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Kazakhstan said Thursday it will join the Abraham Accords between Israel and mainly Muslim nations, in a largely symbolic move aimed at boosting US President Donald Trump’s push for Middle East peace.The central Asian republic has had diplomatic ties with Israel for decades, unlike the four Arab states that normalized relations with Israel under the original accords signed in Trump’s first term.But with Trump aiming to shore up his fragile Gaza ceasefire deal, Washington is pushing to get as much support as possible behind a wider peace initiative.The announcement comes as Trump hosts Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and the leaders of the other four central Asian republics — Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.After the leaders arrived at the White House, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he, Tokayev and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had held a “great call.”An official signing ceremony will be announced soon, Trump said, adding that “there are many more Countries trying to join this club of STRENGTH.”Kazakhstan said Thursday it was “natural and logical” for it to join.”Our anticipated accession to the Abraham Accords represents a natural and logical continuation of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy course — grounded in dialogue, mutual respect, and regional stability,” the country’s government said in a statement.US special envoy Steve Witkoff said earlier that a new country would join the accords, sparking initial speculation — later quashed — that it could be the elusive prize of Saudi Arabia.Kazakhstan will be the first country to join since the original Abraham Accords in 2020, when the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalized ties with Israel.- ‘Lot of people joining’ -Saudi Arabia had been in talks with the United States on normalizing ties with Israel, in what would be a historic milestone as the kingdom is home to Islam’s two holiest sites.But the Gulf kingdom stepped back after the Gaza war broke out following Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023.Saudi Arabia has long insisted it cannot normalize ties without progress toward an independent Palestinian state, a prospect long opposed by Netanyahu.Trump said at the America Business Forum in Miami on Wednesday: “We have a lot of people joining now the Abraham Accords and hopefully we are going to get Saudi Arabia very soon.”He then added jokingly to an audience which included the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, “But I’m not saying that. I’m not.”The US-brokered Gaza deal has been in place since October 10 but remains shaky, with Israel accusing Hamas of dragging its feet in returning the bodies of hostages.Israel has also launched a number of attacks despite the truce, claiming that its forces have come under attack, and says Hamas is not doing enough to give up its weapons.Witkoff, one of the key negotiators, said Thursday he was still hopeful it could hold, adding that they were “right in the middle of standing up a decommissioning process of weapons” by Hamas.Hamas insisted this process would depend on the deployment of an international security force, which would be greenlighted under a draft UN Security Council resolution presented by the United States this week, Witkoff said.

The United Nations Security Council voted in favor of a US resolution on Thursday to lift sanctions on Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, ahead of his White House visit next week. “(The Council) decides that Ahmed al-Sharaa…and (Interior Minister) Anas Hasan Khattab are delisted from the ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions List,” said the resolution, approved by 14 council members. China abstained.The formal lifting of sanctions on Sharaa is largely symbolic as they were waived every time he needed to travel outside of Syria in his role as the country’s leader. An assets freeze and arms embargo will also be lifted.Nevertheless, the move was lauded by Syria, with Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani writing on X: “Syria expresses its appreciation to the United States and to friendly nations for their support of Syria and its people.”US President Donald Trump will host Sharaa for talks on November 10, having said the former jihadist had made “good progress” toward establishing peace in his war-torn country.Washington’s ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said Sharaa’s government was “working hard to fulfill its commitments on countering terrorism and narcotics, on eliminating any remnants of chemical weapons and promoting regional security and stability.”Though it will be Sharaa’s first visit to Washington, it will be his second to the United States after a landmark UN trip in September, where the ex-jihadist became the first Syrian president in decades to address the UN General Assembly in New York.In May, the interim leader, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour.Formerly affiliated with Al-Qaeda, Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), was delisted as a terrorist group by Washington as recently as July.- Syria’s new image -Decisions to lift sanctions are usually made by the Council’s sanctions committee behind closed doors — but they require unanimity, while a full vote of the council does not.China, which abstained, “expressed legitimate concerns about counterterrorism issues — in particular (foreign terrorist fighters) in Syria, and put forward many amendment proposals,” said China’s UN ambassador Fu Cong.”However, (Washington) did not fully heed the views of all members,” he added.Since taking power, Syria’s new leaders have sought to break from their own violent extremist past and present a moderate image more tolerable to ordinary Syrians and foreign powers.Syria’s president will discuss issues including lifting remaining sanctions, reconstruction and counterterrorism when he visits Washington later this month, Damascus said Sunday.Syria’s ambassador to the UN Ibrahim Olabi welcomed the vote.”At its core, the resolution reflects the will of Syrian men and women. It reflects their will to return our country to its rightful place among nations. It reflects our will to move forward with confidence and hope towards building a new Syria,” he said.”Today, for the very first time in so many years, the council has united.”Syria and Israel remain technically at war, but they opened direct negotiations after Assad was toppled by an Islamist-led coalition last December.Trump has expressed hope that Syria will join other Arab countries that have normalized ties with Israel under the so-called Abraham Accords.A Syrian official had told AFP earlier this year that Syria expects to finalize security and military agreements with Israel in 2025, in what would be a breakthrough less than a year after Assad’s ouster.

