Oman: Civil Aviation Authority refutes false claims about committee formation
Muscat: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has officially denied claims circulating regarding the formation of a committee linked to recent international developments. In a statement, the Authority clarified that these claims are not based on any official source.
The CAA urged the public to rely solely on official channels for accurate information and cautioned against spreading misinformation.
2022 © All right reserved for Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising (OEPPA) Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
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The National
16 minutes ago
- The National
Egypt scrambles to secure energy sector as Israeli gas cut-offs disrupt power grid
Israeli gas supply to Egypt was cut off again on Sunday night as the war with Iran continues to intensify, two government sources overseeing the matter confirmed to The National on Monday. Supplies had resumed on Thursday following a six-day halt since June 13 when Tel Aviv launched an attack on Iranian nuclear sites and killed top Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists. Israel shut down two of its three gasfields on the day it attacked Iran. Israeli officials said this was a precautionary measure taken in anticipation of an Iranian retaliation, which came later the same day. The enemies have been exchanging missile and drone strikes since then with large-scale infrastructure destruction and casualties reported on both sides. Gas supplies to Egypt and Jordan were halted and prioritised for local use in Israel, and on June 13 the Egyptian government forced fertiliser factories to halt production nationwide given the large amounts of natural gas they use. The government said it was prioritising the energy requirements of power stations, especially because of the heavy use of fans and air conditioning units in Egypt in summer. Israeli gas supply to Egypt resumed on Thursday, though in much lower quantities, the two sources said. This was because only gas coming from the Tamar field resumed. The larger Leviathan field was ordered shut by the Israeli energy ministry – Chevron, which runs the field, has ceased all production there since. However, supplies to Egypt were halted again four days after resuming, the officials said, underscoring that the halt came after the US's contentious intervention in the Israel-Iran war on Saturday, when it launched a series of air strikes on Iranian nuclear enrichment sites. The move has stoked fears of an intense Iranian response and a long, drawn out war in the region. Before supplies were halted, Egypt was importing around 1 billion cubic feet per day from Israel, accounting for around 13 per cent of Cairo's total daily consumption of around 7.5 billion cfd, of which around 3.8 billion is produced locally. To counter the unexpected drop in supplies, Egypt made arrangements to use three floating regasification units, two in the Red Sea and one in the Mediterranean, according to one of the sources. These will receive shipments of liquefied natural gas, regasify it and then pump it through the national power grid. The vessels were acquired late last year to help mitigate power cuts this summer by diversifying the country's sources of energy, according to a speech on Saturday by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly in the Red Sea port city of Ain Sokhna. Mr Madbouly was there to witness the first of the three additional regasification units being connected to the power grid. It is the second such unit operating in Egypt after one was put into service last year to help with energy shortages at the time. The other two are expected to enter service by next month, he said. Each of the ships has the capacity to produce between 600 million and 750 million cfd, which would easily cover the drop in natural gas supplies from Israel, according to multiple officials, including the Prime Minister. One of the units was previously stationed in Aqaba, Jordan, under a 2024 agreement between Egypt and Jordan to optimise gas supply. The agreement allowed Jordan to access Egypt's floating storage and regasification units via the existing pipeline network between the two countries. The relocation of the unit to Ain Sokhna at Egypt's request earlier this month means that Jordan will get its share of gas through pipelines from Egypt rather than through its own grid at Aqaba. Jordan's share of LNG under the deal is 350 million cubic feet per day, but it is now receiving about a third of that due to shortages, the officials said. Shipments of LNG have continued to arrive in Egypt, according to Mr Madbouly, and several are waiting to be unloaded on the floating regasification units. A stopgap supply of LNG was provided to Egypt on short notice from Saudi Arabia's national energy company Aramco. Additionally, some shipments were provided by commodity trader Trafigura, according to data collected by Mohammed Ragab, a financial analyst. He praised the government's handling of the energy crisis this summer. Cost-saving measures In addition to the diversification of its sources of fuel, the Egyptian government has also introduced a number of cost-saving measures including shutting off street lights in residential neighbourhoods and closing government buildings by 8pm. Mosques and churches have been instructed to turn off their lights when prayers are finished and billboard lighting was also turned off, among other measures. Despite these measures, power cuts have been reported in various rural provinces over the past week, according to one of the government officials who spoke to The National on the condition of anonymity. Mr Madbouly addressed the matter during a speech last week and said that this was due to maintenance work in preparation for the summer season. However, the official said that 'while the outages were not directly caused by natural gas shortages, the whole mechanism has been deeply disrupted by Israel cutting off gas so abruptly'. He added that 'switching to different sources of fuel will require structural changes to the existing mechanism that might cause more power cuts down the line'. As power cuts in Egypt look more likely amid the recent escalation between Iran, Israel and the US, there are growing fears in Cairo that a prolonged war might cause much deeper damage to its already vulnerable economy, particularly because of its heavy reliance on imports and investment. 