CAIRO: The Syrian Arab Republic welcomed on early Saturday the re-activation of its membership in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) after it was frozen for 13 years, the foreign ministry said. 

“This decision represents an important step toward Syria’s return to the regional and international communities as a free and just state,” a ministry said in a statement.

Syria's membership frozen since 2012, was re-activated during a meeting of the 57-member group at the organization's headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, a Turkish diplomatic source said.

The source said the initiative put forth by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to re-activate Syria’s membership was accepted.

A statement posted on the OIC website highlighted Syria's membership as one of the topics in the discussion of the "extraordinary ministerial" meeting at the organization's headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but did not mention how the meeting turned out.

In his opening statenment, OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha said the initiative to include an item on Syria on the agenda of the session comes at an appropriate time. 

In December, Syrian opposition forces led by the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) toppled Bashar Assad after an 11-year civil war, ending his five-decade rule. 

Syria’s new government has since sought to rebuild ties with Arab nations, Western powers, and others.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani was called into the meeting to take Syria’s seat after the vote, the source said. A video shared by Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry showed members applauding as the minister entered the room.

NATO member Turkiye has backed opposition forces looking to oust Assad for years. It is a close ally and supporter of the new government in Damascus, vowing to help rebuild the country and help them train their armed forces.

Last month, Syria’s new President Ahmed Al-Sharaa received an invitation from Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to participate in an Arab League summit in Cairo, a major step in rebuilding ties with the Arab world after Assad’s downfall. 

JERUSALEM: Some 90,000 Palestinians prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City under tight security by Israeli forces in the first Friday prayers of Ramadan.
Thousands made their way from the West Bank into Jerusalem for the prayers after Israel allowed men over 55 and women over 50 to enter from the occupied territory for the prayers.
Tensions have risen in the West Bank in the past weeks amid Israeli raids on militants. But there was no immediate sign of frictions on Friday.

It was the Palestinians’ first chance to enter occupied Jerusalem since last Ramadan about a year ago, when Israel also let in worshippers under similar restrictions.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, the Israeli government has blocked Palestinians in the West Bank from crossing to Jerusalem or visiting Israel.

Last Ramadan, the war was raging, but this time, a fragile ceasefire has been in place since mid-January — though its future is uncertain.
In Gaza, thousands gathered for the Friday communal prayers in the shattered concrete husk of a mosque, heavily damaged by Israeli forces during the fighting.
On Thursday evening, Palestinians strung festive Ramadan lights around the rubble of destroyed buildings surrounding their tent camp in Gaza City and set up long communal tables for hundreds of people where aid groups served up iftar.
At Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Nafez Abu Saker said he left his home in the village of Aqraba in the northern West Bank at 7 a.m., taking three hours to make the 45-km trip through Israeli checkpoints to reach Jerusalem. “If the people from the West Bank will be permitted to come, people from all the cities, villages, and camps will come to Al-Aqsa to pray,” he said.
“The reward of prayer here is 500 prayers — despite the difficulty of getting here. It brings a great reward from God,” said Ezat Abu Laqia, also from Aqraba.
The faithful formed rows to listen to the Friday sermon and kneel in prayer at the foot of the golden Dome of the Rock on the sprawling mosque compound.
The Islamic Trust oversees the Al-Aqsa compound and said 90,000 attended the prayers.
The Israeli police said it deployed thousands of additional officers around the area.
The compound and the surrounding area of Jerusalem’s Old City have been the site of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police in the past.
Thousands of Palestinians coming from the West Bank lined up at the Qalandia checkpoint on the edge of Jerusalem to attend the prayers.  But, some were turned away because they did not have the proper permits or the checkpoint was closed.
Israeli police said authorities had approved the entry of 10,000 Palestinians from the West Bank.
“All the young people, elderly people, and women were waiting here. They refused to let anyone cross at the checkpoint,” said Mohammed Owaizat, who arrived to find the crossing closed.

The first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire brought the release of 25 Israeli hostages held by militants in Gaza and the bodies of eight others in exchange for the freeing of nearly 2,000 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
But an intended second phase of the deal — meant to bring the release of remaining hostages and a lasting truce and complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza — has been thrown into doubt. Israel has balked at entering negotiations over the terms of the second phase. Instead, it has called for Hamas to release half its remaining hostages in return for an extension of the ceasefire and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.
It says its bar on aid to Gaza will continue and could be escalated until Hamas accepts the proposal — a move rights groups and Arab countries have decried as a “starvation tactic.”
Hamas has demanded that the original ceasefire deal be implemented.
Egypt’s State Information Service said that a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Friday to discuss the deal’s implementation and to push for the second phase.
Israel’s military offensive has killed over 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.