Two dead, 14 missing as Morocco flood sweeps away bus
Morocco is one of the world’s most water-stressed nations, with frequent droughts affecting a third of the population employed in agriculture
Updated 21 September 2024
AFP
RABAT: Floods in southern Morocco have swept away a bus, leaving two passengers dead and 14 others missing, local authorities said Saturday.
Torrential rains earlier this month triggered floods that killed at least 18 people in areas of southern Morocco that straddle the Sahara desert.
Regional authorities in Tata province said heavy rainstorms late Friday led to “exceptional” floods that caused houses to collapse and swept away the bus.
A statement which gave the toll of dead and missing said 13 others were rescued.
The rare heavy rains come as the North African kingdom grapples with its worst drought in nearly 40 years, threatening its economically crucial agriculture sector.
Morocco is one of the world’s most water-stressed nations, with frequent droughts affecting a third of the population employed in agriculture.
Experts say climate change is making extreme weather, such as storms and droughts, more frequent and intense.
For water levels in dams to rise and groundwater to replenish, experts say the rains would need to continue over a longer period of time.
“An Israeli enemy drone strike... killed one person” in Marjayoun, the ministry said
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said an Israeli drone strike in the south killed one person on Saturday, the latest deadly raid despite a more than two-week ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. “An Israeli enemy drone strike... killed one person” in Marjayoun district, the health ministry said in a statement. The official National News Agency reported a car was targeted.
Top Arab, US diplomats meet to discuss Syria’s future
Syria’s northern neighbor Turkiye has for years supported Syrian opposition forces looking to oust Assad and is poised to play an influential role in Damascus
Arab diplomats attending the talks said they were seeking assurances from Turkiye that it supports an inclusive political process that prevents partition of Syria
Updated 7 min 18 sec ago
Reuters
AQABA, Jordan: Top diplomats from the United States, Turkiye, the European Union and Arab nations met in Jordan on Saturday for talks on Syria as regional and global powers scramble for influence over whatever government replaces ousted President Bashar Assad.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden’s administration has begun engaging with the victorious opposition groups including Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which led a lightning assault that ended in the capture of Damascus on Sunday.
Biden sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region this week to seek support for principles that Washington hopes will guide Syria’s political transition, such as respect for minorities.
Meanwhile, Syria’s northern neighbor Turkiye has for years supported Syrian opposition forces looking to oust Assad and is poised to play an influential role in Damascus.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday that his country’s embassy in the Syrian capital would resume work on Saturday, after Turkiye’s intelligence chief visited this week.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, left, speaks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba, on Dec. 14, 2024. (AP)
Syria’s neighbor Jordan was hosting Saturday’s gathering in Aqaba. Russia and Iran, who were Assad’s key supporters, were not invited.
Blinken, UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pederson and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Fidan and foreign ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar met around a circular table at a Jordanian government guesthouse. There was no Syrian representative at the table.
The Arab diplomats earlier met separately.
Blinken, meeting Pederson at his hotel earlier on Saturday, said it was a time of “both opportunity but also real challenge” for Syria.
Arab diplomats attending the talks said they were seeking assurances from Turkiye that it supports an inclusive political process that prevents partition of Syria on sectarian lines.
Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attend a meeting with the foreign ministers of the Arab Contact Group on Syria in Jordan's southern Red Sea coastal city of Aqaba on December 14, 2024. (REUTERS)
Turkiye and the United States, both NATO members, have conflicting interests when it comes to some of the groups. Turkiye-backed groups in northern Syria have clashed with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The SDF, which controls some of Syria’s largest oil fields, is the main ally in a US coalition against Daesh militants. It is spearheaded by YPG militia, a group that Ankara sees as an extension of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years and who it outlaws.
Blinken told Turkish officials during a visit to Ankara on Thursday and Friday that Daesh must not be able to regroup, and the SDF must not be distracted from its role of securing camps holding Daesh fighters, according to a US official with the US delegation. Turkish leaders agreed, the official said.
Fidan told Turkish TV later on Friday that the elimination of the YPG was Turkiye’s “strategic target” and urged the group’s commanders to leave Syria.
At least 18 killed in Israeli Gaza strikes, Palestinian medics say
Casualties were being carried by foot, on rickshaws and private cars from the site of the attack to the hospital
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 44,930 people have been killed in more than 14 months of war
Updated 23 min 23 sec ago
Reuters AFP
CAIRO: At least 18 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Saturday, medics said, while the Israeli military said it targeted gunmen operating from shelters and aid storages.
At least 10 people were killed in an airstrike near the municipality building in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip where people gathered to receive aid, medics said.
Casualties were being carried by foot, on rickshaws and private cars from the site of the attack to the hospital, medics said. The strike killed the head of the Hamas-run administrative committee in central Gaza, a Hamas source said.
