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One killed in Iran water shortage protests: state media

Street protests broke out overnight over severe water shortages in Iran’s oil-rich southwest. (Twitter screenshot)
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Updated 17 July 2021
AFP
Reuters
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One killed in Iran water shortage protests: state media

Updated 17 July 2021
AFP Reuters

TEHRAN: A demonstrator was shot dead during protests against water shortages in drought-hit southwestern Iran, state media reported Saturday, with officials blaming the death on “opportunists and rioters”.
The demonstrator was killed in the Khuzestan province town of Shadegan, the official IRNA news agency said.
“Last night (Friday), a number of Shadegan’s people had gathered to protest water shortages due to the drought, during which opportunists and rioters shot dead one of the demonstrators,” the county’s acting governor, Omid Sabripour, told IRNA.

Street protests broke out overnight over severe water shortages in Iran’s oil-rich southwest, according to Iranian news outlets and videos posted on social media on Friday, as the country faces its worst drought in 50 years.

Videos showed protesters setting fire to tyres to block a road and security forces were seen trying to disperse the crowds as some shots were heard. Reuters could not independently verify the videos’ authenticity.

“State television should report what we are saying and show the image of the buffaloes that perished from lack of water,” an elderly protester said on a video carried by the regional Asrejonoob news website.

In May, Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian warned of water shortages in the summer, saying this year was “one of the driest in 50 years”.

The water shortages have led to power blackouts and there were protest marches in several cities last week. During some protests, people vented their anger with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, chanting “Death to the dictator” and “Death to Khamenei”. read more 

In recent weeks, thousands of workers in Iran’s key energy sector have held protests, seeking better wages and working conditions in southern gas fields and some refineries in big cities. read more 

Iran’s economy has tanked due to the impact of U.S. sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic. Nowhere in the Middle East has been hit harder by the virus than Iran.

Protests by workers and pensioners have been almost unrelenting for months, with discontent growing over an economy that is suffering inflation of more than 50%, high unemployment, with some workers complaining that their wages are not being paid.

Topics: Iran

The UN says Al-Hol camp population has dropped sharply as Syria moves to relocate remaining families

Updated 15 February 2026
AP
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The UN says Al-Hol camp population has dropped sharply as Syria moves to relocate remaining families

  • Forces of Syria’s central government captured the Al-Hol camp on Jan. 21 during a weekslong offensive against the SDF, which had been running the camp near the border with Iraq for a decade
Updated 15 February 2026
AP

DAMASCUS: The UN refugee agency said Sunday that a large number of residents of a camp housing family members of suspected Daesh group militants have left and the Syrian government plans to relocate those who remain.
Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR’s representative in Syria, said in a statement that the agency “has observed a significant decrease in the number of residents in Al-Hol camp in recent weeks.”
“Syrian authorities have informed UNHCR of their plan to relocate the remaining families to Akhtarin camp in Aleppo Governorate (province) and have requested UNHCR’s support to assist the population in the new camp, which we stand ready to provide,” he said.
He added that UNHCR “will continue to support the return and reintegration of Syrians who have departed Al-Hol, as well as those who remain.”
The statement did not say how residents had left the camp or how many remain. Many families are believed to have escaped either during the chaos when government forces captured the camp from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces last month or afterward.
There was no immediate statement from the Syrian government and a government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
At its peak after the defeat of IS in Syria in 2019, around 73,000 people were living at Al-Hol. Since then, the number has declined with some countries repatriating their citizens. The camp’s residents are mostly children and women, including many wives or widows of IS members.
The camp’s residents are not technically prisoners and most have not been accused of crimes, but they have been held in de facto detention at the heavily guarded facility.
Forces of Syria’s central government captured the Al-Hol camp on Jan. 21 during a weekslong offensive against the SDF, which had been running the camp near the border with Iraq for a decade. A ceasefire deal has since ended the fighting.
Separately, thousands of accused IS militants who were held in detention centers in northeastern Syria have been transferred to Iraq to stand trial under an agreement with the US
The US military said Friday that it had completed the transfer of more than 5,700 adult male IS suspects from detention facilities in Syria to Iraqi custody.
Iraq’s National Center for International Judicial Cooperation said a total of 5,704 suspects from 61 countries who were affiliated with IS — most of them Syrian and Iraqi — were transferred from prisons in Syria. They are now being interrogated in Iraq.

 

Topics: Syria

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