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  • Toll in Istanbul apartment block blaze mounts to 29 dead

Toll in Istanbul apartment block blaze mounts to 29 dead

Toll in Istanbul apartment block blaze mounts to 29 dead
A fire killed 15 people and injured eight in a residential building in Istanbul Tuesday, the governor of Turkiye's economic capital said. (X/@WarWatchs)
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Updated 02 April 2024
AFP
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Toll in Istanbul apartment block blaze mounts to 29 dead

Toll in Istanbul apartment block blaze mounts to 29 dead
  • The fire began at 12:47 (0947 GMT) and was only brought under control by firefighters hours later
  • Television images showed flames and a column of thick smoke rushing from upper-story windows
Updated 02 April 2024
AFP
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ISTANBUL: A fire killed at least 29 people in a 16-story residential building in Istanbul on Tuesday, the governor of Turkiye’s economic capital said, updating an earlier toll of 15 dead and eight hurt.
“The number of people who lost their lives in the fire... in Gayrettepe of Besiktas district has increased to 29,” governor Davut Gul’s office said in a statement, referring to the Istanbul neighborhood.
“One person hurt in the fire was still being treated in hospital,” it added.
The fire began at 12:47 (0947 GMT), the office said, and was only brought under control by firefighters hours later.
Television images showed flames and a column of thick smoke rushing from upper-story windows.
The number of people reported killed and hurt rose throughout the afternoon in a string of statements from the governor’s office, as more victims succumbed to their injuries.
The blaze had broken out during construction work in the first and second floors below ground, which housed a nightclub, Gul told reporters.
“An investigation has been opened into the fire in Gayrettepe,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted on X.
Five people have been arrested at the scene in connection with the blaze, news channel NTV reported.
Istanbul’s newly re-elected mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who rushed to the scene, said “the fire is under control. Let’s hope there are no further victims,” offering his “condolences” to the relatives of the dead and injured.

Topics: Istanbul fire Turkiye

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Lebanese refugees return home from Iraq despite widespread destruction

Lebanese refugees return home from Iraq despite widespread destruction
Updated 30 sec ago
Reuters
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Lebanese refugees return home from Iraq despite widespread destruction

Lebanese refugees return home from Iraq despite widespread destruction
Updated 30 sec ago
Reuters

NAJAF: Lebanese families displaced in Iraq by the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah have begun returning to their homes in southern Lebanon following a recently brokered ceasefire.

The cessation of hostilities has allowed many to return despite widespread destruction.

“After two months, we are returning to our homeland. We will return even if we find our homes destroyed; we will sit on the ground,” said Ali Abdulla, a southern Lebanon resident, waiting along with dozens of others at Najaf airport in Iraq to fly back to Beirut with his family.

More than 20,000 Lebanese have sought refuge in Iraq since the outbreak of the war, according to official figures.

“Returning home was faster than we expected. A ceasefire has been achieved. We, the southerners, have not and will not abandon our land,” said Yousef Barakat, who was also waiting in Najaf to board a Middle East Airlines flight to Beirut. Najaf airport officials said around 800 Lebanese were leaving for Beirut every week, while others were using government-provided buses to travel to the Qaim border crossing with Syria and then on to Lebanon.

Iraqi local officials said at least 1,000 Lebanese had been crossing into Syria daily for three days. 

But then an escalation of hostilities in Syria following a militant offensive against Syrian government forces led many to shun the land route, fearing for their safety. 

They now prefer to wait for flights.

Iraq’s government and some institutions in Najaf and Kerbala have provided essential support, including free accommodation, healthcare, and meals, ensuring that displaced families have a safe, supportive environment during their stay.

The ceasefire, brokered by the US and France, aims to end the conflict across the Israeli-Lebanese border that has killed at least 3,768 people in Lebanon since it was ignited by the Gaza war last year, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

However, not all Lebanese are eager to return, saying their homes are uninhabitable due to damaged water and electricity networks. 

They are uncertain about what will happen once the 60-day ceasefire ends.

