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RIYADH: Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Al-Khuraiji on Sunday received the ambassador of Russia to Saudi Arabia, Sergei Kozlov, to review relations.
They discussed regional and international developments of common concern and ways of enhancing relations that serve the interests of both countries.
Just four days earlier on April 5, the Admiral Gorshkov became the first Russian warship to dock in Saudi Arabia, spending two days at Jeddah Islamic Port as it prepared to return home.
Meetings were held between the assistant commander of the Saudi Western Fleet, Rear Admiral Mansour bin Saud Al-Juaid, and Russian Northern Fleet missile ship division Commander, Captain Oleg Gladky.
The meeting was attended Kozlov, the Consul General of Russia in Jeddah, Yusup Abakarov, as well as the Permanent Representative of Russia to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Ramzan Abdulatipov.
On March 23, Kozlov also met Deputy Minister of Multilateral International Affairs, Dr. Abdulrahman Alrassi, to review relations.
The two countries’ political delegations have exchanged visits and meetings throughout the years that have strengthened relations.
On March 9, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov during an official visit to Moscow.
Prince Faisal affirmed the Kingdom’s support for all efforts to find a political solution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and said it was ready to mediate.
The pair reviewed the historical friendship and strategic cooperation between the two countries and their people, and ways of further enhancing cooperation.
The two also emphasized the depth of relations between Saudi Arabia and Russia and the importance of continuing consultation and cooperation.
Lavrov praised the Kingdom’s efforts to regional and international peace, including in Yemen.
RIYADH: Saudis are being urged to take part in a host of activities and events being lined up to mark World Heritage Day on April 18.
Celebrations will take place throughout the Kingdom with the Saudi Heritage Commission having announced events including craft markets, sound and light shows at historic buildings, traditional dance performances, Al-Qatt Al-Asiri painting, and Arabic calligraphy.
In Riyadh, the King Abdulaziz Historical Center will host events between April 18 and 23, from 9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. during Ramadan, and from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. during Eid, and other activities will be staged in Al-Ahsa, Hail, and Jeddah’s historic Al-Balad district.
World Heritage Day is celebrated annually with festivals, performances, and social gatherings aimed at raising awareness about significant cultural sites and monuments and how to protect them.
Saudi Arabia has a rich history of civilizations — including the Nabataens and Thamud — and diversity due to its geographic location as a bridge between Asia and Africa.
Individuals came to the Arabian Peninsula as a part of their migration from Africa into Eurasia, and Stone Age settlers used tools made from stone, bone, and wood for hunting, fishing, and collecting plants.
Many such items discovered in the region are now exhibited at The National Museum in Riyadh.
Ali Ibrahim Alhammad, a tourist guide consultant at The National Museum, said: “Five or six Arab kingdoms survived in Saudi Arabia around 4,000 B.C.”
He noted the kingdoms of Dilmun in the east, Tayma, and Lihyanite in the northwest, and pointed out that the Arabian Peninsula had been home to a variety of religions before the rise of Islam.
Alhammad, who gained a master’s degree in archaeology and has spent 23 years working at The National Museum, also highlighted the Bedouin nomadic Arab tribes that had left their cultural imprint, and the importance of landmarks such as the At-Turaif UNESCO World Heritage Site.
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met in Jeddah with the head of Iraqi National Wisdom Movement, Ammar Al-Hakim.
Both officials reviewed bilateral relations during the meeting on Sunday.
Earlier on Saturday, the crown prince received Iraqi Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Al-Halbousi in Jeddah where both reviewed relations.
RIYADH: On the first day of Ramadan, Manal Alshakhs, a Saudi studying in Collierville, Tennessee, opened her door to find her neighbors singing “Happy Ramadan to you,” and offering flowers, fruit and gifts.
“I teared up, you know, how we are used to spending the first day of Ramadan at my parent’s house. I felt so happy, loved and between family. They made my year,” Alshakhs told Arab News.
Surprised and touched by the visit, Alshakhs’ daughter Hadeel recorded the occasion in a video that soon went viral, with over 4.9 million views in just two weeks.
