Region

BEIRUT — Four Syrian soldiers and two Iran-backed fighters were killed on Monday in pre-dawn Israeli strikes near Damascus, a war monitor said, in the latest deadly Israeli air raid to hit war-torn Syria's capital.

The air strikes targeted Syrian army forces, and military positions and weapons depots used by armed groups supported by Tehran, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

During more than a decade of war in Syria, neighbouring Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its territory, reportedly targeting Iran-backed forces and Hizbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the observatory, told AFP that "four Syrian soldiers including one officer, as well as two Iran-backed fighters were killed in air strikes on Tehran-supported groups' positions and warehouses for ammunition and weapons."

Two army troops and five foreign fighters were wounded in the strikes, he added, saying four of them were in critical condition.

The Israeli strikes hit areas near Damascus International Airport, Dimas Airport and Kisweh, all close to the capital, destroying weapons and ammunition depots belonging to Iran-backed groups, said the Britain-based monitor which relies on a wide network inside Syria.

Earlier Monday, state media said four Syrian soldiers were killed and four others wounded in the strikes, citing a military source.

"At 2:20 am [2320 GMT Sunday], the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting areas in the vicinity of Damascus," official news agency SANA reported.

The raid killed "four soldiers and wounded four others", it said, reporting unspecified material damage and adding that Syrian air defences intercepted some Israeli missiles.

An AFP correspondent in the capital reported hearing the sound of explosions.

Israel rarely comments on strikes it carries out on Syria, but it has repeatedly said it would not allow its archfoe Iran to expand its footprint there.

'Criminal' 

On July 19, Israeli air strikes near Damascus killed three pro-government fighters and wounded four others, the Syrian Observatory said at the time.

SANA had reported two soldiers were wounded in those strikes. It quoted a military source as saying the bombing targeted “certain positions in the vicinity of Damascus”.

Syria’s foreign ministry had condemned that attack “in the strongest terms”.

In a statement carried by SANA, it called on the United Nations and the Security Council to “take immediate action” to oblige Israel “to desist from these criminal policies”.

Early last month, state media said Israel had carried out air strikes near the government-held city of Homs.

The Israeli army later said it struck an anti-aircraft battery after rocket fire.

On June 14, Israel carried out air strikes near Damascus wounding a soldier, according to SANA.

Those strikes came after others which in late May hit the Damascus region, with the Observatory reporting five wounded in attacks on air defence sites that host fighters from Lebanon’s powerful pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim movement Hizbollah.

Previous Israeli strikes have put both Damascus and Aleppo airports out of service.

And in late March and early April, Israel stepped up its strikes on Syria with four raids on government-held areas in less than a week, targeting positions of Syrian government forces and pro-Iran groups.

TUNIS — Sixteen migrants have died in shipwrecks off the coasts of Tunisia and Western Sahara, officials said on Monday, as North Africa faces a spike in Europe-bound sea crossings.

Much of the North African coast has become a major gateway for irregular migrants and asylum seekers primarily from other parts of the continent, attempting perilous voyages in often rickety boats in the hopes of a better life.

At least 11 migrants died in a shipwreck off the coast of Tunisia's second city of Sfax, said local court spokesman Faouzi Masmoudi, revising an earlier toll of four fatalities.

Another 44 are missing while two others were rescued from the boat that had 57 people on board, all of them from sub-Saharan African countries, Masmoudi added.

Survivors of the sinking, near Tunisia's Kerkennah Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, said the makeshift boat had departed over the weekend from a beach north of the coastal city of Sfax.

Masmoudi told AFP coastguard units were searching for more survivors.

The distance between Sfax and Italy's Lampedusa island is only about 130 kilometres.

Authorities in Morocco meanwhile said the bodies of five migrants, all from Senegal, had been recovered while 189 had been rescued after their boat capsized off Western Sahara.

The five bodies as well as 11 migrants in "critical condition" were transferred to a hospital in Dakhla, the disputed Western Sahara's second city on the Atlantic coast, a military source told Rabat's state-owned MAP news agency.

According to the source, the boat had embarked from "a country located south of the kingdom" and was headed towards Spain's Canary Islands before being discovered off the coast of Guerguart, just north of Mauritania.

It was in a "difficult situation", the source added.

The migrants who were rescued, including at least one woman, were taken to Dakhla on Sunday and handed over to Moroccan authorities, according to the source.

Migrant deaths have surged in recent years as thousands flee war or crushing poverty, seeking to cross the Mediterranean in the hopes of finding better lives in Europe.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), outbreaks of cholera and measles have already been reported in parts of the country that have been nearly impossible for relief missions to access.

