BEIRUT: The battle to oust the Daesh group from its stronghold of Raqqa is creating daunting challenges for aid groups responding to the latest humanitarian crisis in the Syrian conflict.
Tens of thousands of civilians have fled Raqqa and its surroundings since the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) began its operation to capture the jihadist stronghold last year.
But new waves of displacement are expected as the battle inside the city progresses.
A key problem is getting aid supplies to the relatively remote desert region in Syria’s north, with just a trickle of assistance currently crossing from neighboring Turkey and Iraq.
“There is supply but it’s very, very limited and the needs of the population are very high,” said Puk Leenders, emergency coordinator for northern Syria for the group Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Turkey considers the key Kurdish component of the SDF a “terrorist” group and its border with the area north of Raqqa is effectively closed.
The border crossing with Iraq, over 300 kilometers (180 miles) east of Raqqa city, is open to goods, but in practice sees little traffic, local officials say.
The United Nations, which operates inside Syria with government permission, has been able to airlift supplies to the city of Qamishli, northeast of Raqqa, from government-held Damascus.
But “this offered limited capacity and was insufficient to meet all needs,” said David Swanson, regional spokesman for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The UN is now hoping to start transporting aid from Aleppo to Qamishli, a distance of more than 400 kilometers, but the route must first be tested for security, said Swanson.
An estimated 300,000 civilians once lived under Daesh rule in Raqqa, including 80,000 displaced from other parts of Syria before the group seized the city.
Tens of thousands fled Raqqa and surrounding areas as the SDF closed in on the jihadist bastion.
The UN estimates more than 169,000 people fled Raqqa city and its environs in April and May alone, and thousands of displaced civilians are now living in overcrowded and underresourced camps.
In Ain Issa, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Raqqa, new arrivals say they are sleeping on the ground, with neither mattresses under them nor tents overhead.
“There are now more than 25,000 people in the Ain Issa camp, which was built with a capacity of 10,000,” camp director Jalal Ayyaf told AFP.
“International organizations are providing support, but it’s not sufficient for the numbers who are arriving.”
MSF’s Leenders said up to 800 people were arriving at Ain Issa each day, and many more people were simply sleeping on roadsides or under trees in the countryside north of the city.
The “highly volatile security situation” is another major concern for aid groups working in the region, said Paul Donohoe, senior media officer at the International Rescue Committee NGO.
“We know that there are many mines and IEDs (improvised explosive devices), there is also the risk of Daesh attacks and there have been reports of some fleeing civilians being killed by coalition air strikes.”
“It is thought up to half the population of Raqqa could ultimately flee the city and they will still be very vulnerable to mines and Daesh snipers, as well as air strikes.”
Arriving civilians are already presenting health problems ranging from dehydration to untreated chronic illness.
And aid groups expect an uptick in wounded arrivals as the fighting intensifies.
MSF is establishing stabilization points near the frontline to provide emergency care to keep the seriously injured alive until they reach hospitals.
But there is a severe shortage of qualified medical staff in the region, Leenders said, and medical facilities have also been affected by the fighting.
“Hospitals are being mined and it’s really difficult to start those back up because they need to be demined... It can be extremely challenging.”
The most difficult problem of all may simply be reaching those in need.
“Many people fleeing... initially end up in locations too close to the frontline for aid agencies to safely respond,” said Donohoe.
And others cannot leave at all, with Daesh reportedly using threats, arrests and violence to prevent civilians fleeing.
Those who do escape risk unexploded ordnance en route, and the threat of being mistaken for fleeing Daesh fighters by SDF forces or the US-led coalition.
MSF warned last week that civilians in the city faced “impossible choices.”
“Either they stay in Raqqa, subjecting their children to increased violence and air strikes, or they take them over the frontline, knowing they will need to cross minefields and may be caught in the crossfire.”
Daunting aid challenges as civilians flee Syria’s Raqqa
Daunting aid challenges as civilians flee Syria’s Raqqa
EU urges Israel to end Rafah military operation ‘immediately’
- EU statement: ‘Further disrupting the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza and is leading to more internal displacement, exposure to famine and human suffering’
“Should Israel continue its military operation in Rafah, it would inevitably put a heavy strain on the EU’s relationship with Israel,” said the statement issued in the EU’s name by its foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
“The European Union urges Israel to end its military operation in Rafah immediately,” the statement said, warning it was “further disrupting the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza and is leading to more internal displacement, exposure to famine and human suffering.”
