New KSA campaign to expel illegal expats

March 1, 2015

Jeddah, Mar 1: Intensive security measures are in force to seize foreigners who violate the Kingdom’s labor laws, said a Jeddah police source.

Security checkpoints on roads are also focused on ensuring the success of Saudi Arabia’s campaign against undocumented workers.

“The highway security patrol enforces the regulations and directions of the Ministry of Interior,” said Maj. Gen. Khaled Al-Qahtani, commander of the special force for highway patrol.

“Such operations involve tracking the illegal labor force and detecting violators. This is our daily duty to boost highway security,” he said.

With the beginning of the second labor correctional campaign, he indicated that intensive measures will be implemented at security checkpoints on roads.

The commander stressed that rounding up people violating the labor and residency regulations never stopped.

Brig. Saeed Al-Qarni, director of security patrols in Makkah, said security forces will extend support to the labor office in monitoring commercial establishments and seize the violators.

Authorities in Makkah arrest 400 to 500 violators daily. Most of them do not carry their employment cards (iqamas), he said.

Fahad Momenah, a member of the National Committee for Construction, said the construction sector will be the most affected by the campaigns against violators.

Construction companies largely depend on foreign workers to implement their projects, he pointed out.

He said about 80 percent of laborers in the construction sector worked on the daily wage system, although this is in violation of the labor and residency regulations.

“This will negatively impact the construction companies when the second correctional campaign begins. But the most affected will be small enterprises because they depend on labor violators,” he explained.

The correctional campaign helps eliminate fake contractors, he said. This is one of the benefits of the campaign, he added.

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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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