“There are no words to express my gratitude to Susan Mascari, her mom Marge, her sister Jean, her niece Merit, and our neighbor Penny for their lovely surprise,” Alshakhs said.
Alshakhs, who is originally from the village of Al-Qara in Al-Ahsa, was raised in Alkhobar. She moved to Tennessee with her children in August 2017 to complete her Ph.D. studies after receiving a scholarship from Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University in Dammam, where she worked as a lecturer.
She lives in a small community filled with neighbors who celebrate and embrace each other’s beliefs.
Our religion has taught us that our neighbors always come first. I never knew how important that is until I had to live here away from family and friends.
Manal Alshaks, Saudi student in the US
Mascari, who helped plan the Ramadan celebration, said that as a Catholic she shared a lot of beliefs and moral values with Muslims.
“Being kind to our neighbors and having faith in something good is important to both of us,” she said.
The story behind the video began when Alshakhs’ daughter showed up at Mascari’s house with some food. The visit reminded Mascari that it was Ramadan and she had not seen Alshakhs since earlier that week and wanted to congratulate her on a dissertation.
“I texted a couple of the neighbor ladies — my sister and mother both live in our neighborhood — and asked if they wanted to go see Manal in 30 minutes,” Mascari said. “I told them to just bring whatever they wanted. My mom was at the store and said they had some pretty roses, sister Jean had a bunch of fruit, nurse Penny made a card and had some nuts.
“When we walked up, I said it would be funny if we started singing when they opened the door.”
When Mascari shared the video of the greeting to her TikTok account, it quickly gained wide support, especially from the Muslim community.
Alshakhs posted the video on Snapchat and Facebook to share with her friends and family, who were also forwarding her the viral video they saw on TikTok.
“After less than a day from posting it on my Snapchat, my friends and relatives in Saudi Arabia started to send me the TikTok link and how it became famous,” Alshakhs said.
“All the feedback I got was positive. People were saying how cute my neighbors are and that I live among good people. They also commented on how my neighbors respect and accept me as I am.”
She stressed the importance of building a sense of community and familiarity with those living nearby.
“Our religion has taught us that our neighbors always come first. I never knew how important that is until I had to live here away from family and friends,” she said.
“Having a community is like having a support system. A haven. Eventually, they become family. Our mental and emotional health thrive through having a community.
“I believe that we are ambassadors to our country and religion. Having an interfaith/inter-culture community, allows us to know the ‘real us.’ From my experience, we are pretty much the same.”
Alshakhs and Mascari have been neighbors for almost six years now, and their youngest children frquently play together.
“Manal and I had a casual friendship where we would wave and say hi,” Mascari said. “When the quarantine happened in March 2020, we were asked to stay home in our part of the state. The neighbors all started to get together and go for walks around the block every night. We just started to spend more time together.”
Alshakhs said: “When COVID struck, Susan suggested a neighborhood walk and she called it ‘Sip and stroll at six, six feet apart.’ That is when we started to get to know each other better. Then we became friends and life became much easier here.”
Mascari said it was important to her to celebrate with her neighbor, and make her feel as welcome as she could in her community and family.
“Manal is visiting our country and will eventually go back to Saudi Arabia. I want her to go home with happy memories from her time here,” she said.
“I think it was so brave of her to leave behind her family and friends to pursue her education. I think to have a friend you have to be a friend.”
Alshakhs told Arab News that she feels blessed to be a part of an accepting neighborhood.
She described Mascari’s family as the “neighborhood mayors” because of their efforts to unite everyone. “They love bringing people together in a creative, simple and fun way.”
This will be Alshakhs’ final year in Tennessee with their newly created family and community, and she is overwhelmed. “I am graduating in May and it breaks my heart to leave.”
RIYADH/NEW YORK: The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, UAE and the US held a phone call on Saturday to discuss the ongoing situation and increase of violence in Sudan, Saudi Press Agency reported.
The ministers called for a halt to military escalation and a return to a framework agreement between civilian political forces and the military.
Saudi Arabia also said it was deeply concerned about the clashes in Sudan, calling on those involved to choose dialogue over conflict, in a statement released by its foreign ministry.