The Israeli military was looking into the report, a spokesperson said. Earlier, Israeli aircraft struck militants and weapon caches near an aid warehouse, the military said, after gunmen had fired rockets into Israel from there.
Meanwhile, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 44,930 people have been killed in more than 14 months of war. The toll includes 55 deaths in the previous 24 hours, according to the ministry, which said 106,624 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began.
A separate strike in Gaza City on a former shelter housing displaced people targeted Hamas fighters, the military said. At least seven people were killed in that attack, Palestinian medics said, including a woman and her baby.
It was unclear whether any of the other people killed were fighters. The military said it had taken precautions to reduce risk of harm to civilians.
A separate strike in Gaza City killed a local journalist, medics said. The military was looking into the report, a spokesperson said.
The war in Gaza began when the Palestinian militant group Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200, mostly civilians, people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel then launched an air, sea and land offensive that has killed at least 44,000 people, mostly civilians, according to authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, displaced nearly the entire population and left much of the enclave in ruins.
A fresh bid by Egypt, Qatar and the United States to reach a truce has gained momentum in recent weeks.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Saturday discussed with visiting US officials efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostages-for prisoners deal in the Palestinian enclave, El-Sisi’s office said.
Top Arab, US diplomats meet to discuss Syria’s future
Arab diplomats seek assurances from Turkiye that it supports an inclusive political process
Updated 11 min 56 sec ago
Reuters
AQABA, Jordan: Top diplomats from the United States, Turkiye, the European Union and Arab nations met in Jordan on Saturday for talks on Syria as regional and global powers scramble for influence over whatever government replaces ousted President Bashar Assad.
Outgoing US President Joe Biden’s administration has begun engaging with the victorious militant groups including Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which led a lightning assault that ended in the capture of Damascus on Sunday.
Biden sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region this week to seek support for principles that Washington hopes will guide Syria’s political transition, such as respect for minorities.
Meanwhile Syria’s northern neighbor Turkiye has for years supported Syrian opposition forces looking to oust Assad and is poised to play an influential role in Damascus.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday that his country’s embassy in the Syrian capital would resume work on Saturday, after Turkiye’s intelligence chief visited this week.
Syria’s neighbor Jordan was hosting Saturday’s gathering in Aqaba. Russia and Iran, who were Assad’s key supporters, were not invited.
Blinken, UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pederson and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Fidan and foreign ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar met around a circular table at a Jordanian government guesthouse. There was no Syrian representative at the table.
The Arab diplomats earlier met separately.
Blinken, meeting Pederson at his hotel earlier on Saturday, said it was a time of “both opportunity but also real challenge” for Syria.
Arab diplomats attending the talks said they were seeking assurances from Turkiye that it supports an inclusive political process that prevents partition of Syria on sectarian lines.
Turkiye and the United States, both NATO members, have conflicting interests when it comes to some of the militants. Turkiye-backed militants in northern Syria have clashed with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The SDF, which controls some of Syria’s largest oil fields, is the main ally in a US coalition against Daesh militants. It is spearheaded by YPG militia, a group that Ankara sees as an extension of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought the Turkish state for 40 years and who it outlaws.
Blinken told Turkish officials during a visit to Ankara on Thursday and Friday that Daesh must not be able to regroup, and the SDF must not be distracted from its role of securing camps holding Daesh fighters, according to a US official with the US delegation. Turkish leaders agreed, the official said.
Fidan told Turkish TV later on Friday that the elimination of the YPG was Turkiye’s “strategic target” and urged the group’s commanders to leave Syria.
Palestinian security forces clash with militants in West Bank
Gunshots and explosions could be heard in the city, where friction has risen in recent days between militant factions and the Palestinian Authority
Residents identified the man who was killed as a militant though none of the factions immediately confirmed his affiliation
Updated 14 December 2024
Reuters
JENIN, West Bank: At least one person was killed as Palestinian security forces clashed with Palestinian militants and set up checkpoints on Saturday in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, residents and medics said.
Gunshots and explosions could be heard in the city, where friction has risen in recent days between militant factions and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas following raids by the PA.
Residents identified the man who was killed as a militant though none of the factions immediately confirmed his affiliation.
The PA’s security branch said in a statement that its forces were undertaking a security operation to restore law and order to Jenin’s historic refugee camp suburb, a stronghold of Palestinian militants alienated from the Palestinian leadership.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has been fighting Israeli forces in Gaza for more than a year, condemned the PA for the Jenin operation and its allied group Islamic Jihad called for a day of protests.
Jenin has also been a hotbed of conflict between the Palestinian militant groups and the Israeli military in recent years. Since March 2022, Jenin and outlying areas in the north of the West Bank have drawn intensified Israeli raids after a spate of Palestinian street attacks.
