US secretary of defence James Mattis arrived in Cairo on Saturday, after saying en route that as offensive operations against ISIL in Syria enter their final stages, he expects Washington's focus to move towards holding territory instead of arming Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Mr Mattis is scheduled to meet with Egyptian president Fatah Abdel El Sisi and defence minister Sedki Sobhi in Cairo before heading on to Jordan, Pakistan and Kuwait, airport officials said.
According to the US defence department, Mr Mattis' five-day trip to the region is aimed at "re-affirm[ing] the enduring US commitment to partnership in the Middle East, West Africa and South Asia". It comes just over a week after the worst-ever Islamic militant attack in Egypt's modern history struck the country's troubled northern Sinai region, with more than two dozen extremists descending on a mosque and killing more than 300 worshippers.
Speaking with reporters on a military plane en route to the Egyptian capital, Mr Mattis did not say if there had already been a halt to weapons transfers.
US president Donald Trump informed Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call last week that Washington was adjusting military support to partners on the ground in Syria.
According to Ankara, Mr Trump specifically said the United States would not supply weapons to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia fighting in Syria.
The YPG — which Ankara views as a threat — spearheads the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias that is fighting ISIL with the help of a US-led coalition.
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Read more:
UN Special Envoy seeks to bring sides back to the table in Syria peace talks in Geneva
US concession to Turkey reflects concerns over Syria
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Until now, however, the Pentagon had only gone so far as to publicly say it was reviewing "adjustments" in arms for the Syrian Kurdish forces.
"The YPG is armed and as the coalition stops offensive [operations] then obviously you don't need that, you need security, you need police forces, that is local forces, that is people who make certain that ISIS doesn't come back," Mr Mattis said in his remarks on Friday.
When asked if that would specifically mean the US would stop arming the YPG, Mr Mattis said: "Yeah, we are going to go exactly along the lines of what the president announced."
Ankara has been infuriated by Washington's support for the YPG, which is seen by Turkey as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The PKK has fought a decades-long insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the US and the European Union.
The US expects to recover heavy weapons and larger vehicles from the YPG, but lighter weapons are unlikely to be completely recovered, American officials have said.
Earlier this week, the US-led coalition fighting ISIL said more than 400 US marines and their artillery would be leaving Syria after helping to capture the city of Raqqa from the extremists.
Mr Mattis said that was part of the US changing the composition of its forces to support diplomats to bring an end to the war.
"The troops are changing their stance … that includes with our allies who are now changing their stance as they come to the limits of where they are going," Mr Mattis said.
From Cairo, the defence secretary will head to Jordan to attend a meeting on countering violent extremism in West Africa, hosted by Jordan's King Abdallah II. On Monday, he will travel to Pakistan where he is scheduled to meet with the prime minister before concluding his trip with a visit to Kuwait the following day.
Egypt is among the top recipients of US military assistance, receiving nearly US$1.3 billion (Dh4.8bn) annually in addition to $250 million in economic aid. That assistance is linked to Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel, and underpins a US-Egyptian security relationship that is now mostly aimed at fighting terrorism.
Following the Sinai attack, Mr El Sisi instructed his security forces to use "all brute force" and gave them three months to restore stability in the volatile northern part of the Sinai Peninsula.
Northern Sinai has been the epicentre of an Islamic insurgency for years, but the insurgency intensified following the 2013 ouster of Mr El Sisi's Islamist predecessor, Mohammed Morsi. Egypt's security forces have been waging a tough and costly campaign against militants in the area, where the local ISIL affiliate spearheads the insurgency.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 400hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh234,000 - Dh329,000
On sale: now
'Skin'
Dir: Guy Nattiv
Starring: Jamie Bell, Danielle McDonald, Bill Camp, Vera Farmiga
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
How to volunteer
The UAE volunteers campaign can be reached at www.volunteers.ae , or by calling 800-VOLAE (80086523), or emailing info@volunteers.ae.
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
World Cup warm-up fixtures
Friday, May 24:
- Pakistan v Afghanistan (Bristol)
- Sri Lanka v South Africa (Cardiff)
Saturday, May 25
- England v Australia (Southampton)
- India v New Zealand (The Oval, London)
Sunday, May 26
- South Africa v West Indies (Bristol)
- Pakistan v Bangladesh (Cardiff)
Monday, May 27
- Australia v Sri Lanka (Southampton)
- England v Afghanistan (The Oval, London)
Tuesday, May 28
- West Indies v New Zealand (Bristol)
- Bangladesh v India (Cardiff)
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'
Rating: 1 out of 4
Running time: 81 minutes
Director: David Blue Garcia
Starring: Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
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more from Janine di Giovanni
The five pillars of Islam
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
German plea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the German parliament that. Russia had erected a new wall across Europe.
"It's not a Berlin Wall -- it is a Wall in central Europe between freedom and bondage and this Wall is growing bigger with every bomb" dropped on Ukraine, Zelenskyy told MPs.
Mr Zelenskyy was applauded by MPs in the Bundestag as he addressed Chancellor Olaf Scholz directly.
"Dear Mr Scholz, tear down this Wall," he said, evoking US President Ronald Reagan's 1987 appeal to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Profile of Tamatem
Date started: March 2013
Founder: Hussam Hammo
Based: Amman, Jordan
Employees: 55
Funding: $6m
Funders: Wamda Capital, Modern Electronics (part of Al Falaisah Group) and North Base Media
