WASHINGTON/CAIRO: The US State Department said it welcomed the trilateral summit on Tuesday between the leaders of Egypt, Israel and the UAE, who met in Sharm El-Sheikh for talks on the economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the growing influence of Iran in the region.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters that US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley has been in close consultations with Gulf partners.

The summit came nearly a month after Russia invaded Ukraine in a move that sparked concerns about security and sent prices of oil, wheat and other key commodities soaring.

“Against the backdrop of the recent developments in the world and the region, the leaders discussed the ties between the three countries and ways to strengthen them on all levels,” said a statement from the office of Israeli Premier Naftali Bennett.

ADEN: Bullet-riddled homes, buildings turned to rubble and countless pictures of “martyrs”: Seven years into Yemen’s civil war, the interim capital Aden bears the scars of a conflict that shows no signs of abating.

While Aden is now relatively stable, economically the ancient port city has been left on its knees.

Water and electricity are intermittent, serving a population that officials say has tripled to more than 3 million, as people seek safety from fighting raging elsewhere.

Aden Gov. Ahmed Lamlas said the outbreak of war in 2015 was a “disaster,” leaving the city’s infrastructure in ruins. “We are still suffering from the impacts of war,” said Lamlas, who narrowly escaped a deadly car bomb attack in October.

Yemen has a long history of civil war, and was divided into North and South Yemen until 1990.

It descended into brutal conflict again when Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched a military campaign to seize power in 2014, taking large swathes of territory including the capital Sanaa in the north.

The following year, after the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen intervened, the insurgents were at the gates of Aden. They held sway for a few months before being pushed out by loyalist forces.

As if civil war and a struggle for the city were not enough, Aden has also been targeted by a number of bombings claimed by Daesh.

Along the corniche in Aden stands a large portrait of the former governor, Jaafar Saad, who was killed in a car bomb claimed by Daesh in 2015.

At the airport, a gaping hole torn into the arrivals terminal reminds visitors of a missile attack on Cabinet members in 2020, a memorial of sorts to the at least 26 people killed.

QAMISHLI, Syria: The Syrian Kurdish forces that spearheaded the battle to crush the Daesh group’s self-proclaimed “caliphate” in 2019 warned on Wednesday that the world’s lack of support risked allowing for a jihadist rebirth.

The Daesh proto-state — which once administered millions of people across swathes of Syria and Iraq, on territory roughly the size of Britain — was declared defeated on March 23, 2019.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which act as the autonomous Kurdish administration’s army, led the battle that flushed out the village of Baghouz where Daesh made its last stand.

The SDF’s central command warned in a statement that the countries that assisted in the military operation at the time should not turn their backs on the region now.

“The absence of a clear, comprehensive long-term international plan increases human and material losses and allows Daesh to strengthen its organization,” it said.

Daesh has not had fixed positions in Iraq or Syria since March 2019 but its remnants have continued to launch hit-and-run guerilla attacks from desert hideouts.

The SDF said a huge attack on a prison in Hasakah in January was evidence that Daesh was seeking to expand its operational capabilities.

The battles sparked by the Ghwayran prison break left at least 370 people dead.

According to Britain-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a significant number of Daesh fighters were sprung free.

The Kurdish forces also blamed those countries that are still reluctant to repatriate their citizens held in camps and prisons for suspected Daesh members and their relatives.

The autonomous administration has repeatedly complained it did not have the resources to detain the thousands of suspects who poured out of Daesh territory in the caliphate’s dying weeks, let alone to organize trials.

NEW YORK: The UN and the Arab League remain united in their pursuit of multilateral solutions to “cascading” challenges facing the Arab world, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday.

Stronger cooperation between the two organizations is essential for the enhancement of multilateralism, he added. He pointed out that the war in Ukraine and its profound ramifications around the globe have revealed the need for such cooperation to be all the more urgent, as many Arab countries, including Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, import at least half of the wheat they require from Ukraine or Russia.

Since the war began on Feb. 24, food and fuel prices have soared as supplies were disrupted, which is “hitting the poorest the hardest and planting the seeds for political instability and unrest across the globe,” Guterres added.

He was speaking at a ministerial-level meeting of the UN Security Council. It was convened by the UAE, which holds the presidency of the council for the month of March, to discuss ways to improve partnerships and strengthen and institutionalize cooperation between the UN and the Arab League in areas such as conflict prevention, diplomacy, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, and to promote the role of women and youth in efforts to maintain regional and international peace and security.

The meeting was chaired by Khalifa Shaheen Almarar, minister of state at the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Guterres highlighted the existing aspects of cooperation between the UN and the Arab League relating to conflicts and crises in the Middle East. He welcomed the latter organization’s “constructive engagement” with efforts to safeguard the unity and “hard-won” stability of Libya since the ceasefire agreement of October 2020, and said he counts on it continuing to prioritize the need for an agreement on a comprehensive political process in the country.

Guterres also said that the two organizations remain firmly united in their support for the Syrian people, “who feel abandoned by the world as they enter the 11th year of a war that has subjected them to human rights violations on a massive and systematic scale and left the country in ruins.”

He reiterated that the only way to break the deadlock in Syria and alleviate the suffering of the people there lies in a “credible” political process that includes the implementation of Security Council resolutions.

Turning to the situation in Lebanon, Guterres said the UN is grateful for the work of the Arab League in urging authorities in the country to address the crisis there through a process that includes meaningful reforms, timely elections, constructive engagement with the International Monetary Fund and the full implementation of applicable Security Council resolutions.

