Two years after quake disaster, Turkiye’s painful recovery continues

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(FILES) This photograph shows construction areas of Turkish public housing agency (TOKI) in Antakya on January 29, 2025, on the second anniversary of the earthquake that devastated south-east Turkiye and northern Syria.(AFP)
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No place was worse hit than Antakya where 90 percent of its buildings were lost and more than 20,000 people died in the town and its province Hatay. (AFP)
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Updated 06 February 2025
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Two years after quake disaster, Turkiye’s painful recovery continues

  • The disaster reduced entire towns to rubble, including homes, hospitals, and historical landmarks, with Hatay, Kahramanmaras and Adiyaman hardest hit.

ANKARA: Two years after the deadliest and most destructive earthquake in modern Turkish history, hundreds of thousands of people remain displaced, with many still living in temporary housing, as rebuilding efforts lag behind initial targets.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake on February 6, 2023, and its aftershocks rattled 11 Turkish provinces and parts of northern Syria, killing more than 55,000 people and injuring more than 107,000.
The disaster reduced entire towns to rubble, including homes, hospitals, and historical landmarks, with Hatay, Kahramanmaras and Adiyaman hardest hit.
The government has pledged to build 650,000 homes, with President Tayyip Erdogan promising in the weeks after the tremor that 319,000 would be delivered within a year.
“We are fortunate to have delivered 201,431 independent units to their rightful owners less than two years after the earthquake,” Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting on Monday.
Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum said $75 billion had been spent on rebuilding across the quake region.
The critical phases of reconstruction have been completed, he said, adding that housing and business projects were progressing rapidly.
Many residents, however, remain in makeshift conditions, while others have left their home provinces entirely, disrupting communities and livelihoods.
Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition CHP, said only 30 percent of the pledged reconstruction had been completed. The housing completion rate in Hatay, one of the worst-hit provinces, was only 18 percent, he said.
“Only three out of ten who believed in Erdogan now have homes, while the other seven are still in containers or seeking refuge in the homes of relatives,” Ozel said on Tuesday.
“How can they look into the eyes of those they forced to live in containers for two years and say, ‘We have kept all our promises, thank God’?“
Lingering hardships
International and local aid groups say a full recovery remains far off, with thousands of Turks still facing barriers to returning home.
The Hatay Earthquake Victims’ Association said in a report that more than 400,000 people remain in container-home cities, facing poor sanitation, inadequate health care, and an uncertain future.
It also raised concerns about asbestos exposure from unregulated demolitions and land seizures under emergency decrees.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said that millions of people in Turkiye and Syria were still struggling to rebuild their lives. It called the pace of reconstruction “far too slow” for such a disaster.
Delays in reconstruction hurt long-term stability and risk depopulation of the region, some aid groups say.
In Hatay, in southernmost Turkiye, empty streets, shuttered businesses, and demolition work still define the city, which was once a bustling mixture of cultures and religions, and a draw for tourism.
Ankara says its response to the earthquake has been effective and on track.
Kurum, the government minister, said 423,000 homes and workplaces will be handed over to survivors by the end of 2025, adding that Turkiye had allocated 584 billion Turkish lira ($19 billion) for recovery efforts.


US embassy in Israel warns Americans there to be on guard

Updated 2 sec ago
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US embassy in Israel warns Americans there to be on guard

“The security environment is complex and can change quickly,” the embassy said

WASHINGTON: The US embassy in Israel on Saturday warned Americans there to avoid large gatherings and be prepared to seek shelter following an escalation of conflict in the country.
“The security environment is complex and can change quickly,” the embassy said in an alert posted on its website. “Be aware of your surroundings.”
The warning came as the Israeli army said it was attacking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in a second wave of strikes, after intercepting rockets fired from across the border earlier in the day.
Israel has also seen a series of large protests in recent days over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service.

Lebanon’s Tyre targeted in new Israeli strikes: state media

Updated 8 min 2 sec ago
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Lebanon’s Tyre targeted in new Israeli strikes: state media

  • The strike on the city of Tyre led to a preliminary toll of four injured

BEIRUT: Lebanese state media reported that four people were injured Saturday in an Israeli strike on the key coastal city of Tyre, as a new wave of attacks hit the country.
“The strike on the city of Tyre led to a preliminary toll of four injured,” the official National News Agency said, adding that Israel also attacked other areas of south and east Lebanon.


Father of the last living American hostage in Gaza hopes Trump can bring his son home

Updated 16 min 58 sec ago
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Father of the last living American hostage in Gaza hopes Trump can bring his son home

  • Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier who grew up in the US, is one of 59 hostages still in Gaza
  • Adi Alexander said he thinks Netanyahu wants to bring everybody home, but on his own terms