'Interbank data shows that large amounts of hot cash were withdrawn from Egyptian markets in the days following Israel's attack on Iran,' Mr Ragab told The National. 'Though these numbers have started to rebound slightly, a prolonged war could very well result in the exit of larger amounts of cash invested in Egypt's short debt markets which would cause a similarly disastrous inflationary wave as the one that took place in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.' As the region braces for the next phase of the Israel-Iran war, Egypt faces mounting challenges in safeguarding its energy security and economic stability. While government efforts to diversify energy sources and introduce cost-saving measures have provided some relief, the abrupt disruptions in Israeli gas supplies have exposed the fragility of its energy infrastructure.
The National
20 minutes ago
- The National
Have US strikes on Iran brought Netanyahu closer to declaring ceasefire?
As the region appeared to be heading for uncontrolled escalation after the US joined Israel in attacking Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the possibility of an end to hostilities, albeit with major caveats and no timeline. In a statement delivered on Sunday evening, the Prime Minister said Israel was close to achieving its goals in Iran and promised his country would not be dragged into a 'war of attrition'. 'We won't pursue our actions beyond what is needed to achieve [objectives] but we also won't finish too soon. When the objectives are achieved, then the operation is complete and the fighting will stop,' Mr Netanyahu said. 'We embarked on this operation to eliminate the two concrete threats to our existence: the nuclear threat and the ballistic missile threat. We are moving step by step towards achieving these goals. We are very, very close to completing them.' The confident assessment came after the US carried out overnight strikes on three key Iranian nuclear sites, including dropping "bunker bombs" on underground uranium enrichment facilities at Fordow and Natanz. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said those sites had been 'obliterated'. Mr Netanyahu said the US attack had inflicted "very serious damage" at Fordow. With Iran escalating its rhetoric after the attack and continuing major strikes on Israel, the urgent question now is whether the US and Israel are truly willing to work towards a diplomatic solution. Israel responded on Monday by attacking "regime targets and government repression bodies in the heart of Tehran with unprecedented force', including the internal security base of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the headquarters of the affiliated Basij volunteer militia, and Evin jail, where political prisoners are held, Defence Minister Israel Katz said. "Israel's endgame isn't straightforward," a senior regional security official told The National. "The security assessment in some Arab capitals is that Netanyahu's government of extremists feels emboldened by the US strikes and will continue the war with the help of the US and European countries until a dramatic change happens in Iran. "It's very hard to see him stopping the war now. This isn't about nuclear sites any more. It's about Netanyahu's legacy." Despite Mr Netanyahu long being accused by his many opponents in Israel of being willing to place the country in dangerous situations to ensure his political survival, there has been little such criticism over the attack on Iran, indicating widespread belief among Jewish Israelis that Iran is an existential threat. All but the most left-wing opposition politicians have had nothing but praise for the way the campaign against Iran has proceeded, especially the US decision to become involved. Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition and one of Mr Netanyahu's highest-profile critics, said only: 'Thank you President Trump for your historic decision. Israel, the Middle East and the world are now safer.' Democrat leader Yair Golan, who heads arguably the most dynamic party on Israel's beleaguered and dwindling left, described the US strikes as 'impressive, important and justified'. Israeli pollster Dahlia Scheindlin told The National that Israel's plans for the war with Iran seem far clearer than its war against Hamas in Gaza, now in its 21st month. 'There was clearly not only a bank of [Iranian] targets but also a bank of achievable aims that Israel will have decided once they are achieved, the war can be over in Iran'. Ms Scheindlin said she was 'watching very closely to see if [Mr Netanyahu's] language changes in that regard'. 'If I piece together what he has said and done, the plan was to define a clear set of achievable aims, with measures of how those are to be assessed. This is consistent with the longer-term history of him wanting to destroy these two [nuclear and missile] programmes and preferring short, definitive wars over ones that are dragged out, of the kind he got dragged into on October 7.' She added that, for now, Mr Netanyahu's campaign has vast support among Jewish Israelis: 'There's nothing clouding the sense of moral purity around the need to counter Iran. There's no occupation to spoil it and it doesn't tie into deep internal ideological divisions among the Israeli public, like Gaza does.'
