GCC vows tough steps to curb ‘media extremism’

October 25, 2014

Jeddah, Oct 25: Gulf states are stepping up their awareness campaigns to alert young people about the dangers of extremism, said Kuwait’s Information Minister Sheikh Salman Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah.

He said the new ‘Gulf Awareness’ programs would adopt a different approach with the aims of moving youth away from extremist and harmful views.

Al-Sabah’s remarks followed a meeting of the Gulf information ministers that concluded in Kuwait recently.

The meeting discussed plans for combating extremism.

Terrorism in the media has become a global phenomenon, he said.

A recent meeting of interior ministers of the European Union has stressed the need to boost monitoring mechanisms against media networking sites that support terrorism, he pointed out.

Gulf authorities will support educational and media awareness campaigns to prevent terrorist ideologies and extremist thoughts from spreading across the Internet via social networking sites.

GCC countries plan to launch educational and media awareness campaigns that challenge terrorist ideologies, and defuse extremism that is today spreading across the Internet through social networking sites.

While ruling out any censorship measures on social networking sites, the minister said GCC telecommunication companies would be required to develop accurate monitoring systems.

He said the conditions in the region have called for reviewing priorities and focusing on the phenomenon of extremism.

According to Al-Sabah, the ministers of information agreed during their recent meeting in Kuwait to set out new plans for media awareness campaigns as well as regulatory measures to monitor and review any developments.

During the meeting, the GCC ministers also agreed to a proposal submitted by the Saudi cultural minister to “employ awareness and educational measures to challenge extremist and terror-related thoughts, an issue that has been threatening all members of the Gulf society.”

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Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

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