Region

PARIS — Iranian security forces have killed at least 378 people, including 47 children, in a crackdown on protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death, a rights group said in an updated toll on Saturday.

The Islamic republic has been gripped by protests that erupted over Amini's death on September 16, three days after her arrest for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women.

The protests were fanned by fury over the dress rules for women, but have grown into a broad movement against the theocracy that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution.

"At least 378 protesters, including 47 children, have been killed by the oppressive forces since September 16," Iran Human Rights director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam told AFP.

The figure represents an increase of 36 since the Norway-based group issued its previous toll on Wednesday.

It includes at least 123 people killed in the province of Sistan-Baluchistan, on Iran's southeastern border with Pakistan, 40 in both Kurdistan and Tehran provinces and 39 in West Azerbaijan province.

Iran Human Rights warned that the regime had been mounting a "campaign of spreading lies" ahead of a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council next week.

"They have two goals by attributing the killing of the protesters to terrorist groups like Daesh," Amiry-Moghaddam said, referring to the Daesh terror group.

"They want to use it as an excuse for more widespread use of live ammunition," he told AFP.

"And they also want to influence countries in the UN Human Rights Council who will gather on November 24 in a special session considering establishing an independent investigation and accountability mechanism" over the crackdown in Iran, he added.

Iran on Saturday criticised the international community's "silence" towards acts of violence in the country during the protests.

The Islamic republic has has accused its foreign foes, including Britain, Israel and the United States, of fomenting the unrest.

On Saturday Iran's foreign ministry hit out at the "deliberate silence of foreign promoters of chaos and violence in Iran in the face of... terrorist operations in several Iranian cities".

"It is the duty of the international community and international assemblies to condemn the recent terrorist acts in Iran and not to provide a safe haven for extremists," it said in a statement.

On Wednesday, 10 people including a woman, two children and a security officer were killed in two separate attacks in the cities of Izeh and Isfahan, according to state media and a hospital source.

Two members of Iran's pro-government Basij paramilitary force were stabbed to death in the northeastern city of Mashhad while trying to intervene against "rioters", according to state news agency IRNA.

A suspect has been arrested, the judiciary's website announced.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Saturday said foreign powers were trying to exert “maximum pressure” on Tehran.

“In recent days and weeks, the enemies of the Islamic republic have tried to influence the situation in Iran,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

He accused arch-enemy the United States, as well as Britain, France and Germany, of supporting actions that “resulted in terrorist attacks” including in the cities of Izeh and Shiraz.

Last week Amir-Abdollahian accused Western governments of “promoting violence and teaching [protesters] to make weapons and Molotov cocktails via social networks and the media”.

Washington and the three European countries had taken a motion which the International Agency for Atomic Energy (IAEA) on Thursday approved, criticising Iran’s lack of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.

It was the second resolution of its kind within six months and came during an impasse over undeclared uranium particles found in Iran.

The impasse over the IAEA’s probe comes as wider talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers are stalled.

Amir-Abdollahian said that, earlier this month, Iranian officials had had a “constructive meeting” with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi.

“Suddenly, in order to influence the domestic environment and to exert maximum pressure, and in continuation of the extremely hypocritical policy of the United States, they suddenly put a resolution against Iran on the table — and once more abuse of the agency for political purposes,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

IDLIB, Syria — More than 300 children in rebel-held northwest Syria kicked off their own football World Cup on Saturday, with organisers hoping to shine a light on communities battered by 11 years of war.

The excited children took part in the opening ceremony at the municipal stadium in Idlib, some wearing the jerseys of this year’s World Cup teams, an AFP photographer said.

Their 32 squads correspond to the nations that have qualified for the World Cup, which starts on Sunday in Qatar, and their competition opened with a match between the host country and Ecuador, reflecting the official schedule.

“I represent Spain and I hope we win the cup,” gushed 12-year-old Bassel Sheikho, who works in a garage.

While children from camps for displaced people in Idlib and surrounding areas make up 25 of the teams, the other seven are composed of children who work in industrial zones in the region.

Syria’s war has killed around half-a-million people and displaced millions more since starting in 2011.

The Idlib region is home to about 3 million people, around half of them displaced.

Children aged 10 to 14 have been training for months to take part in the “camps World Cup”, said Ibrahim Sarmini from the NGO Violet, which organised the tournament.

He said the event aims to encourage children to participate in sports, and to “focus international attention on displaced youth and those who work”, who are among those most exposed to sometimes deadly risks.

The last pocket of armed opposition to President Bashar Assad’s regime includes large swathes of Idlib province and parts of the neighbouring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces.

The Hayat Tahrir Al Sham extremist group, led by Al Qaeda’s former Syria affiliate, is dominant in the area but other rebel groups are also active.

The “camps World Cup” matches will continue throughout the official tournament period, and the final will be organised in a camp in Idlib.

Sarmini noted that winter was set to begin in full force, with rains expected to once again bring misery to the ramshackle, poverty-stricken camps.

“I hope the whole world will turn their attention to the displaced and will support them so they can return to their homes as soon as possible,” he said.

TEHRAN — Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abollahian on Thursday accused Israel and its Western allies of plotting a "civil war" in the protest-hit Islamic republic.

Demonstrations have rocked Iran since the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, after her arrest for an alleged breach of the country's dress rules for women based on Islamic sharia law.

Security services, Israel and Western politicians had "made plans for a civil war and the destruction and disintegration of Iran", Amir-Abollahian wrote on Twitter.

But, he added, they "must know that Iran is not Libya or Sudan" and that the "wisdom of our people has thwarted their plan".

His comment came after state media said 10 people, including a woman, two children and a police officer, were killed in two separate attacks by gunmen on motorbikes during protests in southern Iran.

General Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guards, said Iran was facing a "conspiracy".

