AFP Asia Business

Muslim-majority Turkey, which is hosting Pope Leo XIV on his first overseas trip as pontiff, is not “a hostile environment” for Christians, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople told AFP in an interview.”It is simplistic to see adversaries everywhere and to imagine the pope’s visit as taking sides in a hostile environment,” said Patriarch Bartholomew I, leader of the world’s 260 million Orthodox Christians.On Friday, Bartholomew joins Leo for celebrations in Iznik, around two hours from Istanbul, to mark 1,700 years since the First Council of Nicaea, a key early Church gathering that resulted in a statement of faith still central to Christianity.After arriving in Ankara on Thursday and meeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom critics have accused of wanting to Islamise society, the pope described Turkey as a “crossroads of sensibilities” that was richer for its “internal diversity”.Turkey has a population of 86 million but only about 100,000 Christians.Numbers were hit by the Armenian genocide — a term denied by Ankara — during the Ottoman Empire, and the population exchanges and pogroms that saw many Greek Orthodox leave in the early 20th century.- ‘Blessing in disguise’ -But Bartholomew said living in a Muslim country had its advantages.”Living in a predominantly Muslim country is a blessing in disguise because it sustains and strengthens the essential feature of the Ecumenical Patriarchate… open and honest dialogue with all people in all places, irrespective of race and religion,” he said.The timing of Leo’s visit, coming at a moment of conflict, was significant, he said.”This year, when the world is troubled and divided by conflict and antagonism, our meeting with Pope Leo XIV is especially significant,” he said.”It reminds our faithful that we are more powerful and more credible when we are united in our witness and response to the challenges of the contemporary world.”The Eastern Orthodox Church sustained a major blow in 2018 when the Moscow Patriarchate broke ties with the Ecumenical Patriarchate after it recognised the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s independence from Russia.But Bartholomew insisted “the door of dialogue is always open”.The patriarch, who in March 2022 said he had become “a target of Moscow”, refuses to budge in his stance against the Ukraine war, urging the Moscow Patriarchate to break away from the Kremlin.”The spiritual leaders in Russia cannot follow blindly the inhumane interests and barbarous policies of its political leaders. Nor can they indiscriminately condone and even bless the bloodshed in Ukraine,” he said.

The Israeli army and police said Thursday they were investigating the circumstances in which two Palestinians were shot dead in the occupied West Bank while seemingly surrendering to Israeli forces.The incident in Jenin in the northern West Bank, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups, was filmed from several angles, including by AFP.The Palestinian Authority named the two men killed as 37-year-old Yussef Ali Asa’sa and 26-year-old Al-Muntasir Billah Mahmud Abdullah.It said they were killed in a “brutal” summary execution and condemned the incident as a “war crime”.Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir swiftly backed the forces who opened fire, saying: “Terrorists must die!”- Blood-soaked floor -Videos circulating on social media and on television channels showed two men emerging from a building with their arms raised, surrounded by Israeli forces.They were then seen lying on the ground before being directed back inside the building. Gunshots rang out and the two men were seen lying on the ground.AFP footage showed the two men exiting the building then entering it again before the shorts were fired. A building between the camera and the scene partially obscured the image.Troops were later seen removing a body.AFP pictures from the scene showed the blood-soaked floor of a building. People helped to clear up the damaged site afterwards, moving sheets of corrugated metal.In a joint statement, the Israeli military and the police — which oversees the border guard unit — said they attempted to apprehend “wanted individuals who had carried out terror activities, including hurling explosives and firing at security forces”.They said they “enclosed the structure in which the suspects were located, and initiated a surrender procedure that lasted several hours. Following the use of engineering tools on the structure, the two suspects exited.”Following their exit, fire was directed toward the suspects.”The incident is under review by the commanders on the ground, and will be transferred to the relevant professional bodies.”- ‘Brutal field execution’ -Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.The Palestinian Authority’s health ministry said the two men were “shot dead by Israeli forces in the Jabal Abu Dhahir area in the city of Jenin”, adding that their bodies were being held by Israeli forces.The foreign ministry in Ramallah said it “strongly condemns the brutal field execution carried out by the Israeli occupation army against two Palestinian youths”, calling it a “deliberate Israeli war crime”.It urged the international community to take “immediate action to stop the Israeli killing machine, deter these crimes, and impose urgent international protection mechanisms for the Palestinian people”.The Palestinian militant group Hamas called it a “cold-blooded execution of two unarmed Palestinian youths”.Meanwhile, Ben Gvir offered his total backing to the Israeli forces involved.”I fully support the border guard members and Israeli army soldiers who shot at wanted terrorists who emerged from a building in Jenin,” he said on X.”The forces acted exactly as expected of them — terrorists must die!”- ‘Dehumanisation’ -Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said the two men were killed “while posing no threat”.”The execution documented today is the result of an accelerated process of dehumanisation of Palestinians and the complete abandonment of their lives by the Israeli regime,” said B’Tselem’s executive director Yuli Novak.Violence in the West Bank has soared since Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war.It has not ceased despite the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas coming into effect last month.Israeli troops or settlers have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians, many of them militants, but also scores of civilians, in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.At least 44 Israelis, including both soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures.

