ATHENS: Greek and Turkish coast guards are searching for at least eight people who remained missing after a boat carrying 45 migrants sank off the coast of Crete, officials said on Friday.
Thirty-seven people, mostly from Syria and Iraq, were picked up in adverse weather conditions after the boat went down on Thursday near international waters near the Greek island, said Greek port police.
Five of them were taken by helicopter to the Greek island of Karpathos on Thursday while 30 others — including a woman and a child — were transported to the Greek town of Ierapetra in southeast Crete, an AFP photographer reported.
Friday’s search operations were hampered by gale-force winds, Greek port police said.
Two Turkish frigates and a maritime patrol aircraft were also searching for the missing migrants, said Turkey’s Defense Ministry.
Survivors said that eight to 12 other people had been on board the boat when it went down 60 nautical miles southeast of Crete, Greek port police said.
Illegal immigrants often use Turkey as a transit point to reach prosperous EU states through Greece.
Many rely on smugglers and risk their lives through perilous journeys in overcrowded boats.
In 2016, Turkey inked a deal with the EU to stem the flow of migrants to Europe in return for some incentives including financial assistance.
Turkey currently hosts some 3.7 million refugees from the conflict in Syria.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long demanded more assistance from the EU to deal with refugees and has in the past threatened to open Turkey’s border unless the bloc provides additional funds.
In June, EU leaders approved plans to give Turkey another €3 billion ($3.6 billion) over the next few years for assistance to Syrian refugees and to help boost border controls.
The new funding plan is part of a range of incentives that the bloc is using to try to keep Erdogan on side, with Brussels also offering to modernize a customs union with Turkey and start high-level talks on issues from health to security.
But Turkey responded to the proposal saying the idea that money is enough to solve migration is “a big delusion,” urging greater cooperation with the EU to tackle the issue on other levels.
Ankara has repeatedly said it wants a review of the 2016 deal in a fashion that “responds to the needs of the day and common interests.”
Turkey now fears a fresh wave of Afghan refugees as US troops withdraw following 20 years of fighting against the Taliban, which has been regaining territory.
Erdogan this week said Turkey was holding talks with the Afghan authorities over the issue of migrants.
Greece and Turkey search for missing after migrant boat sinks
https://arab.news/5emgs
Greece and Turkey search for missing after migrant boat sinks
- Coast guard was searching for the missing boat "after receiving a tip-off" that it sank on Thursday
- Illegal immigrants often use Turkey as a gateway to reach prosperous European Union states
First responders enter devastated Aleppo neighborhood after days of deadly fighting
- The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army
ALEPPO, Syria: First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid Al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