The bloc — the main aid donor for the Palestinian territories and Israel’s biggest trading partner — said more than a million people in and around Rafah had been ordered by Israel to flee the area to other zones the UN says cannot be considered safe.
“While the EU recognizes Israel’s right to defend itself, Israel must do so in line with International Humanitarian Law and provide safety to civilians,” it said.
The law requires Israel to allow in humanitarian aid, the statement stressed.
The EU also condemned a Hamas attack on the Kerem Shalom border crossing which blocked humanitarian relief supplies.
“We call on all parties to redouble their efforts to achieve an immediate ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas,” it said.
Israel’s military operations in Gaza were launched in retaliation for Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israeli which killed more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 hostages taken, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s military has conducted a relentless bombardment from the air and a ground offensive inside Gaza that has killed more than 35,000, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Israel’s main allies, the United States and the EU, as well as the United Nations, have all warned Israel against a major operation in Rafah given that it would add to the civilian toll.
Kuwait’s emir calls on new government to pursue reforms
RIYADH: Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Wednesday met with the new prime minister and his government.
According to the Kuwait News Agency, Sheikh Mishal said: “We are in a new phase of reforms and serious actions must be taken.”
He added that ministers should “accelerate the implementation of long-awaited strategic development projects, address needed files and work on the infrastructure projects, develop healthcare and the educational system, and take into account transparency and to preserve public funds.”
Sheikh Mishal appointed Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah as prime minister in April, and dissolved parliament last Friday in a televised speech.
He urged ministers to ensure that Kuwait has a strong and sustainable economy by investing in human capital and promoting innovation and scientific research.
UN launches probe into first international staff killed by unidentified strike in Rafah
- Retired Indian army officer Waibhav Anil Kale was on route to the European Hospital in Rafah along with a colleague, who was also injured in the attack
NEW DELHI: The United Nations has launched an investigation into an unidentified strike on a UN car in Rafah on Monday that killed its first international staff in Gaza since Oct. 7, a spokesperson for the UN Secretary General said.
The staff member, a retired Indian Army officer named Waibhav Anil Kale, was working with the UN Department of Safety and Security and was on route to the European Hospital in Rafah along with a colleague, who was also injured in the attack.
Israel has been moving deeper into Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than a million people had sought shelter, and its forces pounded the enclave’s north on Tuesday in some of the fiercest attacks in months.
Israel’s international allies and aid groups have repeatedly warned against a ground incursion into Rafah, where many Palestinians fled, and Israel says four Hamas battalions are holed up. Israel says it must root out the remaining fighters.
In a statement on Monday after Kale’s death, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres reiterated an “urgent appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and for the release of all hostages,” saying the conflict in Gaza was continuing to take a heavy toll “not only on civilians, but also on humanitarian workers.”
Palestinian health authorities say Israel’s ground and air campaign in Gaza since Oct. 7 has killed more than 35,000 people and driven most of the enclave’s 2.3 million people from their homes.
His deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Tuesday the UN has established a fact-finding panel to determine the responsibility for the attack.
“It’s very early in the investigation, and details of the incident are still being verified with the Israeli Defense Force,” he said.
There are 71 international UN staff members in Gaza currently, he said.
In its only comment on the matter yet, India’s mission to the UN confirmed Kale’s identity on Tuesday, saying it was “deeply saddened” by his loss.
Israel, which launched its Gaza operation after an attack on Oct. 7 by Hamas-led gunmen who killed some 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages, according to its tallies, has ordered civilians to evacuate parts of Rafah.
The main United Nations aid agency in Gaza, UNRWA estimates some 450,000 people have fled the city since May 6. More than a million civilians had sought refuge there.
Libya war crimes probe to advance next year: ICC prosecutor
- The Security Council referred the situation in Libya to the ICC in February 2011 following a violent crackdown on unprecedented protests against the regime of Muammar Qaddafi
UNITED NATIONS, United States: The International Criminal Court prosecutor probing war crimes committed in Libya since 2011 announced Monday his plans to complete the investigation phase by the end of 2025.
