaza City, Deir el-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah.

Veteran Egyptian politician Mustafa Bakri has accused Israel of trying to drive Palestinians into Egypt, Al-Jazeera reported.

“It seems that this warning foretells the imminent ground aggression and forced displacement of the people of the Gaza Strip towards the border with Egypt, so that they can eliminate the dream of establishing a Palestinian state,” Bakri said on X.

Israeli warplanes carry out 750 attacks on Gaza overnight: 

Israeli regime military says its warplanes attacked 750 “military targets” overnight in the densely-populated Gaza Strip, including 12 high-rise buildings.

Releasing video footage of the purported attacks, which showed myriad buildings being hit with missiles and reduced to rubble, Israel’s military said their aircraft hit all 12 high-rise buildings with missiles within a minute.

There was no mention of deaths or injuries or the possible number of civilian casualties from the overnight raids in a war on the besieged Palestinian enclave that has killed more than 1,500 people so far.

Over 1,500 Palestinians martyred in Zionist regime airstrikes: Gaza health ministry

The Health Ministry in Gaza announced on Thursday that at least 1,537 Palestinians, including 500 children, and 276 women have been killed in six days of incessant Israeli bombardment of the blockaded territory.

More than 6,612 Palestinians have also been wounded in the bombardment.  

The regime’s latest air raids claimed at least two dozen lives in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have also been displaced as a result of the regime’s relentless and indiscriminate attacks.

The Zionist regime’s war on Gaza came shortly after Gaza’s resistance movements launched their biggest operation against the usurping regime in years in response to its decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Codenamed the al-Aqsa Storm Operation, the campaign killed at least 1,000 Israeli forces and settlers and injured thousands more. Nearly 150 others were also captured by the resistance forces.

This item is being updated…

Iran, Qatar agree to use freed funds through SWIFT, LCs

The governors of the central banks of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Qatar met on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and discussed the issues related to the development of banking cooperation and joint investments after the transfer of $6 billion to Iranian banks in Qatar, which has been materialized, and the solutions for developing relations using these sources.

Mohammad Reza Farzin, the Governor General of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), stated in that meeting, “Considering that Iran’s freed financial resources can be used in Qatar through SWIFT and with LC openings, technical communication between Qatari banks and 6 Iranian banks is currently underway. By establishing these technical connections, the operating banks send and operate the necessary payment orders.”

The CBI governor pointed to the aspects of the previous agreement between Iran and Qatar regarding the use of these funds in 6 Iranian banks in Qatar, stressing speeding up the issue in order to start the payments as early as next week.

Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani, the Governor of Qatar Central Bank, for his part, emphasized in the meeting, “Qatar adheres to all its obligations with Iran and there is no obstacle in the development of banking relations between the two countries.

The Qatari banking chief pointed to the basic and good measures that have been taken in the past few days regarding the use of Iran’s financial resources in Qatar, saying, “The rumors raised about this in the past one or two days have no real value and were mostly a joke and a media gossip.”

Iran rejected a report that said the country had been barred from accessing its $6 billion funds recently unfrozen and transferred to Qatari banks.

Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations dismissed a report that claimed the United States and Qatar had agreed to prevent the Islamic Republic from accessing $6 billion recently unfrozen and transferred to Qatari bank, as reported by the New York Times yesterday amid the Zionist regime’s war on Gaza.

Yesterday, the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken did not confirm the reports about the agreement between the US and Qatar to re-block the Iranian money in a Qatari bank.

Back in August, Iran and the United States agreed to a Qatar-brokered deal to secure the release of some $6 billion of Iranian funds that had remained blocked in two South Korean banks since 2018 under the pretext of US sanctions.

The money was successfully transferred last month to accounts held by six Iranian banks in Qatar’s Ahlibank and Dukhan Bank.

This year’s IMF annual meeting is taking place in Marrakech, Morocco, October 9-15, 2023.

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Iran FM meets his Syrian counterpart to discuss Palestine

Shortly after arriving in the Syrian capital, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad.

In the meeting, some bilateral and regional issues, especially developments in Palestine, were discussed and conferred on by the two top diplomats.

As the first stop of his regional tour, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrived in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Thursday morning where he held talks with high-ranking officials of the neighboring country.

He then traveled to Beirut last night and held talks with high-ranking Lebanese officials earlier today as well as the leaders of the Resistance groups in the country such as Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrollah as well as senior Palestinian Hamas officials. 

While in Beirut, Amir-Abdollahian held a meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday during which he said that the ongoing operation by the Palestinian resistance groups against Israel “was a move solely by Palestinians and a natural response to constant extremism of the Zionist regime.”

MNA

Al-Aqsa Storm op. dealt heavy blow to Israel without any help

Major General Hossein Salami made the remarks while addressing thousands of demonstrators in Tehran in a pro-Palestine rally before Friday prayer sermon started.

The IRGC lead commander described the Al-Aqsa Storm Operation launched by the Palestinian Resistance last Saturday as the “biggest failure of the Zionist regime since 1948 and the greatest victory for the Palestinian movement.”  

“This operation was the result of the accumulation of anger of a nation that has been displaced from their lands by occupiers,” he said while pointing to the history of Israeli crimes against Palestinians such as the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982, Press TV reported.

