Tunisian fishermen vowed Sunday to block a ship carrying far-right activists from docking at their port, dealing a fresh blow to their mission to disrupt the flow of migrant boats from north Africa to Europe.
The C-Star, a boat chartered by anti-immigration group “Generation Identity,” passed through waters off Libya on Saturday.
It briefly tailed the Aquarius, operated by French group SOS Mediterranee, one of several NGO boats conducting search and rescue operations in an area notorious for deadly migrant boat sinkings.
Having left Cyprus on August 1, the 40-meter (130-foot) vessel was thought to be in need of supplies: but the fishermen in the southeastern Tunisian port of Zarzi had other ideas.
“If they come here we’ll close the refueling channel,” Chamseddine Bourassine, the head of the local fishermen’s organization, told AFP.
“It is the least we can do given what is happening out in the Mediterranean,” he added.
“Muslims and Africans are dying.”
An official at the port, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “What? Us let in racists here? Never!“
The C-Star headed straight from Cyprus to Libyan waters after being discouraged from attempting to dock en route in Greece and Sicily, with authorities concerned about the prospect of protests.
The self-styled “Defend Europe” mission has had a chequered history to date.
Their boat was held up for a week in the Suez Canal by Egyptian authorities looking for weapons.
Then, after it landed in the Cypriot port of Famagusta last month, several of its crew jumped ship and asked for asylum in Europe — exactly the kind of thing the mission was set up to prevent.
The C-Star crew say their main goal is to expose collaboration between NGO rescue ships and the traffickers who launch boats packed with migrants from Libya.
Humanitarian groups say Generation Identity is engaged in a potentially dangerous publicity stunt.
Since the start of 2014, some 600,000 people from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia have been rescued from traffickers’ boats and taken to Italy.
Over 10,000 have died en route and serial sinkings have resulted in privately funded or charity-run boats joining a multinational search and rescue operation coordinated by Italy’s coast guard.
NGO boats have rescued around one third of the nearly 100,000 people picked up this year, but their relations with Italy have become strained as pressure to stem the flow of migrants has mounted.
Critics say the NGOs make it too easy for the traffickers to guarantee would-be migrants safe passage to Europe, allegedly fueling the lucrative trade.
Italian authorities last week impounded one NGO boat, the Iuventa, which is operated by German association Jugend Rettet.
They accused its crew of being in direct contact with traffickers to organize pick-ups of boatloads of migrants from locations very close to the Libyan coast.
On Sunday, the Aquarius and Doctors without Borders (MSF) took part in a rescue operation in which around 100 people were plucked from a distressed dinghy.
The number of such rescues in international waters has fallen sharply over the last five weeks to under half the level of the same period last year.
Italian officials are cautiously optimistic that this reflects a breakthrough in their efforts to strengthen the Libyan coast guard’s capacity to combat traffickers.
The Libyan navy told AFP that between Thursday and Saturday the coast guard, which has received training and new equipment from Rome, had intercepted five trafficker boats carrying a total of 878 people.
Rights organizations have voiced concern over the focus on sending boats back to Libya.
They say the migrants on board face detention in squalid camps and the risk of torture, sexual violence and forced labor.
Italian officials defend the strategy as the only way to end a humanitarian crisis threatening to overwhelm the country’s reception facilities.
Tunisian fishermen vow to block ‘racist’ anti-migrant ship
Tunisian fishermen vow to block ‘racist’ anti-migrant ship
Syrian forces deploy at key dam under deal with Kurds
- Syria’s state news agency SANA reported “the entry of Syrian Arab Army forces and security forces into the Tishrin Dam ... to impose security in the region, under the agreement reached with the SDF”
DAMASCUS: Security forces from the new government in Damascus deployed on Saturday around a strategic dam in northern Syria, under a deal with the autonomous Kurdish administration, state media reported.
Under the agreement, Kurdish-led fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces will pull back from the dam, which they captured from Daesh in late 2015.
The Tishrin dam near Manbij in Aleppo province is one of several on the Euphrates and its tributaries in the Syrian Arab Republic.
It plays a key role in the nation’s economy by providing water for irrigation and hydro-electric power.
On Thursday, a Kurdish source said the Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria had reached an agreement with the central government on running the dam.
A separate Kurdish source said on Saturday that the deal, supervised by the US-led anti-terror coalition, stipulates that the dam remain under Kurdish civilian administration.
Syria’s state news agency SANA reported “the entry of Syrian Arab Army forces and security forces into the Tishrin Dam ... to impose security in the region, under the agreement reached with the SDF.”
The accord also calls for a joint military force to protect the dam and for the withdrawal of factions “that seek to disrupt this agreement,” SANA said.
It is part of a broader agreement reached in mid-March between Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi, aiming to integrate the institutions of the Kurdish autonomous administration into the national government.
The dam was a key battleground in Syria’s civil war that broke out in 2011, falling to Daesh before being captured by the SDF.
Days after Al-Sharaa’s coalition overthrew Syrian leader Bashar Assad in December, Turkish drone strikes targeted the dam, killing dozens of civilians and Kurdish officials, as Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Hamas releases video showing Israeli-American hostage alive
- Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum identified the hostage as Edan Alexander
- Alexander, a soldier in the Israeli army, said on the video that he wants to return home to celebrate the holidays
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Hamas’s armed wing released a video on Saturday showing an Israeli-American hostage alive, in which he criticizes the Israeli government for failing to secure his release.
Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum identified him as Edan Alexander, a soldier in an elite infantry unit on the Gaza border when he was abducted by Palestinian militants during their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
AFP was unable to determine when the video was filmed.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, published the more than three-minute clip showing the hostage seated in a small, enclosed space.
In the video, he says he wants to return home to celebrate the holidays.
Israel is currently marking Passover, the holiday that commemorates the biblical liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
Alexander, who turned 21 in captivity, was born in Tel Aviv and grew up in the US state of New Jersey, returning to Israel after high school to join the army.
“As we begin the holiday evening in the USA, our family in Israel is preparing to sit around the Seder table,” Alexander’s family said in a statement released by the forum.
“Our Edan, a lone soldier who immigrated to Israel and enlisted in the Golani Brigade to defend the country and its citizens, is still being held captive by Hamas.
“When you sit down to mark Passover, remember that this is not a holiday of freedom as long as Edan and the other hostages are not home,” the family added.
The family did not give a green light for the media to broadcast the footage.
Alexander appears to be speaking under duress in the video, making frequent hand gestures as he criticizes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for failing to secure his release.
The video was released hours after Defense Minister Israel Katz announced military control of what it called the new “Morag axis” corridor of land between the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis.
Katz also outlined plans to expand Israel’s ongoing offensive across much of the territory.
In a separate statement earlier Saturday, Hamas said Israel’s Gaza operations endangered not only Palestinian civilians but also the remaining hostages.
The offensive not only “kills defenseless civilians but also makes the fate of the occupation’s prisoners (hostages) uncertain,” Hamas said.
During their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants took 251 hostages.
Fifty-eight hostages remain in captivity, including 34 whom the Israeli military says are dead.
During a recent ceasefire that ended on March 18 when Israel resumed air strikes on Gaza, militants released 33 hostages, among them eight bodies.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Gaza’s health ministry said Saturday at least 1,563 Palestinians had been killed since March 18 when the ceasefire collapsed, taking the overall death toll since the war began to 50,933.
UAE president meets with US Congressional delegation in Abu Dhabi to discuss ties and regional stability
- American delegation included Senator Joni Ernst and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz
ABU DHABI: UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan met with a delegation from the US Congress at Qasr Al-Shati in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, Emirates News Agency reported.
The American delegation included Senator Joni Ernst and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, both prominent members of the US legislative branch.
The meeting focused on enhancing the strategic partnership between the two nations across a range of sectors and reaffirmed their commitment to advancing mutual interests for the benefit of both peoples.
Discussions covered key regional and international issues, particularly efforts to bolster security and stability in the Middle East.
Both sides emphasized the importance of continued collaboration to promote peace, development, and prosperity across the region and beyond.
The meeting was also attended by senior UAE officials and Yousef Al-Otaiba, the Emirati ambassador to the US.
Jordanian food manufacturers to showcase products at Saudi Food Manufacturing expo in Riyadh
- Three-day event will feature more than 550 international brands
AMMAN: Jordanian food manufacturing companies will take part in the Saudi Food Manufacturing 2025 exhibition, which opens on Sunday in Riyadh, Jordan News Agency reported.
Organized for the second time by the Jordan Exporters Association, the kingdom’s participation highlights efforts to boost national exports and explore new opportunities in one of the region’s most dynamic sectors, JNA added.
The three-day event will feature more than 550 international brands, with national pavilions representing countries such as France, the Netherlands, the UK, Turkiye, India, Switzerland, Spain, Pakistan, Egypt, China and Italy.
JEA Chairman Ahmed Khudari said that Jordan’s involvement in the exhibition is part of broader efforts to diversify export markets and keep pace with global advancements in food manufacturing technologies and innovations.
“This is a key opportunity for Jordanian companies to promote their products, forge international partnerships and explore new marketing avenues,” Khudari said in a statement on Saturday.
“The Saudi market is one of the most important destinations for Jordanian industrial exports, thanks to the strong bilateral relations and geographic proximity between the two kingdoms,” he added.
Khudari highlighted the significant progress made by the Jordanian industry in recent years, citing improvements in product quality and competitive pricing that have enabled exports to reach more than 150 markets globally.
He added that growing industrial exports play a pivotal role in driving economic development, attracting investment, generating employment and boosting the kingdom’s foreign currency reserves.
Khudari also urged Jordanian food manufacturers to capitalize on the exhibition’s expected high turnout of international exhibitors, brand owners, experts and traders.
The JEA’s participation is supported through collaboration with the Jordan and Amman Chambers of Industry, as well as Export House, as part of a joint effort to strengthen Jordan’s presence in strategic international markets and expand the global footprint of its food manufacturing sector.
Syria seizes millions of captagon pills
- Interior ministry said pills had been “professionally hidden inside 5,000 metal bars”
DAMASCUS: Syrian authorities on Saturday announced the seizure of around four million pills of the illegal drug captagon that had been readied for export through the port of Latakia.
The interior ministry said the pills had been “professionally hidden inside 5,000 metal bars” and were seized from warehouses at the port.
“The pills were seized and the necessary legal procedures have begun,” the ministry’s anti-narcotics department posted on Telegram.
Latakia is in the coastal heartland of deposed president Bashar Assad’s Alawite minority.
Under his rule, captagon became Syria’s largest export during the civil war that began in 2011.
Following Assad’s ouster last December, the new authorities discovered millions of captagon pills in warehouses and on military bases.
