CAIRO: Libya’s coast guard intercepted Wednesday four boats in the Mediterranean Sea carrying migrants trying to reach Europe, a UN official said.
According to the migrants, 20 people from one of the vessels had gone overboard earlier in the day and were presumed to have drowned.
The circumstances under which the migrants went overboard were unclear, said Safa Msehli, a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration. The vessel was overcrowded as many of the rubber dinghies and dilapidated boats smuggling the migrants typically are.
It was the latest disaster in the Mediterranean involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe.
Since Tuesday, a total of seven vessels smuggling hundreds of migrants were intercepted off Libya’s coast, Msehli also said. Around 500 migrants, including nine children and 43 women, were returned to shore and taken to the Mabani detention center in Tripoli, she said.
Many of the migrants were exhausted and suffered from dehydration, she added.
There has been a spike in crossings and attempted crossings from Libya in recent months. Amnesty International has said that in the first six months of this year, more than 7,000 people intercepted at sea were forcibly returned to detention camps in Libya.
“The situation in the central Mediterranean is a humanitarian crisis,” Msehli said. “We are in July, and already have exceeded the number of interceptions for the entire year of 2020.”
An IOM report earlier this month said the number of migrants and refugees who died while attempting to reach Europe on dangerous sea crossings more than doubled so far this year, compared to the first six months of 2020.
The report said at least 1,146 people perished between January and June, with the Central Mediterranean route between Libya and Italy being the deadliest, claiming 741 lives.
The deadliest shipwreck so far this year took place on April 22 off Libya, when 130 people drowned despite the ship sending multiple distress calls.
Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
Rights groups and officials at UN agencies that work with migrants and refugees have for years now cited survivor testimony about systematic abuse in the detention camps in Libya, including forced labor, beatings, rapes and torture. The abuse often accompanies efforts to extort money from families before migrants are allowed to leave Libya on traffickers’ boats.
Earlier in July, Libyan maritime authorities acknowledged that one of their coast guard vessel had fired warning shots at a migrant boat it was chasing in the Mediterranean, in an apparent effort to stop it from crossing to Europe and endangering the lives of the migrants onboard.
UN migration official: 20 migrants drown off Libya’s coast
https://arab.news/6c9v3
UN migration official: 20 migrants drown off Libya’s coast
- 20 people from one of the vessels had gone overboard and were presumed to have drowned
- The circumstances under which the migrants went overboard were unclear, said International Organization for Migration spokeswoman
Turkiye stages artillery strikes on Kurd fighters in Iraq
While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this month said operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq were coming to an end, a security source in northern Iraq said the latest overnight shelling was “intense.”
“In line with our right to self-defense... air operations were carried out against terrorist targets in northern Iraq, in the Gara, Qandil and Asos regions,” Turkiye’s defense ministry said in a statement.
The Turkish army named 25 targets including PKK “caves, bunkers, shelters, stores and installations.” Turkiye and most of its western allies consider the PKK to be a terrorist group. It has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984.
Kamran Othman, a member of the Community Peacemakers Teams (CPT) group working in Iraqi Kurdistan, said the attacks lasted about 45 minutes and there were no civilian victims of the shelling.
The Turkish army said it had “neutralized several terrorists.”
CPT says it has recorded more than 230 artillery shelling incidents since June 15, some of which have started fires on agricultural land and hit civilians.
Turkiye says it wants to establish a security zone in northern Iraq and Syria to prevent militant incursions.
22 dead in shelling of Sudan’s besieged El-Fasher: medic
- El-Fasher has become a key battleground in the 15-month-long war
- A doctor at the city’s Saudi Hospital said “bombardment of the livestock market and the Redayef neighborhood killed 22 people and wounded 17“
PORT SUDAN: Besieging Sudanese paramilitary forces pounded El-Fasher on Saturday, witnesses said, killing 22 people in Darfur’s last city outside their control, according to a hospital source.
El-Fasher has become a key battleground in the 15-month-long war pitting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the regular army.
The battle for the North Darfur state capital, seen as crucial for humanitarian aid in a region on the brink of famine, has raged for more than two months.
Witnesses said El-Fasher had come under heavy artillery bombardment by the RSF on Saturday.
“Some houses were destroyed by the shelling,” one witness said.
A doctor at the city’s Saudi Hospital told AFP on condition of anonymity that “bombardment of the livestock market and the Redayef neighborhood killed 22 people and wounded 17.”
It was the deadliest reported bombardment since the start of the month, when 15 civilians were killed in the shelling of another city market.
Intense fighting for El-Fasher erupted on May 10, prompting a siege by the RSF that has trapped hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Last month, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an end to the siege.
US mediators are to make a new attempt in Switzerland next month to broker an end to the fighting. The talks are due to open on August 14.
Previous negotiations in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, have failed to put an end to the fighting which has displaced millions, sparked warnings of famine and left swathes of the capital Khartoum in ruins.
Egypt’s presence at Gaza talks highlights its ‘pivotal role’ in region, says analyst
- Meeting in Rome fuels hope amid concerns that Israel is sabotaging peace negotiations
CAIRO: The presence of Egyptian delegates at a scheduled meeting in Rome to discuss a ceasefire in Gaza underscores Cairo’s “pivotal role” in the region, political analyst and MP Osama Al-Ashmouni told Arab News on Saturday, adding that it also shows Egypt’s unquestionable commitment to the Palestinian cause.
