Umrah season 1445: Companies must adhere to services controls’ document of pilgrims

News Network
July 10, 2023

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Riyadh, July 10: The Hajj and Umrah Ministry has stressed that all Umrah companies and establishments must adhere to the services controls' document of the pilgrims, and visitors of the Prophet’s Mosque who are coming from outside Saudi Arabia in the new Umrah season of 1445 AH.

The document has revealed that the pilgrims in the age category under 18-years-old must be with a companion.

The reservation of the contracted services should be within the program, provided that it includes the main required services to issue the Umrah permit, which is the residency place, transportation inside Saudi Arabia, insurance, and the ground services.

The duration of the program must be compatible with the actual residence period of the pilgrims inside the Kingdom, provided that the validity of the residency (Iqama) does not exceed 90 days from the date of entering Saudi Arabia, or with a maximum of the following date 29/11/1445 AH.

The document has classified the newly licensed companies and establishments, whose number has reached 350 and might reach 550 by the end of the upcoming two weeks, into 3 categories (A, B, and C) according to their numerical inputs in the past two years.

The companies and establishments who were licensed for the first time are in the category C have also the right to move to a higher classification according to its numerical inputs during the first operational period specified by 90 days.

The classified companies are obligated to enter the specified numbers for them to move to a higher classification, except for the companies and establishments in category A.

The companies in the category B and C who were not able to achieve the required numbers will not be able to continue entering new numbers, except of what is based to its real inputs during this season according to the entry and exit system that applied during the late of last season.

This obliges them to let 75% from the pilgrims who are inside Saudi Arabia to depart to their countries, therefore, they then will be allowed to enter new numbers.

This classification will contribute in improving the inputs of the emerging establishments and companies, as well as reducing the costs of the Umrah programs to reach new numbers.

The document also requires the Umrah companies, after issuing the visa, to make an actual reservation to perform Umrah or to pray in the Prophet's Mosque via the Nusuk app, in a way that is suitable with the pilgrims' program.

It must be taken into account that the permits in Nusuk app are approved and active permits, unless the entry of the pilgrim to Saudi Arabia has not been proven before 6 hours from the start of the permit, otherwise, the permit will automatically be canceled.

In the event that the pilgrims' program has been amended, then, the previous permits in Nusuk app should be deleted, and to re-issue them in accordance with the updated dates of the program.

It is necessary that the pre-readiness data be entered before the arrival of pilgrims with a maximum of 24 hours. The companies must abide by requesting the buses through the grouping orders from and to the land, sea and air ports, and those in between the cities.

The companies should take into account that the grouping orders are in accordance with the latest update for the pilgrim's program.

In the event that one group of Umrah pilgrims comes in multiple batches and at separate times, then the companies must take into account the approved policies of the General Syndicate of Cars (GSC) in this regard.

Moreover, the companies are the ones who are responsible for the pilgrims' transportation and their services inside Saudi Arabia after the end of the contracted program. Also before the expiration of the validity period of stay in the visa.

They must follow up the updates for the air carriers' requirements according to the pilgrim country when they depart from Saudi Arabia and before boarding the plane in case the staff in the airport did not allow the pilgrim to travel. The authorized company is responsible for hosting the pilgrims.

Grouping the pilgrims and guiding them must be through groups from the residency place to the Two Holy Mosques to perform the Umrah or for a visiting purpose.

Each group must have a leader based on the time and the approved program, who also takes responsibility for any violation of the organization and the consequences that may occur.

The companies and establishments are obligated to enter the data of pilgrims, who want to depart, through the platform in the pre-entered grouping order, also to print a list of passengers’ names on each bus and hand it over to the driver.

They have also to guide the buses to the grouping centers to complete the departure procedure, and to ensure that the external agencies inform the pilgrims with the necessity of following up the regulations and guides related to not carrying any prohibited items upon their arrival.

Companies should notify the external agencies to ensure that no prohibited materials are entered, as they must guide the pilgrims the importance of their adherence to customs disclosure instructions at the ports upon arrival or departure

The document said that it is important for companies and establishments to provide the necessary services for the pilgrims upon their presence inside Saudi Arabia, noting that a representative must accompany the pilgrims when they visit the historical sites.

The document required them also to make a plan for grouping the pilgrims in rainy conditions in order to ensure their safety.

The establishments and companies should be obligated by providing management and field cadres to serve the pilgrims and introducing them with the electronic path, in addition to the contact data.

