BAGHDAD/FALLUJA, Iraq: At Baghdad’s grand but half-empty railway station, a single train is sputtering to life. It is the newly revived daily service to Falluja, a dusty town to the west once infamous as a Sunni insurgent stronghold.
The driver and conductor assure that the tracks running through Anbar province are now clear of mines planted by Daesh and of collapsed bridges the group blew up when it marauded through western and northern Iraq in 2014.
The rapid advance of the militants shut down the line, before US-backed Iraqi forces drove them out of Falluja in 2016 and defeated them in Iraq in late 2017.
After a four-year hiatus, hundreds of rail passengers now travel the 30 miles (50 km) between Baghdad and Falluja in just over an hour. By car, the journey can take several.
“The train saves time. The Baghdad-bound leg arrives at 8 a.m., which suits my schedule. It’s also cheaper” than by car at 3,000 Iraqi dinars ($2.50) for a ticket, commuter Thamer Mohammed said.
“You don’t have to stop at checkpoints, and it’s safer. You avoid road accidents,” said the 42-year-old, a Falluja resident studying for a history doctorate in Baghdad.
The revival in July of the daily service, once a feature of an extensive rail network dating back to the Ottoman empire, is a vivid example of Iraq’s attempts to recover from decades of unrest.
Passengers see it as a metaphor for the country’s state: security has improved enough to allow unhindered passage through countryside dominated for years by Daesh and Al-Qaeda militants. But the train is dilapidated and shudders as it gathers speed.
The state of the tracks allow a steady pace of up to around 70 miles per hour (100 km), but no more. Dozens of windows have been smashed by children who play in the dirt in poor Baghdad districts and pelt carriages with stones as they cruise by.
“I hope the service will keep running, but in the last few days there have been delays. Sometimes it runs out of fuel on the journey, or has technical failures,” Mohammed said.
Abdul Sittar Muhsin, a media official for the national operator Iraqi Republic Railways, said the company was in dire need of funding to keep the service running.
“We did this with the company’s money and we’re operating at a loss,” he said.
Regular passengers include unemployed youth looking for work, a perennial problem in Iraq where demonstrations over lack of jobs, water and power turned violent in the southern city of Basra in September.
“I had a job interview with an NGO today in Baghdad, but I’m not holding out much hope,” said Yassin Jasim, a recent graduate with a degree in medicine. “I try to get casual work in Falluja, but there’s little and it’s low pay.”
BAGHDAD TO ISTANBUL
Jasim and his family moved to the relative security of Irbil in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq while Daesh held Falluja.
The city and fertile countryside along the Euphrates river suffered a series of bruising battles after the US invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein. Falluja became infamous in 2004 when four American security contractors were killed and their bodies hung from a bridge in the city.
Everywhere are reminders of a delicate security situation. Armed police patrol the train, which runs past a scrapyard of cars destroyed during fighting and the remains of a road bridge blown up by militants.
Railway officials hope to restore services all the way to the Syrian border. Iraq’s rail network, developed during the British mandate period and under Baath party rule in the 1960s, used to stretch to Istanbul and Aleppo in Syria via Mosul in northern Iraq.
Conflict with Iran in the 1980s, UN sanctions in the 1990s and violence since then have wrecked most of the old network, apart from regular services to Basra and now Falluja.
Plans to extend beyond Falluja might be ambitious — tracks are buried in sand and Iraqi forces have been reinforced at the border after recent Daesh counter-attacks in Syria.
For now, the Falluja line is a big step forward.
“It’s great, I can regularly see my daughter now who is marrying a man from Falluja,” one woman said. “At the moment, things are fine.”
Iraq rail service back on track after war with Daesh
Iraq rail service back on track after war with Daesh
HRW urges immediate action on incendiary weapons amid Gaza, Lebanon wars
- Weaponry ‘among cruelest in modern warfare’: Human Rights Watch
- ‘A complete ban on incendiary weapons would undoubtedly have the greatest humanitarian benefits’
LONDON:Countries must work to prohibit the use of incendiary weapons amid growing evidence of their harm on civilians in Gaza and Lebanon, Human Rights Watch has said.
The organization released a 28-page report examining the recent use of the weaponry, which can inflict “excruciating burns, respiratory damage and psychological trauma.”
The report draws on HRW interviews with survivors of incendiary weapons, medical professionals and members of civil society.
It comes ahead of a UN meeting in Geneva next week of states party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
HRW urged those countries to condemn the use of incendiary weapons and commit to redressing two loopholes in the treaty’s Protocol III that undermine the protection of civilians.
Since October 2023, Israel has widely deployed airburst and ground-launched white phosphorus munitions in populated areas of Gaza and Lebanon, photographic evidence has shown.
Bonnie Docherty, senior arms adviser at HRW, said: “Incendiary weapons are being used in several conflicts, endangering civilian lives and livelihoods.
