INTERNATIONAL

An imam in the US state of New Jersey was stabbed during morning prayer. Sayed El-Nakib, imam of the Omar Mosque in Paterson, was stabbed by an attacker who hid in the congregation while leading the morning prayer on Sunday, April 9. The attacker, Serif Zorba, 32, was caught on the mosque’s security camera jumping over the congregation and stabbing the 65-year-old imam with a knife. Zorba was caught by the worshippers and handed over to the police. He was also seen threatening people who tried to stop him. El-Nakib was taken to the Saint Joseph Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. “Zorba is charged with Attempted Murder, First Degree; Possession Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose, Third Degree; and Unlawful Possession of a Weapon, Fourth Degree,” said a statement from Pa...

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has called on Muslim states to form a “united and consistent” front in support of the Palestinians against Israel. In a phone conversation with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Raisi said that Iran and Algeria share common stances on regional and international affairs, particularly the Palestine issue and the protection of the Palestinians’ rights, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement posted on the website of the Iranian President’s office. The Algerian President said that he hoped that “Palestine would be liberated from the Israelis through cooperation among Muslim states”. The phone conversation followed last week’s escalation of tension along the Israeli borders with Lebanon and the Palestinian enclave of Gaza Strip. Militants ...

Riyadh has informed the Yemeni presidential leadership council of its decision to end the war and close the Yemen file once and for all, informed Yemeni, news reports said on Friday. Ashaq Al Awasat reported that new efforts are underway to resolve the Yemeni crisis as it enters its ninth year. An informed Yemeni source revealed to the source that a comprehensive peace document is being drafted. Sponsored by China, the finishing touches are being made to the draft that covers several phases. The first phase of peace would include a nationwide ceasefire, the reopening of all land, air, and sea routes, the merger of the central banks, and complete prisoner swap deals. Meanwhile, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman reiterated the Kingdom’s constant support to Yemen....

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud on Thursday signed a joint statement in the Chinese capital of Beijing, in presence of Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, on the start of the procedures to reopening the embassies of the two countries and enhancing cooperation to achieve security and stability in the region. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday “In light of what was included by the tripartite joint statement by each of Iran, Saudi Arabia and China on March 10, 2023, on resumption of Saudi and Iranian relations and in the framework of coordination between the two countries on the necessary steps to resume the diplomatic and consulate work between them, the two sides held talks, during which they ...

Israel bombed the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Friday, in a sharp escalation of violence. The attacks came two days of attacks at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque, after Israeli police forcibly removed Palestinian worshippers from the site on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights. As anger over the scenes at al-Aqsa mounted in the Arab world, militants in Lebanon allegedly fired 34 rockets at Israel on Thursday afternoon. Israeli media said it was the biggest barrage from the country since 2006, when the Hizbollah militant group and Israel fought a 34-day war. Air defences intercepted 25 rockets but at least five landed in Israel and paramedics said three people had been injured. At a security cabinet meeting on Thursday night, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s “enem...

The Israeli police on Wednesday said they detained 350 Palestinians from the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem. The detainees include “masked men, and those who threw stones and fireworks.” The Commission for Palestinian Prisoners Affairs said the police began to release the detainees on the condition that they be removed from Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Old City in Jerusalem for a week. A group of Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the Al-Qibli Prayer Hall in the complex after Jewish settlers called for a raid on the mosque. They attempted to prevent police from entering by closing its doors. Surrounding the Al-Qibli Prayer Hall, Israeli police went up to the roof of the mosque, smashed some of the windows and initially intervened with sound bombs against the worsh...

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) General Secretariat has denounced the acts of violence against Muslims in several states of India. The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has followed with deep concern the acts of violence and vandalism targeting Muslim community in several states in India during the Ram Navami processions, including the burning of a madrasa and its library by an extremist Hindu mob in Bihar Sharif on 31 March 2023, OIC said in a press statement. The OIC General Secretariat denounces such provoca- tive acts of violence and vandalism, which are a vivid manifestation of mounting Islamophobia and systemic targeting of the Muslim community in India, the statement read. The OIC General Secretariat, as per the press release...

Two more Syrians were killed in fresh Israeli air strikes in Golan, in the vicinity of Damascus and the southern region on Tuesday. As per local media reports, this is the fourth such Israeli attack on a war-torn country in less than a week. During more than a decade of civil war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on Syrian territory maintaining that it is primarily targeting terrorists and the Syrian army positions. Thousands of Syrians have been killed during the airstrikes. Israel fired "barrages of missiles targeting military areas controlled by Iran-backed groups and regime air defence," said the Britain-based monitor with a wide range of sources inside Syria. While Israel rarely comments on the strikes it carries out on Syria, it has repeatedly said ...

Two Palestinian young men have been shot dead by Israeli Army in the West Bank area of Palestine. According to reports, Mohammad Abu Bakr and Mohammad Nasser Saeed, were shot dead by Israeli gunfire this morning in an Israeli military raid on Nablus, north of the occupied West Bank. 171 Palestinians, including more than 30 children, were killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank last year. Since the start of the year, Israeli forces have killed at least 94 Palestinians, according to the Ministry of Health.

Chinese government has announced it would “standardise” the names of 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh. On Sunday, the Chinese Government released a list of the 11 places along with a map that shows parts of Arunachal Pradesh inside the southern Tibetan region, that China refers to as Zangnan, the Hindu reported. The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs even included a town close to the Arunachal Pradesh capital of Itanagar. This is Beijing’s third such list on Arunachal Pradesh, attempting to “rename” places by giving them what it calls “standardised geographical names”. In 2017, the Chinese Ministry of Civilian Affairs put out a similar list of six places, and in December 2021, released a list of 15 places that it sought to rename. The third batch of supplementary place names fo...