They are also asked to employ a number of representatives that is appropriate with the number of pilgrims, and in accordance with what the Ministry decides in this regard.

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News Network
November 10,2024

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The media office in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli regime has been waging a genocidal war since last October, says as many as 188 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the onset of the brutal military onslaught.

The office provided the figure on Saturday, naming four journalists as the most recent victims of the onslaught.

It identified the foursome as Zahraa Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Ahmad Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Mustafa Khadr Bahar, and Abdel Rahman Khadr Bahar.

The office said it “strongly condemns the targeting, killing, and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation and holds it fully responsible for committing this heinous crime.”

“We call on the international community, international organizations, and those involved in journalistic work worldwide to take action against the occupation, pursue it in international courts for its ongoing crimes, and pressure it to halt the genocide and the targeted killings of Palestinian journalists,” it said.

Earlier in the day, the office said the Israeli regime had bombed the tents sheltering journalists and displaced persons at the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza for the ninth consecutive time.

The atrocity that claimed the lives of two people and injured 26 others came as part of “the genocidal crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army against hospitals, civilians, and displaced persons,” it said.

The media office held the regime and the United States, its biggest ally, as well as other countries aiding the genocide fully responsible for such systematic crimes.

At least 43,552 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 102,765 others wounded since the launch of the war that followed a retaliatory operation by Gaza’s resistance groups.

The fatalities include 44 people, who were killed across the coastal sliver, in the most recent phase of the military onslaught.

As many as 24 of the victims were killed in the northern part of the territory, where the regime has markedly intensified its deadly attacks for weeks.

They included an eight-year-old child and a five-year-old one, who lost their lives after Israeli warplanes targeted a group of minors filling up jerry cans with water alongside their mother at the Jabalia Refugee camp.

Gaza’s heath ministry, meanwhile, said a number of victims remained under the rubble and in the streets following Israeli airstrikes, saying ambulances and civil defense teams could not reach them due to the sheer extent of the destruction caused by the raids and obstruction caused by the regime.

Also on Saturday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, a United Nations-backed assessment, warned that famine was looming in northern Gaza amid escalated Israeli aggression and the regime’s near-total siege of the targeted areas.

The alert from the Famine Review Committee warned of "an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine occurring, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip."

On October 17, the body projected that the number of people in Gaza facing "catastrophic" food insecurity between November and April 2025 would reach 345,000, or 16 percent of the population.

The IPC report classified that figure as Phase 5 -- a situation when "starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident."

The Israeli military, however, questioned the report's credibility.

"To date, all assessments by the IPC have proven incorrect and inconsistent with the situation on the ground," the army said in a statement, denouncing "partial, biased data and superficial sources with vested interests."

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News Network
November 13,2024

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Beirut: The Israeli army on Tuesday continued to launch attacks against civilians in Lebanon, targeting them in several areas without prior evacuation warnings.

However, 13 airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs in the space of only three hours were preceded by evacuation warnings.

The attacks caused no injuries but resulted in widespread destruction of residential buildings and commercial, medical and educational centers.

The airstrikes in southern Lebanon and Bekaa region, reaching Akkar in Lebanon’s far north, erased any hope of a near-term ceasefire settlement.

The strikes were accompanied by an announcement on Israel’s Channel 14 that “the Israeli army has expanded its operations in southern Lebanon to areas it had not reached since the beginning of the ground operation.”

About 50 days have passed since Israel intensified its hostile operations in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah. The death toll from these confrontations and attacks has passed 3,200, with more than 14,000 wounded.

For the first time, an airstrike targeted a mountainous area between Baalchmay and Aabadiyeh on the road leading to Aley, destroying a building housing displaced people.

The mayor of Baalchmay, Adham Al-Danaf, confirmed that “the airstrike targeted a residential building in the Dhour Aabadiyeh area.”

The initial toll from the Ministry of Health showed “five people killed and two injured.”

The raids that targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs for the first time in the morning, unlike nightly raids before, caused huge destruction. Those who evacuated their homes after Israeli warnings, used their phones to record the collapse of empty buildings in Sfeir, Haret Hreik, Bir Al-Abed, Mrayjeh, Laylaki and Hadath.

Israeli warplanes also targeted Tyre, where a strike on a building killed three people and injured many others, while a raid on Tefahta killed a man identified as Kifah Khalil and his family.