“Governments need to take immediate action to protect civilians, civilian infrastructure and the environment from the horrific effects of these weapons.”
HRW described incendiary munitions as “among the cruelest weapons in modern warfare.” As well as harming people, the weapons also cause socioeconomic and environmental damage by burning homes and crops, it said.
Israel has used white phosphorus munitions, a type of incendiary weapon, in at least 17 Lebanese municipalities, including five cases of illegally deployed airburst weapons over southern Lebanon, between October 2023 and June this year.
CCW Protocol III, signed by 117 countries, contains loopholes permitting white phosphorus and features weaker regulations for ground-launched munitions than air-launched weaponry, HRW said.
Hundreds of Lebanese civilians have been displaced following Israeli white phosphorus attacks, with survivors suffering respiratory damage months after exposure.
Lebanese olive groves, a crucial source of income for many, have also come under attack, with white phosphorus able to start wildfires and cause long-term damage to soil quality.
Internationally, pressure has mounted in recent years to address the proliferation of incendiary weapons.
At the most recent CCW meeting last November, more than 100 countries condemned the humanitarian consequences of the weaponry.
HRW urged countries at next week’s Geneva meeting to “initiate informal consultations” that address the loopholes in Protocol III.
Docherty said: “Governments should seize the moment to reiterate their concerns about incendiary weapons and discuss ways to strengthen the law to better protect civilians.
“A complete ban on incendiary weapons would undoubtedly have the greatest humanitarian benefits.”
Israel must comply with ICJ measures to prevent genocide: UN human rights chief
- Volker Turk’s office publishes report covering violations between November 2023, April 2024
- UN Human Rights Office: Almost 70% of fatalities in Gaza are children, women
NEW YORK: The UN high commissioner for human rights on Friday called on Israel to “fully and immediately” comply with the provisional measures issued in January by the International Court of Justice demanding action to prevent a genocide from being perpetrated against the Palestinians.
Volker Turk also called on states to honor their obligations under international law and “assess arms sales or transfers and provision of military, logistical or financial support to a party to the conflict, with a view to ending such support if this risks serious violations of international law.”
His warning comes as a new report by his office, published on Friday, warned that “if committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, (Israel’s violations) may constitute genocide.”
In January, after considering an original case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide, the ICJ issued a ruling that included provisional measures ordering Israel to take action to prevent and punish the commission of, or the incitement to commit, genocide; to halt the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians; and to immediately facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
Turk said Israel’s compliance with the ICJ ruling is now “even more critical and urgent” in light of the new report, which details “the horrific reality that has unfolded for the people of Israel and Gaza since 7 October 2023,” and concludes by demanding justice with respect to the grave violations of international law that have been committed.
The ICJ measures are also more pertinent than ever given the most recent events, Turk said, including Israel’s operations in northern Gaza and its adoption of legislation banning the main UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees from operating in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem.
“It is essential that there is due reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law through credible and impartial judicial bodies and that, in the meantime, all relevant information and evidence are collected and preserved,” said Turk.
The new report covers violations that occurred from November 2023 to April 2024, including the killing of civilians and breaches of international law that it said could amount to war crimes.
“If committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, further to a State or organizational policy, these violations may constitute crimes against humanity,” the report says.
Turk urged support for the work of accountability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court, in relation to the conflict in Gaza, for the exercise of universal jurisdiction to investigate and try crimes under international law in national courts, and for compliance with extradition requests of suspects of such crimes to countries where they would receive a fair trial.
The report highlights repeated statements from Israeli officials calling for Gaza’s entire destruction and the exodus of its people.
It documents Israel’s efforts to “rationalize discrimination, hostility and violence towards, and even the elimination of, Palestinians.”
The report underscores how civilians have borne the brunt of the attacks, including through the initial “complete siege” of Gaza, as well as Israel’s continuing “unlawful failures” to allow the entry of humanitarian aid, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, and mass displacement of Palestinians.
“This conduct by Israeli Forces has caused unprecedented levels of killings, death, injury, starvation, illness and disease,” the reports says, adding that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups have also committed serious violations of international law on a wide scale
“The rules of war, in force now for 160 years, were designed to limit and prevent human suffering in times of armed conflict,” Turk said.
“Their wanton disregard has led to the current extremes of human suffering which we continue to see today.
“It seems inconceivable that the parties to the conflict refuse to apply universally accepted and binding norms developed to preserve the very bare minimum of humanity.”
The UN Human Rights Office says close to 70 percent of fatalities in Gaza are children and women, indicating “a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality.”
The continuation of these attacks “demonstrates an apparent indifference to the death of civilians and the impact of the means and methods of warfare selected,” the report states.
It also raises concerns over the forcible transfer of Palestinians, attacks on hospitals in “apparent systematic fashion” as well as journalists, and the reported use of white phosphorus munitions.
