Kuwaiti emir discusses ties with UAE national security adviser

DAMASCUS: The President of the Syrian Arab Republic Ahmed Al-Sharaa received an invitation from Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to take part in an emergency Arab League summit in Egypt on March 4, the Syrian presidency said in a statement on Sunday.

The upcoming Cairo meeting is set to focus primarily on Arab efforts to counter US President Donald Trump’s plan to redevelop Gaza into an international beach resort and his calls for Egypt and Jordan to resettle displaced Gazans.

Also on Sunday, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit met Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi to prepare for next month’s emergency Arab summit and discuss the latest developments in Gaza.
The talks focused on consolidating ceasefire efforts and ensuring sustainable humanitarian aid delivery, the Jordan News Agency reported.
Aboul Gheit and Safadi reiterated their rejection of any forced displacement of Palestinians and expressed support for Egypt’s reconstruction plan for Gaza, which would allow residents to remain in their homes.
They warned against escalating tensions in the occupied West Bank and called for an end to illegal Israeli actions. They also reaffirmed their belief that the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, remained the only viable path to lasting regional peace.
Safadi and Aboul Gheit also discussed the situation in Syria and stressed the need to ensure stability and the safety of its citizens.

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that southern Syria must be demilitarized entirely, warning that Israel would not accept the presence of the forces of the Damascus government near its territory.
“We will not allow forces from the HTS organization or the new Syrian army to enter the area south of Damascus,” Netanyahu said, referring to Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, which spearheaded the offensive that toppled Bashar Assad in December.
“We demand the complete demilitarization of southern Syria, including the Quneitra, Daraa, and Suwayda provinces,” Netanyahu declared at a military ceremony.
The same day Assad was ousted, Israel announced that its troops were entering a UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights since 1974.
Israel seized much of the Golan Heights from the Syrian Arab Republic in a war in 1967, later annexing the area in a move largely unrecognized by the international community.
Netanyahu said that Israeli forces would remain in the buffer zone “for an indefinite period to protect our communities and thwart any threat.”
Israel carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria during its civil war, which broke out in 2011.
After the lightning offensive that ousted Syria’s longtime President, Assad, Israel carried out hundreds more airstrikes on Syrian military assets in what it said was a bid to prevent them from falling into hostile hands.