LATAKIA: The Emirates Red Crescent provided entertainment for 150 orphans and children with cancer in Latakia governorate in northwestern Syria on Friday, the first day of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday.
The humanitarian initiative, part of Operation Gallant Knight 2, was conducted in cooperation with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent as part of the UAE’s relief efforts to help families affected by the devastating earthquake that hit Syria and neighboring Turkiye on Feb. 6, the Emirates News Agency reported.
Mohammed Al-Kaabi, head of the Emirati organization’s team in Syria said: “The event was implemented under the framework of the UAE’s continued initiatives to provide moral and psychological support for those affected by the earthquake.”
Ghiath Sofi, president of the Al-Bashaer Charity Association, which is based in Latakia, thanked the UAE for its humanitarian initiatives in support of the Syrian people. He added that his association “carries out a wide range of humanitarian activities, including support of orphans.”
Khaled Shoman of the Farah Association for Supporting Children with Cancer, also based in Latakia, said any initiative that brings happiness to young cancer patients through celebrations such as those on Friday also brings joy to their parents and motivates them to continue the process of providing moral and psychological support during the treatment of their children.
Authorities in the UAE said that they are continuing their significant efforts to support Syrians affected by the earthquake and help them to recover and rebuild, by providing food and medical supplies in addition to social and psychological support.
The earthquake killed more than 6,000 people in Syria, mostly in the opposition-held northwest close to the border with Turkiye.
Emirates Red Crescent entertains 150 orphans and children with cancer in Syria on Eid Al-Fitr
https://arab.news/9kdt9
Emirates Red Crescent entertains 150 orphans and children with cancer in Syria on Eid Al-Fitr
- The initiative was conducted in cooperation with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent as part of the UAE’s relief efforts to help families affected by the earthquake in February
- Mohammed Al-Kaabi, head of the Emirati team in Syria, said it was part of ‘the UAE’s continued initiatives to provide moral and psychological support for those affected by the earthquake’
Humanitarian chiefs say Israel failed to meet US deadline for allowing aid into Gaza
- Aid organizations call on Washington to suspend arms sales to Israel and impose security restrictions, as required by US law
- Oxfam America accuses Israeli authorities of a ‘campaign of ethnic cleansing’ in northern Gaza
NEW YORK CITY: Israel has failed to meet critical Gaza-related humanitarian demands set by the US government, according to a report published jointly by eight major humanitarian organizations.
The failure comes “at an enormous human cost for Palestinian civilians” in the enclave, where the humanitarian situation “is now at its worst point” since the war began in October 2023, they said.
Their assessment comes a month after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent a letter to Israeli officials demanding the implementation of concrete measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days.
This deadline passed on Tuesday with no significant signs of progress. Instead, Israeli forces have accelerated their efforts “to bombard, depopulate, deprive and erase the Palestinian population of the North Gaza governorate,” said Abby Maxman, the president of Oxfam America.
“We are witnessing a campaign of ethnic cleansing,” she added. “Oxfam and partner organizations are unable to provide any support to the remaining civilians in the North Gaza governorate, where people are dying every day.
“Access to the rest of Gaza is also severely restricted, with civilians facing starvation and relentless violence. The US must finally make this overdue call to suspend deadly arms sales to Israel or be complicit in the horrific atrocities unfolding before our eyes.”
The aid organizations that contributed to the report, which also include Refugees International, Save the Children and MedGlobal, called on Washington to make an “immediate determination” that Israel is in violation of its assurances under US and international law, and to suspend arms sales and impose restrictions on security cooperation, as required by US law.
The report also urges the American government to press for immediate humanitarian pauses in military operations, the opening of more routes for deliveries of aid, and efforts to ensure civilians and medical facilities are protected.
“With experts again projecting imminent famine in northern Gaza, there is no time to lose,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International. The report “clearly demonstrates that the Israeli government is violating its obligations (to) facilitate humanitarian relief for suffering Palestinians in Gaza,” he added.