More than 80 per cent of Sudan’s hospitals are no longer in service, the WHO said, while the few health facilities that remain often come under fire and struggle to provide care.

The conflict, which erupted in the capital Khartoum on April 15, has displaced more than three million people internally with many in urgent need of aid, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Nearly a million others have fled across borders seeking safety, it said.

Aid groups repeatedly complain of security challenges, bureaucratic hurdles and targeted attacks that prevent them from delivering much-needed assistance.

Again on Monday, Khartoum’s densely populated neighbourhoods were pummelled by rockets and heavy artillery fire, witnesses told AFP.

The fighting between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has killed more than 3,900 people, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

AL-BU MUSTAFA, Iraq — Iraqi villager Omar Ziad gazes at the cracked and barren earth where his fish farm once stood, lost to water conservation efforts during a devastating four-year drought.

As the alarming water crisis blamed mostly on climate change drags on, officials see the need for trade-offs in an effort to meet the country's demands.

Drastic government measures have restricted water use for some purposes, including crop irrigation, and authorities have cracked down on illegal practices they long ignored.

Since late May, unauthorised fish farms like Ziad's have become a target.

"I've worked in this industry since 2003," the 33-year-old said at his village of Al Bu Mustafa in Iraq's central Babylon province.

He had watched helplessly as officials from the water resources ministry sealed his family's seven fish ponds.

Surrounded by fields and majestic palm trees, this was where Ziad, his father and seven brothers would rear carp, which Iraqis use to make their beloved grilled fish dish known as masguf.

At full capacity, the farm held about 50,000 fish and earned the family the equivalent of $1,300-2,600 a month, far more than many in the country.

"We would share the revenues", said Ziad, who also works as a teacher.

He added that they sold their fish "cheaply", but since all but five of the village's 80 fish ponds shut down, the price of carp has almost doubled, now selling at more than 8,000 dinars (around $6) per kilogramme, he said.

'Strategic reserves' 

From a bird's-eye view, the backfilled dry patches of land that replaced the ponds are marked out by unpaved roads.

The monotony of the barren landscape is occasionally interrupted by ponds that still hold water. These were spared because their owners had the necessary permits, according to Ziad.

Water supply in Iraq, which the United Nations ranks as one of the five countries most impacted by some effects of climate change, is in a dire state.

Declining rain over the past four years coupled with rising temperatures has brought water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to staggering lows, for which Baghdad also accuses upstream dams built by neighbouring Turkey and Iran.

"The strategic water reserves in Iraq are at their lowest point" in nearly a century, said Khaled Shamal, spokesman for the water resources ministry.

Some of Iraq's 43 million inhabitants share the blame, he told AFP, due to water-intensive "irrigation practices".

Shamal justified the crackdown on unauthorised fish farms by saying the ponds "increase the water surface susceptible to evaporation", provoke seepage into the soil, and contribute to "environmental pollution".

About half of Iraq's estimated 5,000 "unlicensed" fish farms have been closed, Shamal said, pointing out that authorities still allow mobile fish tanks which are submerged in rivers.

Plunging output 

Ayad Al-Talibi, president of the Iraqi association of fish farmers, said he accepted the shutting of unauthorised ponds but questioned whether the water that has been saved was "properly used".

Before the May crackdown, Iraq produced nearly 1 million tonnes of fish per year, but Talibi told public broadcaster Al Ikhbariya that output has now plunged to 190,000 tonnes. 

According to him, the sector employs two million Iraqis. "All of these families will migrate to the cities" which might struggle to accommodate them, he predicted.

The water crisis has also affected river fishing.

In Iraq's far south, high salinity has harmed fishing in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where the Tigris and Euphrates converge before spilling into the Gulf.

As the flow of fresh water from the north decreases every year, the riverbed gradually fills with salt water.

Sailing the waters of Shatt Al Arab, fisherman Khdeir Aboud, 71, casts his net but expects no major catch.

Fresh water would once carry "all types of fish" but "with the salt water, there's nothing left", said the white-bearded man.

The meagre pay he now makes "can't support a household", he lamented.

"Most fishermen have quit the trade for odd jobs. There are only a few old people left."

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s interior minister said on Monday that deadly violence at a Palestinian camp had abated, in a bid to ease fears after Gulf states warned citizens against travel to the country.

“The situation in Ain Al Helweh camp has now calmed down,” Bassam Mawlawi said referring to south Lebanon’s restive Palestinian camp.