"The United States, England, Germany, France, Israel, Saudi Arabia and their allies are preparing to fight God, his prophet and the martyrs," Salami said, quoted by Fars news agency.

"This is a huge conspiracy against the nation and some people inside the country have become puppets of the enemy to destroy the Iranian nation," he added.

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt — A pledge by G-20 leaders, whose countries account for most global CO2 emissions, to pursue the most ambitious target against global warming breathed new life into fraught UN climate talks in Egypt on Wednesday.

Analysts and campaigners welcomed the final communique from the G-20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, which comes as negotiators in Egypt are struggling to agree on key issues before COP27 is supposed to end on Friday.

“The positive signals from the G-20 summit should put wind in the sails of the climate talks in Egypt, which are entering their final days,” said Ani Dasgupta, CEO of the World Resources Institute.

The Group of 20 (G-20) text promises to “pursue efforts” to curb global warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels, a safer limit according to scientists.

“The outcome from Bali has been surprisingly positive,” said Fionna Smyth, head of global policy and advocacy at Christian Aid.

Give their share of global emissions, “what they do will play significant role in how we tackle the climate crisis,” she said.

The G-20 document also addresses the main source of tensions at COP27 talks: A debate on funding to help developing countries least responsible for global emissions cope with here-and-now impacts of climate change, or “loss and damage”.

The communique urges all parties to “make progress on loss and damage at COP27, which is being held in Africa”, without laying out a specific way forward for the contentious issue.

After dragging their feet for years over concerns it would create a reparations mechanism, the United States and the European Union agreed to have loss and damage on the formal agenda at COP27.

But Western powers and a major group of developing nations allied with China presented widely different views of how to achieve this at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh.

The G-77+China bloc of more than 130 developing nations presented a document saying the need for a special “loss and damage” fund was “urgent and immediate”.

The United States and the European Union have suggested that expanding current channels for climate finance might be a more efficient approach than creating a new one.

The G-20 statement also reiterated a commitment to phase out “inefficient” fossil fuel subsidies over the medium term, while also saying the leaders recognise the importance of the transition to renewable energy and pledge “efforts towards the phasedown of unabated coal power”.

“Unabated” refers to emissions from coal-fired power plants that are not syphoned off to prevent them from entering the atmosphere.

The document gives countries “a clear mandate to make progress at COP27 on all issues, including loss and damage, and commit to accelerate the deployment of clean energy”, said Luca Bergamaschi, co-founder of Italian climate think tank ECCO.

Others, however, said the G-20’s statement did not amount to much progress.

Avinash Persaud, special envoy on climate finance to Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, said G-20 nations could unlock more financing from multilateral development banks and “prime the pump” for investments in energy transitions.

“They have missed the opportunity to deliver on that today, and we are running out of time,” Persaud said.

DOHA — In the deserts of northern Qatar, children with a falcon perched on gloves on their left arms show off their hunting birds in a bid to preserve an age-old tradition.

These "Little Falconers" have gathered in a tent ahead of the football World Cup in the gas-rich Gulf emirate, in a bid to introduce visitors to a practice inherited from their forefathers.

"This is my first participation in the competition," says 11-year-old Breik Al Marri, dressed in flowing white robes beside his falcon Gasham, a leather hood obstructing the bird's view.

"I love Gasham and I take care of him," Marri said, sliding his left arm into a thick leather gauntlet to protect him from the raptor's sharp talons.

Falconry was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in 2010, in countries including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

"Originally a means of obtaining food, falconry... has been integrated into communities as a social and recreational practice and as a way of connecting with nature," the culture agency said.

'Strength of determination' 

"I learned this sport from my grandfathers, father and uncles," said Marri. "I learned from them the strength of determination and how to take care of the falcon."

Marri explains that the hood helps keep the bird of prey calm. As soon as the falcon regains sight, he says, the behaviour changes.

"Once, my brother came while the falcon didn't have the hood on, and he tried to pet the bird, but the falcon bit him," he said. "The falcon was scared!"

Marri recently participated with a dozen others in the "Promising Falconers" contest for 11-15 year olds.

The contest sees each young falconer choose the perfect moment to release their bird in order to snatch their prey, a lure waved about 200 metres away.

The winner of the contest is the falconer whose bird captures the prey the quickest.

‘Beautiful sport’ 

Also taking part in the contest was 15-year-old Saeed Al Jamila, who named his falcon Hayya, after the special fan passes for the FIFA World Cup, which runs from November 20 to December 18.

Expressing excitement at the more than one million fans expected to descend on his small nation for the tournament, he hopes to send a message encouraging them to try falconry themselves.

“They should try it, they won’t lose anything,” he said. “It’s a beautiful sport.”

But while excitement abounded for the young falconers in this division, it was undoubtedly the “Little Falconers” aged six to 10 who stole the show.

One by one, they trailed out in a row, each holding a hunting bag, while on their right arm they balanced the birds whose claws were bigger than the children’s hands.

Eight-year-old Hamad Al Nuaimi stepped out in front of the panel of judges, who began questioning on hunting tools, their uses and properties.

At one point, Nuaimi stumbled for a response to one of the questions, only to be helped along by one of the judges.

The purpose of the contest is to “preserve our heritage and that of our forefathers. We are passing this heritage to this generation”, says panel member Saad Al Muhannadi.

The little falconers are then tested on their ability to properly remove the birds’ hoods, then to successfully place them from their arm to a perch, securing their feet using a special knot.

“Hunting teaches a man perseverance and self-reliance,” said Muhannadi, as the strong scent of coffee wafted from nearby.

He hoped that the hosting of the World Cup would grant Qatar the opportunity to “spread our culture and national identity”.

Falconry “is an ancient sport, whether in Qatar or other Gulf countries, it is an authentic sport”, he said.