Haj agencies win royal plaudits for stellar work

October 8, 2014

Royal plaudits

Jeddah, Oct 8: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has commended the efforts of government agencies and private organizations in making this year’s Haj a "big success," enabling more than 2 million Hajis to perform their rituals in peace and comfort.

“We appreciate the efforts of your royal highness and the Supreme Haj Committee as well as security officers and employees of public and private agencies in making the Haj operation a big success,” the king said in a cable to Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Naif, chairman of the committee.

King Abdullah thanked the Almighty for His blessings and praised all officials and employees of Haj-related organizations for doing their jobs responsibly. “This has resulted in them efficiently carrying out the various plans related to Haj security, health services, traffic and pilgrim safety,” the king said.

King Abdullah underscored the coordinated efforts that allowed pilgrims to move smoothly to the tent city of Mina, Mount Arafat for the standing in prayer ritual, before moving to Muzdalifah and then Mina for the stoning of the Jamrat, without any major incidents.

“We thank God for protecting the health of pilgrims from infectious diseases,” the king said while praising the precautionary measures taken by the Health Ministry. He reiterated Saudi Arabia’s readiness to extend the best possible services to the guests of God.

Prince Mohammed had sent a message to King Abdullah congratulating him on the successful completion of the pilgrimage. He said over 2 million faithful, which included 1.4 million foreign Hajis, stood at Arafat on Friday. “There was uninterrupted water and electricity supply,” he said while praising municipal workers for cleaning Makkah and the holy sites.

According to a report carried by a local news website, two pilgrims died and 95 fainted inside the Grand Mosque on Monday after nearly 1.5 million thronged the mosque complex for Tawaf Al-Wida. The Civil Defense and Special Security Force deployed more officers at the mosque to control the crowd.

Mahmoud Al-Sayed from Egypt said he was extremely happy for having the rare opportunity to perform his first Haj. “I never expected this huge arrangements made by the Saudi government for the pilgrimage,” he said.

“Nobody can underestimate the marvelous services being extended by the Kingdom for the welfare of pilgrims,” said Anwar Al-Kuthairy of Yemen. “The introduction of the Mashair Railway was a wonderful idea that facilitated the movement of pilgrims between the holy sites,” said Tunisian Makhlafi Abdullah.

Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, head of the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques, congratulated King Abdullah, Crown Prince Salman and Makkah Gov. Prince Mishaal for the successful Haj operation.

“Pilgrims have been able to make use of the second phase of mataf expansion and the historic giant expansion of the Grand Mosque ordered by the king during this Haj season,” Al-Sudais said.

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November 12,2024

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The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says its fighters have killed at least 20 Israeli soldiers in northern parts of the besieged Gaza Strip in just two days, in retaliation for the occupying regime’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territory.

In a statement on Monday evening, Hamas said that fighters of its military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, “killed at least five occupation soldiers” in northern parts of the coastal territory earlier in the day.

It added that Hamas fighters also killed 15 Israeli soldiers in the war-ravaged region on Sunday.

The resistance movement’s “qualitative operation … confirms once again the failure of the criminal Zionist entity to suppress and eradicate the Palestinian resistance, which continues to direct qualitative strikes against its terrorist soldiers,” Hamas further said on its Telegram channel.

Palestinians have increased their resistance operations in the face of intensified Israeli aggression in northern Gaza that has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 over the past weeks.

“Our valiant resistance is waging a war of attrition with the criminal enemy, inflicting daily losses on its soldiers and vehicles, and all of [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s bets and dreams of achieving any of his goals are failing,” the Gaza-based resistance movement added.

Hamas also vowed that Israel’s ongoing crimes and aggression against Gaza would be met with increased resistance and painful strikes, which will continue until the aggression against Palestinians ends and the regime fully withdraws from the blockaded territory.

As the war in Gaza enters its 14th month, the Health Ministry reports that Israeli attacks have killed at least 43,603 Palestinians and wounded 102,929 others.