Israel said it struck a series of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon on Thursday, with President Joseph Aoun denouncing the new attacks as a “fully-fledged crime” and accusing Israel of rejecting Beirut’s overtures towards diplomacy.The Lebanese military said Israel was preventing the full implementation of a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah, which hours earlier had publicly asserted its right to defend itself and rejected the prospect of direct political talks between Lebanon and Israel.The truce deal was agreed between Israel and Hezbollah in November 2024 after more than a year of hostilities, but Israeli attacks in Lebanon have continued as it accuses the militant group of trying to rebuild its forces.The Israeli military said its strikes on Thursday had targeted “terrorist infrastructure and weapon storage facilities in southern Lebanon”.”We will not allow Hezbollah to rearm themselves, to recover, build back up its strength, to threaten the state of Israel,” Israeli government spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian told reporters, accusing the group of “continuous terrorist activities”.A strike killed one person earlier in the day, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The Israeli military said it had targeted a Hezbollah construction team.On Thursday evening, Aoun called the latest strikes “a fully-fledged crime, not only according to the provisions of international humanitarian law… but also a heinous political crime”.”Nearly a year has passed since the ceasefire came into effect, and during this period, Israel has spared no effort to demonstrate its rejection of any negotiated settlement between the two countries,” he said. “Your message has been received.”- Persistent ‘aggression’ -Lebanon and Israel are still technically in a state of war, but all the recent armed conflicts with Israel were fought by Hezbollah, not the Lebanese military.The only diplomatic contact between the two countries is through the ceasefire monitoring mechanism, which includes the United States, France and the United Nations.The body meets regularly at the headquarters of the UN force in southern Lebanon, but the Lebanese and Israeli parties do not directly communicate with each other. Lebanese officials have recently voiced openness to direct talks with Israel, which maintains troops in five parts of south Lebanon in spite of the ceasefire’s stipulation that it withdraw.But after Thursday’s strikes, President Aoun said that the more Beirut “expresses its openness to peaceful negotiations to resolve outstanding issues with Israel, the more Israel persists in its aggression against Lebanese sovereignty”.A Lebanese official told AFP on Thursday that Israel had not responded “positively nor negatively” to the offer of talks. Last week, US envoy Tom Barrack had said that dialogue with Israel could be the key to easing tensions.The Lebanese army, meanwhile, accused Israel of seeking to “undermine Lebanon’s stability” with Thursday’s strikes and to “prevent the completion of the army’s deployment in accordance with the cessation of hostilities agreement”.Under the truce deal, the Lebanese military was meant to deploy to the south alongside UN peacekeepers as Hezbollah pulled back.The UNIFIL peacekeeping mission said the latest wave of strikes “undermines the progress being made toward a political and diplomatic solution”.- Disarmament drive -The attacks came hours after Hezbollah lashed out at Lebanon’s leadership, rejecting suggestions that it might be time to begin direct talks with Israel.In an open letter to the Lebanese people and their leaders, Hezbollah said it rejected “any political negotiations” between Lebanon and Israel, and that such talks would “not serve the national interest”.”We reaffirm our legitimate right… to defend ourselves against an enemy that imposes war on our country and does not cease its attacks,” Hezbollah added.It nevertheless said it remained committed to the ceasefire.Hezbollah was the only movement in Lebanon that refused to disarm after the 1975-1990 civil war, first claiming it had a duty to liberate territory occupied by Israel, and then to continue defending the country.The group is backed by Iran, which also fought its own war against Israel earlier this year.Since the ceasefire, the United States has increased pressure on Lebanese authorities to disarm the group, a move opposed by Hezbollah and its allies.Lebanon says it has formulated a plan for imposing a state monopoly on weapons, and the government met Thursday to take stock of the disarmament efforts.Information minister Paul Morcos said afterwards that the cabinet had “commended the progress achieved… despite ongoing obstacles, primarily the continued Israeli hostilities”.Last week, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz accused Aoun of “dragging his feet” on disarmament.Hezbollah has criticised the government’s “hasty decision” to take away its weapons, claiming that Israel has taken advantage of the push.

