Forces mobilized as mortars from Iraq land at KSA border

November 22, 2013

KSA_border

Jeddah, Nov 22: The government has mobilized its security forces after six mortar bombs landed near a remote Saudi border post close to neighboring Iraq and Kuwait on Wednesday. Nobody was hurt in the bombardment.

The mortar rounds hit a desert area on the far northwestern fringes of the Kingdom's oil-producing region and several hundred kilometers from the major fields operated by the world's largest oil exporter.

There was no word on who was behind the barrage, which occurred two days after twin suicide bombings killed 25 people near Iran's Embassy in Beirut. Saudi Arabia has condemned the Beirut bombings.

Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, Interior Ministry spokesman, said Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia were investigating the mortar fire. Baghdad said it was not involved.

“There were no rockets or anything fired toward the Saudi border by security forces," said Jabar Al-Saadi, head of the Basra provincial council's security committee.

Al-Turki said Saudi forces had not been put on higher alert after the unexplained bombardment. "This is an area very close to the Iraqi and Kuwaiti borders. So sometimes this could come from military training or many other reasons. We have to wait for the investigation to show where it happened," he said.

The mortars, that created small craters in the desert, fell in Auja, a Saudi township near the Iraqi border, 100 km north of Hafr Al-Baten in the Eastern Province.

Saudi military forces and equipment could be seen near the site while F-15 fighter jets and helicopters flew over.

“Thank God, nobody was injured in the attack,” said Gen. Mohammed Al-Ghamdi, spokesman of the Saudi Border Guard. He said he had contacted his counterparts in neighboring countries to locate the source of the firing to prevent any recurrence.

High-level security sources blamed the mortar attack on Shiite militias inside Iraq.

An Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite militia had on Thursday warned the Kingdom to stop "meddling" in Iraqi affairs.

“The goal was to send a warning message to Saudis to tell them that their border stations and patrols are within our range of fire," Wathiq Al-Batat, commander of Iraq's Al-Mukhtar Army militia, told Reuters in Baghdad.

There was no independent confirmation that the militia was behind the mortar fire. Iran has not commented on the situation.

The Al-Mukhtar Army is a relatively new Shiite militia, which has said it is supported and funded by Iran. Batat is a former leader of the more well known Kataib Hezbollah militia.

“This is just the beginning and there will be more attacks if they (the Saudis) do not stop,” Batat said.

Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi security analyst with the Geneva and Jeddah-based Gulf Research Center, said Al-Mukhtar was among several Iraqi groups linked to Iranian intelligence.

“The timing is linked to the attack on the embassy (in Beirut)," he said, adding that the group might also have been trying to sabotage a call this month by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki for better ties with Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Kuwait's Al-Anba newspaper said one mortar had fallen inside Kuwait about 800 meters from the border. The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry then sent a team to inspect the area, the paper said, adding that nobody was hurt in the incident.

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News Network
April 29,2020

Dubai, Apr 29: Saudi Arabia reported 1,325 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 21,402, the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday (April 28).

Meanwhile, the ministry reported 169 recoveries today, with total recoveries in the kingdom at 2,953. There are 125 cases in intensive care.

The ministry also confirmed 5 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 157.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

Dubai, Aug 2: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on Saturday that it has started operations in the first of four reactors at the Barakah nuclear power station - the first nuclear power plant in the Arab world.

Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC), which is building and operating the plant with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) said in a press release that its subsidiary Nawah Energy Company "has successfully started up Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, located in the Al Dhafrah Region of Abu Dhabi".

That signals that Unit 1, which had fuel rods loaded in March, has achieved "criticality" - a sustained fission chain reaction.

"The start-up of Unit 1 marks the first time that the reactor safely produces heat, which is used to create steam, turning a turbine to generate electricity," said ENEC.

Barakah, which was originally scheduled to open in 2017, has been dogged by delays and is billions of dollars over budget. It has also raised myriad concerns among nuclear energy veterans who are concerned about the potential risks Barakah could visit upon the Arabian Peninsula, from an environmental catastrophe to a nuclear arms race.

Paul Dorfman, an honorary senior research fellow at the Energy Institute, University College London and founder and chair of the Nuclear Consulting Group, has criticised the Barakah reactors' "cheap and cheerful" design that he says cuts corners on safety.

