Region

DOHA — A Yemeni official accused Iran of sending “gifts of death” to his war-wracked country as the two sides clashed publicly at a UN summit for poor nations on Monday.

Othman Al Majli harangued Iran, which backs Yemen’s Houthi rebels, during his speech at the Least Developed Countries meeting in Qatar, drawing a terse response from Iranian Vice President Mohsen Mansouri.

The Houthis took control of Yemen’s capital in 2014, prompting an intervention by Saudi-led forces the following year that has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Yemen is living in “exceptional situations whose reasons are not a scarcity of resources... [rather] the coup and the war waged by the terrorist Houthi militia against the Yemeni people, the militias that were trained and funded by the Iranian regime”, Al Majli, a member of Yemen’s presidential council, told the anti-poverty summit.

Al Majli also condemned “terrorist and racist movements created by Iran in the Arab countries to spread chaos and control the region” and “Iran’s continued sabotage practices in Yemen”.

When it was Mansouri’s turn to address the summit, the Yemeni delegation got up and walked out of the conference hall.

The Iranian vice-president hit back at Al Majli’s comments, calling them “unreal, baseless, and irresponsible statements”.

“His attempt to divert the focus from the agenda of the meeting is regrettable,” Mansouri told the conference.

“For the dear people of Yemen, I sincerely wish for peace and tranquillity, progress, and exit from crises caused by foreign interference and aggression.”

Iran says it provides political support to the Houthis, who adhere to an obscure branch of Shiite Islam, but denies helping them militarily.

Last week Britain’s navy said it intercepted a small boat carrying Iranian weapons on a known smuggling route to Yemen, although Tehran dismissed the statement as “fake news”.

DUBAI — Al Qaeda on Sunday confirmed the death of a senior figure in the terrorist network's Yemen branch in a suspected US air strike last month, SITE Intelligence Group reported.

Security and local government sources told AFP on Wednesday Hamad Bin Hamoud Al Tamimi had been killed, identifying him as a top leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which Washington regards as among the group's most dangerous branches.

Tamimi, a Saudi also known as Abdel Aziz Al Adnani, died in a drone strike on February 26 that targeted his residence in war-torn Yemen's northern Marib province, according to the statement reported by SITE, which monitors jihadist websites.

The statement identified him as a "media official" who "previously managed external operations in the group, including those striking American interests", SITE said.

AQAP said Tamimi spent nearly four years in prison in Saudi Arabia before travelling to Yemen in 2013, where he expressed a desire to attack "vital" American interests and carry out a suicide attack himself.

The sources, requesting anonymity, told AFP Tamimi had headed AQAP’s leadership council and acted as the militant group’s “judge”.

SITE said the Al Qaeda statement had noted another media official, Abu Nasser Al Hadhrami, was “a victim of the attack”.

AQAP and rival militants loyal to the Islamic State group have thrived in the chaos of Yemen’s eight-year civil war, which pits the Saudi-backed government against Iran-allied Houthi rebels.

AQAP has carried out operations against both the Houthis and government forces as well as sporadic attacks abroad.

Its leaders have been targeted in a US drone war for more than two decades, but the number of reported strikes has dropped in recent years.

The February 26 attack came a month after three alleged AQAP militants were killed in another suspected US drone strike on a car, also in Marib province.

Yemen has been wracked by conflict since 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition intervened to back the government after the Houthis seized control of the capital Sanaa.

The conflict has since killed tens of thousands of people and triggered what the United Nations terms the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with millions of people displaced.

DAMASCUS — Syria's foreign ministry on Sunday condemned a surprise visit by the United States' top military officer to an army base in the Kurdish-held northeast, dubbing it "illegal", state media said.

In his snap visit on Saturday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley met US troops stationed in areas of war-torn Syria under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

About 900 US troops are deployed in several bases and posts across north-eastern Syria as part of the fight against Islamic State group remnants.

Official news agency SANA quoted a foreign ministry official as saying "Syria strongly condemns the illegal visit of the American chairman of the chiefs of staff to an illegal American military base in northeast Syria".

Milley's visit was "a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and integrity" of Syrian territory, the official added according to SANA, calling on "the US administration to immediately cease its systematic and continued violation of international law and support for separatist armed groups".

President Bashar Al Assad's government views the deployment of US forces in SDF-held territory as "occupation" and accuses US-aligned Kurdish forces of "separatist tendencies".

Kurdish officials deny any separatist aspirations and say they seek to preserve their self-rule, which Damascus does not recognise.

Milley's spokesman, Dave Butler, told AFP the US general "visited northeast Syria Saturday... to meet with commanders and troops".

It was Milley's first trip to Syria since assuming the chairmanship in 2019. He visited the country before as an army chief, the spokesman said.

During the visit, Milley "received updates on the counter-ISIS mission", Butler added using an alternative acronym for the Daesh.

The general also "inspected force protection measures and asserted repatriation efforts for the Al Hol refugee camp", home to more than 50,000 people, including family members of suspected foreign Daesh militants whose home countries have not taken them back.

