Region

BEIRUT — An Iraqi fighter from an Iran-backed group was killed in an overnight air strike in eastern Syria near the Iraq border, the group and a war monitor said on Saturday.

The strike occurred in Deir Ezzor province, where Iran wields significant influence and which is regularly targeted by Israel and the United States, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"An Iraqi member in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq was killed, and two others were injured in a preliminary toll, as a result of an unknown air strike," the observatory said, referring to a loose alliance of Iran-backed groups.

The Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said an explosion was heard coinciding with the strike “in Albukamal countryside... a few kilometres away from Syrian-Iraqi borders”.

Iraq’s Sayyed Al Shuhada Brigades announced the death of a fighter in a strike on “Friday which targeted his vehicle during a reconnaissance patrol on the Iraqi-Syrian border”, accusing the United States of being behind the attack.

Responsibility for the strike was not immediately claimed, but a spokesperson for the US-led military coalition formed in 2014 to fight the Daesh group told AFP that “neither the coalition nor US forces carried out overnight strikes in Deir Ezzor”.

The observatory said that several hours before the strike, drones flew over the area.

Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes primarily targeting pro-Iran groups — which it rarely comments on publically.

In late March, 16 Tehran-affiliated fighters, including an Iranian military adviser, were killed in strikes on eastern Syria.

The strikes also killed one civilian working for the World Health Organisation.

Iran has long been a key ally of the Syrian government, most notably providing military advisers.

GAZA STRIP — Israel bombed the Gaza Strip where one hospital reported at least 30 dead on Friday and as exchanges of fire and threats over the Lebanon border raised fears of an even wider war.

After further cross-border fire between Israel and Lebanon's powerful Hizbollah movement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the clashes must not turn Lebanon into "another Gaza".

Increased “bellicose rhetoric” from both sides risked triggering a catastrophe “beyond imagination”, he said.

In Gaza the director of Gaza City’s Al Ahli hospital was quoted by the territory’s health ministry as reporting 30 dead on Friday in intensified Israeli bombardment.

“It has been a difficult and brutal day in Gaza City. So far, around 30 martyrs have arrived at the Al Ahli Arab hospital,” Dr Fadel Naeem was quoted as saying.

Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Basal said five municipal workers died when a garage in the city was bombed.

Israel’s military reported military operations on Friday “north and south of the Central Gaza Strip Corridor”.

AFPTV captured an overnight strike on Khan Yunis city, showing a ball of fire and sparks erupting in a residential district.

Just before midnight Thursday, Israel’s army said it had “successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon”.

Early Friday, Lebanese official media reported new Israeli strikes in the south.

They came after Hizbollah said it had fired dozens of rockets at a barracks in northern Israel on Thursday in retaliation for a deadly air strike in south Lebanon.

Israel said a Hizbollah operative was killed in that strike.

It said jets struck Hezbollah sites and used artillery “to remove threats in multiple areas in southern Lebanon”.

Hizbollah claimed a number of attacks on Israeli troops and positions near the border on Friday, including two using drones.

Experts are divided on the prospect of a wider war, almost nine months into Israel’s campaign to eradicate Iran-backed Hizbollah’s ally Hamas, the Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Exchanges between Hizbollah and Israel have escalated, and Israel’s military said on Tuesday plans for an offensive in Lebanon “were approved and validated”.

Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said “no place” in Israel would “be spared our rockets” in a wider war, and also threatened nearby European Union member Cyprus.

Israel’s ally the United States has appealed for de-escalation.

Two soldiers killed

The violence on the Lebanon border began after the October 7 attack by Hamas militants from Gaza into southern Israel. That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

The militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza although the army says 41 are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,431 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Months of negotiations towards a truce and a hostage release have failed to make headway, but mediator Qatar insisted Friday it was still working to “bridge the gap” between Israel and Hamas.

The war has destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure and left residents short of food, fuel and other essentials.

On June 16 the army said it would implement a daily “tactical pause of military activity” in a southern Gaza corridor to facilitate aid delivery.

But on Friday Richard Peeperkorn of the World Health Organisation said “we did not see an impact on the humanitarian supplies coming in”.

Hisham Salem in Jabalia camp told AFP: “The markets... used to be full, but now there is nothing left. I go around the entire market and I can’t find a kilo of onions, and if I do... it costs 140 shekels ($37).”

Dr. Thanos Gargavanis, a WHO trauma surgeon and emergency officer, said the UN in Gaza was trying to “operate in an unworkable environment”.

According to the WHO, only 17 of the 36 hospitals in Gaza are operational, but only partially.

It said that as of May 17, just 750 people remained in Rafah city where previously 1.4 million people had been sheltering.

