SHEIKHAN: Thousands of Yazidis who survived atrocities at the hands of the Daesh group bid a last farewell in Iraq on Monday to their spiritual leader who died last month.
The longtime head of the world’s Yazidi minority, Prince Tahseen Said Ali, died in the KRH Siloah hospital in Hanover, Germany at the age of 85 at the end of January.
Incense floated in the air as thousands of mourners, both men and women, solemnly lined the side of the road to the mountaintop temple in the holy town of Lalish watching his wooden coffin go by.
Musicians dressed in white played flutes and drums as they accompanied the funeral cortege on Monday, the eve of the prince’s burial in the northern Iraqi town.
“It’s a day of great sadness,” said one of the mourners, Abdel Khamuma.
His death had left “an immense void,” he told AFP.
The Yazidi people were brutally targeted by the Daesh extremists who swept across northern Iraq in 2014 and seized their bastion of Sinjar near the border with Syria.
Daesh fighters slaughtered thousands of Yazidi men and boys, then abducted women and girls to be abused as “sex slaves.”
According to authorities, more than 6,400 Yazidis were abducted and only half of them were able to flee or be rescued.
The fate of the others remains unknown.
The brutal assault pushed around 360,000 of the Kurdish-speaking Yazidis to flee to other parts of Iraq, including the Kurdish region, in addition to another 100,000 who left the country altogether.
The United Nations has said Daesh’s actions could amount to genocide, and is investigating the extremist group’s atrocities across Iraq.
The Yazidi faith emerged in Iran more than 4,000 years ago and is rooted in Zoroastrianism, over time integrating elements of Islam and Christianity.
With no holy book and organized into castes, Yazidis pray to God facing the sun and worship his seven angels — first and foremost Melek Taus, or Peacock Angel.
Of the world’s 1.5 million Yazidis, around 550,000 were living in the remote corners of northern Iraq, where their holiest site Lalish lies and where Prince Tahseen was born, before the Daesh onslaught.
Prince Tahseen, whose body arrived in Iraq from Germany on Monday, will be buried in Lalish on Tuesday.
The Yazidi cause has found a powerful symbol in Nadia Murad, a former IS abductee from Sinjar who escaped and went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her activism against sexual violence.
Prince Tahseen was born in 1933 in Iraq’s northwest Sheikhan district and was appointed head of the Yazidis at age 11 after the death of his father, who was the previous emir.
He later moved to Germany, home of the biggest expatriate Yazidi community.
Iraqi Yazidi parliamentarian Vian Dakhil has told AFP that before dying, Prince Tahseen had appointed his son, Hazem, to succeed him.
str-sbh/hkb/dv
Yazidis bid last farewell to spiritual leader in Iraq
Yazidis bid last farewell to spiritual leader in Iraq
- Thousands of mourners, both men and women, solemnly lined the side of the road to the mountaintop temple in the town Lalish watching his wooden coffin go by
Libya’s eastern-based government bars entry of EU migration commissioner, three ministers
- The ministers represent Italy, Greece and Malta, in addition to a commissioner from the European Union
- They were declared persona non grata and told to leave Libyan territory immediately
TRIPOLI: The European Union migration commissioner and ministers from Italy, Malta and Greece were denied entry to the eastern part of divided Libya on Tuesday as they had disregarded “Libyan national sovereignty,” the Benghazi-based government said.
The delegation had arrived to attend a meeting with the parallel government of Osama Hamad, allied to military commander Khalifa Haftar who controls the east and large areas of southern Libya, shortly after a meeting with the rival, internationally recognized government that controls the west of Libya.
The delegation included EU Internal Affairs and Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner, Greek Migration and Asylum minister Thanos Plevris, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and Maltese Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri.
The Benghazi-based government said the visit was canceled upon the delegation’s arrival at Benghazi airport whereupon the ministers were declared persona non grata and told to leave Libyan territory immediately.
Members of the European delegation did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The Hamad government had said on Monday all foreign visitors and diplomatic missions should not come to Libya and move inside the country without its prior permission.
Earlier in the day, the EU delegation had met in Tripoli with the UN-recognized government of Abdulhamid Dbiebah to discuss the migration crisis before flying to Benghazi.
Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe across the Mediterranean since the fall in 2011 of dictator Muammar Qaddafi to a NATO-backed uprising. Factional conflict has split the country since 2014.
Dbeibah said during the meeting he had tasked his interior ministry with developing a national plan to tackle migration “based on practical cooperation with partners and reflecting a clear political will to build sustainable solutions.”
Over 10,000 Palestinians detained in Israeli jails, excluding Gazans in military confinement
- 3,629 Palestinians detained under administrative detention, a practice allowing Israeli authorities to hold individuals in prison without trial
- Since the 1967 occupation, over 800,000 Palestinians have spent time in Israeli jails
LONDON: More than 10,000 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, the highest prisoner count since the Second Intifada in 2000, Palestinian prisoners’ advocacy groups reported on Tuesday.
As of early July, some 10,800 prisoners are said to be held in Israeli detention centers and prisons, including 50 women — two of whom are from the Gaza Strip — and over 450 children. The figures do not include individuals detained in Israeli military camps such as Sde Teiman, where many people from Gaza are believed to be held and subjected to torture.