Attacks were widespread, with Yater and Zebqine subject to artillery shelling, a civilian being killed in Hermel, and further attacks on Bouday and an area between the towns of Srifa and Arsoun.

A raid on the town of Siddiqin killed two people and injured several others, while an attack on the Mechref farm led to one fatality and multiple injuries.

The search for those missing after an Israeli raid on the town of Ain Yaacoub in Akkar, in the northernmost part of Lebanon, continued until dawn.

During the operation, 14 bodies were retrieved, identified as those of residents displaced from the town of Arabsalim in the Iqlim Al-Tuffah area of the south, along with members of a Syrian family, a mother and three of her children. Additionally, there were 10 people in critical condition.

The targeted residence belongs to a Lebanese citizen, Hussein Hashim, who is reported to be a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.

An airstrike on the town of Saksakiyeh in the Sidon region on Monday night resulted in yet another tragedy.

It appeared that the intended target was the Shoumer family, who just days before lost Hussein Amin Shoumer and his two sisters in a drone strike near Al-Awali River.

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued additional evacuation warnings for towns in the southern region along the Litani River, which, according to estimates from the mayors, are currently 90 percent uninhabited.

In the meantime, Hezbollah announced its continued efforts to “combat the intrusions of Israeli forces and to strike military installations and towns in the north.”

Hezbollah said in a statement that it confronted “an Israeli Hermes 450 drone in the airspace of Nabatieh and forced it to leave Lebanese airspace.”

The party also announced that it targeted “Kfar Blum settlement with a rocket salvo.”

On the Israeli side, air raid sirens sounded in areas of Upper and Western Galilee and in the town of Kiryat Shmona and its surroundings.

The Israeli army confirmed that “a drone exploded in Nesher, east of Haifa, without activating the air raid sirens,” and that “a drone launched from Lebanon crashed into a school in Gesher HaZiv, north of Nahariya.”

Israel’s Channel 13 reported the Israeli military’s assessment regarding Hezbollah’s military strength, claiming that the group currently possesses approximately 100 precision missiles, thousands of artillery shells, and hundreds of rockets. Additionally, it was highlighted that “there are around 200 Lebanese towns that remain unvisited.”

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News Network
November 18,2024

Advisors to US President-elect Donald Trump have instructed his allies and associates to refrain from using the inflammatory language they previously employed when discussing issues related to migrants and the deportation of asylum seekers, in a bid to avoid “looking like Nazis.”

US media reports said that Trump’s associates had been asked to stop using the word “camps” to describe potential facilities that would be used to accommodate migrants rounded up in deportation operations across the country.

The reports said the US president-elect’s allies had been ordered to stave off such charged terms as they would bring to mind “Nazis,” and be used against Trump.

“I have received some guidance to avoid terms, like ‘camps,’ that can be twisted and used against the president, yes,” one Trump ally told American monthly magazine Rolling Stone.

“Apparently, some people think it makes us look like Nazis.”

The presidential advisers also cautioned surrogates and allies to keep racist terms, which have dogged Trump’s campaign, out of their remarks.

They said with Trump’s heated rhetoric that used to compare undocumented immigrants to “animals” and his slight that they are “poisoning the blood of our country,” detractors did not need to reach too far to find parallels to Nazi Germany.

Stephen Miller, who Trump tapped to be his deputy chief of staff of policy, specifically used the word “camps” to describe holding facilities that he hoped the military could put together for immigrants.

Tom Homan, who served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is chosen by Trump to be in charge of the US borders, was no stranger to such language.

“It’s not gonna be a mass sweep of neighborhoods,” he said in an interview earlier this week. “It’s not gonna be building concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous.”

Becoming a little more forthright about the new government’s aggressive deportation plans, Homan likened the early days of the Trump administration to the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“I got three words for them – shock and awe,” he said. “You’re going to see us take this country back.”

Trump made immigration a central element of his 2024 presidential campaign but unlike his first run, which was mainly focused on building a border wall, he has shifted his attention to interior enforcement and the removal of undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

People close to the US president and his aides are laying the groundwork for expanding detention facilities to fulfill his mass deportation campaign promise.

The businessman-turned-politician deported more than 1.5 million people during his first term.

The figure do not include the millions of people turned away at the border under a Covid-era policy enacted by Trump and used during most of Biden’s term.

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