“Our monitoring indicates that this unprecedented level of killing, and injury of civilians is a direct consequence of the failure to comply with fundamental principles of international humanitarian law — namely the principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack,” Turk said.
“Tragically, these documented patterns of violations continue unabated, over one year after the start of the war.
“The trends and patterns of violations, and of applicable international law as clarified by the International Court of Justice, must inform the steps to be taken to end the current crisis,” he added.
“The violence must stop immediately, the hostages and those arbitrarily detained must be released, and we must focus on flooding Gaza with humanitarian aid.”
Lebanon state media says Israel blows up houses in 3 border villages
- ‘Since this morning, the Israeli enemy’s army has been carrying out bombing operations inside the villages of Yaroun, Aitaroun and Maroun Al-Ras in the Bint Jbeil area’
BEIRUT: Lebanon state media said the Israeli army on Friday detonated explosives planted inside houses in three border villages that have been battered by the Israel-Hezbollah war.
“Since this morning, the Israeli enemy’s army has been carrying out bombing operations inside the villages of Yaroun, Aitaroun and Maroun Al-Ras in the Bint Jbeil area, with the aim of destroying residential homes there,” the official National News Agency said, the latest in a string of similar incidents that have impacted the flashpoint border area.
Suffering in Gaza ‘almost unparalleled’: Humanitarian chief
- Norwegian Refugee Council secretary-general: Palestinians pushed ‘beyond breaking point’
- Jan Egeland: Gaza rendered ‘uninhabitable’ due Israel’s policies
LONDON: Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are experiencing “almost unparalleled” suffering, one of the world’s foremost humanitarian officials has warned following a visit to the enclave, The Guardian reported on Friday.
Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, traveled to Gaza this week, reporting that families, widows and children have been pushed “beyond breaking point” by Israel’s year-long war.
He witnessed “scene after scene of absolute despair” as Palestinian families had been torn apart by attacks, with survivors unable to bury their dead relatives.
Gaza has been rendered “uninhabitable” as a result of Israel’s policies, supported by Western-supplied weaponry, Egeland said.
“This is in no way a lawful response, a targeted operation of ‘self-defence’ to dismantle armed groups, or warfare consistent with humanitarian law,” he added.
“The families, widows and children I have spoken to are enduring suffering almost unparalleled to anywhere in recent history. There is no possible justification for continued war and destruction.”
Since last year, families across the enclave have been repeatedly forced to move from one area to another as a result of Israeli evacuation orders, which now cover 80 percent of Gaza.
The situation is even more dire in northern Gaza, where a month-long Israeli offensive and siege have cut off an estimated 100,000 people from humanitarian aid.
An Israeli brigadier general said this week that there is no intention of allowing the return of Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza.
Such a policy of forcible transfer would amount to war crimes, humanitarian law experts have said.
As aid continues to be cut off from the Palestinian population, the UN has condemned “unlawful interference with humanitarian assistance and orders that are leading to forced displacement.”
Egeland warned of the “catastrophic impact of strangled aid flows” on the Palestinian population, with people left unable to access food or water for days at a time.
The former Norwegian foreign minister and diplomat said: “There has not been a single week since the start of this war when sufficient aid was delivered in Gaza.”
Despite the acute shortage of humanitarian aid, Israel’s parliament this week passed bills banning the UN Relief & Works Agency from operating in the Occupied Territories, designating it as a terrorist organization.
Egeland called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to prevent the “deadly” situation from worsening, adding: “Those in power on all sides act with impunity, while millions across Gaza and the region pay a terrible price.
“Humanitarians can speak out on what we are seeing, but only those in power can end this nightmare.”
Turkiye’s foreign minister visits Athens to help mend ties between the regional rivals
- Both NATO members, Greece and Turkiye have been at loggerheads for decades over a long series of issues
ATHENS, Greece: Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan arrived Friday in Athens for meetings with his Greek counterpart as part of efforts to ease tension between the two neighbors and regional rivals.
Both NATO members, Greece and Turkiye have been at loggerheads for decades over a long series of issues, including volatile maritime boundary disputes that have twice led them to the brink of war. The two have renewed a diplomatic push for over a year to improve ties.
“Step by step, we have achieved a level of trust so that we can discuss issues with sincerity and prevent crises,” Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said in an interview with Turkiye’s Hurriyet newspaper published Thursday.
The meeting between the two foreign ministers follows a series of high-profile talks between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as part of a relation-mending initiative launched in 2023.
Officials in Athens are expected to raise concerns about rising illegal migration, as Greece has seen an uptick in arrivals. And, despite deep disagreements on Israel and fighting in the Middle East, both foreign ministers are also expected to explore ways to improve regional stability.
The talks will help set the stage for a Greece-Turkiye high-level cooperation council planned for early 2025 in Ankara, Turkiye.
