COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh: Nearly 400 people have died in fighting that has rocked Myanmar’s northwest for a week, new official data show, making it probably the deadliest bout of violence to engulf the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority in decades.
Around 27,400 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar, United Nations sources said, a week after Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts and an army base in Rakhine state, prompting clashes and a military counteroffensive.
The army says it is conducting clearance operations against “extremist terrorists” and security forces have been told to protect civilians. But Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh say a campaign of arson and killings aims to force them out.
The treatment of Myanmar’s roughly 1.1 million Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by some Western critics of not speaking out for a minority that has long complained of persecution.
The clashes and ensuing army crackdown have killed about 370 Rohingya insurgents, but also 13 security forces, two government officials and 14 civilians, the Myanmar military said on Thursday.
By comparison, communal violence in 2012 in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, led to the killing of nearly 200 people and the displacement of about 140,000, most of them Rohingya.
The fighting is a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered since October, when similar but much smaller Rohingya attacks on security posts prompted a brutal military response dogged by allegations of rights abuses.
Myanmar evacuated more than 11,700 “ethnic residents” from the area affected by fighting, the army said, referring to the non-Muslim population of northern Rakhine.
More than 150 Rohingya insurgents staged fresh attacks on security forces on Thursday near villages occupied by Hindus, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said, adding that about 700 members of such families had been evacuated.
“Four of the terrorists were arrested, including one 13-year-old boy,” it said, adding that security forces had arrested two more men near a Maungdaw police outpost on suspicion of involvement in the attacks.
About 20,000 more Rohingya trying to flee are stuck in no man’s land at the border, the UN sources said, as aid workers in Bangladesh struggle to alleviate the sufferings of a sudden influx of thousands of hungry and traumatized people.
While some Rohingya try to cross by land, others attempt a perilous boat journey across the Naf River separating the two countries.
Bangladesh border guards found the bodies of 15 Rohingya Muslims, 11 children among them, floating in the river on Friday, area commander Lt. Col. Ariful Islam told Reuters.
That takes to about 40 the total of Rohingya known to have died by drowning.
Nearly 400 die as Myanmar army steps up crackdown on Rohingya militants
Nearly 400 die as Myanmar army steps up crackdown on Rohingya militants
’Enough escalation. Time to stop,’ UN chief says after Israel-Iran strikes
- Peace and diplomacy must prevail,” Antonio Guterres said on X after Israel’s “preemptive” strikes on Iran and Tehran’s counter-attack
UNITED NATIONS, United States: The UN chief called Friday for Israel and Iran to halt their escalating conflict, after the two countries exchanged a barrage of missiles.
“Enough escalation. Time to stop. Peace and diplomacy must prevail,” Antonio Guterres said on X after Israel’s “preemptive” strikes on Iran and Tehran’s counter-attack.
Saudi crown prince discuss repercussions of Israel-Iran clash with Macron, Meloni
- The crown prince had separate phone calls with Macron and Meloni: SPA
RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday talked with the leaders of France and Italy about the latest developments in the region, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
During a phone call, the crown prince and France’s President Emmanuel Macron discussed the repercussions of Israeli strikes on Iran, which has killed 78 people, including generals and scientists, and wounded 320 others.
Iran retaliated later in the day, raining missiles and weaponized drones on Israeli cities, causing destruction.
In a separate call with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the two leaders “emphasized the necessity of making every effort to de-escalate the situation, the importance of exercising restraint, and resolving all disputes through diplomatic means,” SPA said.
Earlier in the day, the crown prince spoke with US President Donald J. Trump, during which the duo also stressed the need for continued joint work to achieve security, peace, and stability in the Middle East.
Macron had also announced that because of the Israel-Iran clash, the UN conference on a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians that France and Saudi Arabia planned to co-chair next week in New York had been postponed.
“While we have to postpone this conference for logistical and security reasons, it will take place as soon as possible,” he said at a press conference.
