Region

BEIRUT — Aid workers in Syria's largest camp for displaced people face an unprecedented threat, a Kurdish official said on Sunday, following the murder of a 26-year-old health worker by extremists.

The Kurdish Red Crescent on Wednesday announced the death of a staff member from a gunshot wound "while carrying out his humanitarian duties" in north-eastern Syria's Al Hol camp.

Two members of the Daesh killed the aid worker after entering the medical centre using false identities, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

Most of Al Hol's residents are people who fled or surrendered during the dying days of Daesh self-proclaimed "caliphate" in March 2019.

Al Hol shelters around 56,000 displaced people and refugees — including from multiple nations — and most of them younger than 18, according to latest United Nations figures.

Since the fall of Daesh, Syria's Kurds and the UN have repeatedly urged foreign countries to repatriate their nationals, but this has only been done in dribs and drabs, out of fear that terrorist attacks could take place on their soil.

The camp is controlled by the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration.

"The security situation in the camp is volatile and cells of Daesh are still present" in Al Hol, Chaykhamous Ahmed, an official with the Kurdish administration, told AFP.

Ahmed said the killing posed a "dangerous precedent" to humanitarian and medical organisations, adding that the agencies would continue their work "but not in the necessary way".

The killing of the aid worker is a reminder that the security situation in northeast Syria "remains unacceptable", senior UN aid officials said in a statement on Wednesday.

Essential aid can only be delivered "when steps are taken to address persistent safety issues", they said.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF), one of the main agencies working in Al Hol, said in a statement that the killing of the aid worker was "a further demonstration of the violence and unsafe living conditions" of the camp.

"Long-term solutions must be found for the people living in Al Hol that respect their rights, and ensure the safety of camp residents and humanitarian workers alike," MSF said.

Since the beginning of 2021 the Syrian observatory has recorded 91 murders by Daesh in Al Hol, with most of the victims Iraqi refugees. Two of the victims were aid workers.

MOGADISHU — A Somali government spokesman was wounded on Sunday in an attack by the Al Shabaab extremist group, though his wounds are "not serious", the prime minister's office said.

Sunday's attack, which Al Shabaab said it was behind, came after Somali leaders agreed this month to wrap up parliamentary elections by February 25, following repeated delays that have threatened the stability of the troubled country.

More than a year of delays had deepened bitter tensions between Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble and President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known by his nickname Farmajo, amid fears their squabbling could erupt into violence.

"The spokesman of the Somali Federal government was wounded in a terrorist attack, his injuries are not serious and we wish him quick recovery," the office said in a statement.

Multiple sources said the attacker, who was killed in the incident, attempted to get onto the spokesman's car before detonating explosives, partially destroying the vehicle.

"A suicide bomber jumped onto a vehicle transporting the spokesman of the government Mohamed Ibrahim, he was lucky to have survived with light injuries," said a policeman at the scene of the attack, Mohamed Farah.

"Two other people got injured in the blast."

Witnesses confirmed that the attacker had pressed himself against the car before a loud explosion was heard.

'Human body parts' 

One witness, Abdirahman Moalin Ali, said he had seen "human body parts strewn across the area".

Al Shabaab swiftly claimed the attack in a statement.

Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu has been a spokesman and adviser to the prime minister for more than a year, having previously been a journalist with the BBC broadcaster and is a former secretary general of the National Union of Somali Journalists.

He has survived several attacks on residences where he has been staying, escaping unharmed from a 2019 attack on one property which was besieged for almost 22 hours.

Farmajo, president since 2017, saw his mandate expire on February 8 last year and failed to organise elections prior to announcing in April he was extending his rule for two years — a decision which prompted armed unrest in the capital.

He eventually tasked Roble with organising fresh polls but a disagreement over the election process set off a bitter power struggle between the two leaders.

Somalia saw fresh violence last week when Al Shabaab claimed a suicide car bomb blast which left at least four dead in Mogadishu.

In December, Farmajo suspended Roble having appointed him in September 2002 — leading the latter to speak of an "attempted coup" and the opposition to demand the president's resignation.

The ongoing unrest has set alarm bells ringing in the international community, which fears an election impasse will further undermine stability, empowering Al Shabaab, whose fighters control vast swathes of the country.

Following the decision to wrap up polls by February 25 a new president of the electoral commission was voted in Saturday, his predecessor having been fired by Roble.