The US-led coalition battling Daesh provides support for SDF, spearheaded by the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units.

After the terrorists lost their last territory to SDF-led forces in 2019, SDF has cracked down on remnants of Daesh, whose members still launch deadly attacks in Syria.

US forces have killed or arrested Daesh figures in numerous operations, including the group's leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi in 2019.

On February 19, the US military said troops working with SDF captured an Daesh provincial official.

The raid came a day after four US troops were wounded as they conducted another raid to kill a senior Daesh group leader in northeastern Syria, the US military's Central Command said.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Olive oil, fragrant rose and orange blossom: the special “chrism” or holy anointing oil for the coronation of Britain’s King Charles III has been blessed in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Friday’s ceremony was carried out at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians believe Jesus was buried.

“The chrism oil which will be used to anoint His Majesty The King on May 6 2023 has been consecrated in Jerusalem,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

The unique mix was “perfumed with essential oils”, and also included extracts of sesame, jasmine and cinnamon, it added.

Based on the same ingredients as the oil used at the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, it is based on a formula “which has been used for hundreds of years”, the palace said on Friday.

The oil, which will also be used to anoint Queen Consort Camilla, the wife of King Charles III, was consecrated in a special service by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, and the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, Hosam Naoum.

Now stored in an ornate silver flask, the oil came from the Mount of Olives, the ridge overlooking the walled Old City.

The olives were harvested from two groves, the Monastery of the Ascension and the Monastery of Mary Magdalene, where Charles III’s grandmother is buried, Princess Alice of Greece.

The olives were pressed just outside the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the head of the Anglican church, said the coronation oil reflects Charles III’s “personal family connection with the Holy Land”, the palace statement added.

Welby, who will carry out the coronation service, said the oil signified the “deep historic link between the coronation, the Bible and the Holy Land”.

“From ancient kings through to the present day, monarchs have been anointed with oil from this sacred place,” he said.

GENEVA — The UN human rights chief on Friday denounced the "unfathomable" call by an Israeli minister for a flashpoint Palestinian town to be "wiped out", urging an end to the violence.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made his comments on Wednesday, days after two settlers were shot dead in Huwara killings, that led to Israeli settlers to attack the northern West Bank town.

"I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out," Smotrich said. "I think the State of Israel should do it."

Later, he tweeted that he "didn't mean to erase the village of Huwara, but only to act in a targeted way against the terrorists".

But UN rights chief Volker Turk, speaking before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, denounced Smotrich's original comments as "an unfathomable statement of incitement to violence and hostility".

Washington, a staunch ally of Israel, was even more blunt in its response to Smotrich's comments.

"They were irresponsible, they were repugnant, they were disgusting," US State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

"Just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we condemn these provocative remarks that also amount to incitement to violence," he added.

A French foreign ministry statement also condemned the comments as "unacceptable, irresponsible and unworthy coming from a member of the Israeli government".

"These comments only fuel hatred and fuel the spiral of current violence," the statement added, appealing for calm.

Appeal for calm 

Smotrich, an extreme-right settler, spoke during a surge in violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and specifically in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967.

The attack on Huwara late Sunday saw hundreds of settlers set homes and cars ablaze and hurl stones, while a Palestinian man was killed in the nearby village of Zaatara.

More than 350 Palestinians were injured, most suffering from tear gas inhalation, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.

On Monday, gunmen shot dead an Israeli-American motorist, and on Wednesday, Israeli forces searching for suspects in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near Jericho killed a Palestinian man.

Presenting his office’s latest report on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, Turk warned the council Friday that the “increasing violence is condemning innocent people on all sides to further tragedy”.

He called on “decision-makers and people on all sides... to step back from the precipice to which increasing extremism and violence have led”.

‘Occupation must end’ 

Since the start of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 65 Palestinian adults and children, including militants and civilians.

Thirteen Israeli adults and children, including members of the security forces and civilians, and one Ukrainian civilian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.

The upsurge in violence comes after last year saw the highest number of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces in 17 years, and the highest number of Israelis killed since 2016, Turk pointed out.

“I condemn the violence that has killed and harmed so many people on both sides, and which generates overwhelming despair,” he said.

Many country representatives echoed Turk’s concerns on Friday, while Palestinian ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi took the rights council floor to urge the international community to take “punitive steps” against Israel.

Israel, which routinely accuses the UN and especially the Human Rights Council of bias against it, meanwhile did not have a representative in the room for Turk’s presentation.

The UN rights chief called on both sides to adhere to a commitment to de-escalation reached following talks on Sunday in Jordan.

“In the near future, there must be an end to settlements in occupied land. And within a foreseeable horizon, there must be a two-state solution,” Turk insisted.

“For this violence to end, the occupation must end. On all sides, there are people who know this.”

TUNIS — Almost 280 Malians and Ivorians left Tunisia on Saturday on repatriation flights, fearful of a wave of violence since a controversial tirade against migrants by the president.

In February, President Kais Saied ordered officials to take "urgent measures" to tackle irregular migration, claiming without evidence that "a criminal plot" was under way "to change Tunisia's demographic makeup".

Saied charged that migrants were behind most crime in the North African country, fuelling a spate of sackings, evictions and physical attacks.

The African Union expressed "deep shock and concern at the form and substance" of Saied's remarks, while governments in sub-Saharan Africa scrambled to bring home hundreds of fearful nationals who flocked to their embassies for help.

A plane carrying 133 nationals of Mali departed from Tunisia on Saturday at around midday (11:00 GMT), a Malian diplomat said.

The group included "25 women and nine children as well as 25 students", the diplomat added on condition of anonymity.

Two hours later another plane to repatriate 145 Ivorians took off from Tunis, Ivory Coast Ambassador Ibrahim Sy Savane told AFP.

An AFP photographer saw the Malian group leave their embassy in Tunis in the early morning, boarding buses to the airport where a chartered plane awaited.

“The Tunisians don’t like us, so we are forced to leave,” Bagresou Sego told AFP before boarding the bus.

Adrahmen Dombia, who arrived in Tunisia four years ago, said he had to stop his university studies mid-year. “I’m going back because I’m not safe.”

Another Malian migrant, Baril, said he had a permit to stay in Tunisia but joined the repatriation flight anyway.

“We ask President Kais Saied with great respect to consider our other brothers and treat them well,” he told AFP.

A first group, of 50 Guineans, were flown home on Wednesday.

According to official figures, there are around 21,000 undocumented migrants from other parts of Africa in Tunisia, a country of about 12 million inhabitants.

Critics accuse Saied, who has seized almost total power since July 2021, of seeking to install a new dictatorship in the indebted country grappling with inflation and shortages of essential goods.

Vigilante violence 

Since Saied gave his speech on February 21, rights groups have reported a spike in vigilante violence including stabbings of African migrants.

Jean Badel Gnabli, head of an association of Ivorian migrants in Tunisia, told AFP from the airport that the group leaving on Saturday had “spent the night in hotels”.

The whole community was living in fear, he said earlier. “They feel like they’ve been handed over to mob justice.”

Ambassador Savane said 1,100 Ivorians out of around 7,000 in Tunisia have applied to be repatriated.

Michael Elie Bio Vamet, head of an Ivorian student association, said 30 students signed up for the repatriation flight despite having permits to stay.

“They don’t feel comfortable,” he told AFP by phone. “Some of them were victims of racist acts. Some are at the end of their studies, but others discontinued.”

“There are attacks almost every day, threats, they are even being kicked out by landlords or physically attacked,” he added.

Many African migrants in Tunisia lost their jobs and homes overnight.

Dozens were arrested after identity checks, and some are still being detained.

Migrants whose countries have embassies in Tunisia rushed to them seeking assistance.

The embassies of Ivory Coast and Mali provided emergency accommodation this week for dozens of their citizens who had been evicted from their homes, including young children.

Those with no diplomatic representation in Tunisia set up makeshift camps outside the Tunis offices of the International Organisation for Migration.

Among those heading home are dozens of fee-paying or scholarship students who were enrolled in Tunisian universities and in the country legally.

DAMASCUS — The United Nations warned Thursday of grave risks to 3.7 million children in parts of war-wracked Syria affected by last month’s earthquake, as the UN children’s agency chief visited the country.

The February 6 quake that struck neighbouring Turkey killed more than 50,000 people, including almost 6,000 in Syria, according officials and medics.

In Syria alone, at least 8.8 million people have been affected by the devastating quake, according to the United Nations.

“The 3.7 million children in affected areas of Syria... are facing several growing and potentially catastrophic threats,” the UN children’s agency UNICEF said in a statement.

It cited the disaster’s emotional and psychological impact as well as the increased risk of disease and “a lack of access to basic services for families left vulnerable by almost 12 years of conflict”.

UNICEF’s Executive Director Catherine Russell, who wound up a two-day visit to Syria on Thursday, said “the children of Syria have already endured unspeakable horror and heartbreak”.

The quake and aftershocks “not only destroyed more homes, schools and places for children to play, they also shattered any sense of safety for so many of the most vulnerable children and families”.

UNICEF said it needed “$172.7 million to deliver immediate life-saving support for 5.4 million people, including 2.6 million children, impacted by the earthquake” in Syria.

“Providing access to essential services, like safe water, healthcare and psychosocial support” can help families begin to rebuild their lives, Russell added in the statement.

World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday urged the international community to help earthquake-hit northwest Syria, on his first ever visit to rebel-held areas of the country.

The UN has launched a $397 million appeal to help quake victims in Syria, but Tedros warned that “we are not getting as much as what is needed for this emergency”.

Syria has also faced a deadly cholera outbreak that began last year.

Since 2011, Syria’s war has killed nearly half a million people and forced around half of the country’s pre-war population from their homes.

Many sought refuge in Turkey, including areas devastated by last month’s earthquake.