Israel’s military on Friday identified two more soldiers killed in Gaza, bringing to at least 312 killed since ground operations began.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges which he denies, faces regular street protests accusing him of prolonging the war, and demanding an agreement to free the hostages.

‘Vexing’ comments

But Netanyahu told relatives of captives killed in Gaza: “We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all of the hostages return.”

On Thursday he said he was “prepared to suffer personal attacks provided that Israel receives the ammunition from the US that it needs in the war for its existence”.

His statement came as an apparent doubling down after he made a video statement accusing Washington of “withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel”.

The White House on Thursday described his comments as “vexing” and “disappointing”.

Except for one shipment, “there are no other pauses. None,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, referring to one paused delivery of 907-kilo bombs.

The war has revived a global push for Palestinians to be given a state of their own.

Armenia on Friday declared its recognition of “the State of Palestine”, prompting Israel to summon its ambassador for “a severe reprimand”.

Beirut — US envoy Amos Hochstein on Tuesday called for the "urgent" de-escalation of cross-border exchanges of fire between Lebanon's Hizbollah and Israeli forces raging since the start of the Gaza war.

"The conflict... between Israel and Hizbollah has gone on for long enough," the presidential envoy said on a visit to Beirut.

"It's in everyone's interest to resolve it quickly and diplomatically -- that is both achievable and it is urgent."

The powerful Iran-backed Hizbollah movement, an ally of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, stepped up attacks on northern Israel last week after an Israeli strike killed one of its senior commanders.

Coinciding with the envoy's visit and what Hizbollah called "Israeli threats of war against Lebanon", the Iran-backed group published a more than nine-minute video showing drone footage purportedly taken by the movement over northern Israel, including parts of the city and port of Haifa.

The video, which AFP was unable to immediately verify independently, pinpointed what Hezbollah said were Israeli military, defence and energy facilities, as well as civilian and military infrastructure.

Hochstein met with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a key Hizbollah ally, a day after holding talks in Jerusalem with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Speaker Berri and I had a very good discussion," Hochstein said.

"We discussed the current security and political situation in Lebanon as well as the deal on the table right now with respect to Gaza, which also provides an opportunity to end the conflict across the Blue Line," he added, referring to the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon. 

US President Joe Biden last month outlined a truce proposal which Hochstein said would ultimately lead to "the end of the conflict in Gaza".

‘Critical moment' 

"A ceasefire in Gaza and, or, an alternative diplomatic solution could also bring the conflict across the Blue Line to an end" and allow the return of displaced civilians to southern Lebanon and northern Israel, the envoy added.

"This is a serious time and a critical moment," Hochstein said later after meeting with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, calling their discussion "excellent".

"What we are working together (to do) is to try to identify a way to get to a place where we prevent a further escalation," he added.

Mikati said "what is required is to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against Lebanon and return to calm and stability on the southern border".

In a statement from his office, Mikati said "continued Israeli threats" will not distract Lebanon from seeking calm.

Hochstein also met with Lebanese army chief Joseph Aoun.

As the US envoy visited, Hizbollah announced its first attack in days, saying it targeted an Israeli tank with an "attack drone".

Israeli strikes have continued in south Lebanon's border area, including one on Monday that killed a fighter from the Shiite Muslim movement.

Lebanon's National News Agency also reported an "enemy drone" targeted a car in southern Lebanon.

Hizbollah last week said it has carried out more than 2,100 military operations against Israel since October 8, the day after Hamas's attack that sparked the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

The Lebanese group has long said that only an end to the Gaza war would stop its cross-border attacks, which it says it is carrying out in support of Hamas and Gazans.

The violence has killed at least 473 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also including 92 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

Israeli authorities say at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in the country's north.

Mount Arafat, Saudi Arabia — More than 1.5 million Muslims will pray on Mount Arafat in soaring temperatures on Saturday, in the high-point and most gruelling day of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

Worshippers from all over the world will climb the rocky, 70-metre hill, about 20 kilometres from Mecca, where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have given his last sermon.

The desert summer heat is expected to hit 43 degrees Celsius, creating challenges especially among the elderly during a day of prayer and reciting the Koran.

The Hajj which takes at least five days to complete and is mostly outdoors, "is not easy because it is very hot", said Abraman Hawa, 26, from Ghana.

“We have sun... but it is not as hot. But I will pray to Allah at Arafat, because I need his support," she added.

Saudi authorities have urged pilgrims to drink plenty of water and protect themselves from the sun. Since men are prohibited from wearing hats, many carry umbrellas.

More than 10,000 heat-related illnesses were recorded last year, 10 percent of them heat stroke, a Saudi official told AFP this week.