At UN, Iran accuses US of being complicit in Israeli strikes
- Council the above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Iran's Natanz nuclear site had been destroyed, and that Iran has reported that nuclear sites at Fordow and Isfahan were also attacked
UNITED NATIONS: Iran accused the United States of being complicit in Israel's attacks on the Islamic Republic, which Washington denied, telling Tehran at the United Nations Security Council that it would "be wise" to negotiate over its nuclear programme. Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Israel late on Friday after Israel attacked Iran earlier in the day.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said Iran had been "preparing for war" and Israel's strikes were "an act of national preservation." His Iranian counterpart, Amir Saeid Iravani, accused Israel of seeking "to kill diplomacy, to sabotage negotiations, and to drag the region into wider conflict," and he said Washington's complicity was "beyond doubt". "Those who support this regime, with the United States at the forefront, must understand that they are complicit," Iravani told the Security Council. "By aiding and enabling these crimes, they share full responsibility for the consequences."
HIGHLIGHTS
• UN Security Council met over Israel's strikes on Iran
• US says Iran would 'be wise' to negotiate on nuclear program
• Iran accuses US of being complicit in Israel's strikes
U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he had given Tehran a 60-day ultimatum, which expired on Thursday, to make a deal over its escalating uranium enrichment program. A sixth round of U.S.-Iran talks had been scheduled to take place in Oman on Sunday, but it was unclear whether it would go ahead. Danon said Israel had been patient despite mounting risks.
"We waited for diplomacy to work ... We watched negotiations stretch on, as Iran made false concessions or refused the most fundamental conditions," Danon told the Security Council. He said intelligence had confirmed Iran could have produced enough fissile material for multiple bombs within days.
Senior U.S. official McCoy Pitt said the United States will continue to seek a diplomatic resolution that ensures Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon or pose a threat to stability in the Middle East. "Iran's leadership would be wise to negotiate at this time," Pitt told the council. While Washington was informed of Israel's initial strikes ahead of time it was not militarily involved, he said. U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council the above-ground pilot enrichment plant at Iran's Natanz nuclear site had been destroyed, and that Iran has reported that nuclear sites at Fordow and Isfahan were also attacked.
US adversaries fuel disinformation about LA protests, exploiting deep divisions in American society, say researchers
- Russian, Chinese, and Iranian state-linked sources behind 10,000 posts and articles on LA protests, says watchdog Newsguard
- Many peddled unfounded claims that California was ready to secede from the US and declare independence
WASHINGTON: Russia, China and Iran are amplifying disinformation about protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles, researchers said Friday, adding to a surge of domestically generated falsehoods and conspiracy theories.
The findings from researchers at the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard illustrate how foreign adversaries of the United States are exploiting deep divisions in American society as a tactic of information warfare.
NewsGuard said Russian, Chinese, and Iranian state-affiliated sources have published around 10,000 posts and articles about the demonstrations that recently erupted in Los Angeles, advancing false claims framing the city as “ground zero in an American apocalypse.”
Seizing on the political rift between President Donald Trump and Governor Gavin Newsom, pro-China accounts on X and Chinese platforms such as Douyin and Weibo have peddled unfounded claims that California was ready to secede from the United States and declare independence.
Meanwhile, Tehran-based newspapers have peddled the false claim that popular Iranian singer-songwriter Andranik Madadian had been detained by the National Guard in Los Angeles, in an apparent effort to portray the United States as an authoritarian state.
NewsGuard quoted Madadian, better known by his stage name Andy, as denying the claim, stating: “I am fine. Please don’t believe these rumors.”
Russian media and pro-Russian influencers, meanwhile, has embraced right-wing conspiracy theories, including the unfounded claim that the Mexican government was stoking the demonstrations against Trump’s immigration policies.
