Arabic press review: UAE oil firm gives Iran $4bn

UAE sends $4bn to Iran

Iranian-based Arabic language news website al-Alam reported that the United Arab Emirates paid more than $4bn to Iran.

The attorney general of the accounts court in Iran, Fayaz Shujaei, said that Iran received the sum of $4.1bn owed to it by the UAE’s ENOC company, an oil company owned fully by the government of Dubai. 

Shujaei said that officials in the Iranian Central Bank took delivery of and deposited the money.

The cash was believed to be part of an oil deal between the two states.

Arabi 21: Turkey military denies report that major Saudi arms deal has been cancelled

Turkey denied reports that a major arms deal for four naval vessels with Saudi Arabia had been cancelled. A Turkish military source said: "Saudi has not told us anything... the project is ongoing." 

Earlier Tuesday, the newspaper Hurriyet said the cancellation of the deal would be a major blow to Tarasanat Tuzla naval yard, which has been in crisis since 2008, as Arabi 21 reported. 

Hurriyet said that the alleged decision to cancel the order came in the wake of the agreements signed with Saudi Arabia for the procurement of $110bn worth of weapons, as part of the agreements concluded with US President Donald Trump totalling $460bn. 

The newspaper commented that Saudi Arabia preferred the sword dance with Trump to friendship with one of the leading arms and defence manufacturers in the world. 

Kuwaiti communications company riles Syrian opposition

Zain, a Kuwaiti communications company, has stirred a wave of anger among Syrians after using a picture of a Syrian child in a TV advert about combating ISIS. The child was one of the victims of the aerial bombardment of East Aleppo conducted by Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Syrian activists accused the Kuwaiti company of trying to absolve the Syrian regime of the crimes by claiming they were perpetrated by ISIS. 

The London based Zain newspaper said that Zain functions in several Arab countries, and is considered to be one of the biggest communications companies in the Arab region. 

According to al-Quds al-Arabi, Syrian activists are demanding Zain withdraw the advert and apologise to the family of the child and to the Syrian people for using his picture, which at the time drew worldwide sympathy. 

Meetings in Jordan to resolve the Syrian crisis

A senior Jordanian official has confirmed that Amman has become a venue for Russian and US officials to meet in discussions about establishing safe zones in southern Syria. 

The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas has quoted a senior Jordanian official as saying that "Amman is constantly witnessing meetings about Syria attended by several parties concerned with the Syrian crisis. We are primarily concerned with reach a political solution for the Syrian crisis."

The Jordanian official refused to confirm or deny reports that Russian officials had been meeting their US counterparts in the Jordanian capital to discuss establishing safe zones in southern Syrian.