Habib Toumi

Al Mabhouh - Mystery asassination - Gulf News

Members of a hit squad who killed a Hamas leader used Irish passports to enter and leave Dubai, the Irish Herald has reported.

Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, 50, was found dead in mysterious circumstances on January 20 in a Dubai hotel room.

But, according to the newspaper report quoting police authorities, up to seven people, including at least one woman, were said to have been involved in the killing.

Four of the assassins used Irish documents to enter Dubai and later fled to a “European country” after the killing.

“We are aware of the media reports and we are in contact with authorities locally to try and determine the truth of the reports,” a spokesman for the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs told the Herald on Friday.

Hamas has blamed Israel for the killing, but Israeli news media claimed Al Mabhouh had many enemies and could have been killed by other Arab factions. continue reading…

Speaker Jassem Al Khorafi

Kuwait’s National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al Khorafi said that Kuwait would not allow the use of its territories to launch attacks on other countries, Kuwaiti media reported on Friday.

“I have not been informed or even heard of this request,” Al Khorafi answered when asked about Western reports claiming that the US has requested Kuwait that it would use its territories as launch pad to attack other countries.

However, Al Khorafi said that US anti-missile Patriot batteries have been stationed in Kuwait since the Iraqi invasion in 1990 and are there for purely defensive purposes.

A Kuwait test of the batteries one month ago was “part of the regular and normal procedures, not due to the latest developments in the region,” US Ambassador to Kuwait Deborah K. Jones reportedly told Kuwaiti daily Arab Times.

“We have a long-standing relationship with Kuwait, as well as a cooperation defense agreement that goes back to around 20 years. It is only natural that we regularly discuss our defensive systems as a whole,” Jones said. continue reading…

Assad reviews latest developments with Moratinos in Damascus - SANA

 The US has urged Syria and Israel to exercise self-restraint and avoid compounding a tense situation that would make it difficult to resume stalled peace negotiations, a pan-Arab newspaper has reported.

A dramatic escalation of a war of words between Damascus and Tel Aviv this week has threatened to shake the fragile situation in the region, and the US is seeking to keep the status-quo until at least Robert Ford, the new US ambassador to Syria, takes up his post following a five-year diplomatic hiatus.

“Washington is working seriously on resuming peace negotiations promptly and on all tracks, including the Syrian-Israeli track” an unnamed State Department sources was quoted as saying by the London-based Asharq Al Awsat. “There are pending issues that are a source of concern with the Syrians. The new ambassador Robert Ford will, as soon as his nomination is approved by the Congress, review the issues with the Syrians,” the State Department said. continue reading…