“The demonstrations are unfolding at the intersection of multiple vulnerabilities such as eroded trust in institutions, AI chatbots amplifying false claims about the unrest, political polarization, and a rollback of safety and moderation efforts by major platforms,” McKenzie Sadeghi, a researcher with NewsGuard, told AFP.
“As a result, foreign actors have a wide-open playing field to flood the zone with falsehoods at a faster rate and fewer barriers compared to previous moments of unrest,” she added.
The apparent alignment across the three countries was noteworthy, Sadeghi said.
“While Russia, China, and Iran regularly push their own unique forms of disinformation, it’s less common to see them move in such a coordinated fashion like this,” she said.
“This time, state media outlets have escalated their messaging to advance their geopolitical interests and deflect attention from their own domestic crises.”
The disinformation comes on top of false narratives promoted by US-based influencers.
In recent days, conservative social media users have circulated two photographs of brick piles they claimed were strategically placed for the California protesters to hurl at police and inflame violence.
The photos were cited as proof that the protests were fueled by nonprofit organizations supported by George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who has long been a bogeyman for the far right.
But AFP’s fact-checkers found that one photo was lifted from an online marketplace, where a Malaysian hardware dealer uploaded it years ago, while the other was snapped near a construction site in New Jersey.
“Every time there’s a popular protest, the old clickbaity ‘pallets of bricks’ hoax shows up right on cue,” the Social Media Lab, a research center at the Toronto Metropolitan University, wrote on the platform Bluesky.
“The fact that these types of fake images are used isn’t a coincidence. It’s part of a pernicious (and) persistent narrative that protests against government policies are somehow inauthentic.”
US helps Israel shoot down barrage of Iranian missiles
- US also is shifting military resources, including ships, in the Middle East in response to the strikes
- About 40,000 troops are in the Mideast region now, according to a US official
WASHINGTON: American air defense systems and Navy assets in the Middle East helped Israel shoot down incoming ballistic missiles Friday that Tehran launched in response to Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and top military leaders, US officials said.
The US has both ground-based Patriot missile defense systems and Terminal High Altitude Air Defense systems in the region capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, which Iran fired in multiple barrages in retaliation for Israel’s initial attack.
Naval assets also were involved in assisting Israel as Iran fired missiles at Tel Aviv, one official said. It was not immediately clear if ships fired interceptors or if their advanced missile tracking systems helped Israel identify incoming targets.
The United States also is shifting military resources, including ships, in the Middle East in response to the strikes.
The Navy has directed the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, which is capable of defending against ballistic missiles, to begin sailing from the western Mediterranean Sea toward the eastern Mediterranean and has directed a second destroyer to begin moving forward so it can be available if requested by the White House, US officials said.
American fighter jets also are patrolling the sky in the Middle East to protect personnel and installations, and air bases in the region are taking additional security precautions, the officials said.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public or to discuss ongoing operations.
President Donald Trump met with his National Security Council principals Friday to discuss options.
The forces in the region have been taking precautionary measures for days, including having military dependents voluntarily depart regional bases, in anticipation of the strikes and to protect personnel in case of a large-scale response from Tehran.
Typically around 30,000 troops are based in the Middle East, and about 40,000 troops are in the region now, according to a US official. That number surged as high as 43,000 last October amid the ongoing tensions between Israel and Iran as well as continuous attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.
The Navy has additional assets that it could surge to the Middle East if needed, particularly its aircraft carriers and the warships that sail with them. The USS Carl Vinson is in the Arabian Sea — the only aircraft carrier in the region.
The carrier USS Nimitz is in the Indo-Pacific and could be directed toward the Middle East if needed, and the USS George Washington just left its port in Japan and could also be directed to the region if so ordered, one of the officials said.
Then-President Joe Biden initially surged ships to protect Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas that launched the war in Gaza. It was seen as a deterrent against Hezbollah and Iran at the time.
On Oct. 1, 2024, US Navy destroyers fired about a dozen interceptors in defense of Israel as the country came under attack by more than 200 missiles fired by Iran.