Topics: Battlefield Lebanon

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Israel says killed three Hamas members in strike on West Bank

Israel says killed three Hamas members in strike on West Bank
Updated 1 min 55 sec ago
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Israel says killed three Hamas members in strike on West Bank

Israel says killed three Hamas members in strike on West Bank
Updated 1 min 55 sec ago
Following the strike, “soldiers conducted a targeted raid in the vicinity of the strike, locating four weapons,” it added
The Palestinian health ministry had earlier said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in Aqaba killed two Palestinians and wounded one

WEST BANK, Palestinian Territories: The Israeli military on Tuesday said it killed three Hamas members in an air strike near the occupied West Bank city of Tubas, after the Palestinian health ministry reported two dead.
“Three Hamas terrorists who planned an imminent terrorist attack were eliminated” when the Israeli air force struck vehicles in the Aqaba area near Tubas, the military said.
Following the strike, “soldiers conducted a targeted raid in the vicinity of the strike, locating four weapons,” it added.
The Palestinian health ministry had earlier said an Israeli strike on a vehicle in Aqaba killed two Palestinians and wounded one.
All three Palestinians were transported to a hospital in Tubas, it added, but later said Israeli forces raided the same hospital, which the army denied in a statement to AFP.
The Israeli military had earlier told AFP that the air force, “acting on intelligence, struck a terror cell that was about to carry out an attack” in the Aqaba area.
It said an army unit “was then dispatched to collect the bodies and operated in the area of the Turkish Hospital in Tubas.”
However, it added, “they did not enter the hospital.”
Israel often seizes the bodies of Palestinians killed during operations, particularly those who belonged to militant groups, although an AFP journalist present near the hospital at the time of the operation did not see soldiers carrying bodies.
The Palestinian health ministry said the Israeli army besieged the hospital, before breaking into it, shooting inside, “assaulting staff and patients, and arresting a number of them.”
The AFP journalist in Tubas saw Israeli armored vehicles stationed outside the hospital and soldiers deployed around it.
The journalist saw Israeli soldiers exiting the hospital and detaining staff, some of them wearing scrubs or doctor’s gowns, before loading them into the armored vehicles.
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the war in Gaza erupted on October 7 last year after Hamas’s attack on Israel.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 787 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.
Palestinian attacks on Israelis have also killed at least 24 people in the West Bank in the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

Israel says killed Hezbollah liaison with Syria army in Damascus strike

Israel says killed Hezbollah liaison with Syria army in Damascus strike
Updated 25 min 35 sec ago
AFP
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Israel says killed Hezbollah liaison with Syria army in Damascus strike

Israel says killed Hezbollah liaison with Syria army in Damascus strike
  • “The (Israeli Air Force) conducted an intelligence-based strike in Damascus targeting Hezbollah’s representative to the Syrian military, Salman Nemer Jomaa,” the military said
  • “Jomaa was responsible for coordination between Hezbollah agents and the Syrian army“hezbolla
Updated 25 min 35 sec ago
AFP

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it killed the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah’s liaison with the Syrian army in an air strike on Damascus on Tuesday as a fragile six-day-old ceasefire stutters.
“The (Israeli Air Force) conducted an intelligence-based strike in Damascus targeting Hezbollah’s representative to the Syrian military, Salman Nemer Jomaa,” the military said, adding he played a key role in weapons deliveries between Syria and the militant group.
“As part of his duties, Jomaa was responsible for coordination between Hezbollah agents and the Syrian army, including to support the smuggling of weapons between Syria and Hezbollah,” it added.
Syrian state news agency SANA had reported an Israeli strike on a car on the road to Damascus’s international airport, while a war monitor reported one person killed.
“A car exploded after it was targeted in an Israeli aggression on the road to Damascus International Airport,” SANA reported, citing a police source.
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the car was targeted by an Israeli drone.
“A man who was inside was killed and another was injured,” said the Observatory, without providing details of their identities.
The strike occurred near a military airfield, added the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.
Since Syria’s war broke out in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria, mainly targeting the army and Iran-backed groups including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Israel rarely comments on such strikes but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in the country.
The strike on Damascus came amid mutual accusations between Israel and Hezbollah of violating the ceasefire that came into effect in Lebanon on November 27.

