Casbah building collapse kills woman in Algiers

A building collapse in the UNESCO-listed Casbah of Algiers killed a woman and injured three of her family members on Wednesday, emergency services said. (X/@TSAlgerie)
Short Url
Updated 11 September 2024
Follow

Casbah building collapse kills woman in Algiers

  • The uninhabited building fell shortly after midnight onto a neighboring home

ALGIERS: A building collapse in the UNESCO-listed Casbah of Algiers killed a woman and injured three of her family members on Wednesday, emergency services said.
The uninhabited building fell shortly after midnight onto a neighboring home where the woman lived, said the civil defense agency in the Algerian capital.
The Casbah, a historic city built on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean, has suffered multiple building collapses in recent years.
In 2019, five people, including a baby, died when their home collapsed in the old city. Following that incident, the mayor of Algiers was sacked.
Originally fortified under Ottoman rule in the 16th century, the Casbah played a key role during Algeria’s 1954-1962 war for independence.
Despite ongoing conservation efforts, many structures remain at risk, propped up solely by wooden and metal supports.


Syria accuses Hezbollah of firing shells into its territory

Updated 10 March 2026
Follow

Syria accuses Hezbollah of firing shells into its territory

  • “The Syrian Arab Army will not tolerate any aggression targeting Syria,” the army said in a statement to SANA

DAMASCUS: Syria said Iran-backed Hezbollah had fired artillery shells into its territory from Lebanon overnight, state media reported on Tuesday, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Shia movement.
Syrian army officials said artillery shells fired from Lebanon landed near the town of Serghaya, west of Damascus, the state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday.
The army accused Hezbollah of targeting Syrian army positions, telling the news agency it observed Hezbollah reinforcements at the Syrian-Lebanese border.
“The Syrian Arab Army will not tolerate any aggression targeting Syria,” the army said in a statement to SANA.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during US-Israeli strikes.
Hezbollah and Israeli forces have clashed in eastern Lebanon in recent days, and Israel has carried out strikes across Lebanon, including on the capital Beirut.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun accused Hezbollah of working to “collapse” the state, while the head of the group’s parliamentary bloc said it had “no other option... than the option of resistance.”
Hezbollah provided military support to former Syrian president Bashar Assad, who was overthrown in December 2024 by an Islamist coalition hostile to the pro-Iranian Shia movement.
Since then, its supply routes from Syria have been cut off, and Lebanese and Syrian authorities are trying to combat smuggling across the porous border between the two countries.