TUNIS: Tunisian President Kais Saied has decided to strengthen diplomatic ties with Syria, the presidency said on Thursday, the clearest sign yet of Tunisia’s intention to fully restore relations days after a deadly earthquake that has devastated large parts of Syria.
Tunisia cut off diplomatic relations with Syria nearly a decade ago to protest the government’s brutal crackdown on protesters and activists opposed to the regime of President Bashar Assad.

BEIRUT: European Union member states, Norway and Switzerland on Friday urged Lebanese stakeholders to allow a “fair and transparent” probe into the Beirut port blast and refrain from “all acts of interference.”
The EU member states and the Swiss and Norwegian missions expressed in a joint statement grave concern about the current situation in Lebanon.

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday announced an initial $85 million package for emergency relief after a devastating earthquake in Turkiye and Syria.
The US Agency for International Development that the funding will go to partners on the ground “to deliver urgently needed aid for millions of people” including through food, shelter and emergency health services.
The funding will also support safe drinking water and sanitation to prevent the outbreak of disease, the agency said in a statement.

JERUSALEM: Cracks have emerged within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government, with a row over the demolition of a settlement outpost in the occupied West Bank testing the fledgling coalition.

Netanyahu vowed in December to expand settlements across the West Bank, as he returned to power at the helm of the most right-wing government in Israeli history.

KHARTOUM: Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov held talks in Khartoum on Thursday with Sudanese officials, pledging support for their call to lift long-standing UN sanctions on the African nation.

Lavrov’s two-day visit is part of Russian efforts to shore up influence on the African continent amid broad international attempts to isolate Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine last year.