Under the Horn of Africa nation's complex indirect electoral system, the five federal state assemblies and delegates chosen by clan delegates nominate lawmakers for the national parliament, and they in turn choose the president.

Elections to the upper chamber have finished in all of the states save for the central state of Galmudug, and voting began in November to the lower house.

SANAA — Yemen's Huthi insurgents on Saturday rejected a UN request to release an Emirati-flagged vessel they seized earlier this month, saying it carried weapons.

"The Rwabee vessel was not carrying... toys for children but weapons for extremists," Huthi official Hussein Al-Azzi said.

The Iran-backed Huthis seized the ship on January 3 off the Red Sea port of Hodeida, along with its 11-member crew, and then released a video which they said shows military equipment on board.

The United Arab Emirates has described the Rwabee as a "civilian cargo vessel".

It said the ship was leased by a Saudi company and that it had been in international waters carrying equipment to be used at a field hospital.

A Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen to support the internationally recognised government in March 2015 after the Houthis captured the capital, Sanaa, the previous year.

On Friday the UN Security Council demanded the “immediate release” of the Rwabee and its crew.

It stressed “the importance of freedom of navigation in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea”, a strategic route for international shipping.

It also called on “all parties to de-escalate the situation in Yemen”, including by working with the UN’s special envoy to return to the negotiating table.

But Azzi, quoted by the Houthis’ Al Masirah television, accused the UN of siding with “murderers who violate international laws”.

The Rwabee “belongs to a country participating in the aggression against our people and at war with Yemen, and entered [Yemeni] territorial waters unlawfully”, he said.

The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition which has described the seizing of the Rwabee as an act of “piracy”.

NASIRIYAH, Iraq — After war and insurgency kept them away from Iraq for decades, European archaeologists are making an enthusiastic return in search of millennia-old cultural treasures.

“Come and see!” shouted an overjoyed French researcher recently at a desert dig in Larsa, southern Iraq, where the team had unearthed a 4,000-year-old cuneiform inscription.

“When you find inscriptions like that, in situ, it’s moving,” said Dominique Charpin, professor of Mesopotamian civilisation at the College de France in Paris.

The inscription in Sumerian was engraved on a brick fired in the 19th century BC.

“To the god Shamash, his king Sin-iddinam, king of Larsa, king of Sumer and Akkad,” Charpin translated with ease.

Behind him, a dozen other European and Iraqi archaeologists kept at work in a cordoned-off area where they were digging.

They brushed off bricks and removed earth to clear what appeared to be the pier of a bridge spanning an urban canal of Larsa, which was the capital of Mesopotamia just before Babylon, at the start of the second millennium BC.

“Larsa is one of the largest sites in Iraq, it covers more than 200 hectares,” said Regis Vallet, researcher at France’s National Centre for Scientific Research, heading the Franco-Iraqi mission.

The team of 20 people have made “major discoveries”, he said, including the residence of a ruler identified by about 60 cuneiform tablets that have been transferred to the national museum in Baghdad.

Archaeological ‘paradise’ 

Vallet said Larsa is like an archaeological playground and a “paradise” for exploring ancient Mesopotamia, which hosted through the ages the empire of Akkad, the Babylonians, Alexander the Great, the Christians, the Persians and Islamic rulers.

However, the modern history of Iraq, with its succession of conflicts, especially since the 2003 US-led invasion and its bloody aftermath,  has kept foreign researchers at bay.

Only since Baghdad declared victory in territorial battles against the Daesh terror group in 2017 has Iraq “largely stabilised and it has become possible again” to visit, said Vallet.

“The French came back in 2019 and the British a little earlier,” he said. “The Italians came back as early as 2011.”

In late 2021, said Vallet, 10 foreign missions were at work in the Dhi Qar province, where Larsa is located.

Iraq’s Council of Antiquities and Heritage director Laith Majid Hussein said he is delighted to play host, and is happy that his country is back on the map for foreign expeditions.

“This benefits us scientifically,” he told AFP in Baghdad, adding that he welcomes the “opportunity to train our staff after such a long interruption”.

‘Cradle of civilisations’ 

Near Najaf in central Iraq, Ibrahim Salman of the German Institute of Archaeology is focused on the site of the city of Al Hira.

Germany had previously carried out excavations here that ground to a halt with the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Equipped with a geomagnetic measuring device, Salman’s team has been at work in the one-time Christian city that had its heyday under the Lakhmids, a pre-Islamic tribal dynasty of the 5th and 6th centuries.

