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HODEIDA, Yemen — The United Nations said on Friday it had successfully transferred more than 1 million barrels of oil from a dilapidated Yemeni tanker, removing the imminent risk of a spill.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "welcomes the news that the ship-to-ship transfer of oil from the FSO Safer to the Yemen replacement vessel has been safely concluded today, avoiding what could have been a monumental environmental and humanitarian catastrophe", a statement said.

The milestone means that "the core aspect" of a years-long effort to address the threat posed by the Safer, often referred to as a "ticking time bomb", is now finished, said UN Development Programme head Achim Steiner.

"That removes the imminent and immediate threat that had become the focus of attention across the whole world: A tanker that could break apart or explode in the Red Sea," Steiner told AFP.

Yemeni doctor Main Ahmed, 49, told AFP Friday's news was like "a weight lifted off our shoulders" for residents of the port city of Hodeida.

"I was always thinking about the risks of just going for a walk, especially since I live near the coast," he said.

Yet, the saga is not over.

The UN has previously warned that even with its cargo removed, the Safer "will pose a residual environmental threat, holding viscous oil residue and remaining at risk of breaking apart".

The project's next phase, stripping and cleaning the Safer's tanks and preparing it for towing and scrapping, is expected to take "anywhere between two to three weeks", Steiner said.

The Safer, a floating storage and offloading facility, has been moored around 50 kilometres from Hodeida since the 1980s.

It has not been serviced since war broke out more than eight years ago between Yemen's Houthi rebels, who control the capital Sanaa and the waters where the Safer is positioned, and a Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognised government based in the southern port city of Aden.

The ageing vessel, with its corroding hull, was carrying 1.14 million barrels of Marib light crude, four times as much oil as was spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.

'Absence of accountability' 

Now its oil has been pumped to a new, smaller tanker known as the Yemen that the UN purchased in March.

As the operation began on July 25, experts warned that success was far from certain given scorching summer temperatures, ageing pipes and naval mines lurking in surrounding waters.

The UN had even arranged for a plane to be on standby "within a 90-minute flight radius" so it could "deploy chemicals from the air" in response to a spill, Steiner said.

All told, the UN has priced the operation at $143 million, a fraction of the estimated $20 billion clean-up costs in the event of a spill, to say nothing of billions lost to shipping disruptions through the Bab Al Mandab strait to the Suez Canal.

The UN is still roughly $20 million short, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the international community and the private sector Friday to step up with funds needed to "finish the job and address all remaining environmental threats".

Greenpeace said oil giants that previously used the Safer "and are the likely owners of some of the transferred oil" needed to contribute to the project's next stages.

"It is imperative to address the absence of accountability exhibited by the oil industry that has recorded staggering profits, but hasn't yet shown any sense of responsibility," a Greenpeace statement said.

Next steps unclear 

Officials are still trying to sort out where the oil might go next.

A long-term agreement between Yemen's warring parties on "future maintenance and management" is needed, Steiner said.

One possibility is a follow-up project in which UN experts would train staff of the Yemeni oil and gas company SEPOC in "how to safeguard the vessel", he said.

However, authorities in Sanaa and Aden have appointed rival executive general managers of SEPOC, underscoring how Yemen's conflict could continue to pose complications.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the fighting or from indirect causes such as lack of food or water, in what the UN calls one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Clashes between the Iran-backed Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition have reduced sharply since a UN-brokered truce began in April last year, even though it lapsed in October.

David Gressly, the UN resident coordinator in Yemen, said on Friday that while the Safer crisis was separate from talks on ending the war, the fact that opposing factions cooperated on the oil transfer "does create a bit of hope that there is a way forward".

TUNIS — Tunisia and Libya announced Thursday they had agreed to share responsibility for providing shelter for hundreds of migrants stranded at their border, many of them for over a month.