A total of 3,629 Palestinians are currently detained under administrative detention, a practice that allows Israeli authorities to hold individuals in prison without trial for six months, which is subject to indefinite renewals.
A further 2,454 detainees are designated as “unlawful combatants,” including Palestinians and Arabs from Lebanon and Syria.
Since the 1967 occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, over 800,000 Palestinians have spent time in Israeli jails, according to a UN report in 2023.
3 dead in north Lebanon strike that Israel says hit Hamas militant
- Israel has kept up strikes against Hezbollah despite the ceasefire
- “A short while ago, the (Israeli military) struck a key Hamas terrorist in the area of Tripoli in Lebanon,” Israeli military said
JERUSALEM: Lebanon said three people were killed Tuesday in a strike near Tripoli that the Israeli military said targeted a Hamas militant, the first on the north since a November ceasefire with Hezbollah.
The strike came amid ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Qatar and as five Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in the Gaza Strip, one of the deadliest days for Israeli forces in the Palestinian territory this year.
Israel has kept up its strikes on Lebanon despite the November truce, mainly hitting what it says are Hezbollah targets but also occasionally targeting Hamas.
“A short while ago, the (Israeli military) struck a key Hamas terrorist in the area of Tripoli in Lebanon,” the Israeli army said in a statement, without providing further details.
In an updated toll, Lebanon’s health ministry said the strike on a vehicle “killed three people and wounded 13” in an area that is close to a Palestinian refugee camp.
An AFP photographer saw a burnt out car surrounded by the emergency services and onlookers.
Hamas claimed attacks on Israel from Lebanon during more than a year of cross-border hostilities launched by Hezbollah in October 2023 in support of its Palestinian ally.
Israel has struck Hamas operatives in Lebanon, including since the ceasefire.
In May, Hamas said one of its commanders was killed in a strike on the southern city of Sidon as Israel said it targeted “the head of operations in Hamas’s Western Brigade in Lebanon.”
Israeli strikes on south Lebanon remain common, but raids on the north have been rare.
In October, Hamas said one of its operatives was killed along with his wife and two daughters in a strike on their home in Beddawi, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli. Israel’s military said it targeted “a senior member of Hamas’s military wing in Lebanon.”
In May, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas visited Beirut for talks on disarming militants in refugee camps across Lebanon as the Beirut government seeks to impose its authority across all its territory.
The Israeli military said earlier that it had killed two militants of the Lebanese armed movement Hezbollah in two separate attacks on southern Lebanon Monday.
It identified one of them as Ali Haidar, a local Hezbollah commander whom it said was involved in restoring militant infrastructure sites in the area.
Hezbollah’s clout has diminished after it emerged bruised from a conflict with Israel last year, fueled by Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Israel, however, has kept up strikes against Hezbollah despite the ceasefire.
Israel said last week that it was “interested” in striking peace agreements with Lebanon and neighboring Syria.
The ceasefire aimed to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah after the Lebanese group launched a wave of cross-border attacks on northern Israel in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Four dead in fire at major Cairo telecoms hub, Internet disrupted
- Internet and phone connections were still heavily disrupted in Cairo on Tuesday, with the Egyptian stock exchange suspending operations
CAIRO: At least four people were killed and 27 injured in a fire at a major telecomms center in Egypt’s capital that caused widespread disruptions, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
Internet and phone connections were still heavily disrupted in Cairo on Tuesday, with the Egyptian stock exchange suspending operations.
Flights into and out of the capital had also been affected by the fire, which began on Monday evening, although by the following morning the civil aviation ministry said all flights had resumed following delays caused by the blaze.
Gas and electricity outages were also reported on Monday by Cairo governor Ibrahim Saber.
“Civil defense forces recovered four bodies from the scene of the incident,” the healthy ministry said in a statement.
The authorities are yet to announce a cause for the fire, nor has any information been given about the 27 injured.
Local media reported that the fire at the Ramses Exchange, the former communications ministry headquarters, was extinguished on Monday night.
Jordanian helicopters continue to help Syria in containing wildfires for 6th day
- Wildfires in Latakia’s rugged Jabal Turkman region were sparked by combination of unexploded ordnance, drought
- Damascus sought support from the EU to combat wildfires on Tuesday
LONDON: Jordanian air forces continue to assist authorities in Syria’s coastal region to combat wildfires, which have damaged more than 10,000 hectares of land over six days.
Jordan was one of the first countries to dispatch help to the Syrian Arab Republic, alongside Lebanon and Turkiye, all neighboring countries. The UN also deployed teams to assist Syria, while on Tuesday, Damascus sought support from the EU to combat the fires.
The wildfires in Latakia’s Jabal Turkman region were sparked by a combination of unexploded ordnance from the country’s civil war as well as high temperatures and drought.
Jordan sent two Black Hawk helicopters with firefighting crews and equipment. The Jordanian mission is working to prevent the further expansion of fires and mitigate the impact on local communities and ecosystems, Petra reported.
The wildfires have been difficult to contain due to rugged terrain, dense vegetation, landmines, unexploded ordnance and high winds, which have further complicated response efforts, authorities said.
The decision to help Syria demonstrates Jordan’s commitment to providing humanitarian support and responding to regional crises, Petra added.