“Security and intelligence services... have no information that the situation could spin out of control and spill over to other camps,” the interior minister told reporters.

Thirteen people were killed in several days of violence that erupted on July 29 — the worst in years — pitting members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fateh movement against Islamists.

Last week, Arab Gulf countries — some of which have already banned their citizens from travelling to Lebanon — issued warnings urging their nationals to exercise caution in the country, or emphasising travel restrictions.

The moves caught Lebanese by surprise, coming after a cautious calm returned to Ain Al Helweh, where outbreaks of violence are common.

Saudi Arabia called on citizens to avoid areas where clashes erupted, and to leave Lebanon immediately, recalling a travel ban already in place.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain followed suit, while Qatar, Kuwait and Oman urged their citizens to exercise caution and avoid unsafe areas.

Mawlawi said on Monday that it was “perfectly normal” for countries to take measures “to ensure the security of their citizens”.

Gulf nations have issued travel warnings over security incidents in Lebanon in the past.

Relations between Beirut and Gulf Arab states have at times been strained over the growing regional influence of Lebanon’s pro-Iranian Shiite movement Hizbollah.

Since 2021, Saudis have had to obtain their government’s permission before travelling to Lebanon due to strained bilateral ties.

Riyadh returned its ambassador to Beirut in April 2022, just over five months after recalling him amid a diplomatic dispute pitting Lebanon against several Gulf monarchies.

Riyadh also suspended fruit and vegetable imports from Lebanon in April 2021, saying shipments were being used for drug smuggling and accusing Beirut of inaction.

RABAT — One of Morocco's worst-ever road accidents left 24 people dead on Sunday in the central province of Azilal, officials said.

They were killed when a minibus carrying passengers to a weekly market in the town of Demnate overturned on a bend, the local authorities said.

They added that an investigation has begun.

Accidents are frequent on the roads of Morocco and other North African countries, which see thousands of road deaths annually. 

In March 11 people, mostly agricultural workers, died when their minibus slammed into a tree after the driver lost control in the rural town of Brachoua, local officials said at the time.

Many poorer citizens use coaches and minibuses to travel in rural areas.

In August last year, 23 people were killed and 36 injured when their bus overturned on a bend east of Morocco's economic capital Casablanca.

An average of 3,500 road deaths and 12,000 injuries are recorded annually in Morocco, according to the National Road Safety Agency, with an average of 10 deaths per day.

The figure last year was around 3,200.

Authorities have set out to halve the mortality rate by 2026 ever since the worst bus accident in the country's history left 42 dead in 2012.

On July 19 in neighbouring Algeria 34 people were killed when a passenger bus collided head-on with a pickup truck carrying fuel cans and burst into flames, deep in the southern Sahara region, officials said.

The North African country's deadliest road crash in years also left 12 others injured, many with severe burns, Algeria's civil defence agency said.

National gendarmerie official Samir Bouchehit said the truck was carrying cans of gasoline and driving on the wrong side of the road. 

Libya's roads have ranked among the deadliest in the world.

The Libyan interior ministry's traffic department recorded 4,115 road accidents across the country in 2018, killing 2,500 people and injuring more than 3,000 others.

One of Tunisia's worst road accidents occurred in 2019 when at least 24 Tunisians were killed and 18 injured when a bus plunged into a ravine.

About 7,000 people lost their lives on the roads of Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, in 2020, according to official figures.

Sudan recorded around 10,000 annual traffic fatalities between 2016 and 2019, according to the World Health Organisation and the World Bank.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israeli forces on Sunday killed three Palestinians in the West Bank, the army said, the latest deaths in a surge of violence rocking the occupied territory.

An army statement said its forces “operated to prevent an immediate threat” and described one of the dead as a “leading military operative” from the Jenin refugee camp.

Since early last year, the West Bank has seen a string of attacks by Palestinians on Israeli targets, as well as violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities and repeated Israeli forces raids.

Israeli forces on Sunday said that “a vehicle carrying a squad of terrorists from the Jenin refugee camp was identified while on its way to carry out an attack”.

Soldiers opened fire and killed three passengers, the statement said, including the suspected squad leader, 26-year-old Nayef Abu Swiess.

The Palestinian health ministry confirmed the deaths of three “young men by occupation [Israeli] bullets” in the incident near the town of Arraba in the Jenin area.

Deputy governor of Jenin, Kamal Abu Al Roub, told AFP the Israeli forces had “taken the car and the bodies”.

“The car had an Israeli licence plate,” he said.

