AMMAN: Celeste Wallander, the US assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, described Jordan as an important regional ally for Washington, the Jordan News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Speaking during an official visit to the country, she said: “We see Jordan as a key and strategic partner in the region. US defense relations with it are based on cooperation that dates back for many years, and the annual joint drills are the best example of that and they are one of the reasons for my visit.”

DUBAI: The UAE has condemned Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday during which a number of Palestinians were killed or injured, the Emirates News Agency reported.

The Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation urged Israeli authorities to halt the escalation of violence and avoid stoking the rising tensions and growing instability in the region.
 

TUNIS: An attack near a synagogue in Tunisia killed two security officers and two visitors on Tuesday the government said amid an annual pilgrimage to the island of Djerba that draws hundreds of Jews from Europe and Israel.
The attack was staged by a guard at a naval installation on Djerba who used his weapon to shoot a colleague and seize his ammunition before heading toward the synagogue, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

KHARTOUM: The war between Sudan’s generals is having increasingly severe consequences for civilians, with a doubling over the past week of the number uprooted from their homes, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
Hundreds have been killed so far. New worries emerged as separate ethnic clashes claimed at least 16 lives in the country’s south, and a powerful group in the east — so far untouched by the war — demonstrated in support of the army.

LONDON: Since two devastating earthquakes struck northwest Syria and southern Turkiye on February 6, survivors have been living in temporary shelters and unofficial camps awaiting news of resettlement.

The sheer scale of shortage of accommodation has overwhelmed NGOs and local authorities, keeping families who lost their homes in limbo. Many traumatized survivors of the disaster are still too afraid to return indoors.