Category: General

Damascus, President Bashar al-Assad met with a number of Baathist economics professors from various government universities.

President al-Assad stressed that finding solutions to our challenges and problems is a cumulative process in which dialogue plays a major role because it creates the right vision and policies.

President al-Assad said that the dialogue cannot be productive at the level of major economic, social and political issues unless it is systematic, comprehensive and continuous at the level of society, institutions, the media, and among various segments and sectors, and supported by a scientific, practical, and academic mentality.

Several topics were addressed during the dialogue, such as the required identity of the Syrian economy, socialism, subsidy policies, corruption, economic development and growth policies.

The public sector and its role in the State and the partnership with the private sector to reactivate production were also discussed at the meeting.

President al-Assad considered th
at when we talk about subsidy as being based on ideology or a charitable motive, it will not be successful, as there is no country or society that follows this approach, adding that when we see the subsidy as part of the economy, only then it turns into a useful situation; subsidy is necessary, even the most capitalist countries provide it , but its form and the mechanisms are different.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

Muscat: A press conference was held in Muscat today to announce the domains set for the Sultan Qaboos Award for Culture, Arts and Literature.

During the press conference, Habib Mohammed Al Riyami, Chairman of Sultan Qaboos Higher Centre for Culture and Science, said that the award was aimed at celebrating honouring intellectuals, artists and writers who renew thought, elevate human values and emphasize Oman’s contribution to human civilization. He added that, this year the award is allocated to Omani literati only.

Al Riyami said that the award celebrates contributions in three permanent domains: Culture, arts and literature.

This year the award in each field will focus on one topic, as the culture branch was allocated to Omani environmental studies, while the arts branch was allocated to radio programmes. The literature branch was allocated to eloquent Arabic poetry, Al Riyami explained.

Source: Oman News Agency

Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman’s total production of electricity till the end of January 2024 recorded a rise by 14.1% to reach 2609.3 GW per hour compared to 2287.2 GW per hour during the corresponding period in 2023, according to the data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

Statistics indicate that the governorates of North Al Batinah, South Al Batinah and A’Dhahirah recorded a total production capacity of 1660.1 GW per hour.

The total production in the Governorate of Muscat reached 1.7 GW per hour, while in the Governorate of Dhofar it stood at 297.2 GW per hour.

Total production in the governorates of North A’Shariqyah and South A’Sharqiyah increased by 30.5% to reach 627.9 GW per hour, while total production declined in the Governorate of Al Wusta by 93.5% to reach 1.4 GW per hour.

In the Governorate of Musandam, total production went up by 14.2% to reach 24.4 GW per hour.

Moreover, the Sultanate of Oman’s net electricity production till the end of January 2024 incr
eased by 17.7% to stand at 2608.2 GW per hour.

On the other hand, Oman’s water production rose by 1.8% to reach 42,185,700 cubic meters by the end of January 2024 compared to 41,421,600 cubic meters produced during the corresponding period in 2023.

Source: Oman News Agency

Muscat: The Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ) has awarded a consortium of an Omani and a Saudi companies a tender to provide consulting services (design and supervision of infrastructure facilities) for the first phase of Al Dhahirah Governorate’s Integrated Economic Zone.

The first phase of the project has an area of 20 square kilometres, of which 6.5 square kilometres will be implemented as a preliminary phase that includes a land port to be managed and operated by Asyad Group provided that the remaining part of the zone’s lands be developed for future expansions to keep pace with requirements of all economic sectors.

Eng. Yahya Khamis Al Zedjali, Adviser to OPAZ Chairman for Planning, said that the tender’s tasks include detailed designs for infrastructure facilities, the preparation of tender documents for construction works and the supervision, completion, operation and delivery of the project.

The tender also includes the supervision of the land port, road networks, el
ectricity and communication services, water and irrigation networks, a sewage network, a gas network, solid waste management, administrative buildings and landscaping works.

The Integrated Economic Zone in Al Dhahirah Governorate is located about 20 kilometres from the Rub-el-Khali border crossing to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The zone is also about 100 kilometres away from the Ibri Industrial City project

Source: Oman News Agency

The Islamic Resistance fighters launched an aerial operation with assault drones at 3:30 pm on Saturday, March 30, 2024, targeting the command headquarters of the Western Brigade in Ya’ara, hitting their targets accurately.

In another statement the Resistance also targeted at 4:30 pm on Saturday, March 30, 2024, Ruwaisat Al-Alam site in the occupied Lebanese hills of Kfar Shuba with a Burkan missile, causing direct hits.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon

The Islamic Resistance fighters targeted, at 12:45 pm on Saturday, March 30, 2024, the movement of enemy troops inside Al-Raheb site and its surroundings with rocket weapons and artillery shells, causing confirmed injuries.

The Resistance fighters also targeted, at 12:20 pm on Saturday, March 30, 2024, Khirbet Ma’ar base with rocket weapons.

They also targeted at 08:00 am on Saturday, March 30, 2024, Ramim barracks with a Burkan missile, inflicting direct hits.

The Resistance added that they targeted on Saturday, March 30, 2024, the movement of enemy soldiers and their military vehicles inside Al-Malkiya site and its surroundings with rocket weapons, inflicting confirmed injuries.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon

National News Agency’s correspondent in Tyre reported that enemy warplanes launched two successive raids on the town of Naqoura, targeting residential homes.

Ambulances rushed to the site of the attack.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon

The National News Agency correspondent reported that the nationalities of the injured UNIFIL crew were Chilean, Australian and Norwegian.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon

The National News Agency correspondent in Tyre reported that enemy drones attacked a UNIFIL military vehicle near the town of Rmeish in the central sector, wounding a number of UNIFIL soldiers and a Lebanese citizen.

Subsequently, a UNIFIL helicopter arrived at the site of the attack and transported the wounded.

In details, our correspondent reported that a four-wheel-drive vehicle belonging to UNTSO truce observers near Point B37 on the Blue Line, on the border with occupied Palestine, was subjected to an Israeli attack at approximately 10:15 a.m. this morning, as it was targeted by a direct missile, which resulted in the injury of three officers and a civilian translator, one of them was critically injured.

Rescue operation is currently underway to transport the injured by UNIFIL helicopter.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon

The National News Agency correspondent in Nabatieh reported that an Israeli reconnaissance plane flew over the airspace of Nabatieh and Iqlim al-Tuffah and conducted a u-turn maneuver over the two regions at a very low altitude.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon

Our correspondent reported that the Israeli enemy launched 3 raids on the southern Lebanese town of Al-Taybeh.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon

The Islamic Resistance issued a communique this morning, indicating that in support of the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and their honorable resistance, its fighters targeted the Israeli enemy’s Ramim barracks with Burkan missiles, achieving direct hits.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon