Region

QAMISHLI — Kurdish authorities in north-eastern Syria have handed over four women and 10 children to a Canadian delegation for their repatriation, a Kurdish official said.

Western governments have faced mounting criticism for not taking back more of their citizens who travelled to Iraq and Syria to volunteer for the Daesh group and the Canadian government was successfully sued.

Thousands of foreign women and children remain in overcrowded displaced persons' camps in Kurdish-administered northeastern Syria where they are vulnerable to indoctrination by diehard terrorists.

"On Wednesday... four wives and 10 children of foreign fighters of Daesh who were living in the Roj camp were handed over to representatives of the Canadian foreign ministry," said Khaled Ibrahim, an official in the Kurdish administration.

He said the women were aged between 26 and 35, while the children were aged between three and 11.

It was the fourth repatriation carried out by Canada from the overcrowded displaced persons camp of north-eastern Syria, Ibrahim said.

On January 21, a Canadian federal court ordered the government to repatriate 23 citizens, 19 of them women and children, from the Roj and Al Hol camps, without setting a date.

Previously the government of Justin Trudeau had treated Daesh family members in Syria on a case-by-case basis, and in four years only a handful of women and children had been repatriated.

On Thursday, the Canadian government confirmed the latest repatriation.

"As long as conditions allow, we will continue this work," a foreign ministry statement said.

"Amidst reports of deteriorating conditions in the camps in northeastern Syria, we have been particularly concerned about the health and well-being of Canadian children," it said.

Highly sensitive issue 

"We reiterate that it is a serious criminal offence for anyone to leave Canada to knowingly support a terrorist group and those who engage in these activities will face the full force of Canadian law," the statement added.

After Daesh lost their last scraps of territory in Syria in March 2019, more than 42,400 foreign adults and children with alleged ties to the militant group have been held in camps in the war-torn country, according to Human Rights Watch.

They include around 30 Canadian citizens, 10 of them children, the rights group said in January.

Repatriating them is a highly sensitive issue for many governments, but there has been mounting criticism of their reluctance to bring back their own nationals from the camps.

Last month, UN chief Antonio Guterres called for the swift repatriation of foreigners held in Syria's infamous Al Hol camp, which is home to more than 50,000 people, nearly half of them children.

The head of US Central Command, Gen. Michael Kurilla, visited the camps in March.

"These camps represent not only a flashpoint of human suffering but also an enduring security risk as the more than 30,000 children housed in them are in danger of ISIS indoctrination on a daily basis," a CENTCOM statement Thursday quoted Kurilla as saying.

International NGO Save the Children in a statement welcomed the Canadian repatriation and urged other countries to increase their efforts.

"The need for urgent action cannot be overstated, given the deteriorating humanitarian and security situation, and the uncertainty and fear that the children in the camps live with every day," its Syria Response Director Rasha Muhrez said.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis, who often champions poor and marginalised people, celebrated the traditional Holy Thursday Mass by washing the feet of 12 young inmates in a juvenile detention centre in Rome.

The Argentine Jesuit, who was hospitalised last week for bronchitis, spent on Thursday afternoon at the Casal del Marmo detention centre in the north of the Italian capital.

It was the second time he visited the facility, performing the same rite in 2013 soon after being elected Pontiff.

Leaning on a cane, Francis stood before each of the 12 inmates — including two women — to wash their feet before bowing down to kiss them.

In return, some of the inmates kissed the hand of the smiling Pope, while others exchanged a few words with him.

"I hope I can make it because I can't walk very well," the 86-year-old Pope joked during a short impromptu homily, referring to his knee pain that has forced him to rely on a wheelchair.

The Pope spent three nights in the hospital last week after complaining of breathing issues and was treated for bronchitis.

Among the group of inmates were young people from Senegal, Romania, Croatia and Russia, according to Vatican Media, which broadcast the event live.

In the Christian tradition, Holy Thursday commemorates the day when Christ washed the feet of the apostles and performed the Eucharist at his last meal, known as the Last Supper.

The ritual has been perpetuated in Christianity, except for some branches of Protestantism.

It is a highlight of Holy Week, which commemorates the last days of Christ and precedes Easter.

Since the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis has taken this celebration outside the confines of the Vatican.

In recent years, he has made several visits to prisons and refugee centres, washing the feet of repentant inmates, former mafia members, the sick and people from other religions.

On Thursday morning, Pope Francis presided over the traditional Chrism Mass in St Peter's Basilica, where the holy oil is blessed for the celebration of certain sacraments throughout the year.

BEIJING — Top diplomats from Middle East rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia met in Beijing on Thursday, resuming diplomatic relations and pledging to work together to bring "security and stability" to their turbulent region.

In a joint statement released after talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the two sides vowed to continue to work together to improve ties.

The meeting came after a surprise China-brokered deal in March put Tehran and Riyadh on a path to restore relations that had been severed seven years ago when protesters in Iran attacked Saudi diplomatic missions.

"The two sides emphasised the importance of following up on the implementation of the Beijing Agreement and its activation in a way that expands mutual trust and the fields of cooperation and helps create security, stability and prosperity in the region," Thursday's joint statement said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang "witnessed the signing of a joint statement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the two countries announced the resumption of diplomatic relations with immediate effect", the ministry said.

French President Emmanuel Macron and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen were also in the Chinese capital on Thursday, seeking to make Europe’s case in a meeting with Xi Jinping for bringing an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

Macron, in joint remarks to the media alongside Xi, welcomed the Iran-Saudi thaw as he congratulated his Chinese counterpart for securing “this important step forward”.

The shock rapprochement between mainly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, and Shiite-majority Iran, strongly at odds with Western governments over its nuclear activities, has the potential to reshape relations across a region characterised by turbulence for decades.

The two sides “negotiated and exchanged opinions with the emphasis on the official resumption of bilateral relations and the executive steps towards the reopening of the embassies and consulates of the two countries”, Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Saudi state TV channel Al Ekhbariya aired footage of the pair of diplomats shaking hands in front of Saudi and Iranian flags and then talking and smiling.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning hailed the meeting, adding that the ministers “expressed their gratitude to China for its contribution to the promotion of dialogue”.

Under last month’s agreement, the two countries are to reopen their embassies and missions within two months and implement security and economic cooperation deals signed more than 20 years ago.

Talks between the foreign ministers are expected to be followed by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to Riyadh. 

Raisi accepted an invitation from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber said on Monday.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israeli forces clashed with Palestinians inside Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday, sparking a military exchange of rockets and air strikes in flaring violence as the Jewish Passover coincides with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Israeli forces in riot gear stormed the mosque’s prayer hall before dawn, aiming to dislodge “law-breaking youths and masked agitators” they said had barricaded themselves inside following evening prayers.

The officers were met with a barrage of rocks and fireworks, a Israeli forces video showed. More than 350 arrests were made in the raid, which drew threats from Palestinian groups and wide condemnation from Muslim countries and beyond the region.

UN Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland urged “leaders on all sides” to “act responsibly and refrain from steps that could escalate tensions”.

Washington expressed “alarm” at “the shocking scenes in Al Aqsa Mosque and rockets launched from Gaza towards Israel”.

In a statement, the US office of Palestinian affairs called for “restraint and de-escalation to allow peaceful worship and to protect the sanctity of the holy sites”.

Germany urged both sides “to do everything possible to calm the situation”.

Palestinian witness Abdel Karim Ikraiem, 74, charged that Israeli forces armed with batons, tear gas grenades and smoke bombs, burst into the mosque “by force” and “beat the women and men” worshipping there.

One video widely circulated on social media showed Israeli forces clubbing people on the floor inside the mosque.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had treated 37 people for injuries, including some after their release from custody.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir voiced his “complete backing” for Israeli forces and praised their “swift and determined” actions.

Palestinian group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, called on West Bank Palestinians “to go en masse to the Al Aqsa Mosque to defend it”.

Rockets were fired in the pre-dawn hours of Wednesday from Gaza into Israel, without causing casualties, prompting retaliatory air strikes.

The mosque in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem is Islam’s third holiest site. 

It has been a frequent flashpoint, particularly during Ramadan, and clashes there in May 2021 sparked the latest Gaza war that raged for 11 days.

Rocks and fireworks 

On Gaza’s streets, protesters burnt tyres and chanted: “We swear to defend and protect the Al Aqsa mosque.”

Calm had returned to the compound by late morning, when Israeli forces escorted a small group of Jewish visitors through the site. An officer told an AFP journalist police were only allowing those aged 60 and over to access the compound.

Israeli forces said the Palestinians had barricaded themselves inside the mosque from Tuesday evening, and ahead of Passover which starts on Wednesday evening.

Israeli forces “were forced to enter the compound in order to get them out with the intentions to allow the Fajr [dawn] prayer and to prevent a violent disturbance”, after prolonged attempts at talking with the Palestinians failed to get them to leave, said a statement from Israeli forces.

“When the police entered, stones were thrown at them and fireworks were fired from inside the mosque by a large group of agitators,” Israeli forces said, reporting one officer injured in the leg.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “security forces were compelled to act in order to restore order”.

Within hours, at least nine rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel, the army said, adding that “in response” warplanes struck two suspected Hamas weapons-manufacturing sites in the enclave.

The air strikes were followed by new rocket fire from Gaza and further Israeli strikes, AFP journalists reported.

Islamic Jihad, another Gaza-based group, said the rockets were “a first warning message” following the Israeli “aggression”.

‘Intensifying violence’ 

Palestinian civil affairs minister Hussein Al Sheikh condemned the Israeli forces’ action inside Al Aqsa, saying “the level of brutality requires urgent Palestinian, Arab and international action”.

The Arab League denounced “the attack on the faithful” and called an emergency meeting.

Jordan, which administers the mosque, condemned its “storming”, and called on Israeli forces to leave the compound immediately.

Turkey denounced the clashes as “unacceptable”.

The United Arab Emirates and Morocco, which established ties with Israel in 2020 as part of US-brokered accords, also strongly condemned the Israeli police action.