TEL AVIV: Unlike many families who blame Israel’s government for not getting their loved ones released from captivity in Gaza, Adi Alexander is hesitant to point fingers.
Pragmatic and measured, the father of the last living American being held hostage by Hamas just wants his son to come home.
“I don’t want to get into who came first, the egg or the chicken,” Alexander told AP on Friday from his New Jersey home. Still, with the once-promising ceasefire giving way to renewed fighting between Israel and Hamas, he wonders whether Israel can secure his son’s freedom and is more hopeful about the US’s chances to do it.
Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old Israeli-American soldier who grew up in the US, is one of 59 hostages still in Gaza, more than half of whom are believed to be dead. Last week, Hamas said it would release Edan and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel recommitted to the stalled ceasefire agreement.
Days later, though, Israel launched rockets across Gaza, breaking the two-month-old deal and killing hundreds of Palestinians. The hostilities show no signs of abating, with Israel vowing Friday to advance deeper into Gaza until Hamas releases the remaining hostages.
The return to fighting has inflamed the debate in Israel over the fate of those held captive. Netanyahu has come under mounting domestic pressure, with mass protests over his handling of the hostage crisis. But he also faces demands from his hard-line allies not to accept any deal that falls short of Hamas’ destruction.
A father’s hope
Adi Alexander said he thinks Netanyahu wants to bring everybody home, but on his own terms. He questions Netanyahu’s plans whereas he believes US President Donald Trump’s message is clear: He’s focused on bringing the hostages home. Alexander said he’s counting on the US to bridge the large gap between Israel and Hamas. His message to Trump about his administration’s efforts to free his son and the others: “Just keep this job going.”
Many families of the hostages say Trump has done more for them than Netanyahu, crediting the president with the ceasefire. In December, before taking office, Trump demanded the hostages’ immediate release, saying if they weren’t freed before he was sworn in for his second term there would be “hell to pay.”
Phase one of the deal began weeks later, and saw the release of 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The ceasefire was supposed to remain in place as long as talks on the second phase continued, but Netanyahu balked at entering substantive negotiations.
Instead, he tried to force Hamas to accept a new ceasefire plan put forth by US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. That plan would have required Hamas to release half its remaining hostages — the militant group’s main bargaining chip — in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce.
Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the original ceasefire agreement mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.
The US engages directly with Hamas
As a soldier, Edan would have been released during the deal’s second phase. But Hamas announced this month that it would release Edan after the White House said it had engaged in “ongoing talks and discussions” with the group — separate from the main negotiations. It is the first known direct engagement between Hamas and the US since the State Department designated it a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.
Adi Alexander said Adam Boehler, who’s helping spearhead the Trump administration’s efforts to free the hostages, led those separate talks because phase two was stalled. But he said he didn’t believe Hamas’ claim that it would release his son because it came out of left field and wasn’t being considered as part of the discussions between the group and Boehler.
The anxious father said he speaks with Witkoff and Boehler almost daily and understands the negotiations are ongoing despite the resumption of fighting.
A native of Tenafly, a New Jersey suburb of New York City, Edan moved to Israel in 2022 after high school and enlisted in the military. He was abducted from his base during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war, when Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 others hostage.
The grueling wait
Since Edan’s abduction, there’s been little news about him.
Hamas released a video of him over Thanksgiving weekend in November. His family said it was difficult to watch as he cried and pleaded for help, but it was a relief to see he was alive.
Freed hostages have given the family more news, according to his father. Some said Edan had lost a lot of weight. Others said he’d been an advocate for fellow hostages, standing up for kidnapped Thai workers and telling their captors that the workers weren’t Israeli and should be freed.
Although he knows the resumption of fighting means it will take more time to get his son back, Adi Alexander said he thinks both sides had became too comfortable with the ceasefire and that this was one reason phase two never began. He wants the war to end, and hopes the fighting will be limited and targeted and push everyone back to the table.
“Somebody, I think had to shake this tree to create chaos, and chaos creates opportunities,” he said. “The only objective is to get back to the bargaining table to get those people out.”


King Abdullah II urges UK’s PM Starmer to push for Gaza ceasefire reinstatement

Updated 22 March 2025
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King Abdullah II urges UK’s PM Starmer to push for Gaza ceasefire reinstatement

  • The British premier thanked King Abdullah for his country’s leadership and work towards a political solution

AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdullah II called on the international community to take urgent action to halt Israel’s attacks on Gaza and reinstate a ceasefire during a phone call with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday.

The king also urged the need to resume aid deliveries to Gaza, warning of the worsening humanitarian crisis, Jordan News Agency reported.

Reiterating Jordan’s firm opposition to any displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, King Abdullah warned against continued attacks on Palestinians and violations of Muslim and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem.

Discussing Syria, the King Abdullah also reaffirmed Jordan’s support for the Syrian Arab Republic’s unity, sovereignty and stability.

Starmer highlighted his deep concern about the renewed Israeli military action in Gaza and the lack of humanitarian aid to the enclave, a statement from Downing Street said.

The British premier thanked King Abdullah for his country’s leadership and efforts aimed at a political solution to the Israel-Palestine crisis.

He welcomed the Arab plan for Gaza and commended the efforts of Jordan and regional partners in developing it. The leaders agreed to continue urging Israel and Hamas to return to the ceasefire.

Starmer said that the UK remained a strong partner to Jordan and the two leaders agreed to keep in close contact.


45 killed in Sudan paramilitary attack in North Darfur: activists

Updated 22 March 2025
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45 killed in Sudan paramilitary attack in North Darfur: activists

  • The aid group gave a “preliminary list of the victims of Al-Malha massacre” blamed on RSF

KHARTOUM: A paramilitary attack killed at least 45 civilians in North Darfur’s Al-Malha area, according to an initial toll shared by activists Saturday.
The local volunteer aid group, known as a resistance committee, in the state capital El-Fasher, gave a “preliminary list of the victims of Al-Malha massacre” blamed on the Rapid Support Forces, with 15 people still unidentified.