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With a Mediterranean coastline, natural thermal springs, clement weather and affordability, Tunisia has become the world’s second-largest destination for seawater-based treatments known as thalassotherapy.Now, it is setting its sights on overtaking France to claim the top spot.”The main advantage of Tunisia is its coast and thalassotherapy,” compared with neighbouring countries, said Mario Paolo, an Italian, at the Korbous thermal spa, perched on a hill an hour’s drive from the capital, Tunis.A 78-year-old retiree who has lived in Tunisia for the past five years, Paolo said he frequently visits Tunisian thalassotherapy centres “to get back in shape”.”Enjoying sea water and natural springs is not just leisure but also a therapy,” Paolo said after a thyme and rosemary oil massage.Korbous, a coastal town on the Cap Bon peninsula, has historically been one of Tunisia’s hot spots for the therapy, which uses sea water and other marine resources.Thalassotherapy is an “ancestral heritage” for Tunisians, “since hydrotherapy has existed in Tunisia since antiquity, at the time of the Carthaginians and the Romans,” Shahnez Guizani, the head of the National Office of Thermalism (ONTH), told AFP.Other popular thalassotherapy destinations in the country include Sousse, Hammamet, Monastir, and Djerba, which Tunisian news agency TAP said was named the Mediterranean thalassotherapy capital in 2014 by the World Federation of Hydrotherapy and Climatotherapy.Rouaa Machat, 22, said she travelled from France to Korbous for a three-day wellness retreat.”I’m here to enjoy the types of water this beautiful town offers,” she said, referring to the use of seawater, spring water, and desalinated water for therapy. “But I am also here for this,” she added, grinning and pointing to the Korbous sea and mountains.Customers mainly come for the quality of spring water, said Raja Haddad, a doctor who heads the thalassotherapy centre at the Royal Tulip Korbous Bay hotel.Today, Tunisia boasts 60 thalassotherapy centres and 390 spas, 84 percent of which are located in hotels, according to the ONTH.Tourism accounts for seven percent of the country’s GDP and provides nearly half a million jobs, according to official figures.The sector has seen a decade of setbacks due to terrorist attacks and later the COVID-19 pandemic.But it has been recovering again as the number of foreign visitors exceeded 10 million last year — a record for the country of 12 million people.- ‘Palm trees and the sun’ -Guizani said thalassotherapy on its own draws about 1.2 million foreign visitors a year, with “70 percent coming from Europe, including 40 percent from France”.The industry generates approximately 200 million dinars ($63 million, 60 million euros) per year, she added.That compares with a French thalassotherapy market valued at around 100 million euros last year, according to market research firm Businesscoot.At a luxury hotel near Monastir, a thalassotherapy centre buzzes with customers despite the cold winter season.Visitors have come from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, among other countries.”As soon as you arrive, you find palm trees and the sun,” said Monique Dicrocco, a 65-year-old French tourist. “It’s pure happiness, and it’s also worth your money.””Here the therapy is much cheaper than in France, with 1,000 euros a week all inclusive instead of 3,000,” she added.Jean-Pierre Ferrante, 64, from Cannes, said he found “the quality of the water and the facilities just as good as in France”.Kaouther Meddeb, head of the thalassotherapy and spa centre at the Royal Elyssa Hotel in Monastir, said the number of clients has been growing lately.Yet despite meeting international standards, the sector remains underappreciated in Tunisia, she said.”There’s a lack of communication and promotion,” she added.Experts say more investment is needed in infrastructure. This includes road improvements and air services, they say, as there are few low-cost flights.But plans are already underway to develop eco-friendly thermal resorts in regions like Beni M’tir, a mountainous village in the northwest, and near Lake Ichkeul south of Bizerte, said Guizani.”With all the advantages it has, Tunisia is poised to become the world leader in thalassotherapy,” she added.