Zaher Sahloul, the president and co-founder of MedGlobal, said the organization’s local medical teams and international volunteers in Gaza have personally witnessed “the complete failure by the Israeli authorities to ensure the delivery of critical supplies, including food, water and medicines, and to protect civilians and medical spaces.”
He added: “Our teams are living through the relentless bombing of hospitals, and our medics continue to treat wounded women and children every day. These are egregious violations of the cornerstone principle of international humanitarian law, which protects civilians in time of war.”
Sahloul called on the Biden administration to “do everything possible to push for the full provision of aid to Gaza’s desperate people.”
In addition to the medical crisis, the blockade of Gaza has severely limited the ability of humanitarian organizations to deliver aid. The report says convoys are still often blocked, delayed or looted, and access to key parts of the territory, especially in the north, remains severely restricted.
“I witnessed during my visit to Gaza last week the deliberate starvation of almost 2 million civilians, while the bombardment continues,” said Jan Egelan, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
“There is barely any aid crossing into Gaza. The little that does get through is often looted, as the occupying power has obliterated the Palestinian police and refuses to secure, or provide secure access routes to, places where humanitarian organizations could distribute aid to a starving population.”
Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, the CEO of Mercy Corps, said the US government must do “everything in its power to ensure the unfettered provision of essential aid to people in desperate need.”
The report highlights the dire food insecurity among the population of Gaza. Janti Soeripto, the president of Save the Children, said: “Systemic impediments to the humanitarian system are making a deadly conflict even deadlier.
“Enough is enough. The facts are there. Adults have been failing children for over a year. What more will it take?”
With winter and famine looming, the organizations warned that children in particular are at imminent risk, with many of them already suffering the effects of malnutrition.
Sean Carroll, the president and CEO of American Near East Refugee Aid, said the organization’s “humanitarian workers in Gaza have spent the past year expending superhuman effort in subhuman conditions to provide assistance to civilians.”
He added: “In the past month, we’ve seen families throughout Gaza, and particularly in the north, subjected to increasingly horrific conditions. This is a damning indictment of Israel’s failure to follow international humanitarian law and to respond to the critical and reasonable demands of its greatest ally, the United States. The consequences will be more innocent lives ended and destroyed.
“They should also include restrictions on Israel’s ability to continue prosecution of this war in a manner that is increasingly being seen as consistent with ethnic cleansing.”
The report warns that with more than 2 million civilians in Gaza facing starvation, daily bombardments and lack of access to the basic necessities of life, the humanitarian situation in the territory is on the brink of catastrophe.
“There is no time to lose,” it concludes.
US defense contractor ordered to pay $42m to Iraqis tortured at Abu Ghraib
- Virginia-based CACI Premier Technology was found liable for its role in the torture
WASHINGTON: A federal jury on Tuesday ordered a US defense contractor to pay $42 million in damages to three Iraqi men who were tortured at Abu Ghraib prison, their lawyers said.
Virginia-based CACI Premier Technology was found liable for its role in the torture of the men at the prison in 2003 and 2004, the Center for Constitutional Rights said.
Sudan is experiencing some of the most extreme violence in 18 months of war, UN warns
- Need for international unity to help end the civil war is ‘blindingly clear,’ says organization’s political chief
- At least 20,000 people have been killed during the conflict, thousands more injured and millions displaced
NEW YORK CITY: The UN warned on Tuesday that the civil war in Sudan, which began in April 2023, continues to inflict “unrelenting violence and suffering” on millions of civilians in the country.
It said that as clashes between two rival factions of the military government, the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, continue unabated, the latest wave of attacks by the latter in the eastern state of Al-Gazira has been marked by “some of the most extreme violence witnessed in the past 18 months.”
Rosemarie DiCarlo, the UN’s undersecretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, told a meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday, that Sudan is “trapped in a nightmare,” as she condemned recent atrocities that have resulted in large numbers of civilian deaths.
