DAMASCUS: Rockets were fired at a home in Syria’s capital on Friday night, wounding one person and causing damage, state media reported.
It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the rocket attack in Damascus’ western neighborhood of Mazzeh 86. An Associated Press journalist at the scene said that security forces cordoned off the area and prevented anyone from getting close to the building that was struck.
State television reported that one woman was wounded in the blast, which was caused by an attack by “unknown assailants,” adding that security forces were investigating.
State news agency SANA also said that one woman was wounded in the Friday night explosion, and that the blast was caused by rockets that were fired from a mobile launcher.
Explosions aren’t uncommon in the Syrian capital, but have decreased in recent months.
Since the fall of President Bashar Assad’s government in December last year by insurgents who took over his seat of power in the capital, there have been several explosions in Damascus.
Israel has also carried out hundreds of airstrikes around the country since the end of the 54-year Assad dynasty, mainly targeting assets of the Syrian army.
Rocket attack in Syria’s capital wounds 1 person and causes damage
https://arab.news/66tvm
Rocket attack in Syria’s capital wounds 1 person and causes damage
- It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the rocket attack in Damascus
- Security forces cordoned off the area and prevented anyone from getting close to the building
Syrian refugee returns set to slow as donor support fades
- Some aid officials say Syria is one of the first crises to be hit by aid funding cuts because the end of the war means it no longer counts as an emergency, eligible for priority funding
GENEVA: More than 3 million Syrians have returned home since the collapse of Bashar Assad’s rule a year ago but a decline in global funding could deter others, the UN refugee agency said on Monday.
Some 1.2 million refugees in addition to 1.9 million internally displaced people have gone back home following the civil war that ended with Assad’s overthrow, but millions more are yet to return, according to UNHCR.
The agency said much more support was needed to ensure the trend continues.
“Syrians are ready to rebuild – the question is whether the world is ready to help them do it,” said UNHCR head Filippo Grandi. Over 5 million refugees remain outside Syria’s borders, mostly in neighboring countries like Jordan and Lebanon.
RISK OF REVERSALS
Grandi told donors in Geneva last week that there was a risk that those Syrians who are returning might even reverse their course and come back to host states.
“Returns continue in fairly large numbers but unless we step up broader efforts, the risk of (reversals) is very real,” he said.
Overall, Syria’s $3.19 billion humanitarian response is 29 percent funded this year, according to UN data, at a time when donors like the United States and others are making major cuts to foreign aid across the board.
The World Health Organization sees a gap emerging as aid money drops off before national systems can take over.
As of last month, only 58 percent of hospitals were fully functional and some are suffering power outages, affecting cold-chain storage for vaccines.
“Returnees are coming back to areas where medicines, staff and infrastructure are limited – adding pressure to already thin services,” Christina Bethke, Acting WHO Representative in Syria, told reporters.
The slow pace of removing unexploded ordnance is also a major obstacle to recovery, said the aid group Humanity & Inclusion, which reported over 1,500 deaths and injuries in the last year. Such efforts are just 13 percent funded, it said.
Some aid officials say Syria is one of the first crises to be hit by aid funding cuts because the end of the war means it no longer counts as an emergency, eligible for priority funding.
Others may have held back as they wait to see if authorities under President Ahmed Al-Sharaa make good on promises of reform and accountability, including for massacres of the Alawite minority in March, they say.