Dorfman authored a report (PDF) last year detailing key safety features Barakah's reactors lack, such as a "core catcher" to literally stop the core of a reactor from breaching the containment building in the event of a meltdown. The reactors are also missing so-called Generation III Defence-In-Depth reinforcements to the containment building to shield against a radiological release resulting from a missile or fighter jet attack.

Both of these engineering features are standard on new reactors built in Europe, says Dorfman.

There have been at least 13 aerial attacks on nuclear facilities in the Middle East - more than any other region on earth.

The vulnerability of critical infrastructure in the Arabian Peninsula was further laid bare last year after Saudi Arabia's oil facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais were attacked by 18 drones and seven cruise missiles - an assault that temporarily knocked out more than half of the kingdom's oil production.

On Saturday, Dorfman reiterated his concern that there is no regional protocol in place to determine liability should an accident or incident at Barakah result in radioactive contamination spreading from the UAE to its neighbours. 

"Given Barakah has started up, because of all the well-rehearsed nuclear safety and security problems, it may be critically important that the Gulf states collectively evolve a Nuclear Accident Liability Convention, so that if anything does go wrong, victim states may have some sort of redress," Dorfman told Al Jazeera. 

The UAE has substantial oil and gas reserves, but it has made huge investments in developing alternative energy sources, including nuclear and solar.

Experts though have questioned why the UAE - which is bathed in sunlight and wind - has pushed ahead with nuclear energy - a far more expensive and riskier option than renewable energy sources.

When the UAE first announced Barakah in 2009, nuclear power was cheaper than solar and wind. But by 2012 - when the Emirates started breaking ground to build the reactors - solar and wind costs had plummeted dramatically.

Between 2009 and 2019, utility-scale average solar photovoltaic costs fell 89 percent and wind fell 43 percent, while nuclear jumped 26 percent, according to an analysis by the financial advisory and asset manager Lazard.

There are also concerns about the potential for Barakah to foment nuclear proliferation in the Middle East - a region rife with geopolitical fault lines and well-documented history of nuclear secrecy.

The UAE has sought to distance itself from the region's bad behaviour by agreeing not to enrich its own uranium or reprocess spent fuel. It has also signed up to the United Nation's nuclear watchdog's Additional Protocol, significantly enhancing inspection capabilities, and secured a 123 Agreement with the United States that allows bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
May 21,2020

The Tawakkalna application developed by Saudi Arabia's National Information Centre to processes requests for movement permits during the curfew to curb the spread of the virus has become a major helplnine for past few weeks. 

The application developed through the close cooperation between the Ministry of Health and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) was launched on May 4.

According to Saudi Telecom Group, it handles 20,000 calls daily through the Tawakkalna platform by dedicating a call centre of 600 employees through its Contact Centre Company (CCC). 

The Tawakkalna app can be used to issue e-permits for a selected group of government and private sector employees who were exempted from the curfew, and individuals who have medical appointments as well as couriers.

Tawakkalna has features for the service of citizens and residents, for ensuring their safety and comfort that would contribute to facilitating the access of authorized persons to travel permits.

The official page about Tawakkalna on Twitter, says: “You must always keep in mind that pinpointing your exact location of residence is the only way for you to benefit from the app’s range of services and permits.”

The app will also provide the latest alerts and medical news issued by the Ministry of Health about the virus as well as about its spread, ways to prevent it and movement permits.

Tawakkalna can be used for self-disclosure for people who show signs of coronavirus infection and for requesting ambulance service and other important services for the community.

Through the app users can apply for a one-hour permit for a walk in the neighborhood on a daily basis, thereby encouraging walking during this period of lockdown.

Comments

muhammad Sheheryar
 - 
Sunday, 14 Jun 2020

sir,

 

 
i am facing problem for receiving OTP code during registration for my family. i am unable to get OTP code.

please assist. 

Abdulrazaq Yousef
 - 
Thursday, 4 Jun 2020

Entering date of birth is the big problem is the big problem of this app. 

 

Malik asif
 - 
Tuesday, 26 May 2020

Dob entering problem 

Thomas Philipose
 - 
Monday, 25 May 2020

Hi,

I am trying to register in the Tawakkalna app, but it keeps on throwing error. Any idea?

 

thanx

 

 

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