Qatar told to stop cleric’s anti-UAE outbursts

January 25, 2014

Dubai, Jan 25: Qatar was urged to stop a cleric from continuing to insult the UAE, following a televised Friday prayer sermon in which he accused the UAE of being “against Islamic rule”.

The Egyptian-born Yousuf Al Qaradawi, speaking live on Qatari state TV from a Doha mosque, was talking about the developments in Egypt that followed the ouster of former president Mohammad Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader, last July by a popular uprising.

Al Qaradawi heads the Muslim Brotherhood affiliated International Federation of Muslim Scholars (IFMS). He said the new Egyptian administration was “ruling against Allah’s will” and that Mursi must be reinstated to realise a government by Islamic rule. He criticised the UAE for supporting the current Egyptian government claiming the UAE “has always been opposed to Islamic rule”.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Mohammad Gargash condemned the comments. “It is shameful that we allow Al Qaradawi to continue his insults of the UAE and ties [that bind] the peoples of the Arabian Gulf,” he wrote on his official twitter account.

Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Deputy Chairman of Dubai Police and Public Security, wondered on his twitter account why Qatar allowed such comments against the UAE by a cleric who is “known to have ties to terrorist groups”.

At least two members of Al Qaradawi’s IFMS were convicted in the UAE last year on charges of plotting to de-stabilise the government and forming a clandestine Muslim Brotherhood cell in the UAE. Another 30-member Brotherhood cell was convicted last week of plotting against the UAE security.

Analysts said the recent convictions were the reason behind Friday’s “Al Qaradawi rants against the UAE”. They urged the Qatari government to move against the cleric who has “been calling for violent opposition to the Egyptian government, especially after the successful constitutional referendum”.

“Because of your fatwas, thousands have been killed,” Lt. General Dahi tweeted, addressing Al Qaradawi, describing him as “the cleric of sedition”.

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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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