He also welcomed the enhancement of strategic cooperation between members of the Iraqi government and the Arab League, including a mission to observe and monitor Iraq’s parliamentary elections in October last year.

A strengthening of regional cooperation is also critical in Yemen, Guterres said. Without efforts to agree a ceasefire, defuse tensions and advance an inclusive political process in the country, unceasing hostilities threaten to cause the already dire humanitarian situation to deteriorate further and dim the hopes of peace, he added.

The UN chief expressed disappointment at the results of a recent pledging event for Yemen, during which less than a third of the funds needed to address the humanitarian crisis in the country were received.

“I cannot overstate the severity of the suffering of the people of Yemen,” Guterres said. “I appeal to the generosity of members of the Arab League at this critical time.”

During the meeting the Security Council adopted a presidential statement, drafted by the UAE, welcoming the close cooperation between the UN and the Arab League and reiterating the intention to enhance their collaboration in a number of areas, including maritime safety and security, counterterrorism, respect for international law, poverty eradication, water security, and desertification and drought management in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The statement also affirmed the role of the youth population in efforts to maintain international peace and security, including the prevention and resolution of conflicts in MENA.

Ahmed Abul Gheit, the secretary-general of the Arab League, warned that the international order is again at a “most serious,” critical juncture as a result of the war in Ukraine.

“It is a deplorable situation,” he said and expressed hope that the international community can work to end the bloodshed, while honoring the security requirements of all those involved in line with the UN’s charter and principles.

However, he also said that he hopes the situation in Ukraine will not affect the ability of the Security Council to focus on other crises.

“The crises of the Arab world must not be forgotten,” Abul Gheit said. “These crises will not resolve themselves.”

The conflict in Ukraine provides a new prism through which to view the continuing suffering of the Palestinians, for example, he said as he stressed that the international order “cannot be based on double standards.”

Abul Gheit lamented the political impasse in Syria and the continuing repercussions for millions of Syrians. He also called for the withdrawal of foreign militias and fighters from Libya, saying that such interventions are complicating efforts to hold democratic elections in the North African country.

In Yemen, Abul Gheit said the Houthis refuse to engage with efforts to reach a political settlement and continue to threaten Saudi Arabia and the UAE with attacks using drones and ballistic missiles. He again welcomed the recent adoption of Security Council Resolution 2624, which extended sanctions against the Iran-backed Houthis and categorized them as “terrorists” for the first time.

He said Iran’s disruptive interventions in the region continue and its missile program is a “legitimate concern for the Arab League.” The organization seeks good relations with Iran, after Tehran ends its interference in regional and international affairs, but “this goal is still not within reach,” he added.

Emirati minister of state Almarar said Wednesday’s meeting was particularly important given that most of the issues on the Security Council agenda are Arab issues.

“As a result of the international community merely managing these crises rather than resolving them, several of these issues have been on the council’s agenda for decades,” Almarar said.

“The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other crises in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Sudan and Somalia have taken a high economic and humanitarian toll on the region.”

He said that these Arab crises, which have taken on cross-border and international dimensions, require efforts to address them on both the regional and international levels.

“The League of Arab States has a long history … extending back 77 years since it’s founding in 1945,” said Almarar. “It also possesses a deep knowledge of regional challenges, as well as the concerns of its member states, which enables it to play a leading role in supporting the implementation of the Security Council’s core mandate to maintain international peace and security.”

He called for enhanced cooperation between the UN and the Arab League, including the institutionalization of the relationship between them.

LONDON: Students across the world on Wednesday held demonstrations on campus, calling on their universities to withdraw their investments in companies complicit in Israeli war crimes and apartheid.

Protests were held at over 70 universities, with students also sending letters to their vice-chancellors as part of the initiative, which was organized by the UK-based Friends of Al-Aqsa, a nonprofit concerned with defending the human rights of Palestinians and protecting Al-Aqsa in Jerusalem.

Using the hashtag #Divest4Palestine on social media, students called on their universities to boycott investments in companies including Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, HP, and Booking.com.

“Rolls-Royce and BAE produce the weapons used to attack Palestinians living under blockade in Gaza, and HP provides the technology used at Israel’s checkpoints,” the organizers said. “Booking.com advertises accommodation in illegal Israeli settlements, on land stolen from Palestinians.”

Sima, at Warwick University in the UK, said: “As students at Warwick, we’re appalled that money from this campus goes into sustaining an apartheid state,” and called on the vice-chancellor to “divest from these companies without hesitation.”

Manal, at Nottingham, said: “How can our vice-chancellor think it’s acceptable to invest money in companies involved in war crimes? There’s a lot of talk about ‘decolonizing,’ but we need to see some actual change if this is really going to happen.”

Shamiul Joarder, FOA head of public affairs, said: “The government is currently trying to suppress our freedom to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel (BDS), but the #Divest4Palestine campaign shows that students and academics, along with the rest of the British public, are increasingly showing that they’ve got no tolerance for complicity in Israeli war crimes and apartheid.”

The initiative was part of the International Day of Action, which also saw 25 prominent academics sign an open letter to universities worldwide to #Divest4Palestine in the run-up to Wednesday.

The open letter was coordinated by the FOA and a coalition of UK university student societies. It was also signed by the Palestinian activist Mohammed El-Kurd.