The migrants, primarily from sub-Saharan African countries, had been driven to the desert area of Ras Jedir by Tunisian authorities and left there to fend for themselves, according to witnesses, rights groups and UN agencies.

Aid groups said three groups of about 300 migrants in total remain stranded there.

A spokesman for Tunisia's interior ministry, Faker Bouzghaya, said during a joint meeting with Libyan authorities in Tunis that "we have agreed to share the groups of migrants who are at the border".

"Tunisia will take charge of a group of 76 men, 42 women and eight children," Bouzghaya told AFP.

He said the groups were transferred on Wednesday to reception centres in the cities of Tatouine and Medenine and provided with health and psychological care, with the help of the Tunisian Red Crescent.

Under the agreement, Libya will take charge of the remaining 150 migrants, humanitarian sources said.

The Libyan interior ministry earlier on Thursday announced the bilateral agreement to “put an end to the crisis of irregular migrants stranded in the border area”.

Racial tensions had flared in Tunisia’s second city of Sfax after the July 3 killing of a Tunisian man following an altercation with migrants.

Up to 1,200 black Africans were “expelled, or forcibly transferred by Tunisian security forces” to desert border regions with Libya and Algeria, Human Rights Watch said.

Humanitarian officials have reported at least 25 deaths of migrants abandoned in the Tunisian-Libyan border area since last month.

Mediterranean Sea crossing attempts from Tunisia had multiplied in March and April following a incendiary speech by President Kais Saied who had alleged that “hordes” of irregular migrants were causing crime and posing a demographic threat to the mainly Arab country.

Xenophobic attacks targeting black African migrants and students have increased across the country since Saied’s February remarks, and many migrants have lost jobs and housing.

The two North African countries are major gateways for migrants and asylum seekers attempting perilous voyages in often rickety boats in the hopes of a better life in Europe.

At least 11 migrants died in a shipwreck off the coast of Sfax, local court spokesman Faouzi Masmoudi said on Monday, adding that another 44 were missing and only two were rescued.

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

But the United Nations has described the central Mediterranean migration route as the world’s deadliest, claiming hundreds of lives each year.

More than 1,800 people have died attempting the route so far this year, according to figures released Friday by the International Organisation for Migration.

BEIRUT — The Lebanese army said on Thursday it had seized munitions from a Hizbollah truck that overturned near Beirut, leading to deadly clashes between Christian residents and members of the powerful Shiite Muslim group.

The violence erupted on Wednesday evening after the accident in Kahale, a town in the mountains east of the Lebanese capital, on the road linking it to the Bekaa Valley bordering Syria.

Kahale Mayor Abboud Abi Khalil told AFP that residents had surrounded the truck demanding to know what was inside, before Hizbollah members escorting it opened fire and killed one of them. 

Iran-backed Hizbollah said one of its members was shot and later died of his wounds.

The army confirmed in a statement on Thursday that two people had been killed and said ammunition had been seized from the truck.

"The cargo of the truck has been transported to a military centre, and an investigation has been opened by the competent judicial authorities," it added.

The army said its troops had removed the truck at dawn and reopened the Beirut-Damascus road which Kahale residents had blocked in protest.

Hizbollah is the only Lebanese faction that kept its weapons after the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. It is considered a "terrorist" organisation by many Western governments.

A funeral is due to be held on Thursday for Ahmad Ali Kassas, the Hizbollah member who was killed in the Kahale clashes.

Hizbollah supporters posted pictures on social media showing Kassas dressed in military fatigues in Syria, a country at war where Hezbollah has been fighting on the side of President Bashar Assad.

In August 2021, angry residents of a mainly Druze village in southern Lebanon stopped a truck carrying a rocket launcher used by Hizbollah in an attack on Israel, accusing the Shiite movement of endangering civilian lives.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — An unassuming bookshop sits at its centre of the bustle and chatter of Salah ed-Din Street in East Jerusalem, with its contents exclusively dedicated to titles about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and its mission to bear witness to the very history it survives to explain. 