The Saudi embassy in Khartoum advised its citizens to stay at home and to communicate with it in case of emergency.
In a tweet posted on Saturday, foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said: “We call on the brothers in Sudan to quickly stop military operations, exercise maximum restraint, avoid escalation, and give priority to the interest of the brotherly Sudanese people by preserving their gains and capabilities, and to return to the framework agreement that aims to reach a political declaration that achieves security, stability and prosperity for Sudan and its brotherly people.”
At the UN, members of the Security Council called for the warring parties to immediately cease hostilities and return to dialogue to resolve the crisis.
Council members expressed deep concern over the military clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces, which has so far resulted 27 confirmed deaths and more than 180 combatants and civilians wounded.
The Council members stressed the importance maintaining humanitarian access and ensuring the safety of UN personnel. They also reaffirmed their “strong commitment to the unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of the Sudan.”
The UAE called all parties in Sudan to exercise restraint, de-escalate and work toward ending the crisis through dialogue, SPA reported.
The agency said that the UAE Embassy in Khartoum was following “with great concern the developments in Sudan and has reaffirmed the UAE’s position on the importance of de-escalation, and working toward finding a peaceful solution to the crisis between the concerned parties.”
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit condemned the use of arms in Sudan and called for an immediate ceasefire to the ongoing escalation.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a similar statement calling on all Sudanese parties to exercise maximum restraint.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s military said it was closely following the situation in Sudan and was coordinating with the relevant Sudanese authorities to guarantee the safety of Egyptian forces, army spokesman Col. Gharib Abdel Hafez said on Saturday.
His statement came as Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces shared an unverified video that they said showed Egyptian troops who had “surrendered” to them in Merowe, northern Sudan, in the wake of clashes between the group and the Sudanese army.
The Tunisian foreign ministry called on the Sudanese parties to show the “highest degree of restraint,” in a statement.
Fierce clashes between Sudan’s military and the country’s powerful paramilitary force erupted Saturday in the capital and elsewhere in the African nation, raising fears of a wider conflict in the chaos-stricken nation.
In Khartoum, the sound of heavy firing could be heard in a number of areas, including the city center and the neighborhood of Bahri.
* With Ephrem Kossaify, Reuters, AFP and AP
RIYADH: Nineteen coalition detainees arrived at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday as part of the exchange agreement with the Houthi militia, Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen Spokesman Brig. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki said.
Sixteen Saudi and three Sudanese prisoners were part of the swap for the release of 250 Houthi prisoners who left Abha International Airport to Sana’a, as reported by the Saudi Press Agency.
Upon arriving at King Khalid International Airport, numerous military officials received the returning coalition detainees, including Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Fayyad Al-Ruwaili and Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Commander of the Joint Forces Lt. Gen. Mutlaq Al-Azima.
They were joined by leaders of the armed forces branches, the military attache at the Ministry of National Guard Maj. Gen. Mohammed Al-Qahtani, and the military attache at the Embassy of the Republic of Sudan to the Kingdom, Brig. Gen. Mohammed Absher.
Al-Maliki said in a statement that the prisoner exchange process is of great interest to the political and military leadership of the coalition to end the prisoner file and return all detainees.
He concluded his statement by praising the leadership of the joint forces of the coalition, as well as the efforts of the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN Special Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg, for supporting and making the exchange of prisoners and detainees a success.
GCC Secretary-General Jasem Al-Budaiwi welcomed the start of the prisoner exchange process between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, yesterday in Yemen.
Al-Budaiwi praised the agreement, which is set to be the second-largest prisoner exchange of Yemen’s civil war, and an important humanitarian gesture for the return of hundreds of prisoners and detainees to their families during Ramadan.
He said: “This agreement is a new glimmer of hope that gives momentum to efforts aimed at putting the Yemeni crisis on the path to a solution.
“It is an encouraging step that supports peace for Yemen and its brotherly people through a permanent truce and a political solution that outlines the features of stability in Yemen and the region in accordance with the Gulf initiative, its implementation mechanism and the outputs of international security, including Resolutions 2216 and 2624.”