DAMASCUS: A blast that rocked Syria’s northwestern Idlib province on Thursday killed four people, state media said, though the cause had yet to be officially determined.
Residents told AFP they heard the sound of explosions on the western outskirts of the provincial capital, with a war monitor saying they came from a nearby base for foreign fighters.
State news agency SANA reported “an explosion whose cause is unknown in the vicinity of the city of Idlib.”
Citing the health ministry, it reported at least “four dead and five others injured,” raising an earlier toll of two dead.
The civil defense said in a statement that a child was among those killed.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported “the sound of successive large explosions at a base for non-Syrian fighters containing a weapons depot as a drone was in the air.”
The Britain-based monitoring group reported thick smoke and panic among residents of the area.
Late last month, a series of explosions in Idlib province killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 100, the Observatory said at the time.
Those blasts occurred at a weapons depot belonging to Uyghur jihadist group the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) in Maaret Misrin, the monitor reported.
Authorities did not immediately say what may have caused those explosions.
Blast kills four in northwest Syria
https://arab.news/gd6jx
Blast kills four in northwest Syria
- Explosion took place on the outskirts of the provincial capital Idlib
UN, aid groups warn Gaza operations at risk from Israel impediments
- Dozens of international aid groups face de-registration by December 31, which then means they have to close operations within 60 days
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations and aid groups warned on Wednesday that humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza, were at risk of collapse if Israel does not lift impediments that include a “vague, arbitrary, and highly politicized” registration process.
Dozens of international aid groups face de-registration by December 31, which then means they have to close operations within 60 days, said the UN and more than 200 local and international aid groups in a joint statement.
“The deregistration of INGOs (international aid groups) in Gaza will have a catastrophic impact on access to essential and basic services,” the statement read.
“INGOs run or support the majority of field hospitals, primary health care centers, emergency shelter responses, water and sanitation services, nutrition stabilization centers for children with acute malnutrition, and critical mine action activities,” it said.
SUPPLIES LEFT OUT OF REACH: GROUPS
While some international aid groups have been registered under the system that was introduced in March, “the ongoing re-registration process and other arbitrary hindrances to humanitarian operations have left millions of dollars’ worth of essential supplies — including food, medical items, hygiene materials, and shelter assistance — stuck outside of Gaza and unable to reach people in need,” the statement read.
Israel’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the statement. Under the first phase of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan, a fragile ceasefire in the two-year-old war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas began on October 10. Hamas released hostages, Israel freed detained Palestinians and more aid began flowing into the enclave where a global hunger monitor said in August famine had taken hold.
However, Hamas says fewer aid trucks are entering Gaza than was agreed. Aid agencies say there is far less aid than required, and that Israel is blocking many necessary items from coming in. Israel denies that and says it is abiding by its obligations under the truce.
“The UN will not be able to compensate for the collapse of INGOs’ operations if they are de-registered, and the humanitarian response cannot be replaced by alternative actors operating outside established humanitarian principles,” the statement by the UN and aid groups said.
The statement stressed “humanitarian access is not optional, conditional or political,” adding: “Lifesaving assistance must be allowed to reach Palestinians without further delay.”
