COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh: An 11-year-old girl has described to Arab News how she found her father’s body in the street after he was shot dead by Myanmar army soldiers hunting down Rohingya Muslim men in Rakhine state.
Jannta Ara Begum and her family had been planning to leave their village when it was cordoned off by soldiers, who went from house to house looking for men. They escaped to a nearby jungle hilltop in Uttarpara, and returned when they thought the army had left.
Jannta’s father, Syed Alan, 48, a carpenter, went out to collect some rice for the family. “As soon as he left the house, we heard gunshots from the market place,” Jannta said.
“My mother and I were very frightened. The neighbors told us that my father had been slaughtered by the Myanmar army. I rushed to the spot and found my father lying on the street. He had been shot twice. It was a trauma for me and my family.”
Jannta and her mother, Anowara Begum, immediately set off toward the Bangladesh border with Jannta’s three brothers and four sisters. “We could not even arrange a funeral to bury my father,” she said.
“For the last eight days, I took shelter in a schoolyard along with mother and brothers and sisters. We have yet to find a tent to sleep in at night.”
Arab News found Jannat asking for help to buy food because she had not eaten for 24 hours. The refugees at the Rohingya camps in Ukhia and Teknaf area are living in miserable conditions.
A local volunteer from Cox’s Bazar, Mohammed Ashraf, said: “Every day we see new faces of Rohingya refugees, taking the total number around 420,000. They are desperate for food, shelter and life-saving medicine.”
The UN human rights agency in Bangladesh says it needs $7.7 million to supply tents and complete registration and other processes for the Rohingya refugees.
The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, has begun a week-long immunization program for refugee children aged 6 months to 15 years, targeting 150,000 children. The World Health Organization is providing 100,000 medical kits, 2 million water purification tablets and 20,000 cholera tablets.
Rohingya girl, 11, tells Arab News how her father was shot dead
Rohingya girl, 11, tells Arab News how her father was shot dead
Syrian president ‘no longer attending’ Davos, sources confirm
- Participants were keen to listen to Ahmed Al-Sharaa, but understand domestic challenges back home
DAVOS: Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa has canceled plans to attend the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos this week, according to a senior member of the WEF.
Many attendees Arab News spoke to at the Congress Centre were disappointed with the decision as his participation in high-level diplomacy and economic sessions would have been a milestone that marked the first attendance by a Syrian head of state at the forum.
Many had hoped to listen to the president speak first hand about the impressive reforms and investments opportunities in Syria but understood there are domestic challenges back in Damascus.
“With everything going on in recent weeks in the Middle East, it was expected that Al-Sharaa will probably not make it,” one participant told Arab News.
Syrian government forces have intensified operations against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) across multiple governorates — including Aleppo, Raqqa and Hasakah — with frequent exchanges of fire reported even as temporary truces are brokered.
Last year, Syria’s freshly-appointed foreign minister Asaad Al-Shibani flew into Davos as part of efforts by the forum to reintegrate Syria into global political and economic conversations following years of isolation under the Assad regime.
Al-Sharaa’s cancelled Davos trip follows weeks of diplomatic and military pressures. His transitional government, which took power after overthrowing long-time leader Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, has actively sought international recognition, winning incremental sanctions relief and engaging Western partners.