Gulf Business
41 minutes ago
- Gulf Business
Update: These UAE, international carriers suspend Mideast flights amid Iran-Israel-US tensions
Image: AI generated/ For illustrative purposes only Israel's strikes against Iran have prompted As the crisis entered a new phase following the US attack on Iranian nuclear sites, some airlines moved to cancel flights to hubs like Dubai and Qatar's Doha. Below are some of the airlines that have cancelled their flights to and from the region: AIRBALTIC Latvia's airBaltic said that all flights to and from Tel Aviv until September 30 had been cancelled. AEROFLOT Russia's Aeroflot said that it had cancelled flights between Moscow and Tehran, and made changes to other routes in the Middle East. AIR EUROPA The Spanish airline said that it has cancelled its flights to and from Tel Aviv until July 31. AIR FRANCE-KLM Air France said that it had suspended its flights to and from Tel Aviv until further notice. Air France KLM cancelled flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh on June 22 and June 23. KLM said that it had cancelled all its flights to and from Tel Aviv until at least July 1 and added that some flights to, from or via Beirut until June 29 may be disrupted. DELTA AIR LINES The US carrier said that travel to, from, or through Tel Aviv may be impacted between June 12 and August 31. EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES The carrier said that it had cancelled its regular flight schedule for EL AL and Sundor through June 23. Additionally, flights scheduled to depart through July 15 have been closed for new bookings until security situation becomes clearer. ETIHAD AIRWAYS It said that it had cancelled flights between Abu Dhabi and Amman until June 20 and between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv until June 30. EMIRATES FLYDUBAI Flydubai said that it had temporarily suspended flights to and from Iran, Iraq, Israel and Syria until June 30. IAG IAG-owned British Airways said that its flights to Tel Aviv remain suspended until July 31 and flights to Amman and Bahrain are suspended up to and including June 30. The British carrier was set to resume Dubai and Doha flights on June 23 after cancelling routes to and from those airports the day before. IAG's low-cost airline, Iberia Express, had previously said that it had cancelled its flights to Tel Aviv until June 30. ISRAIR The Israeli airline said that it had cancelled all its flights from and to Israel until June 30. ITA AIRWAYS The Italian Airline said that it would extend the suspension of Tel Aviv flights until July 31, including two flights scheduled on August 1. LUFTHANSA GROUP Lufthansa said that it had suspended all flights to and from Beirut until and including June 30 and to and from Tel Aviv and Tehran until and including July 31. Flights to and from Amman and Erbil are cancelled until and including July 11. The German airline added that it would also refrain from using airspace of the countries concerned until further notice. PEGASUS The Turkish airline said that it had cancelled flights to Iran until June 30 and flights to Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan until June 23. QATAR AIRWAYS Qatar Airways said that it had temporarily cancelled flights to and from Iraq, Iran and Syria. RYANAIR Ryanair said that it had cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until September 30. SINGAPORE AIRLINES The Asian carrier on June 22 cancelled flying from Singapore to Dubai following a security assessment. The flight was set to resume on June 23. TAROM Romania's flag carrier said that it had suspended all commercial flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut and Amman until June 24. TUS AIRWAYS The Cypriot airline cancelled all its flights to and from Israel scheduled until June 24 (inclusive). Flights scheduled for departure between June 25 and June 30 are currently closed for sale, pending further developments, it said. UNITED AIRLINES The US carrier said that travel to and from Tel Aviv may be affected between June 13 and August 1. Flights to Dubai between June 18 and 25 may also be affected. WIZZ AIR Wizz Air said it had suspended its operations to and from Tel Aviv and Amman until September 15. The Hungarian airline will also avoid overflying Israeli, Iraqi, Irani and Syrian airspace until further notice.
