Muslims across Arab world celebrate Eid al-Fitr holiday
Millions of Muslims perform Eid prayers in Jerusalem, Cairo, Doha and Amman and elsewhere across Middle East
By Mahmoud Barakat
ANKARA
Muslims across the Middle East celebrated the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday on Sunday, a three-day festival that follows the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Muslims in Arab countries -- including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Palestine, Jordan, Sudan, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Tunisia and Algeria -- performed Eid prayers at mosques and public venues across their respective countries.
In Egypt, millions of Muslims performed Eid prayers in more than 5,000 open areas across the country amid a stepped-up security presence, while President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi performed prayers at a mosque at Egypt’s naval headquarters in the coastal city of Alexandria.
Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, some 90,000 Muslims converged on the iconic Al-Aqsa Mosque -- which for Muslims represents the world's third holiest site -- to perform Eid prayers.
In Qatar, which continues to face an unprecedented diplomatic crisis with a handful of its Gulf neighbors, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his father, former Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, attended Eid al-Fitr prayers in capital Doha.
And in Jordan, thousands performed Eid prayers in the main prayer hall of the Hussein Sports City in central Amman.
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