Ramadan Crescent moon sighted; first day of holy month on Saturday

RIYADH: The crescent moon signaling the start of Ramadan on Saturday has been sighted in Saudi Arabia, the moon sighting committee has announced.
Following the sighting of the crescent moon on Friday evening, the holy month of Ramadan, the 9th month of the Islamic Hijri calendar, will begin on March 1, Saturday, the Supreme Court announced.
The crescent sighting was observed across the Kingdom in observatories including Sudair and Tumair.
The Supreme Court on Thursday called on all Muslims in Saudi Arabia to sight the Ramadan crescent on Friday evening.
The court has said anyone who sights the Ramadan crescent with their eyes or through binoculars should notify the nearest court to their location and record their testimony there, or contact the nearest center so that they can be directed to the nearest court.
Saudi Arabia’s moon sighting committee usually observes the moon in the days leading up to the expected start date of Ramadan, but they have encouraged other Muslims who wish to sight the moon to do so as well.
During Ramadan, Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset as part of the Islamic ritual that aims to encourage patience, charity, and community welfare.
It is the month of blessing in which the Holy Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad. Month-long fasting, from dawn to dusk, is one of the five pillars of Islam.
On the auspicious occasion of Ramadan, Muslims mark a turning point of their life where they aim to improve their spirituality, break bad habits instead of putting them on pause, supplicate, heal, give charity, sleep less, pray more and increase imaan – or faith – during this month of forgiveness.

RIYADH: The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday welcomed a recent call by Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party — PKK — for the militant group to disband and lay down its arms.

In a statement, the Kingdom expressed its solidarity with Turkiye and voiced hope that Ocalan’s remarks would translate into concrete steps toward enhancing security, peace and prosperity in the region.

Ocalan’s message, which was read out in Istanbul on Thursday, marked a historic shift in the decades-long conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state.

“All groups must lay down their arms, and the PKK must dissolve itself,” he said in a declaration drafted from his cell on Imrali prison island, where he has been held in solitary confinement since 1999.

The call for disarmament comes four months after Turkish authorities extended an apparent olive branch to the 75-year-old PKK leader. The militant group has waged an armed insurgency against Turkiye since the 1980s, a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Ocalan has played a central role in previous peace negotiations, including a ceasefire attempt in 2013, although previous efforts have failed to yield a lasting resolution. His latest appeal is being closely watched for potential implications on Turkiye’s security landscape and regional stability.