BEIRUT: A blast killed six soldiers in southern Syria Wednesday in a rare such deadly attack in the defeated cradle of the eight-year uprising, a war monitor said.
“The explosive device was aimed at a convoy transporting members of the Fourth Division” in the southern province of Daraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Fifteen others were also wounded in the attack near Yadud village, some seven kilometers outside the provincial capital of Daraa city, the Britain-based monitor said.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast, but loyalists in the province face explosions and gunfire on a near daily basis, although they are usually not deadly, it said.
“Previous rebel fighters who call themselves the Popular Resistance usually carry out these types of attacks against the regime,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
State news agency SANA said “terrorists targeted a military vehicle on the Yaduda road,” reporting an undefined number of “dead and wounded.”
Russia-backed government forces last summer retook the province, following a deadly bombardment campaign and surrender deals that saw part of the population board buses to an opposition holdout region in the northwest.
Government institutions have since returned, but army forces have not deployed in all of the province.
And local anger has grown after hundreds were detained despite the so-called “reconciliation deals,” and many others forcibly conscripted into President Bashar Assad’s army.
In March, dozens of people took part in a hasty protest against a statue of the late father of the president being reinstated eight years after protesters demolished it.
The civil war has killed more than 370,000 people since it started with anti-government protests in Damascus and Daraa in March 2011, before their brutal repression triggered conflict.
Explosion in south Syria kills six soldiers: monitor
Explosion in south Syria kills six soldiers: monitor
- The attack also wounded 15 persons
- Nobody has claimed the attack yet
Libya’s Ramadan celebrations tempered by economic woes
- Libya’s other economic problems included the absence of a unified national budget, in light of its political divide, as well as uncoordinated public spending due to parallel state institutions, Tetteh said
- Refills of gas cylinders, officially priced at 1.5 dinars ($0.24) but often unavailable through state-run distributors, now sell for 75 dinars ($11.85) on the black market and at times more
TRIPOLI: Libyans have been enjoying Ramadan with feasts and fireworks — but soaring prices, a devalued currency and political divisions have left many with little to celebrate.
Fifteen years on from the fall of longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi, the country remains split between east and west, while shortages of goods, including fuel, disrupt daily life, despite Libya sitting atop vast oil and gas reserves.
During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, shoppers stock up on treats, as families gather for lavish meals before and after the daytime fast that stretches from sunrise to sunset.
But this year supermarkets have been rationing their goods, while many petrol stations are short of gas. In the capital Tripoli, most ATMs were out of cash this week.
Firas Zreeg, 37, told AFP while weaving through a crowded supermarket that the economy was deteriorating, blaming currency speculators for the fall in the dinar, “which has negative repercussions on our daily lives.”
The price of cooking oil has doubled in recent weeks, while meat and poultry prices rose by half.
Refills of gas cylinders, officially priced at 1.5 dinars ($0.24) but often unavailable through state-run distributors, now sell for 75 dinars ($11.85) on the black market and at times more.
- ‘Burden on citizens’ -
Libya has struggled to recover from the chaos that erupted following the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled Qaddafi.
It remains divided between a UN-recognized government based in Tripoli and an eastern administration backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
The country has largely been stable in recent years although there have been bouts of deadly violence, including the killing of Qaddafi’s son and heir apparent Seif Al-Islam this month.
With security holding, many Libyans are more focused on their livelihoods.
Last month, the central bank in the western territory devalued the dinar — the second time in less than a year — by nearly 15 percent, “aimed at preserving financial and monetary stability and ensuring the sustainability of public resources.”
In an address this week, Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah acknowledged that the devaluation had once again “put the burden on citizens.”
Hanna Tetteh, head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, warned on Wednesday that “poverty and pressure on society [are] increasing.”
“The situation, in addition to the fragile security landscape, should be a matter for concern as such conditions can lead to unexpected political and security challenges,” she told the UN Security Council.
Libya’s other economic problems included the absence of a unified national budget, in light of its political divide, as well as uncoordinated public spending due to parallel state institutions, Tetteh said.
Revenues from the oil industry were also declining, she added, while the central bank has said public spending is growing at an unsustainable pace.
On Tuesday, Libya marked 15 years since the start of the uprising that eventually toppled Qaddafi, with fireworks lighting up the sky in Tripoli, but for many Libyans life remains a struggle.
“Minor improvements in security were made over the past three years,” Zreeg told AFP, but Libyans are still faced with huge economic challenges.