Established as a humble stationery shop, The Educational Bookshop has now expanded to include two more branches, including a book shop and café across the street, and a shop at the American Colony Hotel three blocks down the road.

Purchased by Ahmad Muna in 1984, the successful enterprise now spans three generations. 

When the First Intifada broke out in 1987 after 20 years of occupation, the streets of East Jerusalem were swept in revolution, and the political uprising attracted the interest of the outside world. Major news agencies established bureaus and United Nations agencies increased their presence. 

At this moment, Imad, Ahmad Muna’s son, saw an opportunity for the business. He looked to sell English books about the history of Palestine to the humanitarian workers, journalists and diplomats who were now flooding the city and eager to learn more. However, at that time, resources about the conflict were scarce. 

“They started to ask for materials, like books, and at that time I only had Arabic books, but, quickly, I thought I need to bring good material for these people, because first of all, business-wise there is demand for these types of books, and, secondly, we want to show our story. It is important,” Imad told The Jordan Times. “We are in a revolution, and that means the world has to know the history of the occupation.” 

Slowly, Arabic books on the shelves were replaced with English ones. 

Imad began by venturing to the Israeli side where he would look for the addresses of publishers to order copies for the bookshop. Then, through book fairs, publishers, authors and clients, he started to learn more about the prominent authors writing about this issue. 

Throughout the 39 years of the shop’s history, Imad can only recount a handful of times the Israeli government gave him issues on importing books as “they only have censorship on Arabic books”. 

While business was going steady, Imad was inspired by the European-style cafés he saw abroad. 

“It was my dream, at that time, to do it here in Jerusalem,” Imad said. 

However, just as the family thought of opening a new branch with a bookshop and café, the Second Intifada broke out in 2000. Due to the risk, the family waited until 2005 to open the doors of their second branch. 

As Imad’s business grew, so did his family. Today, his youngest brother Mahmud and son, Ahmed, serve as managers in both locations. 

However, the next generation will have to succeed in a digital world where book, magazine and newspaper sales have dramatically decreased over the past decades. 

“Bookstores should not limit themselves in 2023 to just books,” Mahmoud said. “They should be masters of inner places and that way they reestablish their place in society as an important intellectual and cultural hub.” 

Finally, in 2014, through an agreement with the American Colony Hotel, it became home to the bookshop’s third location. Today, The Educational Bookshop’s stock list includes more than 1,400 titles and ships to customers worldwide. The majority of the books focus on history, politics, literature and historical fiction written by Palestinian, Israeli and international authors. 

“We have stuck to this collection and we have a challenge everyday that we continue to say that any book about Palestine you will find in this bookshop,” Ahmad, the bookshop manager, said. 

As the door swings open and closed with local and foreign customers stopping in for a coffee, browsing the book selection, or selecting souvenirs, business continues every day of the week. 

“We started as a business, but always in our minds, it is not only a business,” Imad said. “It is a business because it is feeding us, we live from it, but we are very happy to distribute information. We are an important source about Palestine and passing a message.” 

NABLUS, Palestinian Territories — Israeli forces on Thursday shot dead a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials and a relative of the deceased said, as the army reported “counterterrorism activity” in the area.

Amir Ahmed Mohammed Khalifa, 27, was killed during a raid on Zawata, a town west of the city of Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.

“He was shot in the head and back with two bullets fired by the Israeli occupation soldiers during their aggression on the town of Zawata,” it said.

The Israeli forces said a suspect had opened fire on troops early Thursday during “counterterrorism activity” in Nablus, in the northern West Bank.

“Soldiers responded with live fire and hits were identified,” the army said but did not specify whether it was same incident in which Khalifa was killed.

Khalifa, who lived in Ain Beit Ilma refugee camp near Nablus, was “wanted by Israeli forces for two years and had refused to surrender”, a family member, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told AFP.