This was a “heavy defeat” for the Israeli regime because “Palestine could deal a devastating blow to the regime’s military and intelligence bodies without the partnership of any other power,” Salami said.

Demonstrations were also held across the world on Friday against the Israeli regime’s atrocities against the people of Palestine following its defeat in the Al-Aqsa Storm Operation.

MNA

Putin compares 'unacceptable' Gaza blockade to Nazi siege of Leningrad

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip as “unacceptable,” comparing it to the Nazi blockade of Leningrad during World War II.

Israel is now about to do something that is “comparable to the siege of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War,” Putin told journalists in Kyrgyzstan on Friday. “In my opinion, this is unacceptable.” 

Putin also warned the regime against hurting civilians in Gaza, stressing that “hardly anyone will agree” with Israel’s siege of Gaza due to the civilian casualties incurred in it.

“By the way, all of us hear – we will discuss this informally – we hear about preparations for a ground operation in Gaza. But you and I understand how it is, quite semi-professionally speaking, the use of heavy equipment in residential areas is a complicated matter fraught with serious consequences for all sides. And it is even more difficult to carry out these operations without equipment in residential areas. But the most important thing is that civilian casualties will be absolutely unacceptable,” he said. 

“More than two million people live there, and not all of them support Hamas, by the way,” the Russian leader said. 

“We proceed from the fact that there is no alternative to a negotiated solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Their goal should be the realization of the UN two-state formula, which envisages the creation of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, existing in peace and security with Israel,” he said. 

He also said Israel has responded to Hamas operation with “quite brutal methods.”

Israel has been constantly bombing Gaza since Saturday, when Hamas launched a surprise operation in response to the regime’s atrocities.

Israel used banned white phosphorus munitions against desperate people in Gaza, a human rights monitor said.

The Health Ministry in Gaza announced on Friday that at least 1,799 Palestinians, including 583 children, and 351 women have been martyred so far. More than 7,000 Palestinians have also been wounded in the bombardment. 

Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have also been displaced as a result of the regime’s relentless and indiscriminate attacks.

At least 423,000 people have now been forced to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations said.

The coastal territory remains under Israel’s complete siege with no access to electricity, water, food, and medicines.

Various governments have warned over Israel’s indiscriminate bombings targeting Gaza, where 2.3 million Palestinians are trapped in what is described as the world’s biggest open-air prison.

Iran has called for global action to halt attacks by the apartheid regime against Gazans and prevent a genocide of innocent people there.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday Israel is committing a massacre in the besieged strip. Erdogan said Israel is trying to portray its bombing civilians as proof of its skills.

China’s envoy to the Middle East Zhai Jun called for “an immediate ceasefire” to the conflict during a phone call with a Palestinian official, the Chinese foreign ministry said Wednesday.

Riyadh postpones normalization with Israel, engages with Iran amid Gaza war: Report

Saudi Arabia has reportedly reconsidered its foreign policy priorities amid the Israeli onslaught against the besieged Gaza Strip by postponing a US-brokered normalization deal with the occupying entity and getting closer to Iran.

“Saudi Arabia is putting US-backed plans to normalize ties with Israel on ice,” two sources familiar with Riyadh’s thinking told Reuters on Friday, as war escalates between Israel and Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

“The conflict has also pushed the kingdom to engage with Iran,” the sources added, stressing that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took his first phone call from Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi as Riyadh tries to prevent a broader surge in violence across the region.

The two sources described the delay in the US-backed talks on normalization with Israel as a “key step” for the kingdom to secure what Riyadh considers the real prize of a US military pact in exchange.

Both Israeli and Saudi authorities had been claiming they were moving steadily towards a deal.

The crown prince told Fox News in an interview aired late last month that they “get closer” every day to normalization with the Israeli regime. And Israeli Premiere Benjamin Netanyahu said during his UN speech last month that the regime was at the cusp of a historic normalization deal with Saudi Arabia. 

However, the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has reportedly blocked further talks. The Israeli attacks started on Saturday after Palestinian resistance groups launched multi-pronged Operation al-Aqsa Storm, the largest military operation against the illegal entity in decades. The Palestinian resistance says the offensive was in response to the desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque and increased violence against Palestinians. 

Gaza’s Health Ministry says almost 1,800 people, including 583 children, have been killed and more than 6,380 injured due to Israeli bombardment across the coastal area. A large number of buildings, homes and public facilities have also been badly damaged due to heavy Israeli bombardments.

“Talks could not be continued for now and the issue of Israeli concessions for the Palestinians would need to be a bigger priority when discussions resumed,” the sources underlined.

One of the sources familiar with Saudi thinking also said Washington had pressed Riyadh this week to condemn the Hamas-led operation but said Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan pushed back.

The military operation by the Palestinians against the occupying regime saw more than 5,000 rockets in retaliatory strikes fired at the occupied territories, which left upwards of 1,300 settlers and troops dead and three times as many injured.

Washington’s efforts for adding Saudi Arabia to the list of Arab countries that have signed the Abraham Accords come at a critical time when US President Joe Biden is seeking re-election and the US government has been left embarrassed by the kingdom’s bolstering of ties with Iran and Syria, and its further gravitation toward China.

The UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco signed US-brokered normalization agreements with Israel in 2020, drawing condemnations from Palestinians who slammed the deals as “a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people.”