In its statement, the UAE’s foreign ministry also criticised worshippers who “barricade themselves”.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has descended into intensifying violence since the most right-wing government in Israel’s history took office in late December under Netanyahu.

So far this year, it has claimed the lives of at least 91 Palestinians, 15 Israelis and one Ukrainian, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.

On the Palestinian side, those killed include both combatants and civilians. On the Israeli side, they include two members of the Arab minority.

PARIS — Iranian security forces have killed at least 537 people in a crackdown on protests that erupted in September, a rights group said on Tuesday, sharply revising upwards its previous toll.

Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) also said that while four people had been executed in this period on protest-related charges, over 300 more had been hanged on other accusations in the same time frame in what it described as a broad tactic to "intimidate" society.

The protest movement began in mid-September after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurd who had been arrested for allegedly violating Iran's strict dress code for women.

Protesters took to the streets urging not just an end to clothing obligations like the obligatory headscarf for women, but also the ousting of Iran's Islamic theocracy which has ruled the country since 1979.

The authorities responded with a crackdown which rights groups say saw protesters directly targeted with live ammunition across the country.

IHR’s previous toll was of 488 protesters killed in the crackdown, and it said the new figure of 537 was due to new deaths being openly verified.

The most deaths took place in late September with 223 killed, October when 100 lost their lives, and November when 173 died, it said in a report marking 200 days since Amini’s death.

The most deaths, 134, were recorded in Sistan-Baluchistan province in the southeast, where the Baluch Sunni minority has held weekly protests.

At least 69 deaths were recorded in Tehran, and 57 and 56 in the provinces of Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan which are populated by the Kurdish minority.

Four men were executed in protest-related cases after what IHR described as “show trials” that prompted an international outcry.

But the group said in the same period 309 people were also put to death on other charges, including 180 for drug-related offences, without a murmur of dissent from the international community.

The group said this showed how capital punishment in Iran was used as a “tool to intimidate society”.

“These are the ‘low-cost’ victims of the regime’s execution machine,” IHR Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told AFP.

“Nobody knows them, their executions don’t receive any condemnation, but the aim is the same; to spread fear and prevent more protests.”

SANAA — Two Yemeni YouTubers and a producer jailed by Houthi rebels for publishing videos critical of the Iran-backed insurgents have received pardons, according to the group's official media.

The trio, who were sentenced last month along with a third YouTuber, were pardoned by the Houthi's political leader, Mahdi Al Mashat, the SABA news agency said.

The Houthis, who follow an austere form of Shiite Islam, seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention and fighting that has devastated the country.

YouTubers Mustafa Al Mawmari and Ahmad Hajar had been sentenced by a Sanaa court to 18 months and 12 months respectively at a court, while producer Hammoud Al Mesbahi received a six-month term.

There was no mention of Ahmad Elaw, a third YouTuber sentenced alongside the trio in March, who was jailed for three years, the longest sentence.

In December, Hajar was the first of the group to be detained after he accused the Huthis of "robbing the Yemeni people", in a video watched around half-a-million times.

The group was charged with "spreading misinformation", "harming public interest", and "inciting the masses to commit acts of chaos", according to court documents seen by AFP when they were sentenced.

Each of them was also ordered to pay a fine of nearly $20,000, their lawyer said at the time.

Yemen's war has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, both directly and indirectly, and pushed the nation to the brink of famine.

Meanwhile, the Houthis have increasingly limited individual liberties, including free speech and the movement of women in areas they control.

Court documents had said the YouTubers' influence was seen as "serving the aggression... against Yemen" by the Saudi-led coalition.

The four men were sentenced a day after Houthi-controlled media released videos of them renouncing their earlier criticisms, prompting a strong reaction from some Yemenis who suspected the statements were coerced.

TUNIS — Tunisia's main opposition coalition pressed the government on Monday to explain a days-long public "absence" of President Kais Saied, saying it had information that he was sick.

Saied, 65, has not appeared in public or held any meetings since March 22, according to posts on his Facebook page, the presidency's only official channel of communication.

The lack of statements or videos has sparked rumours over the state of Saied's health.

"We ask the government to address the Tunisian people and say if the president has health problems that have forced him to be absent," Ahmed Nejib Chebbi of the National Salvation Front (NSF) opposition coalition told journalists.

He said the NSF had been "informed from day one that President Saied was suffering from health problems, but did not react, as anyone can have a temporary health problem".

Chebbi said Prime Minister Najla Bouden would run Tunisia in the event of a temporary power vacuum, but that a permanent vacancy would present the country with a "great catastrophe" due to a legislative void.

Saied, who staged a dramatic power grab in July 2011 and has since ruled by decree, last year rammed through a constitution giving his office unlimited powers and neutering parliament.

Under the new document, were Saied to be incapacitated, the president of the Constitutional Court would run the country pending a new presidential election, but the court has not yet been created.

Chebbi said Saied’s health “concerns all Tunisians”, and that in the event he is incapacitated, Tunisia should hold “serious and open consultations so that the Tunisian people and the civil and political forces agree on a power transfer mechanism”.