Khalifa was a member of Al Aqsa Matryrs Brigades, said the militant group, which is linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fateh movement, in a statement on social media.

Posters calling him “a martyr, a hero” were distributed in Nablus by members of Fateh hours after his killing, witnesses told AFP.

Since early last year, deadly violence has rocked the northern West Bank, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups where Israel has stepped up military raids often in crowded neighbourhoods.

The area has seen a spate of attacks on Israelis as well as attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian communities.

They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants as well as civilians and, on the Israeli side, three members of the Arab minority.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

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

RAQQA, Syria — Thousands of people displaced by 12 years of war are stuck in squalid, unofficial camps in Syria’s Kurdish-held northeast, languishing in extreme poverty and largely cut off from international assistance.

“We’ve been completely forgotten,” said Rahma Al Hammud, 33, standing at her tent — a shoddy patchwork of worn-out fabric, tarp and old fertiliser bags crudely sewn together.

“Our children get sick over and over again. They get fever, diarrhoea and vomiting,” said the widowed mother of four.

She lives in the Al Yunani camp in the northern province of Raqqa, where the Daesh group had set up its de facto capital before its defeat in 2017 by US-backed Kurdish-led fighters.

Located near the Euphrates River, it is one of many informal camps inside Syria for people displaced by the conflict.

Women can be seen carrying heavy buckets of water from communal tanks in heat that can exceed 40ºC, while children in filthy clothes and bare feet play in the dirt.

Sheikhmous Ahmed, an official in the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, said tens of thousands of people live in dozens of informal camps in north and northeast Syria.

Only 16 camps, housing around 150,000 people, are formally recognised and have access to international aid, including Al Hol and Roj, which host suspected relatives of Daesh fighters, he said.

While living and hygiene conditions can be dire even in official displacement camps, the situation in informal settlements is sometimes worse, with no semblance of organisation and little or no humanitarian assistance.

Tanya Evans of the International Rescue Committee said such informal camps “can be considered the ‘forgotten camps’ of Syria”.

“Increased attention, funding, and sustained efforts by the international community are crucial” to ensuring such camps “receive the assistance they desperately need”, she told AFP in a statement.

Hammud, who is displaced from elsewhere in Raqqa province, said aid was “scarce” and that international organisations “do not recognise” the Al Yunani camp.

“Even if they helped us every two or three months, people would have” better lives, said Hammud, a day labourer in the agriculture sector.

Three of her children also work in an industrial area nearby to help make ends meet.

Syria’s war has killed more than half-a-million people and displaced millions since it broke out in 2011 with the regime’s repression of peaceful protests.

It spiralled into a deadly conflict that pulled in foreign powers and global terrorists.

‘Hell forever’ 

According to Sheikhmous Ahmed, Kurdish authorities are working “on a plan to transfer residents from informal to formal camps” in a bid to improve their living conditions.

If this were to come true it could improve the life of residents of Sahlat Al Banat, a makeshift camp which sits next to a landfill on the outskirts of Raqqa city.

Residents spend their days scavenging the rubbish tip for anything of value, such as scrap metal and bits of plastic, which they hope to sell. It is their main source of income.

“The situation in the camp is tragic,” said 30-year-old mother Shakura Mohammed, who was displaced from nearby Deir Ezzor province.

“People search through the rubbish for things they can sell in order to buy bread and earn a living,” she said.

“No aid comes to the camp,” she added.

According to a report by the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA, 79 per cent of settlements in Raqqa province are informal.

A UN cross-border mechanism allowing aid to enter northeast Syria from neighbouring Iraq was halted in early 2020 after pressure from regime ally Russia at the UN Security Council, worsening conditions for those in need.

Umm Rakan, who lives at Sahlat Al Banat, said she had given up on the idea that things would improve.

“We no longer count on anyone’s help. We lost hope years ago,” said the woman in her 40s, who was also displaced from Deir Ezzor.

“We are destined to live trapped in this hell forever.”