Middle East

Syria child quake victims, flown to UAE, unaware of heartbreak to come

by Hashem Osseiran Agence France-Presse ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Cradling a pink stuffed animal as she sleeps in a United Arab Emirates hospital, a nine-year-old Syrian earthquake survivor is recovering from the wounds that nearly claimed her life, believing her mother is still alive. Sham Sheikh Mohammed, who suffered severe crush injuries in a 40-hour ordeal under the rubble, has not yet been told that both her mother and sister died in […]

UN appeals for $4.3 bn to help millions in war-torn Yemen

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The United Nations said it needed $4.3 billion this year to help millions of people in war-ravaged Yemen, ahead of a donors’ conference on Monday. Aid agencies need the money to help more than 17 million people in the country, which has been devastated by an eight-year civil war. The conflict has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and plunged the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula into one of the […]

Violence flares around Gaza after deadly Israeli West Bank raid

by Adel Zaanoun with Imad Saada in Nablus Agence France-Presse GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — Israel launched air strikes on Gaza targets in return for rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave Thursday, a day after the deadliest Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank in nearly 20 years. Eleven Palestinians, including a 16-year-old, were killed and more than 80 wounded in a gun battle on Wednesday after Israeli troops raided the city of […]

Germany pledges further 50 mn euros aid for quake victims

PAZARCIK, Turkey (AFP) — Germany will double its relief aid in Turkey and Syria with an additional 50 million euros ($53 million) for victims of the deadly earthquake, two ministers announced Tuesday. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Germany wants “to make it clear that we, as a global community, see this catastrophe and we support the population”. Baerbock was speaking during a visit Tuesday to Pazarcik, in southern Turkey, along with German Interior Minister Nancy […]

New quake hits Turkey and Syria, killing six

Antakya, Turkey | AFP | Tuesday 2/21/2023 by Joris FIORITI A 6.4-magnitude earthquake has rocked Turkey’s southern province of Hatay and northern Syria, killing six people and sparking fresh panic after a massive February 6 tremor left nearly 45,000 dead in both countries. The AFAD disaster response agency reported the deaths, as well as nearly 300 hospitalisations, while in Syria the White Helmets aid group said at least 150 people were injured in the Aleppo […]

Turkey-Syria quake toll rises above 35,000

    Kahramanmaras, Turkey | AFP | Monday 2/13/2023 by Fulya Ozerkan with Joris Fioriti in Antakya and Maher al-Mounes in Damascus The toll from last week’s earthquake in Turkey and Syria rose above 35,000 on Monday, as rescue teams started to wind down the search for survivors and the aid effort shifted to hundreds of thousands of people made homeless. Eight days after the 7.8-magnitude tremor, Turkish media reported a handful of people were […]

URGENT: Death toll rises above 35,000 in Turkey, Syria quake

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Monday 2/13/2023 The death toll from a catastrophic earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria climbed above 35,000 on Monday, with search and rescue teams starting to wind down their work. Officials and medics said 31,643 people had died in Turkey and 3,581 in Syria from last Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor, bringing the confirmed total to 35,224. This is a developing story. © Agence France-Presse

Israeli air strike hits Hamas complex in Gaza: military

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — Israel hit Gaza with air strikes on Monday in response to a rocket fired from the Palestinian enclave at the weekend, the army said, as unrest persisted in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Red Crescent said one person was killed in a pre-dawn Israeli army raid in Nablus in the northern West Bank, the scene of near-relentless violence over the past year. The army did not immediately comment […]

More survivors rescued a week after Turkey-Syria quake

by Fulya Ozerkan with Joris Fioriti in Antakya and Maher al-Mounes in Damascus Agence France-Presse KAHRAMANMARAS, Turkey (AFP) — Rescuers pulled more survivors from the rubble a week after an earthquake struck Turkey and Syria leaving more than 33,000 dead, as the UN warned the toll was set to rise far higher. A young boy and a 62-year-old woman were the latest rescues after nearly seven days trapped under the wreckage of collapsed buildings since […]

Miracle rescues as Turkey-Syria quake deaths pass 28,000

  by Fulya Ozerkan with Omar Haj Kadour from Bab al-Hawa crossing Rescuers pulled a two-month-old baby and an elderly woman from the rubble on Saturday, five days after an earthquake devastated Turkey and Syria leaving more than 28,000 dead. But security concerns led some aid operations to be suspended, and 48 people have been arrested for looting or trying to defraud victims in the aftermath of the quake in Turkey, state media reported. Tens […]

Children rescued as Turkey-Syria quake toll nears 24,000

Kahramanmaras, Turkey | AFP | by Fulya Ozerkan with Remi Banet in Antakya Rescuers pulled out children Friday from the rubble of the Turkey-Syria earthquake as the toll approached 24,000 and a winter freeze compounded the suffering for nearly one million people estimated to be in urgent need of food. The stench of death hung over Turkey’s eastern city of Kahramanmaras — the epicentre of the first 7.8-magnitude tremor that upturned millions of lives in […]

Two dead, including child, in east Jerusalem car ramming

  East Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Two people including a child were killed Friday in car ramming attack on a bus stop in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, Israeli authorities said. The attack comes amid spiralling violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this year. “As a result of the ramming, there are two dead and another five injured,” an Israeli police statement said. “The suspect was neutralised on the spot” in Ramot, a Jewish settlement in Israeli-annexed […]