Region

DAMASCUS — Israeli shelling wounded two civilians in southern Syria's Quneitra province near the occupied Golan Heights on Friday, state media in the war-torn country said.

"Two civilians were wounded when a tank belonging to the Israeli occupation forces fired two shells near the village of Hamidiya," the SANA news agency said.

There was no immediate official reaction from Israel.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the attack, adding that the two people, whom it did not identify, were in an area bordering the Israeli-occupied Golan.

Groups linked to Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizbollah movement, an ally of the Damascus regime and sworn enemy of Israel, are active in the area, according to the war monitor, which has a vast network of sources on the ground in Syria.

Since the war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes inside the country, reportedly targeting the Syrian army positions as well as allied Iran-backed forces and Hizbollah fighters.

The Syrian army regained control of the southern part of Quneitra in mid-2018, five years after rebel fighters had 

overrun it.

Israel occupied 1,200 square kilometres of the Golan Heights from Syria in the June War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.

GENEVA — A historic drought in Somalia has now displaced one million people and left the country in the shadow of famine, the United Nations said Thursday.

More than 755,000 people have fled their homes but remain within the country's borders, which, when added to those who have fled abroad, brings the total to a million, the UN refugee agency UNHCR and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said Thursday.

Somalia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa including Ethiopia and Kenya are gripped by the worst drought in more than 40 years after four failed rainy seasons that have decimated crops and livestock.

An expected fifth failed rainy season is set to displace many more families.

"This one million milestone serves as a massive alarm bell for Somalia," said Mohamed Abdi, the NRC's country director in Somalia.

"Starvation is now haunting the entire country. We are seeing more and more families forced to leave everything behind because there is literally no water or food left in their villages. Aid funding urgently needs to be ramped up before it is too late."

The number of people facing crisis hunger levels in Somalia is expected to rise from some five million to more than seven million in the coming months, worsened by climate change and rising food prices driven by the Ukraine war, the UNHCR said.

On Friday, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned of a major risk of famine in eight areas by September if crop and livestock production failure was widespread, commodity prices continued to rise and humanitarian assistance failed to reach the most vulnerable.

It said the world could not wait for famine to be formally declared before taking action to save lives.

However, aid agencies say there is a dire lack of funds.

"The Somalia situation was already one of the most underfunded before this latest crisis," said Magatte Guisse, UNHCR's representative in Somalia.

"We simply have insufficient resources. The international community must step up to save lives and support this humanitarian response."

Conflict-wracked Somalia is particularly ill-equipped to cope with the situation, with a grinding Islamist insurgency limiting humanitarian access to parts of the country. Al Shabaab militants have ratcheted up their attacks in recent months.

KHARTOUM — Thousands of Sudanese protesters rallied Thursday against last year's military coup and to demand civilian rule and better living conditions.

Demonstrators in downtown Khartoum shouted for the army to "go back to the barracks", AFP correspondents reported.

Sudan has been reeling from political unrest, a spiralling economic crisis and a broad security breakdown since army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan led a coup last October 25. 

Sudan's latest putsch upended a transition to civilian rule launched after the 2019 ouster of strongman Omar Al-Bashir, who ruled for three decades. 

Thursday's demonstrations saw protesters gather on a main street in Khartoum, where they also called for "safety and security" and "free healthcare and education".

Near-weekly protests, and a violent crackdown that has so far killed at least 116 people, according to pro-democracy medics, have rocked Sudan since the coup. 

Last month, Burhan pledged in a televised address to step aside and make way for Sudanese factions to agree on a civilian government.

Civilian leaders dismissed his move as a “ruse”, and pro-democracy protesters have held fast to their rallying cry of “no negotiation, no partnership” with the military.

Burhan late last month welcomed an initiative led by a renowned Sufi religious leader, Al Tayeb Al Jed, in the latest attempt “to reach national consensus.”

Protesters were, however, sceptical. 

“This initiative doesn’t represent any revolutionaries. They are people who are only seeking power,” protester Shaker Mohammed said. 

“We reject it completely.”

Another protester, Mohammed Abdelfattah, told AFP that such initiatives are “suspicious” and do “not represent the street”.

Earlier this month, Burhan’s deputy and paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo said last October’s coup had failed to bring about change in Sudan. 

“The whole thing failed and now we [Sudan] have become worse off,” he said. 

He also reaffirmed Burhan’s pledge, saying the military would exit the political scene “if that allows for Sudan to stabilise and prosper”.

TUNIS — Tunisia's judicial authorities on Wednesday revoked the sacking in early June by President Kais Saied of around 50 judges, judicial sources told AFP.

A June 1 presidential decree in the north African country saw Saied fire 57 judges, after accusing many of corruption and other crimes.

His move, which rights groups called "a deep blow to judicial independence", sparked a nationwide strike by judges.

Fifty-three of those sacked, including some accused of "adultery", had lodged appeals with the administrative court against Saied's move.

The administrative court's spokesman told reporters the suspension of the dismissals related to an unspecified number of judges, but a lawyer on a committee for those sacked said "about 50 judges" were affected.

Lawyer Kamel Ben Messoud added that those concerned would be able to resume their duties once a copy of the ruling was obtained.

Ben Messoud told media that remaining magistrates, the subject of criminal proceedings, did not benefit from the decision.

Saied’s June 1 decree saw the president grant himself the power to fire judges, and he duly sacked the 57, further cementing a power grab that began in July last year when he dismissed the government and suspended an elected parliament.

A coalition of 10 rights groups in a joint statement at the time called the dismissals “a frontal assault on the rule of law”.

Last month Tunisia approved a new constitution granting Saied’s office unchecked powers after a poorly attended referendum in which voters overwhelmingly backed the document.

