More than 1.7 million Muslim pilgrims gathered in the valley of Mina near Mecca on Wednesday to perform the Stoning of the Devil, the final major ritual of the Hajj, on the first day of Eid al-Adha, as fears of a renewed Middle East conflict cast a shadow over the world's largest annual gathering.
Mina, Saudi Arabia © Mena Today
More than 1.7 million Muslim pilgrims gathered in the valley of Mina near Mecca on Wednesday to perform the Stoning of the Devil, the final major ritual of the Hajj, on the first day of Eid al-Adha, as fears of a renewed Middle East conflict cast a shadow over the world's largest annual gathering.
From dawn, waves of pilgrims took turns hurling pebbles at three concrete pillars symbolising Satan, re-enacting the moment Abraham drove away the devil at the three spots where he had tried to dissuade the prophet from obeying God's command to sacrifice his son Ishmael.
The ritual marks the culmination of days of physically gruelling worship, performed this year under punishing heat, temperatures on Mount Arafat, where pilgrims prayed on Tuesday in one of the Hajj's most sacred moments, reached 45 degrees Celsius.
After the stoning, pilgrims return to Mecca for a final circumambulation of the Kaaba — the black cubic structure at the heart of the Grand Mosque toward which Muslims worldwide turn to pray, completing the pilgrimage.
Three French nationals were sentenced to life in prison in Iraq on Thursday for belonging to Islamic State, with their lawyers and French embassy representatives present at the hearing, a court statement said.
Yemen's Houthis attacked Aden airport on Wednesday, Yemeni government forces said, after the Iran-aligned group warned people to evacuate the facility as fighting escalated in the impoverished country caught in the wider Middle East conflict.
Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to face more constraints as Israel's caretaker prime minister after Tuesday's election, but experts say his government could still retain significant powers including when it comes to waging war on Iran.
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