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News Network
November 12,2024

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The UN humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon has warned that the “picture of life in Lebanon remains grim,” highlighting an "alarming" level of human suffering and significant humanitarian consequences due to the ongoing Israeli carnage.

Imran Riza, the UN Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), provided a stark overview of the Arab country's dire circumstances in a statement released on Monday.

“The current picture of life in Lebanon remains grim. Yesterday, airstrikes reportedly killed 23 people, including seven children, in the village of Aalmat in Mount Lebanon,” Riza said on X.

An airstrike in the city of Tyre on the same day resulted in the tragic deaths of five siblings from a single family, all of whom had special needs, according to his statement.

He added that in the last week, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 241 individuals and left 642 others injured in Lebanon, as reported by the Ministry of Health.

“In the past month, more than 185,000 people have fled their homes in their search for safety within the country, bringing the total to over 870,000 people internally displaced,” Riza said

The UN official highlighted that numerous individuals, including the elderly and those with health issues, are staying behind while witnessing the ruins of their ancestral homes.

He urged for the swift safeguarding of civilian people and infrastructure, emphasizing the necessity to uphold international humanitarian law and end the ongoing violence.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that Israeli forces bombed a house in the town of Maydoun in Bekaa on Monday night, killing three people and destroying the house.

Earlier, Israel bombed the northern town of Ain Yaaqoub, killing at least 14 people.

The killings came as Israeli military continued to pound Lebanon, bombing shops selling electrical appliances in the southern city of Tyre and carrying out air raids on the towns of Shamshtar in eastern Baalbek and Roumine in southern Nabatieh.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said Israeli attacks killed at least 54 people across the country on Monday.

Israel’s merciless attacks continue despite calls from the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire and directives from the International Court of Justice urging measures to prevent genocide and alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and Lebanon.

In Lebanon, at least 3,243 people have been killed and 14,134 others wounded in Israeli attacks since the war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023.

The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah opened a support front for Palestinians in Gaza only a day after the Israeli regime unleashed its genocidal war on the besieged territory.

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November 7,2024

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The Israeli regime has killed at least 40 people during new airstrikes against eastern Lebanese areas, besides targeting the country’s capital Beirut with fresh acts of aggression.

Lebanon’s health ministry announced the fatalities on Wednesday, saying 53 other people had also been wounded during the aerial attacks that targeted the country’s Bekaa Valley, including the city of Baalbek.

In early Thursday, the regime was also reported to have attacked Beirut’s southern suburbs, including a site adjacent to Rafiq Hariri International Airport.

The attacks came after the regime issued short-notice evacuation orders apparently directed at the residents of the areas, claiming that the areas contained facilities belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement.

Tel Aviv has been using similar claims on countless occasions since last October, when it markedly intensified its deadly acts of aggression against Lebanon, in order to try to justify the escalation. Hezbollah has, however, invariably refuted the claims.

Also on Wednesday, the United Nations warned in its most recent flash report on the humanitarian crisis caused by the Israeli atrocities targeting Lebanon that the aggression had “reached a critical point.”

The attacks have claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people, which was “58 percent more than the 1,900 fatalities” that were caused by the regime’s 2006 war against Lebanon, the report said.

“Additionally, an estimated 1.3 million people have been displaced, both within Lebanon and into neighboring countries, 33 percent more than the number of people displaced in 2006,” it added.

Women comprised the majority of those who had been rendered homeless within Lebanon as a result of the Israeli attacks, the report noted.

It also regretted that the Israeli attacks had featured 78 assaults on healthcare facilities across the country that had claimed the lives of 130 health workers and injured 111 others.

In response to the aggression, Hezbollah has been staging hundreds of retaliatory strikes against the occupied Palestinian territories and the Israeli forces trying to advance on southern Lebanese areas.

The movement has vowed to sustain its strikes until the regime ends the escalation.

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