Topics: Battlefield Lebanon Syria Hezbollah Israel

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Algeria guarantees freedom of worship

Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs Youcef Belmehdi. (X @MoHU_En)
Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs Youcef Belmehdi. (X @MoHU_En)
Updated 50 min 42 sec ago
AFP
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Algeria guarantees freedom of worship

Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs Youcef Belmehdi. (X @MoHU_En)
  • While Algerian law guarantees freedom of worship, it declares Islam as the state religion and requires government approval for places of worship and religious leaders
Updated 50 min 42 sec ago
AFP

ALGIERS: Algerian Minister of Religious Affairs Youcef Belmehdi insisted on Tuesday that the country protects freedom of worship following criticism from the United States.
“Freedom of worship is guaranteed within the framework of respect for the law,” Belmehdi said at a meeting attended by the Archbishop of Algiers Jean-Paul Vasco and the US ambassador to Algiers Elisabeth Moore Aubin.
“The exercise of fundamental rights and freedoms in our country is guaranteed by the constitution,” he added.
Earlier this year, Washington added Algeria to a watchlist of countries accused of restricting religious freedom, citing the closure of evangelical churches and the criminalization of blasphemy.
The United States said at the time that Algiers was “said the North African country was “engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom.”
Vesco, who is French but was granted Algerian citizenship last year, is set to be appointed the first Algerian candidate in 60 years by Pope Francis next week.
The French-born prelate previously served as Bishop of Oran for more than a decade before becoming Archbishop of Algiers in 2021.
While Algerian law guarantees freedom of worship, it declares Islam as the state religion and requires government approval for places of worship and religious leaders.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom said in October Algeria “currently criminalizes blasphemy and restricts religious practice, worship, and observance.”
It also said authorities “continued to close churches and prosecute individuals on religion-based charges, including blasphemy, proselytization, and unauthorized worship.”
“It has also closed nearly all evangelical churches in the country with only one remaining open as of September 2024,” it added.
 

 

Topics: Algeria Islam Christian

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UN commission warns against placing already struggling Syrians in crossfire again

UN commission warns against placing already struggling Syrians in crossfire again
Updated 03 December 2024
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UN commission warns against placing already struggling Syrians in crossfire again

UN commission warns against placing already struggling Syrians in crossfire again
  • Syrian civil war back in spotlight amid largest rebel offensive in years
  • ‘Brutality of past years must not be repeated,’ says commission chair
Updated 03 December 2024
Ephrem Kossaify

NEW YORK: The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic expressed concerns on Tuesday that the renewed flareup of violence in the country will once again place civilians — already enduring years of war, economic collapse, and the brutality of armed groups and security forces — in the crossfire.

The Syrian civil war has been back in the spotlight since last week, when a coalition of opposition forces launched their largest offensive against the government in years.

They quickly swept through villages outside Aleppo and now say they control much of the city, meeting little resistance as the Syrian military quickly withdrew.

The government’s key ally Russia is conducting airstrikes against rebels who are now fighting the Syrian military in the central city of Hama.

There are reports of civilian casualties, displacements of tens of thousands of people, damage to civilian infrastructure, and interruption in essential services and humanitarian aid. 

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Monday said: “Syrians have endured the conflict for nearly 14 years. They deserve a political horizon that will deliver a peaceful future — not more bloodshed.”

As hostilities risk spreading across the country, the commission of inquiry urged all parties to the conflict to “strictly” adhere to international law and ensure the protection of civilians.

“We are investigating reported attacks impacting civilian infrastructure in the city of Aleppo, including at least one hospital and a university dorm, as well as reported airstrikes on Idlib city and other densely populated civilian areas,” said Commissioner Hanny Megally.

“Both the airstrikes and the rapid changes in territorial control are causing massive displacement of civilians.”

The commission was established in 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council with a mandate to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law since the beginning of the war earlier that year. 

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the commission’s chair, warned that the “brutality of past years must not be repeated,” and stressed that Syria must not veer toward a new cycle of atrocities.

He called on all factions involved to break from past patterns of violence and uphold human rights in line with the Geneva Conventions.

There are reports that the fighting could expand to other areas, with the government and its allies reportedly preparing a counteroffensive.

The commission has said it is closely monitoring the treatment of minorities and prisoners of war as opposition forces advance into government-controlled areas.

Particularly concerning is the situation in northern Aleppo, where the opposition Syrian National Army has taken control of areas with a Kurdish population, the commission said.

“There are some welcome statements by parties indicating that they intend to ensure the protection of the civilian population and their rights, so what is required is that their deeds match their words in the coming days and that humanitarian actors on the ground obtain the access and sufficient resources to alleviate suffering,” said Commissioner Lynn Welchman.

Topics: Syria Hama Stephane Dujarric

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