“Some clues lead us to believe that a church may have been located here,” he explained.

He pointed to traces on the ground left by moisture which is retained by buried structures and rises to the surface.

“The moistened earth on a strip several metres [yards] long leads us to conclude that under the feet of the archaeologist are probably the walls of an ancient church,” he said.

Al Hira is far less ancient than other sites, but it is part of the diverse history of the country that serves as a reminder, according to Salman, that “Iraq, or Mesopotamia, is the cradle of civilisations. It is as simple as that!”

By Hashem Osseiran
Agence France-Presse

TRIPOLI, Lebanon — If he wasn't making good money smuggling irregular migrants to the European Union by sea, Ibrahim himself might have joined the growing exodus from crisis-hit Lebanon.

"If I didn't work in this profession, I would have left, just like so many other people," said the 42-year-old trafficker, who asked to use a pseudonym when he spoke to AFP in the northern city of Tripoli.

"Maybe I would have turned to someone to smuggle me out," he said, his face hidden by an anti-COVID surgical mask and a hoodie.

Lebanon, in the throes of a brutal economic crisis, is no longer just a launchpad for Syrian refugees and other foreign migrants.

Its own desperate citizens now also risk drowning in the Mediterranean in their quest for a better life.

Ibrahim argues that, while having smuggled around 100 Lebanese nationals to Europe since 2019 makes him no angel, there is virtue in helping his compatriots.

"I get them out of here, out of this beggar's life," he said. "At least if they are put in a camp, they can eat and drink with dignity."

Ibrahim said he took pride in taking only Lebanese nationals on his boats, and even then, only those who can produce civil registry documents.

"I get requests from Palestinians and Syrians but I am responsible only for my own countrymen," said Ibrahim, a former school bus driver whose tumbling income led him to people smuggling.

“There are many Lebanese who want to leave... They are ready to sell their houses, sell their cars, sell everything, just to make it out.”

Sinking ship 

Lebanon, a country of around six million people, is like a sinking ship, grappling with an unprecedented financial crisis that the World Bank says is on a scale usually associated with wars.

The currency has crashed, people’s purchasing power has plummeted and the monthly minimum wage is now worth $22.

The UN’s refugee agency UNHCR said at least 1,570 individuals, including 186 Lebanese nationals, had embarked or tried to embark on illicit sea journeys from Lebanon between January and November 2021.

Most were hoping to reach European Union member Cyprus, an island 175 kilometres away.

This is up from 270 passengers, including 40 Lebanese in 2019, UNHCR spokesperson Lisa Abou Khaled told AFP.

“In previous years, the vast majority of passengers were Syrians, while in 2020 and 2021, a notable number of Lebanese joined these movements,” she said.

Lives have been lost, including those of two little children, during attempted crossings over the past two years, though there is little data and no exact toll.

The Lebanese army said it is diligently monitoring the 225 kilometre coastline with radar systems and patrol boats.

A joint maritime operations room facilitates coordination between naval forces and other security agencies as well authorities in Cyprus.

“In 2020, the navy succeeded in seizing about 20 boats and detaining 596 people,” the army said.

The army said that “Lebanese nationals who know their way around the country’s coastline” are the most common smuggling culprits.

They include Ibrahim who said he organised an illicit sea crossing to Europe in 2019 for a Lebanese family of five now residing in Germany.

Since then, he said he has organised nine others, including his latest in September which saw 25 Lebanese nationals arrive in Italy.

With prices ranging from $2,500 per person for a trip to Cyprus to up to $7,000 to get to Italy, Ibrahim said he can make up to $5,000 profit from a single boat journey.

“We used to have to advertise our trips,” he said. “Now people come running to us.”

‘No future’ 

Sitting on a bench on Tripoli’s coast, Bilal Moussa, 34, was watching the giant waves that almost swallowed him in November.

Taking a long drag from a cigarette, the father of three said he would try again.

“There is no future here, not for us and not for our children,” said Moussa, who quit his supermarket job because his monthly salary of $55 barely paid for his commute.

In September, Moussa decided to attempt the sea voyage to Italy.

He sold his car and borrowed $1,500 from a friend to cover the $4,000 for the trip.

On November 19, Moussa packed a small duffel bag and left his home in the Dinniyeh region without even telling his wife.