The newly elected mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, is married to Rama Duwaji, a woman of Syrian descent. For many in Syria, that practically makes him family.That he’s also a Muslim and a supporter of the Palestinian cause doesn’t hurt either, and his election victory has inspired warm feelings and an outpouring of humour in the Arab world.”I love how Syrians are now calling Zohran Mamdani our brother-in-law,” wrote Karam Nachar, editor-in-chief of Al Jumhuriya, an independent Syrian media outlet.”The poor man thought he was marrying one Syrian woman! No, habibi Zohran, you belong to the entire nation now.”Mamdani’s wife Duwaji, a 30-year-old illustrator and designer, was born in Texas to Syrian parents and grew up partly in Dubai. This has prompted many Syrians keen to share in the joy of his win to adopt him as one of their own. Abdel Karim Bakkar, a Syrian scholar with more than three million Facebook followers, said he was “thrilled that the new mayor of New York City is our brother-in-law, but even more thrilled that he speaks for the marginalised, the working class, and the poor”.Uganda-born Mamdani will become New York City’s first Muslim and socialist mayor when he takes office in January, and in his victory speech he responded to US President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration platform by celebrating the Big Apple’s diversity. – Knafeh and bodega cats -In a viral campaign video showing the 34-year-old addressing New Yorkers in fluent Levantine Arabic, he grins and pours himself a glass of mint tea: “Now, I know what you’re thinking, I might look like your brother-in-law from Damascus.”He savours a slice of Palestinian knafeh — the syrupy dessert made of soft cheese and shredded pastry — and pitches his candidacy to New York’s immigrant communities. “Even if I can’t convince your uncle that the Knafeh Nabulsi from Steinway is better than the one in New Jersey, I promise to do everything I can to help you open your small business, pay your rent, and build your future here,” he said.Another clip showed Mamdani at a bodega — the small convenience stores in the city that are often owned by Arabs — talking to a cat named Egypt and promising the shop owner a rent freeze in near-perfect Egyptian.In Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, 26-year-old Palestinian student Saleh, who did not give his last name, called Mamdani’s win “incredible”.”A Muslim mayor in a city with more Jewish residents than Tel Aviv, that’s crazy,” he said.- ‘A bit of hope’ -Rami Kukhun, another Nablus resident and humanitarian worker, said the election had given him “a bit of hope”.”All the attention on Palestine… on what’s happening in Gaza, might eventually lead to political outcomes that, directly or indirectly, benefit Palestinians,” he said.In Iran, Mamdani’s victory received wide coverage in local media, which highlighted his Shiite background — the dominant branch of Islam in the country. Elsewhere in the region, some saw in Mamdani’s mayoral feat an opportunity to reflect on politics in their own countries.In Tunisia, where critics accuse President Kais Saied of cracking down on civil liberties, former radio host Haythem El Mekki said Mamdani’s remarks about welcoming migrants “would earn him twenty years in prison” along with “charges of conspiracy”.”You have every right to denounce the hypocrisy, racism, and injustice of the West,” El Mekki wrote to his 225,000 Facebook followers. “But ask yourself: do you and your country truly live up to those values?”Mamdani was born in Kampala and later lived in Cape Town, South Africa before migrating with his Indian parents, filmmaker Mira Nair and scholar Mahmood Mamdani, to the United States, where he became a citizen in 2018.burs-iba/bou/dc/smw

Friends Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry shared the lead in the Abu Dhabi Championship after they were paired together on Thursday and both shot eight-under-par opening rounds of 64.The pair shared the lead with New Zealander Kazuma Kobori, South African Richard Sterne and Frenchman Adrien Saddier at the start of the last event of the DP Tour before the season-ending World Championship in Dubai.Lowry and Fleetwood, both previous winners of the event, were drawn in a group that also included a third Ryder Cup player Rasmus Hojgaard.”It was nice,” said Lowry. “I was pretty excited when I saw the group, my pairing today, and it was nice to go out there with the boys.”Fleetwood carded eight birdies and no bogeys, while Lowry fired nine birdies and dropped a single shot.”Something about me and Tommy,” the Irishman added. “I just like playing with him, your friend, and really good player too.”And you kind of feed off each other. It was nice.”Fleetwood agreed.”I’m so close to both the guys, Ryder Cup team-mates, played with Rasmus, who I’m close with last week. It was great,” the Englishman said.”You focus on your own game,” he added. “It shouldn’t make that much difference but definitely when you’re in a comfortable pairing or group it’s nice. It’s helpful.”Dane Hojgaard ended the round in a chasing pack of seven one shot off the lead.Another Ryder Cup player Ludvig Aberg made a hole-in-one on the par-three eighth and finished the day two shots back.