The Israeli military carried out a fresh series of strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Thursday, exactly a year into a ceasefire with the militant group.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli aircraft launched “a series of raids on Al-Mahmoudiya and Al-Jarmak”, just north of the Litani River.The November 27, 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of hostilities between the two sides.But Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah members and infrastructure to stop the group from rearming.Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said his country was “in a one-sided war of attrition that is escalating”.The Israeli military said it “struck and dismantled Hezbollah terror infrastructure in several areas in southern Lebanon”, in a statement after Thursday’s strikes.It also said it had hit “several launch sites where Hezbollah weapons were stored”, “military posts” used by the Iran-backed group, and a storage facility containing weapons.Israel’s military “will continue to operate to remove any threat to the State of Israel”, it said.Israel said that ever since the ceasefire, it has been trying to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding by dismantling infrastructure, thwarting its intelligence operations and diminishing its military capabilities.It said it had carried out around 1,200 “targeted activities” and “eliminated more than 370 terrorists” from Hezbollah, Hamas and other Palestinian groups during the ceasefire.- US pressure -According to the ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah was required to pull its forces north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border with Israel, and have its military infrastructure there dismantled.Under a government-approved plan, the Lebanese army is set to dismantle Hezbollah’s military infrastructure south of the river by the end of the year, before tackling the rest of the country.The US has been piling pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah.The Lebanese military has said it is carrying out its plan to disarm the group, but Washington and Israel have accused Lebanese authorities of stalling the process.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun “rejected the Israeli claims”, his office said Thursday, adding that the Lebanese army was “preventing armed displays, confiscating ammunition, inspecting tunnels, among other things”.On Thursday, Aoun met Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the United Nations’ special coordinator for Lebanon, who said that a year on from the ceasefire, “uncertainty remains”.”For too many Lebanese, the conflict is ongoing — albeit at a lower intensity. And one does not need a crystal ball to understand that as long as the current status quo continues, the spectre of future hostilities will continue to loom large,” she said.- Weapons found -In a statement posted by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Thursday evening, the peacekeeping force said it continued to find “illegal weapons” in southern Lebanon. UNIFIL said it also recorded over 10,000 air and ground violations of the truce in the past year.Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz earlier this week warned there would be “no calm” in Lebanon if Israel’s security was not guaranteed.An Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday killed Haitham Ali Tabatabai — the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed by Israel since the ceasefire entered into force.The Lebanese premier slammed Hezbollah’s claims that its weapons deter Israeli aggression.”These weapons did not protect either Hezbollah’s leaders or the Lebanese people and their property,” Salam said.”Are Hezbollah’s weapons currently capable of repelling the ongoing Israeli attacks? These weapons have provided neither deterrence nor protection, nor have they brought victory to Gaza.”

Sebastien Ogier bounced back from a mediocre first full day at the season-closing Rally Saudi Arabia to share the honours in Thursday’s final stage and boost his hopes of landing a ninth World Rally Championship. The Frenchman, who described the conditions as “terrible”, hit the same time as M-Sport Ford driver Martins Sesks in the final stage to close the day in seventh place overall, 44.2 seconds behind leader Adrien Fourmaux.That in turn left him two places and 41.1sec ahead of the other leading title contender Elfyn Evans who began the rally just three points ahead of his Toyota teammate.Ogier’s strong finish gave him the lead in the provisional championship standings by a single point, a remarkable performance given that he has missed three of the 14 rounds of the championship in his capacity as a ‘part-time’ driver.Evans, who had to open the road with little grip on the loose surface, struggled all day and was further compromised by a minor overshoot in the morning.”We paid for opening and I couldn’t really do any better, it’s tough,” said Welshman Evans. “We’ll keep fighting tomorrow (Friday).”- ‘Settling accounts’ -Kalle Rovanpera’s outside hopes of a third world title diminished as two punctures left him in eighth.”You can’t see it on the classification, but we’ve been doing a pretty good job today,” said Ogier. “My main target anyway is Elfyn and Kalle, and on that side we have done what we had to do. We are in front of them.”Tomorrow should be the most difficult day, the hardest. It’s the last day we’ll be settling accounts.”Fourmaux, meanwhile, moved to the top of the leader board after a difficult afternoon on the second pass of Khulays. The Frenchman avoided any major problems across all seven stages to end the day 6.0sec ahead of Toyota’s Sami Pajari, with early pacesetter Sesks just 0.9sec further back in third.”I’m really pleased with the day,” said Fourmaux.  “The gaps are small, so nothing is done for sure, but it’s positive to finish the day like that. The road position is important here and I’m pleased to have a good road position for tomorrow.”This inaugural visit to Saudi Arabia continues on Friday with the longest leg of the rally which features more than 130km against the clock across six demanding desert stages.