Abu Swiess, according to the army statement, was “involved in military action against Israeli forces and advancing military activity directed by terrorists in the Gaza Strip”, the coastal enclave controlled by Palestinian fighters group Hamas.

Rising violence

Jenin refugee camp, one of the most crowded and impoverished in the West Bank, has become synonymous with Palestinian militancy and resistance against Israel, which views it as a “terrorist hub”.

In recent years it has been the site of fierce fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups.

Over the past 18 months, the security situation in the camp has deteriorated with repeated Israeli raids which security forces say are to pursue militants.

In July, the Israeli army carried out its biggest operation there in years which killed 12 Palestinians including militants and children.

One Israeli soldier was also killed in the two-day operation.

The camp was established in 1953 to house some of those among the 760,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes during what Palestinian call the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, the 1948 war that coincided with Israel’s creation.

Today some 18,000 people live in the camp.

Sunday’s deaths are the latest in a surge of bloodshed to hit the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the June War of 1967.

Excluding occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank is home to nearly 3 million Palestinians and around 490,000 Israelis who live in settlements considered illegal under international law.

BEIRUT — Lebanon marked three years since one of history's biggest non-nuclear explosions rocked Beirut with hundreds of protesters marching alongside victims' families Friday to demand long-awaited justice. 

Nobody has been held to account for the tragedy as political and legal pressures impede the investigation.

On August 4, 2020, the massive blast at Beirut port destroyed swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring at least 6,500.

Authorities said the disaster was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where a vast stockpile of ammonium nitrate fertiliser had been haphazardly stored for years.

Three years on, the probe is virtually at a standstill, leaving survivors still yearning for answers.

Protesters, many of them wearing black and carrying photographs of the victims, marched towards the port shouting slogans including: "We will not forget".

Some protesters waved a Lebanese flag covered in blood-like red paint while others carried an enormous flag covered in a written pledge to keep fighting for justice.

"The blast investigation is hampered by the political elites and certain judges who are on their side," said lawyer Cecile Roukoz, who lost her brother in the explosion.

She said that after three years, the international community needed to take action. "Please, it's time to act."

The blast struck amid an economic collapse which the World Bank has dubbed one of the worst in recent history and which is widely blamed on a governing elite accused of corruption and mismanagement.

‘Until our last breath’ 

Since its early days, the probe into the explosion has faced a slew of political and legal challenges.

In December 2020, lead investigator Fadi Sawan charged former prime minister Hassan Diab and three ex-ministers with negligence.

But as political pressure mounted, Sawan was removed from the case.

His successor, Tarek Bitar, unsuccessfully asked lawmakers to lift parliamentary immunity for MPs who were formerly Cabinet ministers.

The powerful Iran-backed Hizbollah group has launched a campaign against Bitar, accusing him of bias and demanding his dismissal.

The interior ministry has refused to execute arrest warrants which the lead investigator has issued.

In December 2021, Bitar suspended his probe after a barrage of lawsuits, mainly from politicians he had summoned on charges of negligence.

But in a surprise move this January, Bitar resumed investigations after a 13-month hiatus, charging eight new suspects including high-level security officials and Lebanon’s top prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat.

Oueidat then charged Bitar with insubordination and “usurping power”, and ordered the release of all those detained over the blast.

Bitar has refused to step aside, but has not set foot inside Beirut’s justice palace for months.

“Work [on the investigation] is ongoing,” said a legal expert with knowledge of the case, requesting anonymity due to its sensitivity.

Bitar is determined to keep his promise to deliver justice for victims’ families, the expert added.

Paul Naggear, who lost his three-year-old daughter in the blast, said he had “not been able to grieve for three years”. 

“We will keep demanding justice until our very last breath,” he said.

Rima Al Zahed, whose brother was killed in the explosion, said the judiciary was “shackled” but “the truth does not die so long as there is someone to demand it”.

Accountability 

French President Emmanuel Macron, told Lebanese: “I am thinking of you.”

“Lebanon was not alone then, and it isn’t alone now. You can count on France,” he posted.

Washington condemned the long delay in holding those responsible to account.

“The lack of progress towards accountability is unacceptable and underscores the need for judicial reform and greater respect for the rule of law in Lebanon,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

On Thursday, 300 individuals and organisations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International, renewed a call for the United Nations to establish a fact-finding mission, a demand Lebanese officials have repeatedly rejected.

“If those responsible are not held accountable, it will put the country on a trajectory that allows this kind of crime to be repeated,” HRW’s Lama Fakih told AFP.