Cai Qi, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on Tuesday met with Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani, who is in Beijing to attend the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
Following the important common understandings reached between the two heads of state, China is willing to work with Mauritania to deepen bilateral strategic partnership and achieve solid results, said Cai, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee.
Mauritania and China share similar positions on many major issues, said Ghazouani, adding that Mauritania is willing to work with China to promote the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Senior CPC official meets Mauritanian president
Parents are still left desperate months after a rocket attack claimed their children's lives at a football pitch in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
The rocket attack struck the football pitch on July 27, 2024, killing 12 children and teenagers from the Druze community and wounding at least 42 other people.
While the Israeli military and Hezbollah blame each other for the attack, the families of the victims are grappling with the heartbreaking loss of their children, whose lives were cut tragically short.
"It was 18:18 on July 27, 2024. My daughter was playing football when the attack happened. It's heartbreaking and tragic. The whole of the Golan Heights has fallen silent. That day, I felt my heart had been swallowed by darkness. I've been living in darkness ever since. We continue to mourn this black day in Majdal Shams," said Adham Safadi, father of Finis.
"We are peace seekers. At no point have we ever supported war or incited attacks in the Middle East to avenge our children's death. We're peace scholars. We want all children in the world to live in peace, especially in the Middle East where we hear so much about revenge and retribution. We're peaceful people, the children of the Golan Heights. We were born in peace and will die in peace. Everyone has the right to live in freedom, security, and peace. In all honesty, we implore anyone with the power to stop this hideous conflict," said Safadi.
"Alma was a very strong girl, confident about herself. She was a natural leader, a smart girl, a talented girl, a very, very kind girl," said Nailah Fakhr Al-Din, mother of Alma.
"The day the incident happened was a Saturday, around 18:18. We live five to seven minutes away from the scene, so when I heard the explosion, I rushed to the football pitch. I instinctively knew that Rayan and Elian, her brothers, were there. To the right of the entrance, I saw four bodies. One of them was Alma," said Ayman Fakhr Al-Din, father of Alma.
"After 10 months of war, children have come to accept the sound of rockets as part of their daily lives, like Fairuz's (a Lebanese singer) music, and the sound of shelling every day, or day after day," said Fakhr.
Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border have escalated since Oct. 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel the previous day.
Parents left desperate as rocket attack claims children's lives in Golan Heights