Egypt — along with Qatar and the US — has been involved in months of mediation efforts aimed at ending the war that has raged in the Gaza Strip for more than nine months.
A senior source told the Cairo News Channel that a meeting involving Egyptian, US, and Qatari officials and the head of Israeli Intelligence will take place in Rome on Sunday, in the hopes of developing an agreement that would immediately halt military engagements and guarantee the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The source said Egyptian authorities have stressed the importance of reaching an agreement that ensures the free movement of Gaza’s citizens and a complete withdrawal from the Rafah crossing.
Al-Ashmouni told Arab News that Egypt “has been a stalwart supporter of the Palestinian cause throughout its history, offering tremendous support to defend the rights of the Palestinian people and their quest to reclaim their occupied land and establish a Palestinian state.”
Al-Ashmouni added that Israel “consistently disseminates falsehoods and continues its deceptive practices and lies, whether in distorting Egypt’s role in supporting the Palestinian cause or by trying to portray itself as the victim, thereby reversing the roles of victim and perpetrator.
“It is crucial for attendees at the Rome meeting to recognize this, as the conscience of the free world should not heed the fabrications spread by the Israeli propaganda machine, despite the international community’s passive stance on Israel’s actions, which include crimes against humanity and war crimes against the unarmed Palestinian people in Gaza.”
Al-Ashmouni expressed his hope that the negotiations in Rome would prove effective, although he anticipates that Israel will continue what he called its policy of sabotaging peace negotiations.
Journalist Mahmoud Mosalam, a member of the Egyptian Senate, told Arab News that Egypt plays a crucial role in mediation talks amid “intense accusations by Israel and other parties who would prefer Egypt to withdraw from the role.”
Mosalam added: “They allege that Egypt is facilitating arms smuggling to the resistance, and some American media outlets falsely claim that Egypt has altered texts from previous negotiations.”
He hopes the negotiations in Rome, which will also include Palestinian and Italian officials, “will be fruitful and help Gaza emerge from its severe crisis, a situation akin to actual genocide.”
He added that the recent outpouring of global support for the Palestinian people gives them an opportunity that they must seize and said it is inevitable the war will end, which would present the Palestinian leaders with “significant responsibilities,” including the reconstruction of Gaza and the reorganization of the Palestinian administration in preparation for a “comprehensive resolution” of the Palestinian issue.
Heat wave forces Iran to shutter government offices and banks. Electricity consumption soars
- Banks, offices, and public institutions across the country close to protect people’s health and conserve energy, due to extreme temperatures
TEHRAN: A heat wave blanketing Iran has forced authorities to cut operating hours at various facilities Saturday and order all government and commercial institutions to shutter on Sunday.
The temperature ranged from 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) to 42 C (about 107 F) in the capital, Tehran on Saturday, according to weather reports.
State-run IRNA news agency said banks, offices, and public institutions across the country would close on Sunday to protect people’s health and conserve energy, due to extreme temperatures and that only emergency services and medical agencies would be excluded.
Authorities also cut working hours on Saturday in many provinces due to the sweltering heat, IRNA reported, adding that high temperatures, over 40 C (104 F), have been registered in Tehran since Friday.
Iranian media warned people to stay indoors until 5 p.m. local time.
Authorities also said electricity consumption reached record levels of 78,106 megawatts on Tuesday.
Nournews, close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported Wednesday that Iran’s temperature is rising at twice the pace of the global temperature which has increased by more than one degree compared to the long-term average. Meanwhile, Iran has become warmer by 2 degrees over the past 50 years, the agency said.
Last year, Iran ordered a two-day nationwide holiday due to increasing temperatures.
170 killed in days-long Israeli operation, says Gaza civil defense
- Deir Al-Balah is one of the areas most populated with displaced families, and said over 100 others were wounded
GAZA: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Saturday that Israel’s military operation around Khan Yunis has killed about 170 people and wounded hundreds since it started on Monday.
“Since the beginning of the Israeli military operation in the Khan Yunis area, we are talking of approximately 170 martyrs and hundreds of wounded,” agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.
He said many people had been displaced again on Saturday as the Israeli operation continued.
“The questions is where will these residents go?” Basal said.
“Anyone who sees the situation in Khan Yunis will witness thousands of people spread out on the ground, on the roads, in areas that unfortunately are not suitable for living.
“With no other options available, they are exposing themselves to death.”
Earlier on Saturday the military issued new evacuation orders for residents of the southern city, after retrieving the bodies of five Israelis and warning of new operations.
The United Nations said more than 180,000 Palestinians have fled Khan Yunis since the Israeli operation began on Monday.
The evacuation orders and “intensified hostilities” have “significantly destabilized aid operations,” it added, reporting “dire water, hygiene and sanitation conditions” across the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli military said it launched the operation to halt rocket fire from the area, which already saw heavy fighting earlier this year.
On Wednesday, it said troops had retrieved the bodies of five Israelis from the area.
They had been killed during the Hamas attacks of October 7 and their bodies taken back to Gaza, the military said.
On Saturday, it ordered residents from more parts of Khan Yunis “to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi” — the second such adjustment made to the safe zone within a week.