The vote came a year to the day after Saied sacked the government and suspended parliament in a dramatic blow to the only democracy to have emerged from the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

NABLUS — Three people were killed and dozens wounded on Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry said, as Israeli forces raided the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

The Israeli military said a senior commander was among the dead.

The latest violence comes two days after deadly fighting between Israel and Islamic Jihad fighters in the coastal enclave of Gaza was halted by a truce.

In the old city of Nablus, an AFP correspondent reported Palestinians trading gunfire with Israeli security forces.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medics treated 69 people for gunshot wounds across the Nablus area, at least four of them in critical condition.

"Ibrahim Al Nabulsi was killed in the city of Nablus," the Israeli army said in a statement, adding that "another terrorist who was staying in the house" also died.

Israeli forces said they launched a shoulder-fired missile at the house and detained four suspects in the raid.

Nabulsi was a commander of Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, one of the main groups present in the West Bank operating under the ruling of Fateh Party.

Following the deadly raid, the group said "the response will fit the crime".

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Nablus hospital where Nabulsi was brought by a dozen gunmen, an AFP correspondent reported.

The Palestinian health ministry named those killed as Nabulsi, Islam Sabbouh and Hussein Taha.

Jamal Taha said his 16-year-old son was killed while they were walking to work.

"The army was in the old city. My son went ahead of me to the market, he was carrying his food. There was shooting and four of us were injured," he told AFP.

Heavy gunfire was heard as dozens of Israeli military vehicles brought traffic in one of the West Bank's largest cities to a standstill.

Confrontations with the Israeli forces also broke out in other parts of the city, as Palestinians hurled stones at the troops.

"A violent clash developed with dozens of rioters who threw stones and threw explosives at the forces, who responded by means of crowd dispersal and shooting. Several injuries were confirmed," the army said.

"All the forces have left the city, there are no casualties to our forces," it added.

Israeli forces have conducted near-daily and often deadly operations in the occupied West Bank in recent months, focusing on militants from the Islamic Jihad group.

Deadly Gaza fighting 

On Friday, Israel launched what it called a “preemptive” aerial and artillery bombardment of Islamic Jihad positions in the Gaza Strip, leading fighters in the coastal enclave to fire more than a thousand rockets in retaliation, according to the army.

An Egypt-brokered ceasefire reached Sunday ended three days of intense fighting that killed 46 Palestinians, 16 of them children, and wounded 360, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid spoke by telephone with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi on Monday, with the premier praising Cairo for its role in “preserving regional stability and security”.

But following the Nablus raid, a spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said Israel is “not interested in calm and stability”.

“It’s exploiting and killing Palestinians for gains in internal Israeli politics,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh said, alluding to a snap Israeli general election called for November 1.

The Israeli prime minister said on Monday the strikes on Gaza had hit the “entire senior military command of Islamic Jihad” in the Palestinian enclave.

Islamic Jihad said 12 of its members had been killed, including commanders Taysir Al Jabari and Khaled Mansour.

Israel insists that some civilians counted in the Palestinian toll were killed by Islamic Jihad rockets that fell short or misfired.

JUBA — The United States on Tuesday urged South Sudan to release a freelance journalist with the state-owned broadcaster Voice of America detained during weekend protests.

Diing Magot was arrested along with five demonstrators who were staging a protest on Sunday over the soaring prices of basic goods in the impoverished country, police said.

South Sudan’s police spokesman Major General Daniel Justine told journalists an investigation into Magot’s case was ongoing.

The US embassy in Juba issued a statement seeking the immediate release of the South Sudanese reporter.

“We affirm the right of journalists to do their jobs without interference or harm,” it said on Twitter.

That call was echoed by the head of the Union of Journalists of South Sudan.

“It is clear she has not committed any offence and the law is not being followed,” said Oyet Patrick, adding that Magot should have already been taken to court if there was a case against her.

Journalists have been targeted by the security services in recent months.

In June, several were briefly detained in parliament, accused of illegally covering a press conference by the opposition-allied deputy speaker.

“Freedom of the press is extremely precarious in South Sudan, where journalists work under constant threat and intimidation, and where censorship is ever-present,” said media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

South Sudan, like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, has suffered from the fallout of the war in Ukraine. The conflict has sent global prices of food and fuel soaring.

The value of the local currency has also slumped over the past month, with 700 pounds buying one US dollar compared with 450 in early July.

South Sudan, one of the poorest countries on the planet despite large oil reserves, has suffered from civil war, natural disasters, hunger, ethnic violence and political infighting since it gained independence in 2011.

The UN’s World Food Programme warned in March that more than 70 per cent of South Sudan’s 11 million people would face extreme hunger this year because of natural disasters and violence.

PARIS — Iranian authorities have allowed a French-Iranian academic held in the country for the last three years to take brief leave from prison, her supporters said on Tuesday.

Fariba Adelkhah has been given a five-day furlough, which can be extended, from Tehran’s Evin prison where she is being held in a case that has raised tensions between Tehran and Paris, a statement from her support group said.

Activists say that at least 20 foreign and dual nationals are being held by Tehran on baseless charges, in a deliberate policy of hostage diplomacy aimed at extracting concessions from the West.

Her temporary release comes at a crucial time in the negotiations between world powers and Iran over the Iranian nuclear programme, with Tehran studying a final proposal from the EU aimed at salvaging a 2015 deal.

“Fariba has been granted a five-day period of leave, which is potentially renewable, and of course under judicial supervision,” her supporters said in a statement.

“We are delighted... but can only emphasise that this unacceptable deprivation of liberty is within the framework of a public policy of hostage taking by Iran,” the statement added.