Category Archives: Syria

Syria earthquake aftermath: why is situation so bad in war-ravaged country?

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Beset by crumbling infrastructure and food shortages, Syria’s war-ravaged population was unprepared for the deadly quake

Syria bears the scars of 12 years of brutal war, the effects of which are likely to hamper aid efforts in the areas worst hit by the quake. Beset by conflict, food shortages, economic collapse and a recent cholera outbreak, the country’s national infrastructure has been at crisis point for years, barely able to support its war-weary population.

And that was before the worst earthquake to hit the region in decades struck.

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‘Catastrophic’ earthquake in Turkey and Syria kills at least 3,800 people

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Dozens of countries offer help as rescue workers and residents frantically search for survivors after devastating 7.8-magnitude tremor

International rescue missions were rushing to Turkey and Syria on Monday after one of the most powerful earthquakes to hit the region in at least a century left more than 3,800 people dead, thousands injured and an unknown number trapped in the rubble.

The early-morning quake and dozens of aftershocks wiped out entire apartment blocks in Turkey and heaped more destruction on Syrian communities already devastated by over a decade of war.

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Calls to ease Syrian border controls as offers of aid pour in after earthquake

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Rebel-held enclave in north-west Syria, across border from Turkey, among areas worst hit by disaster

International pledges of emergency aid have poured in for Turkey and Syria, leading to calls for the international community to relax some of the political restrictions on aid entering north-west Syria, the country’s last rebel-held enclave and one of the areas worst hit by the earthquake.

With the support of Russia at the UN, the government in Damascus allows aid to enter the region through only one border crossing. The Syrian Association for Citizens Dignity said all crossings must be opened on an emergency basis.

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Fears for ancient sites after earthquake destroys parts of Gaziantep Castle

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Photographs show stones from walls of Roman-era building in Turkey have cascaded down its side

The partial destruction of a Roman-era castle in the Turkish city of Gaziantep has led to fears that two earthquakes that struck on Monday may have damaged other priceless monuments in Turkey and Syria, areas rich in cultural heritage.

Photographs and footage of Gaziantep Castle, considered one of the best-preserved citadels in Turkey, showed parts of its stone walls had cascaded down the side of the fort.

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Syria and Turkey earthquake: what we know so far

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Two powerful earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria within 12 hours on Monday, killing at least 2,600 people, with the death toll expected to rise

At least 2,600 people have been killed after two powerful earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria within the space of 12 hours. The death toll is expected to rise, with search and rescue operations under way across the region as many buildings have collapsed and there are thought to be many people trapped in the rubble.

Official figures from Turkey said 1,651 people were killed in 10 provinces, with another 11,119 injured, according to the country’s health minister. The death toll in government-held areas of Syria rose to 968 people, with 1,280 injured, according to data from the Damascus government and rescue workers in the north-western region controlled by insurgents.

More than 10 search-and-rescue teams from the European Union had been mobilised since the earthquake, a spokesperson for the European Commission said. The US, UK, Canada, Israel, Russia and China were among other nations to have offered assistance, and calls have emerged for the international community to relax some of the political restrictions on aid entering north-west Syria, the country’s last rebel-held enclave and one of the areas worst hit by the earthquake.

The first quake struck as people slept, and measured magnitude 7.8, one of the most powerful quakes in the region in at least a century. It was felt as far away as Cyprus and Cairo. The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said preliminary data showed the second large quake measured 7.7 magnitude, and was 42 miles (67km) north-east of Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, at a depth of 2,000 metres. There have been more than 100 smaller aftershocks registered by seismologists.

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Earthquake in Turkey and Syria kills thousands and devastates cities

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7.8-magnitude tremor hit early on Monday, with second major quake mid-morning hampering rescue efforts

More than 2,000 people were killed when an earthquake struck central Turkey and north-west Syria, in one of the most powerful quakes in the region in at least a century, while a second powerful tremor hours later threatened to overwhelm rescue efforts.

Thousands more were injured as the quake wiped out entire sections of major cities in a region filled with millions of people who have fled the civil war in Syria.

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Syrian regime found responsible for Douma chemical attack

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Watchdog report follows years-long investigation into strike that killed 43 civilians in Damascus suburb

Investigators from the global chemical weapons agency have found the Syrian regime responsible for a poison gas attack that killed 43 people in a suburb of Damascus in 2018, leaving victims choking to death in the basement of a home.

In a report nearly five in the making, the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found the canisters carrying poison gas had been dropped by a Syrian air force helicopter over Douma – then one of the last opposition strongholds near the Syrian capital.

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Ukraine war pushes civilian casualties from explosive weapons to four-year high

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Reported casualties in Ukraine were eight times more than Afghanistan – and real figure likely to be much higher

Civilian casualties from the use of explosive weapons soared by 83% last year because of the war in Ukraine, according to a monitoring organisation that counts the number of deaths caused by conflict and war.

Action on Armed Violence (AOVA) said the total number reported killed and injured in 2022 was 20,776, the highest level since 2018, with 10,381 casualties in Ukraine alone, based on reports from English language media.

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NSW woman Mariam Raad granted bail after being charged with entering Islamic State territory

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Raad, who was repatriated from Syria to Australia in 2022, was forced to surrender her passport and will appear at court again in March

A New South Wales woman who was repatriated to Australia from a Syrian refugee camp has been granted bail after being charged with entering and remaining in parts of Syria that were under Islamic State control.

Mariam Raad, 31, was arrested on Thursday in Young, in the state’s southwest, where she had been living since being returned in October.