The Hajj, one of the world's biggest religious gatherings, is increasingly affected by climate change, according to a Saudi study that said regional temperatures were rising 0.4C each decade.

But Mohammed Farouk, a 60-year-old Pakistani pilgrim, was not put off by the Gulf kingdom's scorching summer sun.

The hajj is "very important for me as a Muslim", he said.

Financial windfall 

The enormous crowds of worshippers spent the night in a giant tented city in Mina, a valley several kilometres outside Mecca, Islam's holiest city.

Many of them were tightly packed in the air-conditioned tents, lying close together on narrow mattresses.

They were grouped by nationality and price, depending on how much they had paid for their hajj packages -- usually several thousand dollars.

After Arafat they will head to Muzdalifah, where they will collect pebbles to carry out the symbolic "stoning of the devil" ritual in Mina on Sunday. 

The Hajj is said to follow the path of the Prophet Mohammed's final pilgrimage, about 1,400 years ago.

It is an important source of legitimacy for the Al Saud dynasty, whose monarch has the title "guardian of the two holy mosques", in Mecca and Medina. 

It is also a major financial windfall for the conservative country, which is trying to develop religious tourism as part of a drive to reduce its dependence on crude oil.

The kingdom received more than 1.8 million pilgrims last year for the hajj, around 90 percent of whom came from abroad.

It also welcomed 13.5 million Muslims who came to perform Umrah, the small pilgrimage that can be done all year round, and aims to reach 30 million by 2030.

This year's Hajj takes place in the shadow of the Gaza war, after eight months of bloodshed that is an open wound for many in the Muslim world.

KUWAIT CITY — Kuwaiti authorities said on Thursday three people had been detained for suspected manslaughter over a building fire that killed 50 foreign workers, mostly Indians, and plunged relatives and friends into mourning.

Three Filipinos were also among the dead, officials in Manila said, after the fire sent black smoke billowing through the six-storey structure south of Kuwait City and injured dozens more.

Most of oil-rich Kuwait's population of more than 4 million is made up of foreigners, many of them from South and Southeast Asia working in construction and service industries.

The fire broke out around dawn on Wednesday at the base of the block housing nearly 200 workers in the Mangaf area, which is heavily populated with migrant labourers.

"One of the injured died" overnight, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Abdullah Al Yahya told reporters, after 49 people were declared dead on Wednesday.

"The majority of the dead are Indians," he added. "There are other nationalities but I don't remember exactly."

Many of the dead and injured suffocated from smoke inhalation after being trapped in the building by the fire, according to a source in the fire department.

One Kuwaiti and two foreign residents have been detained on suspicion of manslaughter through negligence of security procedures and fire regulations, the public prosecution service said.

The blaze was started by an electrical fault in the guard’s room on the ground floor, the General Fire Force said after an inspection.

On Wednesday, Interior Minister Sheikh Fahd Al Yousef vowed to address “labour overcrowding and neglect”, and threatened to close any buildings that flout safety rules.

Friends and relatives of the victims, who are among millions of Asians who live and work in the wealthy Gulf to remit money to their families, were in shock at the tragedy.

Shameer Umarudheen’s “entire village is in mourning”, said Safedu, a relative of the 33-year-old victim from Kollam, in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

“He was a lovely man. Always very friendly to everyone around,” Safedu added.

“He does not come from a well-off family, so him going to Kuwait was a chance for the family to do better.”

DNA testing

Reji Varghese said his close friend Lukose VO, 49, was staying on the sixth floor of the block. His death was reported by another worker who leapt from the second floor, breaking his leg, to escape.

“I’m still not able to come to terms with it. We didn’t believe the news when we heard about it,” said Varghese.

“I spoke to him just last week... This news is a shock.”

On Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised help for those affected by the “gruesome fire tragedy”, announcing 200,000-rupee ($2,400) payments to next of kin.

India’s junior foreign minister Kirti Vardhan Singh has flown in to help survivors and organise the repatriation of remains on an Indian air force plane.

“Some of the bodies have been charred beyond recognition, so DNA tests [are] under way to identify the victims,” he told Indian media.

In Manila, the Department of Migrant Workers said three Filipinos had died from smoke inhalation, with two more in critical condition while six escaped unharmed.

“We are in touch with the families of all the affected [migrants], including the families of those two in critical condition and the families of the three fatalities,” Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo J. Cacdac said in a statement.

The blaze was one of the worst seen in Kuwait, which borders Iraq and Saudi Arabia and sits on about seven percent of the world’s known oil reserves.

In 2009, 57 people died when a Kuwaiti woman, apparently seeking revenge, set fire to a tent at a wedding party when her husband married a second wife.