Presenting his regular report before the United Nations Security Council, Karim Khan said that “strong progress” had been made in the last 18 months, thanks in particular to better cooperation from Libyan authorities.
“Our work is moving forward with increased speed and with a focus on trying to deliver on the legitimate expectations of the council and of the people of Libya,” Khan said.
He added that in the last six months, his team had completed 18 missions in three areas of Libya, collecting more than 800 pieces of evidence including video and audio material.
Khan said he saw announcing a timeline to complete the investigation phase as a “landmark moment” in the case.
“Of course, it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to require cooperation, candor, a ‘can do’ attitude from my office but also from the authorities in Libya,” he added.
“The aim would be to give effect to arrest warrants and to have initial proceedings start before the court in relation to at least one warrant by the end of next year,” Khan said.
The Security Council referred the situation in Libya to the ICC in February 2011 following a violent crackdown on unprecedented protests against the regime of Muammar Qaddafi.
So far, the investigation opened by the court in March 2011 has produced three cases related to crimes against humanity and war crimes, though some proceedings were abandoned after the death of suspects.
An arrest warrant remains in place for Seif Al-Islam Qaddafi, the son of the assassinated Libyan dictator who was killed by rebel forces in October 2011.
Libya has since been plagued by fighting, with power divided between a UN-recognized Tripoli government and a rival administration in the country’s east.
Palestinians rally at historic villages in northern Israel
- The descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who managed to remain in what became Israel presently number about 1.4 million, around 20 percent of Israel’s population
- Israel has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory
SHEFA-AMR: Thousands of people took part Tuesday in an annual march through the ruins of villages that Palestinians were expelled from during the 1948 war that led to Israel’s creation.
Wrapped in keffiyeh scarves and waving Palestinian flags, men and women rallied through the abandoned villages of Al-Kassayer and Al-Husha — many holding signs with the names of dozens of other demolished villages their families were displaced from.
“Your Independence Day is our catastrophe,” reads the rallying slogan for the protest that took place as Israelis celebrated the 76th anniversary of the proclamation of the State of Israel.
The protest this year was taking place against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Gaza, where fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas has displaced the majority of the population, according to the United Nations.
Among those marching Tuesday was 88-year-old Abdul Rahman Al-Sabah.
He described how members of the Haganah, a Zionist paramilitary group, forced his family out of Al-Kassayer, near the northern city of Haifa, when he was a child.
They “blew up our village, Al-Kassayer, and the village of Al-Husha so that we would not return to them, and they planted mines,” he said, his eyes glistening with tears.
The family was displaced to the nearby town of Shefa-Amr.
“But we continued (going back), my mother and I, and groups from the village, because it was harvest season, and we wanted to live and eat,” he said.
“We had nothing, and whoever was caught by the Israelis was imprisoned.”
Palestinians remember this as the “Nakba,” or catastrophe, when around 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes during the war that led to the creation of Israel.
The descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who managed to remain in what became Israel presently number about 1.4 million, around 20 percent of Israel’s population.
Many of today’s Arab Israelis remain deeply connected to their historic land.
At Tuesday’s march, one man carried a small sign with “Lubya,” the name of what was once a Palestinian village near Tiberias.
Like many other Palestinian villages, Al-Husha and Al-Kassayer witnessed fierce battles in mid-April 1948, according to historians of the Haganah, among the Jewish armed groups that formed the core of what became the Israeli military.
Today, the kibbutz communities of Osha, Ramat Yohanan and Kfar Hamakabi can be found on parts of land that once housed the two villages.
“During the attack on our village Al-Husha, my father took my mother, and they rode a horse to the city of Shefa-Amr,” said Musa Al-Saghir, 75, whose village had been largely made up of people who immigrated from Algeria in the 1880s.
“When they returned to see the house, the Haganah forces had blown up the village and its houses,” said the activist from a group advocating for the right of return for displaced Arabs.
Naila Awad, 50, from the village of Reineh near Nazareth, explained that the activists were demanding both the return of displaced people to their demolished villages within Israel, as well as the return of the millions of Palestinian refugees living in the West Bank, Gaza and other countries.
“No matter how much you try to break us and arrest us, we will remain on our lands,” she insisted.