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Turkish and Syrian defence and security officials meet for first time in a decade

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Move towards peaceful relations represents cause for alarm for more than 4m refugees in Turkey since 2011

Top Turkish and Syrian defence and security officials have held their first public meeting in more than a decade, in a dramatic shift towards normalising relations between the two countries after Ankara backed rebels during Syria’s civil war.

The Turkish defence minister, Hulusi Akar, and the head of the country’s national intelligence organisation (MIT), Hakan Fidan, met the Syrian defence minister, Ali Mahmoud Abbas, and the notorious spy chief Ali Mamlouk in Moscow, in a meeting attended by the Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu.

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First refugees arrive in tiny Catalan villages under repopulation plan

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Orwa Skafe, who fled Syria seven years ago, is among those given jobs and a home in attempt to revive rural areas

It’s been a long journey since Orwa Skafe fled the war in Syria seven years ago but thanks to an innovative resettlement scheme he’s found peace in a tiny village 900 metres (3,000ft) up in the Pyrenees. He is one of the first to benefit from a Catalan government programme to relocate refugees in depopulated villages.

The programme, called Operation 500 because it involves villages with fewer than 500 inhabitants, is being run jointly by the regional employment agency, the equality commission and the Association of Micro-villages.

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Protester killed in raid on Syrian government building in Sweida

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Police officer also dies during clashes amid claims security forces fired live ammunition on protesters

A protester and a police officer have been killed during an anti-government demonstration in Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida province.

Seven people were wounded during the incident on Sunday, at a rare protest in the country where President Bashar al-Assad stamped out a pro-democracy uprising over a decade ago. Assad survived the resulting civil war but the conflict has plunged Syria into poverty, coupled with a food security and energy crisis.

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Third Islamic State leader killed in battle

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White House welcomes news of Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi’s death

The Islamic State jihadist group said its leader has been killed in battle, the third head of the violent extremist faction to have met a violent death.

A spokesperson for the group said Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, an Iraqi, was killed “in combat with enemies of God”, without elaborating on the date of his death or the circumstances.

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‘Desensitised’ ex-IS followers remain threats, Shamima Begum hearing told

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Home Office argues people trafficked to Syria were exposed to extreme violence which poses ‘almighty problem’

People trafficked to Syria and radicalised remain threats to national security as they may be desensitised after exposure to extreme violence, the Home Office has argued, in contesting Shamima Begum’s appeal against the removal of her British citizenship.

Begum was 15 when she travelled from her home in Bethnal Green, east London, through Turkey and into territory controlled by Islamic State (IS). After she was found, nine months pregnant in a Syrian refugee camp in February 2019, the then home secretary, Sajid Javid, revoked her British citizenship on national security grounds.

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Iran blames Israel after bomb kills Revolutionary Guard colonel in Syria

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Davoud Jafari and his bodyguard reportedly targeted by roadside bomb near Damascus

An improvised bomb has killed an Iranian colonel from the aerospace division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps near Syria’s capital, Damascus, Iranian media reported, blaming Israel for the attack.

The Islamic republic regularly calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, which in turn sees Iran, with its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and its regional proxies, as its biggest security threat.

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Police should have helped Shamima Begum return to UK, court told

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Tribunal hears there were grounds to suspect the then 15-year-old had been groomed as a child bride

Police should have helped Shamima Begum return to Britain after she joined Islamic State in Syria because there were grounds to suspect she had been groomed as a child bride, a court has heard.

Samantha Knights KC told a tribunal that the police had an obligation to investigate whether Begum, who was 15 when she left the UK, was a victim of human trafficking, and then help her return if she was.

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How airstrikes by Israel, Turkey and Russia denote a new era in Syrian war

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Regional interests remain very much at stake in conflict neither isolated, nor solely Syrian – though often forgotten

Over the plains of northern Syria, an approaching warplane usually makes a distinctive roar, allowing those on the ground to determine who it belongs to and whether there’s a need to hide.

But the past few days have been more onerous than ever for plane-spotters as the air forces of three countries have crisscrossed Syrian skies, bombing targets from the Mediterranean coast to the deserts of the east in the most comprehensive airstrikes in the past three years.

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Turkey confirms deadly airstrikes in Syria and Iraq targeting Kurdish groups

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Strikes launched in retaliation for Istanbul bombing target ‘terrorist bases’, but civilian deaths reported by Kurdish officials

Turkey launched deadly airstrikes over northern regions of Syria and Iraq, the Turkish defence ministry said on Sunday, targeting Kurdish groups that Ankara holds responsible for last week’s bomb attack in Istanbul.

Warplanes attacked bases belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), and the Syrian People’s Protection Units, or YPG, the ministry said in a statement, which was accompanied by images of F-16 jets taking off and footage of a strike from an aerial drone.

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Turkey bombs towns across northern Syria after Istanbul bombing, say reports

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Airstrikes reported against towns including Kobane, held by Kurdish militia opposed by Turkey

Turkish airstrikes hit several towns across northern Syria, including the city of Kobane late on Saturday, Kurdish-led forces and a Britain-based monitoring group have said.

The attacks come days after Ankara blamed the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) for last Sunday’s deadly bombing in central Istanbul.

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Dozens of countries sign deal to curb bombing in urban areas

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Campaigners hope agreement will change military norms, though it was not endorsed by countries including Russia, Israel and China

Eighty countries led by the US, UK and France have signed a declaration in Dublin pledging to refrain from urban bombing, the first time countries have agreed to curb the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.

The international agreement is a product of more than three years of negotiation – predating the war in Ukraine – but was not endorsed by several major military powers, including Russia, China, Israel and India.

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