The Israeli military said Sunday that it had killed at least 50 militants during more than two weeks of operations in the occupied West Bank, earlier levelling buildings in Jenin refugee camp in the territory. “As part of the operation to thwart terrorism… the IDF (military) recently destroyed several buildings in Jenin,” the military said in a statement, adding that they “were used as terrorist infrastructure”.The army later said it destroyed 23 buildings in the operation.An AFP journalist reported thick columns of smoke billowed over the surrounding area following the blasts.Palestinian official news agency WAFA said Israeli forces “simultaneously detonated about 20 buildings” in the eastern part of Jenin refugee camp, adding that the “explosions were heard throughout Jenin city and parts of the neighbouring towns”.The Palestinian foreign ministry in a statement condemned the Israeli action “to blow up large neighbourhoods”, describing the result as a “brutal scene”. The Israeli military launched a major offensive in the West Bank on January 21 aimed at rooting out Palestinian armed groups from the Jenin area, which has long been a hotbed of militancy.The military said it had “eliminated over 35 terrorists and apprehended more than 100 wanted individuals”, referring to action during the operation dubbed “Iron Wall”.”In an advance operation, over 15 terrorists were eliminated in aerial strikes,” it added. A military spokesman told AFP that the operation was launched on January 14.The Palestinian health ministry meanwhile said that the Israeli military killed two individuals in separate incidents in the West Bank on Sunday.- Large deployment -The ministry said that a 73-year-old man was killed by Israeli gunfire in the Jenin refugee camp, adjacent to the city.A 27-year-old was killed also by the Israeli army gunfire in Al-Aroub camp, in the southern West Bank, the health ministry and Palestinian Red Crescent said, confirming his name as Mohammed Amjad Hadoush.Witnesses reported a “large” deployment of Israeli forces in the morning around the towns of Tubas and Tamun, southeast of Jenin.An AFP journalist said the army was blocking the exits of the nearby Faraa refugee camp and entering homes, evicting residents. Drones were also visible in the sky.The army said early on Sunday that a “tactical group” had begun operations around Tamun and uncovered weapons.It added it was “extending the counterterrorism operation… to five villages”.It also distributed leaflets in Arabic saying the operation was meant to “eradicate armed criminals, the lackeys of Iran”.The Israeli government accuses Iran, which backs armed groups across the Middle East including Hamas in Gaza, of attempting to send weapons and money to militants in the West Bank.The leaflets warned residents not to approach Israeli forces.- Surge of violence -On Saturday, Israel conducted two air strikes in Jenin, and “struck and eliminated a terrorist cell on its way to carry out an imminent terrorist attack” in Qabatiya, the military said, adding that “two terrorists” were killed.”After the strike, secondary explosions due to explosives that were inside the vehicle were identified,” the military said on Sunday.Islamic Jihad’s military wing confirmed in a statement on Sunday that two of its fighters were killed.The military said one of those killed had been released from Israeli detention in 2023 as part of the first truce in the Gaza war.The Palestinian health ministry said on Saturday evening that Israeli strikes in the Jenin area had killed five people, including a 16-year-old.When asked about that strike, the military told AFP it had “struck armed terrorists”.Violence has surged across the West Bank since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023.Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 883 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war, according to the Palestinian health ministry.At least 30 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids in the territory over the same period, according to Israeli official figures.bur-dla-reg-csp/jsa

The funeral for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah will be held on February 23, the group’s current chief said on Sunday, months after his predecessor’s death in an Israeli air strike.Nasrallah was killed in a huge Israeli air strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 27, as Israel scaled up its campaign against the Iran-backed group following almost a year of cross-border hostilities.After decades at the helm of the group once seen as invincible, the killing of the charismatic leader sent shockwaves across Lebanon and the wider region.”After security conditions prevented holding a funeral” during two months of all-out war that ended on November 27, Hezbollah has decided to hold “on February 23 a grand… public funeral” for Nasrallah, Naim Qassem said in a televised speech.”We hope that it will be a grand funeral procession befitting this great personality,” he said.Qassem also confirmed for the first time that leading official Hashem Safieddine had been chosen to succeed Nasrallah before he too was killed in an Israeli raid in October.Safieddine will be buried “as Secretary-General” or leader of Hezbollah, because “we had… elected His Eminence Sayyed Hashem as Secretary-General… but he was martyred on October 3, a day or two before the announcement”, Qassem said.The group will hold Safieddine’s funeral on the same day as Nasrallah’s.Nasrallah will be buried on the outskirts of Beirut “in a plot of land we chose between the old and new airport roads”, while Safieddine will be buried in his hometown of Deir Qanun in southern Lebanon, he said.Nasrallah had been temporarily buried elsewhere due to security concerns, he said.Shiite Muslim rites provide for such a temporary burial when circumstances prevent a proper funeral or the deceased cannot be buried where they wished.Last October, a source close to the group had told AFP that Nasrallah had been buried in a secret location, for fear Israel would target a large funeral.- ‘Israeli aggression’ -The deeply religious Safieddine, a cleric with family ties to Nasrallah, had been widely viewed as the most likely candidate for the party’s top job.Safieddine, a member of the group’s governing Shura Council, had strong ties to Iran after undergoing religious studies in the Islamic republic’s holy city of Qom.During his speech Sunday, Qassem also pressed Lebanese authorities to pressure Israel to stop ceasefire violations.The Israeli army missed a January 26 deadline to complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon and has since launched strikes there. It now has until February 18 to withdraw.Israel had made clear it had no intention of meeting the initial deadline, charging that the Lebanese army had not fulfilled its end of the bargain. The Lebanese authorities have also accused Israel of violating the agreement.”The Lebanese state is fully responsible for following up, pressuring and trying to prevent as much as it can, through sponsors and international pressure, this violation and this Israeli aggression,” Qassem said.Under the terms of the November 27 ceasefire, the Lebanese army is to deploy in the south as Hezbollah pulls its forces back north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border.The militant group is also required to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure it has in the south.

Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa said Saudi Arabia had a “genuine desire” to support his war-torn country, after meeting on Sunday with the oil-rich Gulf state’s crown prince.Accompanied by his foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, Sharaa was greeted by Saudi officials on arrival in Riyadh, images from state television outlet Al-Ekhbariya showed.Sharaa was later received by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the official Saudi news agency reported.”We held a long meeting during which we felt and heard a genuine desire to support Syria in building its future,” Sharaa was quoted as saying in a statement on Telegram.The official Saudi Press Agency, meanwhile, said that Prince Mohammed and Sharaa discussed “ways to support the security and stability of sisterly Syria”, as well as “ways to strengthen bilateral relations”.Sharaa, whose Islamist group led the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December, was named Syria’s interim president on Wednesday.A Syrian diplomat did not respond to AFP when asked how long Sharaa’s visit would last.Saudi King Salman and his son Prince Mohammed were among the first to congratulate him on his official appointment.The Syrian authorities are counting on wealthy Gulf countries to finance the reconstruction of their war-ravaged nation and revive its economy.In late December, Sharaa said in an interview with the Saudi channel Al-Arabiya that the kingdom would “certainly play an important role” in Syria’s future, highlighting a “great opportunity for investment”.He told the channel he was born in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked, and that he had spent the first seven years of his life in the oil-rich Gulf state.- ‘Strategic service’ -Rabha Seif Allam, a regional expert at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, said Riyadh was “playing a key role in reintegrating the new Syria into the Arab world and onto the international stage”.She said that Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s largest economy, would “directly benefit” from the stabilisation of Syria.”Iran is now excluded from the Syrian landscape, weakening its regional influence, and drug trafficking from Syria to the Gulf countries, which had been a destabilising factor, is now a thing of the past.”Distancing Damascus from Tehran was a “strategic service” to Riyadh, she added.Though Saudi Arabia and Iran ended a seven-year diplomatic freeze in 2023, the regional heavyweights remain at odds over multiple geopolitical issues, including the civil war in Syria, where they backed opposing sides.Syria is also pressing for the lifting of international sanctions that have dragged down its economy.The sanctions date back to 1979, when the United States labelled Syria a “state sponsor of terrorism”, but they were ramped up significantly by Washington and other Western powers when Assad cracked down on anti-government protests in 2011 and sparked the civil war.Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister visited Damascus last month and promised to help secure an end to the restrictions.Prince Faisal bin Farhan said during his visit that Riyadh was engaged in “active dialogue with all relevant countries, whether the United States or the European Union, and we are hearing positive messages”.The new Syrian authorities have received a steady stream of diplomatic visitors since Assad was toppled.On Thursday in Damascus, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani “stressed the urgent need to form a government representing all spectrums” of Syrian society in order “to consolidate stability and move forward with reconstruction, development and prosperity projects”.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Sunday for the United States where he will become the first foreign leader to meet Donald Trump since the US president returned to office.His visit comes as a fragile truce holds between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both militant groups are backed by Iran.Before boarding his flight, Netanyahu said the pair would discuss “victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis”.During his first term, Trump declared Israel “never had a better friend in the White House”, an attitude that appears to have endured. Before departing, Netanyahu called it “telling” that he would be the first foreign leader to meet Trump since his inauguration.”I think it’s a testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance,” he said.After Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had maintained military and diplomatic support for Israel.But the Biden administration also distanced itself over the mounting death toll from Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza and delays to aid deliveries.Trump has moved quickly to reset relations.Soon after returning to the White House, he reportedly approved a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, which the Biden administration had blocked, and lifted sanctions on Israeli settlers accused of violence against Palestinians.After the ceasefire took effect in Gaza last month following 15 months of war, Trump touted a plan to “clean out” the Palestinian territory, calling for Palestinians to move to neighbouring countries such as Egypt or Jordan.His stance has reinforced Netanyahu’s need for strong US ties as he navigates domestic and regional pressures.Celine Touboul, co-director of the Foundation for Economic Cooperation, a Tel Aviv think-tank, said “for Netanyahu, a privileged relationship with the White House is an essential tool”.