[Cross-posted from European Tribune – where dissent is NOT troll rated!]

Crescent moon was sighted yesterday afternoon in the UAE.

Mohammad Bin Rashid receives Eid well-wishers | Gulf News |

Accepting the greeting alongside Shaikh Mohammad were Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and Shaikh Maktoum Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai. Shaikh Mohammed also received Eid greetings from tribesmen, ministers, citizens and residents.

Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed exchanged greetings on the occasion with a number of Shaikhs, ministers, senior government and private institution officials, senior armed forces commanders, security officials, as well as citizens and residents.

The well-wishers expressed their congratulations to His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan,

President of the UAE, on the occasion, wishing him good health and continuous success in leading the march of development.

They also expressed congratulations to Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed on the occasion, praying for further progress and prosperity for the UAE.

More below the fold …

Friday announced first day of Eid al-Fitr | Al Jazeera |

Eid al-Fitr means “festival of breaking the fast” and marks the end of Ramadan. Eid is an official holiday in all Muslim-majority countries, but the number of days varies by country.

Muslims across the world begin Eid day celebrations by partaking in the yearly prayer service that takes place shortly after dawn. This is preceded by the giving of alms to the poor, or Zakat, which is one of the five pillars of Islam.

It is common for the capitals of Muslim majority countries to decorate their cities with festive lights and hold carnivals to commemorate the end of the holy month, with children dressed in new clothes, offered gifts and money to celebrate the joyous occasion.

Local greetings

Eid Mubarak in Arabic means “blessed celebration” and is a common greeting for Eid al-Fitr. Other greetings include:

  •  Ciid wanaagsan – as used in Somalia.
  •  Mutlu Bayramlar – as commonly used in Turkey.
  •  Selamat Idul Fitri – used in Indonesia.

Many times I have written about the United Arab Emirates over the years and the close military cooperation with the UK and US. Ousted from the US, a number of conglomerates set up HQ in the Emirates, more often so to avoid scrutiny from the respective governments selling and handling military goods and services. Some of the names that passed by: Halliburton – Blackwater – TV stations and individuals such as Alexander Nix of the SCL Group and Cambridge Analytica, Robert Mercer, Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

With a Saudi Aabia, the UAE has become a major client of UK and US military goods. Useless to keep those under cover, so why not make use of it?

○ UN calls for key Yemen port to remain open as conflict rages

Battle for Hodeidah: How the destruction of one Yemen port could send millions into famine

Ramadan is particularly punishing in Hodeidah on Yemen’s west coast, where the temperature is currently 36C. Many of the Houthi rebels who have held the city since 2015 are used to the cooler highlands and struggle in the heat.

Tensions are running high in the port city. Arab coalition forces that back Yemen’s exiled government are now less than 12 miles away from Hodeidah’s edges; everyone inside knows the battle is imminent.

As Yemen’s key commercial centre, through which more than 70 per cent of the country’s imports, food and aid shipments flow, an offensive to retake the city has always been inevitable.

In the last few days, however, Yemeni, Saudi and UAE troops have covered such huge amounts of territory the imminent fighting has arrived much faster than most were expecting – and fears for the country’s embattled civilians are growing.

“What happens to Hodeidah is going to have huge consequences for Yemen’s war,” said Adam Baron, a visiting fellow with the European Council for Foreign Relations (ECFR).

4 Emirati soldiers martyred in Yemen  

Even the CIA knows the fast period of Ramadan as we have witnessed this week by drone assassinations in Afghanistan. Indeed, the Afghan and Pakistan governments had agreed to a truce this week with the Taliban ahead of Eid Al Fitr.

○ Taliban agrees to unprecedented ceasefire for Eid in Afghanistan | Alaraby |
○ Afghan president touts ceasefire with Taliban in Eid address | Dawn News – Pakistan |

TTP chief targeted in Afghan drone strike: US  

A US drone targeted and, apparently, killed the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Mullah Fazlullah in the Afghan province of Kunar, media reports and US defence sources said on Thursday.

The Voice of America radio reported that a US military official confirmed to its correspondents that a US drone strike had “targeted the TTP leader in an Afghan province near the border with Pakistan”.

The official US radio also quoted unconfirmed reports from the target area as claiming that Mullah Fazlullah had been killed.

    “We have been hearing since early Friday that our emir (leader) was martyred along with four other militant commanders in Marawar area of Kunar. They were staying at a house when a drone fired missiles and martyred them,” Taliban member Maulvi Abdur Rasheed told Reuters.

A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the strike was carried out late Wednesday and the TTP chief was its target but he also said that he could not confirm if he was killed.

A spokesman for US Forces-Afghanistan, Army Lt Col Martin O’Donnell, told VOA that “US forces conducted a counterterrorism strike June 13 in Kunar province, close to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which targeted a senior leader of a designated terrorist organisation.”

Son of TTP chief killed in drone attack in Afghanistan

My travel to Dubai from an earlier diary …

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