When he reached the Tripoli meeting point, he found around 90 passengers clambering onto a truck that would drive them to the Qalamoun region from where they would depart.

They included 15 Palestinians and 10 Syrians, while the rest were Lebanese.

“We had 35 children on board, and around 20 women,” he said.

Two hours after the 18 metre craft set sail, a navy boat took chase and ordered the captain back.

Their overcrowded craft started taking on water from the wake of the patrol boat, but the captain sped off and lost his tail after an hour-long white-knuckle chase.

The next terrifying moment came when the engine broke down and the boat started to sink, in the dark.

Panicked passengers started throwing suitcases and fuel tanks overboard.

Moussa and others contacted relatives back home to send help, which arrived several hours later.

A Lebanese army ship came and towed them back ashore, where passengers were interrogated and then released.

“I felt defeated because I came back, because I didn’t make it,” Moussa said.

“But I am going to leave again... We have no path ahead but the sea.”

DUBAI — The UN mission in Yemen's rebel-held port of Hodeida expressed "great concern" on Tuesday over claims it was being used for military purposes and demanded access for an inspection.

The United Nations Mission to Support the Hodeida Agreement said the port was vital for the impoverished country, where a seven-year war has pushed millions to the brink of famine.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting alongside government forces accused the Iran-backed Houthi rebels of militarising the Red Sea ports and threatened to attack them after the insurgents seized a United Arab Emirates-flagged ship last week.

"UNMHA reminds the parties that Hodeida ports are a crucial lifeline for millions of Yemeni people," it said in a statement.

The coalition says the Rwabee was carrying medical supplies but the Houthis insist it was a military ship.

The hijacking on January 3 raised fears that the conflict could spill over into the Red Sea, a vital route for Gulf oil and cargo shipments.

It could also have severe consequences for Yemen, which the UN says is facing the world's worst humanitarian crisis, if it draws attacks on Hodeida.

"UNMHA has requested as part of its mandate to undertake an inspection," the statement said, adding that protecting the ports was "in the interest of the Yemeni people".

The UN mission is aimed at preserving the often ignored Hodeida Agreement, a ceasefire for the port agreed at Yemen's last peace talks in Sweden in 2018.

TEHRAN/ OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday that efforts by "all parties" to revive the country's 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers had resulted in "good progress" during talks in Vienna.

Negotiations to salvage the nuclear deal resumed in late November after they were suspended in June as Iran elected a new, ultraconservative government.

The 2015 deal, agreed by Iran, the US, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany, offered Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.

But then-president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US in 2018 and reimposed biting sanctions, prompting Tehran to begin rolling back on its commitments.

“There has been good progress on all four issues of removing sanctions, nuclear issues, verification and obtaining guarantees” during the latest round of talks, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters on Monday.

This progress is “the result of the efforts made by all parties to reach a stable agreement”.

His comments are the latest in a series of positive announcements by Iran on the talks, as the Islamic republic negotiates with the remaining parties to the deal.

The US has participated only indirectly in the Vienna talks, which seek to bring Washington back inside the accord and to ensure Iran readheres to its own commitments.

“We are seeking a reliable and stable deal,” Khatibzadeh said. “If the other party thinks an unstable and unreliable agreement is to their benefit, this is not what the Islamic Republic is after.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday that negotiations were progressing on a “rather positive path” but emphasised the urgency of bringing them to a speedy conclusion.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Sunday said that the two sides are nearing a “good agreement”.

This was due to France “behaving reasonably” after previously playing “the role of a bad cop”, and the US adapting to “realities”.

But Amir-Abdollahian cautioned that reaching a renewed agreement quickly remains dependent on the other parties.

Britain, France and Germany said last month that the window for concluding a deal was “weeks, not months”, due to the speed of Iran’s nuclear enrichment.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Monday that Israel will maintain “unrestricted freedom” to act against Iran regardless of any nuclear agreement between Tehran and world powers.

Bennett made the comments to the Israeli parliament’s foreign affairs and defence committee as an Iranian official said there had been “good progress” towards reviving a 2015 nuclear agreement during negotiations in Vienna.

“Regarding the nuclear talks in Vienna, we are certainly concerned. It is important for me to say here clearly and unequivocally: Israel is not a party to the agreements,” Bennett said.

“Israel will maintain unlimited and unrestricted freedom of action, everywhere and at all times.”