First batch of Qatari Haj pilgrims arrives in Saudi Arabia

ARAB NEWS

August 18, 2017

Jeddah, Aug 18: The first batch of 100 Qatari pilgrims crossed into Saudi Arabia through the Salwa border crossing, and was welcomed by officials.

The pilgrims were allowed in without Hajj permits, and will be treated as guests of King Salman, with all expenses paid.

The king instructed that transport be made available to them from Dammam and Al-Ahsa airports on Saudi Arabian Airlines free of charge to the holy cities.

Col. Hassan Al-Dossari, director of passports at the Salwa crossing, said: “We are honored to serve the guests of God (pilgrims), and happy with the decision of King Salman to let the Qatari brothers enter Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj. We are fully prepared to serve them.”

Al-Dossari added that passport personnel are present in the pilgrims’ lounge around the clock, “and we are proud to serve pilgrims and make things easy for them.”
The president of the General Authority of Civil Aviation, Abdul Hakim Al-Tamimi, instructed the directors of Dammam and Al-Ahsa airports to provide the best services to the Qatari pilgrims.

Samir Hafez, who is in charge of Qatari pilgrims, told Arab News that 50 Qataris, including pilgrims and officials, arrived in Makkah to oversee preparations for the Qatari camps. He said there will be 2,400 Qatari pilgrims this year.

Yesterday, the Qatari camps were open to all media outlets to demonstrate their readiness.

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Israeli forces invade southwestern Syria, set up checkpoint in Quneitra

News Network

November 24,2025

Israeli forces have pushed over the Syrian frontier, erecting a checkpoint and stopping vehicles in the southwestern city of Quneitra, in yet another breach of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

The violation took place on Sunday, when the troops made their way across the border, setting up the outpost near the Ain al-Bayda junction in northern Quneitra, Syrian outlets reported.

According to the al-Ikhbariya paper, an Israeli detachment positioned itself at the junction, halting cars and conducting searches.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that three Israeli military vehicles then moved further into the northern countryside, deploying between the town of Jubata al-Khashab and the villages of Ofaniya and Ain al-Bayda. The agency added that a separate Israeli unit mounted a new incursion in the central region, approaching the villages of Umm Batina and al-Ajraf.

Residents said such activities have surged in recent months, pointing to Israeli advances onto farmland, leveling of extensive forested areas, arrests, and spread of mobile checkpoints.

The Israeli regime began markedly increasing its military aggression against Syria last year.

The escalation coincided with increasingly ferocious onslaughts throughout the country by the so-called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad had confined to northwestern Syria. The HTS, however, managed to overthrow the government as the Israeli attacks would pummel the country’s civilian and defensive infrastructure.

Various reports have shown that, during the escalation, the regime conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes on the Syrian territory and over 400 ground raids into the south.

Following the collapse of the Assad government, Tel Aviv also widened its grip over the occupied Golan Heights by taking control of a demilitarized buffer zone, in defiance of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Earlier this month, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the buffer zone, prompting expressions of alarm on the part of the United Nations.

The United States, the regime’s biggest ally, has, meanwhile, been fraternizing the HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Jolani amid the widely reported prospect of rapprochement with Tel Aviv.

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