During more than a year-and-a-half of conflict, at least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 33,000 injured. The war has created the worst displacement crisis in the world; more than 11 million people have fled their homes to other parts of Sudan, and 3 million have sought refuge in neighboring countries.
Human rights groups have reported horrific violations of international law as the warring factions continue to wreak havoc across the country, including widespread sexual violence primarily targeting women and girls.
Describing the violence as “appalling,” DiCarlo condemned relentless attacks by the RSF and indiscriminate SAF airstrikes on populated areas.
“This is a man-made disaster. Both warring parties bear responsibility for the atrocities and must be held accountable,” she said as she called for an immediate ceasefire to protect civilians.
Ramesh Rajasingham, director of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, warned of widespread food insecurity in the war-ravaged country.
Conditions are particularly troubling in Darfur and Khartoum, he said, where thousands have died and malnutrition rates are surging, especially among children.
According to his office, there are rising levels of malnutrition in the Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, which was already facing famine conditions, affecting 34 percent of children, 10 percent of whom are severely malnourished.
Rajasingham stressed the urgent need for improved humanitarian access, as many conflict zones remain completely cut off or are difficult to reach because of difficult or delayed procedures. While the opening of the Adre border crossing from Chad has helped to provide “vital relief,” he said this alone is not sufficient given the scale of the crisis.
Humanitarian organizations require safe, unimpeded access so that they can deliver aid, he added as he called for agreements on humanitarian pauses in the fighting so that assistance can be delivered and civilians can move safely out of conflict zones.
Rajasingham also urged the international community to provide flexible financial support for relief operations, and to push for a ceasefire agreement.
“The conditions are there for the conflict to claim even more lives,” he warned as he called for an “immediate shift” in the way the international community is responding to the unfolding crisis.
Despite international pressure, there has been little progress toward peace talks. Both the RSF and the SAF continue to escalate their military operations, bolstered by external support including a steady flow of weapons into the country.
“Certain purported allies of the parties are enabling the slaughter in Sudan,” DiCarlo said as she called for this “unconscionable and illegal” external support that is fueling the violence to end.
Efforts to mediate the conflict have been fragmented to date. The international community has struggled to present a unified front and the warring factions have profited from this lack of unity.
However, DiCarlo pointed to a glimmer of hope in the form of ongoing efforts by the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development to restore a process for political dialogue and facilitate a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
She also acknowledged the work being done by the Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan Group to promote key peace initiatives, including the Jeddah Declaration, which aims to establish mechanisms for protect civilians.
“The need for greater convergence is blindingly clear,” DiCarlo said. With the conflict showing no sign of abating, she also called for the implementation of local ceasefire agreements to offer some respite to civilians.
The UN has also proposed the establishment of a compliance mechanism, she added, to hold the warring parties accountable for their commitments to the protection of civilians under the Jeddah Declaration.
Lebanon rocket fire kills two in Israel: first responders
- Emergency medic Dor Vakinin said a rocket hit a warehouse and that emergency teams arrived on the scene “quickly“
- “There was a lot of destruction and an active fire,” he said
JERUSALEM: Rocket fire from Lebanon on Tuesday killed two men in their 40s in northern Israel, close to the town of Nahariya, first responders said.
Emergency medic Dor Vakinin said a rocket hit a warehouse and that emergency teams arrived on the scene “quickly.”
“There was a lot of destruction and an active fire,” he said. “We performed medical examinations on two men who were lying unconscious and suffering from severe injuries to their bodies. Unfortunately their injuries were too severe and after the examinations, we had to determine the death of both of them.”
The Israeli military said a barrage of 10 rockets was fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, some of which were intercepted, while “others fell in the area.”
It said sirens had sounded in central Israel, including in Tel Aviv and at Ben Gurion airport. Three projectiles that crossed from Lebanon were intercepted, it said.
Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah said it had fired missiles at an Israeli air base south of Tel Aviv.
The rocket fire came as Israel again pounded Hezbollah strongholds in south Beirut and south Lebanon, the military said.
Israeli and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire since Hamas militants from Gaza carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Fighting has escalated since Israel launched an air and ground offensive against Hezbollah in September.
UN force says Israeli work on so-called Alpha Line with Syria saw ‘severe violations’ of ceasefire
- The Israel military also has begun demolishing villages in Lebanon, where other UN peacekeepers have come under fire
- “Such severe violations of the (demilitarized zone) have the potential to increase tensions in the area and is being closely monitored by UNDOF,” it added
“Such severe violations of the (demilitarized zone) have the potential to increase tensions in the area and is being closely monitored by UNDOF,” it added
DUBAI: United Nations peacekeepers warned Tuesday that the Israeli military has committed “severe violations” of a ceasefire deal with Syria as its military continues a major construction project along the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria.
The comments from the UN Disengagement Observer Force, which has patrolled the area since 1974, come after an Associated Press report Monday that published satellite imagery showing the extent of the works along the frontier.
The work, which UNDOF said began in July, follows the completion by the Israeli military of new roadways and what appears to be a buffer zone along the Gaza Strip’s frontier with Israel. The Israel military also has begun demolishing villages in Lebanon, where other UN peacekeepers have come under fire.
While such violence hasn’t broken out along the Alpha Line, UNDOF warned Tuesday the work risked further inflaming tensions in the region.
“Such severe violations of the (demilitarized zone) have the potential to increase tensions in the area and is being closely monitored by UNDOF,” it added.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Syrian officials have declined to comment on the construction, though UNDOF described Syrian officials as having “strongly protested” the work.
As Israel conducted the construction work, which UNDOF described as “extensive engineering groundwork activities,” it has protected earth-moving equipment with armored vehicles and main battle tanks, the peacekeepers said. Troops and earth-moving equipment have crossed the Alpha Line into the demilitarized zone in Syria, known to UNDOF as the “area of separation.”
“Violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement have occurred where engineering works have encroached into the AOS,” the peacekeepers said in a statement, using an acronym for the area. “There have been several violations by (Israel) in the form of their presence in the AoS because of these activities.”
UNDOF has repeatedly protested the work, which it described as violating the ceasefire deal over the months of construction so far.
“Based on the engagement, (Israel) has indicated that the current earthworks are being carried out for defensive purpose to prevent unauthorized crossing and violations by civilians,” the peacekeepers added.
Israel sent a 71-page letter in June to the UN outlining what it described as “Syrian violations of the Alpha Line and armed presence in the area of separation (that) occur daily.” The letter cited numerous Israeli-alleged violations by Syrian civilians crossing the line.
Syria has constantly accused Israel of launching attacks against it from territory it occupies in the Golan Heights. Israel has frequently struck Syria over the years, particularly after the start of the Mideast wars following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel.
Israel seized control of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war. The UN Secretary Council voted to create UNDOF to patrol a roughly 400-square-kilometer (155-square-mile) demilitarized zone and maintain the peace there after the 1973 Mideast war. A second demarcation, known as the Bravo Line, marks the limit of where the Syrian military can operate.
UNDOF has around 1,100 troops, mostly from Fiji, India, Kazakhstan, Nepal and Uruguay, who patrol the area.
Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 — a move criticized by a UN resolution declaring Israel’s action as “null and void and without international legal effect.” The territory, some 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) in size, is a strategic high ground that overlooks both Israel and Syria.
Around 50,000 Jewish settlers and Arabs who are mostly members of the Druze sect of Shiite Islam live there.
In 2019, President Donald Trump unilaterally announced that the United States would “fully recognize” Israel’s control of the territory, a decision that has been unchanged by the Biden administration. However, it’s the only other country to do so, as the rest of the world views it as occupied Syrian territory.