- Stabilising the region -Despite Trump’s early moves, Netanyahu will face a president determined to push his own agenda when the pair meet on Tuesday.Trump officials have warned that “renewed fighting in the Middle East would distract the new Trump team from addressing what Trump defines as more pressing priorities”, the New York-based Soufan Center said.These include “securing the southern US border from illegal migration and settling the Russia-Ukraine war”, the think tank said.Beyond that, “Trump wants to reorient his priorities towards Asia-Pacific”, said David Khalfa, a researcher at the Jean Jaures Foundation in Paris.”He believes, as did his predecessors, that he must stabilise the region first and create an anti-Iran coalition with his strategic partners,” including Israel and Saudi Arabia, he said.- ‘Political margin’ – Talks will also likely cover concessions Netanyahu must accept to revive normalisation efforts with Saudi Arabia.Riyadh froze discussions early in the Gaza war and hardened its stance, insisting on a resolution to the Palestinian issue before making any deal.”There is today an ideological alignment between the populist, Trumpist American right and the Israeli prime minister,” Khalfa said.But Netanyahu’s “political margin is very small in the face Trump who does not have the pressure of re-election”, he added.Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are due to resume this week on the second phase of the Gaza truce agreement.If successful, the deal could lead to the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza, both dead and alive, and potentially end the war.Netanyahu’s office said he would begin the discussions with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Monday.But he faces intense pressure within his governing coalition from far-right politicians intent on restarting the Gaza war once the current six-week truce ends. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has threatened to quit the government if the war does not restart, potentially stripping Netanyahu of his majority.The prime minister faces a choice between Washington’s demands and increasingly impatient political backers at home. “If Trump asks him to make concessions to the Palestinians in order to obtain normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu will have to choose between a privileged relationship with the American president or maintaining his coalition,” Touboul said. 

Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday for his first international visit since the toppling of Bashar al-Assad, state media reported.Accompanied by his foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani, Sharaa was greeted by Saudi officials as he disembarked, images from state television outlet Al-Ekhbariya showed. The broadcaster said Sharaa was expected to meet with de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but did not specify when.Syrian state news agency SANA also reported the pair would meet with Prince Mohammed in Riyadh, without providing further details.The Syrian presidency had earlier posted a picture on X of Sharaa and Shaibani aboard what appeared to be a private jet on their way to Saudi Arabia, calling it a “first official visit”. Sharaa, whose Islamist group led the overthrow of Assad in December, was named interim president on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and his son Prince Mohammed were among the first to congratulate him on his official appointment. The Syrian authorities are counting on wealthy Gulf countries to finance the reconstruction of their war-ravaged nation and revive its economy.In late December, Sharaa stated in an interview with the Saudi channel Al-Arabiya that the kingdom would “certainly play an important role” in Syria’s future, highlighting a “great opportunity for investment”.He told the channel he was born in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked, and that he had spent the first seven years of his life there.- ‘Strategic service’ -Rabha Seif Allam, a regional expert at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, said Riyadh was “playing a key role in reintegrating the new Syria into the Arab world and onto the international stage”.She said that Saudi Arabia, the Arab world’s largest economy, would “directly benefit” from the stabilisation of Syria.”Iran is now excluded from the Syrian landscape, weakening its regional influence, and drug trafficking from Syria to the Gulf countries, which had been a destabilising factor, is now a thing of the past.”Distancing Damascus from Tehran was a “strategic service” to Riyadh, she added.Though Saudi Arabia and Iran ended a seven-year diplomatic freeze in 2023, the regional heavyweights remain at odds over multiple geopolitical issues, including the civil war in Syria, where they backed opposing sides.Syria is also pressing for international sanctions that have dragged down its economy to be lifted.The sanctions date back to 1979, when the United States labelled Syria a “state sponsor of terrorism”, but they were ramped up significantly by Washington and other Western powers when Assad cracked down on anti-government protests in 2011 and sparked the civil war.Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister visited Damascus last month and promised to help secure an end to the restrictions.Prince Faisal bin Farhan said during his visit that Riyadh was engaged in “active dialogue with all relevant countries, whether the United States or the European Union, and we are hearing positive messages”.The new Syrian authorities have received a steady stream of diplomatic visitors since toppling Assad in December.On Thursday, Damascus received Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, who “stressed the urgent need to form a government representing all spectrums” of Syrian society in order “to consolidate stability and move forward with reconstruction, development and prosperity projects”.